Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 11/29/20 Be Here

Episode Date: November 30, 2020

Homily from the First Sunday of Advent. God will not just get us through this moment…He has brought us to this moment. Too often, we find ourselves just wanting this moment to be “done." We miss out on the miracle of the moment because we see what is happening as something that is getting in the way of life. But this is life. There is not another one we are waiting for. We need to learn to trust that God is not just going to help us get through this moment, but that He has brought us to this moment. Mass Readings from November 29, 2020: Isaiah 63:16-17, 19; 64:2-7 Psalms 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-191 Corinthians 1:3-9 Mark 13:33-37

So, let's get this over with. Not the homily. That's going to take as long as it takes. But like, that term, that word, that's phrase, that, that's something I think that we live by. So many people, that's our default. Let's get this over with. Let's just get through this. Like, let's, I can't wait for this to be done.

So we just need to make it through. We just need to hold on. We just need to get this over with. I think one of the things, you know, I don't know if you had this experience over Thanksgiving. If you had a chance to be with family, hopefully that'd be great if you did. but sometimes that can be what you say to each other as you walk into grandma and grandpa's house or uncle and aunt wherever's house like okay let's just make it through this and then we can go home like that kind of idea that'll just get through the next thing i mean this happens this is how people live their lives like

okay it's monday tomorrow let's just get through monday or let's just get through the work week or here's the time between Thanksgiving and thank Christmas you know in new year's like just get through this holiday season we seem to plow through this and we'll be fine um i cannot believe the number of people who are like, let's just get through 2020. Need to leave 2020. As if like January 1st will like magically change anything. It's like we're nuts.

We keep doing this. We keep saying this even when it comes to like this big thing we're all living through right now, the COVID deal. Like let's just get through this. I cannot wait for this to be done. And I remember, you know, when this first broke and people like

were realizing that the coronavirus was going to be a serious thing. There was someone on the news and he said, really clearly he said, you know, people are looking at this as if this is going to be like kind of like a really bad blizzard where you have to hunker down for three or four days. He's like, no, this is where you're going to have to hunker down for like a year or two.

Like he was projecting that it's going to take a while. And so the idea is, obviously, obviously, it's serious. Like, it's so serious, right, what people are going through, what we're living through has ruined lives. I mean, everything from kind of, I guess, on the small end, where I have some nieces and nephews who will have done so much for their sport or for their art, and all of a sudden all that stuff gets taken away. I know so many of you who, I mean, gosh, I keep thinking of collegiate athletes.

You have, like, worked so hard your entire high school, junior high, elementary school, to finally become a collegiate athlete, and then it's like, you're a freshman, psych, whoop, take it away. Or you're a senior, and just, yep, your whole senior year is gone. I know business owners who have just, they've lost their livelihood. So you've been kind of more serious than just losing a season. And I think probably all of us know someone who's lost. their life, whether in our own families or in the families of the people around us.

Obviously, this is serious, right? And I understand that, but again, let's go back to this. What happens to us when our default mode is, let's just get through this. What happens to us when our default mode is, I just can't wait to be done. I can't wait until this is over. Because that's how so many of us just, that's normal life. COVID or not. Our default mode can be, I just want this to be done.

I just want to get through this. I just want to get back to life. It was just so interesting. Because what happens? What's the big temptation? What's the big temptation when our default mode is, let's just get through this? Our default temptation is distraction and diversion. I just don't want to think.

I don't want to be here. I don't want to be dealing with this. So I'm just going to distract myself. I'm just going to divert myself, which is the exact opposite of what Jesus is telling us to do in the gospel today. So you might have noticed that for the last like four weeks, Jesus has said, watch, be awake, be ready, be alert. Because we believe this as Catholic Christians,

we know that at some point the story will be done. Like we know that at some point Jesus is going to return. This is an article of faith that we profess every single Sunday. And we know at some point, maybe sooner than later, the story is going to be over. And Jesus is going to return. And that will be the end of the story of this universe. the end of the story of creation.

And so he's saying, when that happens, be ready. Be alert, be awake. So there's this guy, C.S. Lewis, you've heard of him before. C.S. Lewis wrote this great essay, as all of his essays are, called The World's Last Night. And in that, he asks the question, okay, we know Jesus is coming.

Does that mean when he says be alert, there we're supposed to be on this constant state of fear? Like we're constantly ready, like fight or flight kind of a situation, where we're constantly afraid that he's going to arrive. And he says no because of two reasons. One is because you cannot constantly be in an emotional state of fear and continue to live your life. That's one reason. The second reason is because we're not called to be afraid it is coming.

We're called to look forward to it. So then he asked the other question, does that mean to be alert, to be awake? Does that mean we're in this constant state of excitement? And Lewis answers that in the same way answers the thing about fear. He's like, no, you can't do that. You can't be in a constant state of emotional assignment. So if I can't constantly be afraid and I shouldn't constantly be excited, what should I be? and it's in the gospel today.

Jesus essentially says, be here. Like, whatever circumstance you're in, be there. Whatever season of life you're in, be there. Wherever you are, just be there. Instead of that temptation, right?

The temptation, which is, I just want to get through this. I just want to be somewhere else. I just want to get back to life. And this is one of those things. When we hear ourselves saying those words, want to get back to life, we have to come face to face with the reality. This is life. There is no getting back to life. This is what our lives are. There's nothing else. There's no other life that you and I could possibly have. This is it. You know, in the first reading, it's Isaiah 63 and 64.

And you have these people, Isaiah is calling any, and they're basically saying the same thing. They're in the midst of difficulty. They're in the midst of just being torn apart. And they realize part of it is their own fault. And so they even say, they say, God, why do you let us do this? Why do you let us walk away from you? Why do you let us sin? Because we have done this to ourselves. We have shot ourselves in the foot and we are in so much trouble. Just help us through it. I want this over with. Just get us through this. And they sound just like us. Yet then Isaiah says this. He says, and yet you, oh God, are our dad. And yet you, oh God, are our father. And you're the potter, we're the clay.

Which is another way of them saying, like, yes, in the middle of this horrible situation that we find ourselves in, we just want to get through it, we need to assert this. And that thing is, God, I know it, you're shaping me in the midst of this. You're the potter. God, you're using this to shape me. You are, I'm the clay. God, because I realize, I am not done yet. You guys, here we are tonight.

This is one of the things we realize, right, as people who are thinking, as people who are No, we're called to be like Jesus. I'm not who I should be yet. And so what does that mean? That means that God uses every moment of our daily lives to shape us because he's the potter. It's called His Will. Actually, I have to realize that whatever you're going through right now is His Will for you right now. Now, before we go any further on this, I have to understand.

Everything that happens is God's will. But it's really important to understand that there's two kind of kinds of kinds of of God's will. One is his perfect will. Maybe some of you know this already. God's perfect will, the perfect will of God is all good things, right? It's his plan A. The things that from the very beginning he wants for you, things like life and love and joy and hope in all these good things, that's God's plan A. That's his perfect will for you. But because we live in a broken world where people choose evil things, a lot of what happens to us falls under the category, not of God's perfect will, but of his permissive will,

which he allows to happen. And he only allows it to happen for two reasons. One is because he wants to preserve our freedom. Right? Because he doesn't want pets. He doesn't want robots. He doesn't want animals who just do what he tells us. He wants children who actually love him. And if we're going to be free to love, that means we also have to be free to say no to his love. And so there are some things that fall under God's permissive will that he doesn't want. to happen, but he allows to happen because, number one, he wants to retain our freedom.

And number two, because he knows in a way that only God can know, that regardless of how bad things get, he can always bring something better out of it. So everything that happens to us, everything that comes to us, every day, in any moment, is part of God's will, either his perfect will, plan A, or his permissive will. And even it's an Isaiah 63 and 64 today. You have Isaiah saying, Lord, we've chosen evil. that wasn't your plan A. That's permissive will.

You only allowed us to choose this because you wanted to retain our freedom because you know he could bring something greater out of this. And also, yet you are the potter. You're shaping us, and that's God's perfect will. Now, I know that when I say all these things, that we can trust God in his perfect will, we can trust God in his permissive will,

that it could really seem foolish. It really sound foolish to someone on the outside, and I completely agree. But it's not foolish when you and I know the character of God, when we actually know the heart of God like Isaiah does. And what does Isaiah say? He says, and yet you, oh God, are our dad. It would be foolish to trust a tyrant.

But Isaiah says, but I can trust you because I know your heart. And I know that you love me. And I know that you're a good father. See, it's that relationship that changes everything. I was thinking about like the relationships. Like, think of how foolish we get in relationships. One example of a foolish relationship, marriage.

Marriage is dumb. Like, from the outside, marriage is stupid. Where you look at someone else and you say, hey, I like you. Everything I have is yours. How about that? That's D-U-M-B dumb. Like, that's because I like you and think you're cute, everything I have is yours.

So, like, everything I've worked for, all my stuff, it's ours now. All your debt, all your loans, they're ours now. I love it. It's so great. What a great idea. That is foolish. The idea of being able to say, like, I have hopes and dreams for my life, but now because I've met you, because we're married now, now they're no longer my hopes and dreams. Now they're our hopes and dreams. And maybe I even have to put those off to the side because you don't have those hopes and dreams. Even though, I mean, think about this. When a couple gets married, one of the things they're saying to each other is, my body is yours. Like, that's crazy. You know, it's Ephesians chapter 5

where St. Paul, he says, wives submit to your husbands. Which is one of those verses, right, that gets people kind of like squirming in their seats and kind of like the hairs in your neck, back of your neck kind of stick up a little bit, except for the fact that it's remarkable. Whenever I do marriage prep and weddings,

I would say eight out of ten, nine out of ten times, that is a reading that is chosen for weddings, and 100% of the time it's chosen by the bride. That whenever that reading is chosen for weddings, 100% of the time, it was the bride who said, I want that reading. The wives submit to your husband reading, because it goes on, it also goes on to say,

and husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her. Because what is it describing? It's not describing a transaction, it's describing a relationship that the world does not understand. And those on the outside of the relationship do not understand. It involves a relationship of absolute, absolute trust. That's the only reason.

why anyone should ever get to the point where they say, everything I have is yours. My hopes, my dreams, my debts, my things, my body. The only thing, only reason anyone could ever actually say that. And it be amazing as if they know, like, I know that I can trust you. That whole thing would be foolish without love. It would be foolish without trust. And I think that's what the world doesn't understand.

especially when it comes to our relationship with God. Because if we truly understood what it was to trust the Father, we wouldn't merely say, God, get me through this. What we would say is, God, you brought me to this. So do what you will. And help me say yes. If we truly understood what it was to trust God, we wouldn't say just God let this get this over with.

We'd say, God, you brought me to this moment. Now do what you will. Help me to say yes. I know that in the last maybe, what, I don't know, nine months or five months, I brought up this guy named Father Walter Chizek like a thousand times. And I realized, I keep bringing him up, like, oh, he's one of my heroes. So you have to suffer and listen to him once in a more time. So Father Walter, he was this priest who is from America.

He was a Polish American. And at one point, he decided he was going to be a priest, so he's in seminary. And at one point, Pope Pius the 11th, this is between one or one or one or two, said, you know, Russia has been basically strangleholded by the communists, and it's become this bastion of faith has become a haven of secularism and atheism. And so we need to re-evangelize Russia. And so, Father Walter, he spent his whole seminary time learning Russian, learning the liturgy in Russian and learning how to, like, get into Russia and learn how to be a missionary. And at one point he gets ordained, and he gets to Poland, and trying to figure out

how to get into Russia, how to sneak past the Russian girl. and sneak into Russia. And at one point then, Russia invaded Poland. And he was like, oh, I'm in Russia. And after a couple weeks, he was arrested. He was accused of being a German spy and was arrested. And he describes the first time he was put into a Russian prison. It was in a place called Perm.

He says he put into a cell that was 30 foot by 30 foot. And in the morning, it was only five other people with him. But at the evening, there were over 100 men in this cell with him. And a 30 foot by 30 foot cell, over 100 men for weeks on end. He describes it like this. says the physical conditions were inhuman. The cells were so badly overcrowded, there was scarcely room to move.

There was no running water, slop buckets served as toilets. The windows were covered with metal shutters, so there was little light and even less fresh air. We were filthy. We had no such thing as a change of clothes. We slept on the unwashed floor with insects crawling over us. The air was always foul, and you cannot get the reek of that nauseating stench out of your nostrils. You simply had to learn how to learn how to be it. to ignore it as best you could. He said it was also so degrading, so humiliating, that some men just ceased to think of themselves as men.

And knowing the whole time was this feeling of injustice and helplessness. Because most of the people who were in that prison, they were unjustly accused. Most of them were just like Father Walter. They had done nothing wrong, but the Russian Soviet government had accused them of being political spies or political prisoners. So at one point, Father Chizek said, you know, what I'm going to do is he wanted people to understand that he was even more guiltless. He wanted people to understand that he was even less guilty than anyone else. So he started making it known that he was a priest.

He started telling everyone in the prison cells, this 30 foot by 30 foot prison cell, that he was a priest. And he thought that he would get sympathy from them. He thought they'd look at him and go, oh, poor poor poor poor dude a priest. Like he thought that he would look at him and say like, oh, you must really be really innocent. But he said, I was met what I was met with. the response I encountered was the opposite of what I expected. He said, I was looking for sympathy from these men. But he said the Soviet propaganda had done its trick, had done its job,

and all these men thought of priests as not only fools, but as some of the worst people who possibly could exist. And so he said, what could have been all these hundred-plus men in this cell that were united by their shared sense of injustice, their shared sense of misery, their shared sense of misery, their shared sense of we're all in the same boat, he said, I found myself even more alone.

Because I was looking for sympathy and what I was met with was even further rejection. He says, I was at a loss to understand this and I was furious at the added injustice of this stupid blind prejudice against Catholics. He says, I was very nearly reduced

to tears. It all seems so unfair, so totally unjust and so humiliating, so degrading. He says, added to this, I saw suffered at the hollow and sickening sense of being useless. So he goes on to say that because no one else would listen to him, who no one would talk with him, he says, because of that, I talk to God. Because of that, I turned to God in prayer.

And he says, I saw his help. I sought his sympathy, his consolation, because I was suffering especially for his sake. Like I was in prison because I'm a Christian, and I was suffering even more because I was one of his priests. So surely he could not fail to comfort me. when he too had sought someone to comfort him and found nobody. Surely God himself would sympathize with my plight. Surely he would find comfort and console me. His way of consoling me, however, as it so happens often in the past,

was to increase my self-knowledge and my understanding both of his providence and of the mystery of his salvation. Because when I turned to God in the depths of my humiliation, when I ran to him utterly dejected because I felt useless and despised, the grace I received was the light to recognize how large an admixture of self had crept into the picture. I had been humiliated and I was feeling sorry for myself. No one appreciated me as a priest so I was indulging in self-pity. I was being treated unfairly, unjustly out of prejudice and there was no one to listen to my sad story and offer me sympathy.

So I was feeling sorry for myself. That was the extent of my humiliation. Imagine this awareness this man has. Like, yes, he's suffering injustice. But he goes on to say, but that did not mean that actually was worthless. He says,

it's a human temptation to experience frustration, to feel overwhelmed and helpless. Yet under the worst imaginable circumstances, a man remains a man with free will, and God stands ready to help him with his grace. Basically, Father Walter came to the place of realizing that this day, like every other day, came from God's hands. That that moment in prison, like every other moment, came from God's hand.

What he realized was God was telling Father Walter, Father Walter, I'm not getting you through this moment. Father Walter, I brought you to this moment. Question, imagine, imagine if we believe that. Like, imagine, if we truly were to do this, if we were to really see the reality of It's like be able to talk to God in every moment and say, God, you see all things. God, I know this. You know all things.

God, in this moment, you love me desperately. And you sent me this moment. What if we actually believe that? At every moment, God, you sent me this moment, either as a part of your perfect will or as a part of your permissive will. That you sent me this moment, knowing that you can even use this, the worst moment of my life. You can even use this, the worst moment.

moment of my life because you're the potter and I'm the clay and you're not done yet. What would that change? I think for one thing it would change the fact that we wouldn't spend most of our lives on this constant state of like let's get past this, let's get through this, let's get this over with. And I think one of the thing it would change is that we could take joy in any and every moment because then we'd actually be Christians. Like then we'd actually be the kind of people who belong to Jesus. We'd be actually be actually the kind of people who belong to Jesus. we'd be actual followers of Christ who could take him out his word when he tells us that he loves us. We'd be Christians that actually take him at his word when he tells us that the Father knows every hair in our heads,

that the Father actually cares about the sparrow that falls to the ground. And Jesus says, and you are worth more than so many sparrows. If we really believe that, where could we be? Where would we be? I think if we really believed that, we would be here. We would be right now. because this is the entire point of the gospel. This is the entire point of the last three Sundays of this first Sunday of Advent.

He's coming back. So that's not a call to be afraid. It's not a call to be excited. It is the call to be ready. And the way that we are ready is simply by being here. By truly being wherever it is that you are.

By doing whatever it is, you're called to be doing. This is the last thing. Last long time. I know I've quoted Father Chazek for a bunch of times, but this is the last quote. It only goes on for three pages. He says, God does not ask the impossible of anyone. And he was not asking more of me, really, than he asks of anyone else.

He was asking only that I learned to see these sufferings and these people who are suffering around me as sent from his hand and ordained by his will. He was asking me to do something as another Christ, to forget about myself, to forget about feeling sorry for me. for myself and to act in the situation after the example of Jesus himself. This was all he was asking of me. This is all he was expecting of me. And it was all I had to do.

It was plenty, but it could not be done while I was feeling sorry for myself. And I wasn't powerless to do it. It was within my power, and I could count on his grace to help me. And not the least of his graces was the light to see and understand this truth. This is the key. the light to see and understand this truth to see that this day, like all of the days of my life, came from his hands

and served a purpose in his will. And this is what we can be. This is what we can do right now. I don't know if any of us right now are wrongfully imprisoned. I don't know if any of us right now are at the edge of our end of our lives. Regardless of how much suffering you're going through right now, regardless of what kind of situation you are in right now, we can be free.

We can have joy. We can be ready by trusting that this moment has been given to you directly from the hand of the Father and that all he's asking of us is that we trust him and we receive it as from God himself.