Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 12/02/18 Be Ready, Get Ready

Episode Date: December 3, 2018

Homily from the First Sunday of Advent. You will never be ready unless you get ready. Advent is a season of preparation. We get ready to celebrate the first coming of Christ into this world. We also get ready for His Second Coming at the end of the world…or at the end of our individual lives. During Advent, we get ready to die. Mass Readings from December 02, 2018: Jeremiah 33:14-16 Psalms 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 141 Thessalonians 3:12—4:2 Luke 21:25-28, 34-36 Download the Homily Study

So the last week of classes, sorry CSS, the second to last week of classes, this is it. This is like the time when everything you got to be ready. You know, like here's the finals, everyone, that question right is like, are you ready for your finals? You're ready for your tests? You're ready for the paper. Thank you for answering. Like, no.

This is, you're proving my point. This is really good. Keep going with this. Are you ready for the project? You're not ready for the project or for the presentation. It's one of those things where it's coming down to the wire. And all those things, the final, the exam, the paper, the presentation, all those things, they're the kinds of things that you can only be ready for them if you get ready for them.

The worst part about this is that if you're not ready, the worst part about it is if you're not ready, you think back a couple of months and you realize you have had a syllabus since the very first day of class. It's like, wait, oh, that's now, that's coming up this week. like, no, you've known from the very first day of class that it was going to be due this week or next week, or you know it was, you knew it was coming. And still, you're like, I didn't get ready. That's why it's the worst, because we're the worst. It's one of the situations where you can only, these are the situations, you can only be ready

if you get ready. And so, as I said, this is the first Sunday of Advent. And the church gives us Advent. It's a season of preparation. Right? One of the things that's a season of preparation for is to, to, a season to prepare ourselves for the celebration of Christmas, celebration of the first time Jesus came. And so that's the thing, like, you can ask people now on campus, like, are you ready for Christmas?

Like, I have not even thought about Christmas. That's happening this year because I have not thought of shopping lists. I have not thought of where I'm going to go, what I'm going to do, who I'm going to be with. I've not thought of all any of those things because those things come later. I'm not ready for them because Christmas as well. Celebrating Christmas is one of those situations where you can only be ready if you get ready. But the thing about Advent is it's not just. There's a two-fold reason for Advent.

The one reason is a season of preparation to get ready to celebrate the first coming of Jesus. But the other reason we have Advent, the whole four weeks of Advent, is a season to get ready for Christ's second coming. Like when he returns to earth. That's the whole, the two purposes. One is to get ready to celebrate the first coming. The other, and even more important, the more important reason for, for Advent is we're supposed to spend this time getting ready for Christ's second coming. And I know at this point people are like, well, that's, who knows when that's going to happen?

I know. Seriously, I know. I can guarantee you this. I can guarantee you something tonight. Jesus Christ will return in your lifetime. Guaranteed. 100% guaranteed. Jesus Christ will return in your lifetime.

because the results are in and recent studies have substantiated that the mortality rate for human beings continues to hover roughly around 100%. None of us get out of this life alive. And whether it's him coming back for all of us or just for you, Christ will return in your lifetime. And this is the whole point.

Advent is a season to get ready for that. The church takes these four weeks and says, okay, get ready for that. Not just to celebrate Christmas, but Advent is so good. Advent is the season. The church says, okay, take these four weeks and get ready to die. And happy New Year 2. But think about that, the church gives us this season, and we know it's coming. How many of us have actually ever taken Advent and said,

I'm going to use this Advent to get ready to die. I'm going to use this season and prepare myself to get ready to die because death is one of those things where you can only be ready if you get ready. But so few of us take the opportunity to get ready, even though it's like finals. We know it's coming. We know it's coming, and so few of us act on that knowledge. It's one of the reasons why there's this woman, her name is Brony Ware. She's a hospice nurse in Australia.

Worked with hospice patients for years, people who are dying. And so she interviewed them at the last 12 weeks of their lives. She kept getting the same answers. These people on their deathbeds had these massive regrets. And she kept hearing their stories and recording their stories and writing them down. She actually wrote a book. And the book is called The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. Here's what they are.

Number one, people say on their deathbed, I wish that I'd had the courage to live beyond merely what others expected of me. We wish they had the courage to do what I wanted to do, now what others expected to me. Number two, I wish that I hadn't spent my life working so hard. You're like, all right, can I get an amen? All right. I'm dropping out. No, number three, number three, I wish that I had the courage to express my true feelings. At the end of their life, I wish I had the courage to express my true feelings. Number four, I wish that I had stayed in touch with my friends. Number five, I wish that I had left.

Let myself be happier. I live this life not letting myself be as happy as I could be. I wish I let myself be happier. These top five regrets of the dying, it can move you in a lot of ways, but I don't want to sound harsh. But I remember reading through this list of these top five regrets and thinking to myself, like, that is so pathetic. Like it is so lame. That list is, that list, does that sound harsh?

I'm sorry. But that list is absolutely pathetic. That list is... Here's what I mean. Every one of those regrets are absolutely unnecessary. Every one of those regrets is 100% avoidable. That didn't have to be their regrets. Every one of those are 100% avoidable.

And you knew it was coming. You knew that day was coming. And you didn't do anything about it. You knew it was coming and you didn't get ready. But here's great news. that doesn't have to be you. You can be the kind of person who is ready because you get ready. You know the gospel today, it's so powerful.

Luke chapter 21, it's Jesus speaking. And here's what he says. We heard it the second and go up and I'm going to say it again. He says, there will be signs in the sun, the moon, the stars. On the earth, nations will be in dismay, meaning everybody on the face of the earth. Perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves, people will die of fright in anticipation of what's to come. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

And then they'll see the sun of man coming in a cloud with power and great. great glory. This is the moment. This is the moment that everyone knows is coming. It's the kind of moment that could crush you. It's the moment that will crush you. But then Jesus says these lines and they're so powerful. It says, yep, there's the day. The day that's going to come to every single one of us on this planet, every single one of us in this room. That day's going to come and he says this, it's so good. He says, but you. This is happening to everybody, but you, Christian, you who follow me, you who know me. He says, but you, but you, When these things happen, you stand up straight.

You raise your heads because your redemption is a hand. See, we live in a world that's terrified of death and never wants to think about it because we realize we're powerless in front of it. But who do you believe in? We believe in a God who came to be with us, who let death overwhelm him, and then he transformed it by conquering death.

And he's extended that victory to you and to me. So when that day comes, everyone else, Die of fright in anticipation of this whole thing. But you don't have to. Why? But you stand up straight. Raise your heads. Your redemption in the hand. What you wanted is now here. In fact, there's a line in the funeral right, in the prayers that we pray at funerals.

And it says, for God's faithful, life is changed, not ended. So we know when that day comes, it's not a day of destruction. It's the day of redemption. It's not the day of hopelessness. It is the day of hope. And actually it's not even just the day of hope, is the day when all of your hopes are actually in your hands, all of your hopes, everything you live for is actually in your possession. If you're ready.

Because we can miss it, we cannot be ready. Obviously, that's the case for many people. You know, Jesus goes on to say, he says, so be aware then. He's talking to his followers, talking to people who know this. People know he's going to conquer death. Maybe they don't. But he's talking to people who belong to him. And he says, but beware.

Beware. heart's not become drowsy, basically saying, but beware that you don't become weary of this, worn out. And I know that so many people right now in this season, you might feel already worn out. You might feel already weary. You might, as it says, feel drowsy. But then Jesus says, don't get worn out from these three things, because these are three things that can rob you of being ready. The three things he says are dissipation, drunkenness, and the anxieties of daily life. I'll go through every one of those things. Dissipation.

It's so interesting. That word dissipation, he says. It can wear you out because what is dissipation. It says squandering what you had. It's wasting what you had. In fact, this is Luke's Gospel, as I said, Luke 21. And Luke 15, Jesus uses that same word when he talks about the prodigal son.

Remember the story of the prodigal son who gets his father's inheritance given to him? And then what does he do? He wastes it, it says in Scripture, on a life of dissipation. Think about that guy. He was given an inheritance. And with that inheritance,

He could have built an incredible life for himself, but what did he do with the inheritance? He lost it on a life of dissipation. Brothers and sisters, when you're baptized, as a Catholic Christian, you have an inheritance. That is massive. You have an inheritance of the sacraments and of grace. You have an inheritance of joy.

You have an inheritance of like all the love you possibly could handle in your life. You have an inheritance of massive meaning. And with that inheritance, you and I could build an incredible life in this life. But what do most of us? do. We become worn out because we take that inheritance and we lead a life of dissipation. We don't use it. Jesus says, if you want to not be ready for that day, just take your inheritance

and just let it go. You could have built an amazing life, but instead I just squandered it. The second thing he says is drunkenness. That one. Drunkenness, I think that's probably relatively obvious. And I say relatively because we're Catholic. You're like, Father, that's a little close to home. I know it is. We're on a college campus. I realize that. That's why we're talking about it right now. Why would drunk it, why could you lose this hope? Why could you lose being ready to drunkenness? Well, one, because it's a major sin. Why is it a significant sin? You guys, go back to the fall. You know the original fall in Genesis chapter three? There are at least three consequences of the fall.

The first consequence of the fall is we have an intellect, right? We can think, but our intellect's been dimmed. We can think, but we don't think clearly all the time. It's just how we are. We have a will, we can choose, but we choose weekly. We have weakened will. And the third effect of the fall is we have, fancy word, here's the 25 cent word for the day, concupiscence,

which means we're attracted to sin. We've all read books about what alcohol does to the brain. Or we have roommates who make that bad decisions. What does drunkenness do? It amplifies all those effects of the fall. Our will is, our intellect has already been dimmed. What does alcohol do? It makes you even dumber.

Our will has already been weakened. What does alcohol do? It makes you even weaker. You're like, sure, that's a great idea. Why not do that thing? And we already are attracted to sin. And what does alcohol do? It makes it even, we do things, sorry, you all do things when you're drunk.

Those people out in the other room. They do things when they're drunk that they would never, ever even want or even consider doing if they weren't drunk. What's a great way to become worn out? What's a great way to not be ready? Amplify the effects of the fall in your life on a regular basis. See what happens. So dissipation drunkenness. That third thing he says, though, is anxieties of daily life.

And this is the reality. We all have that. You might not lead to life dissipation. You might not get drunk. But every one of us has these anxieties over daily life. What is that? You're probably going through a lot right now. There are probably a lot of challenges in your life right now.

Maybe some things are really, really big and they're weighing on you in an incredible way. You have incredible battles or struggles to face right now. And sometimes that happens where when you're facing an incredible battle or struggle, all you can think of, all you can see is the incredible battle or struggle. All you can see is what's right in front of you. You can't even look up because it's like, no, all we have is this right here. It's what I call GoPro Vision. You ever see that GoPro footage, right?

You know, maybe someone has a GoPro on their helmet and they're riding a single track on a mountain bike, like really, really fast, you're like, oh my gosh, like all you can see is what's right in front of you this. Like, how are they possibly going to do this? And so often, when we have the, we're bogged down to the anxieties of daily life, all we can see is the struggle. And we wonder if we can even make it through this struggle. So we, at one, at that moment, we don't leave the moment, but sometimes what's helpful

for us is to, to move from GoPro vision to like drone footage. You ever see that where you're in the thick of it and then the, you realize it's a drone camera and all of a sudden it pulls back and goes up and you realize, okay, wow, wait, there's more to this right now. Yes, this is a tough stretch of trail. This is a really tough place to be in right now. But when you have that drone footage, you look up and you go higher, you can see, you can see the story. You can spot that there's more to this. You can look back and see, wait, this is all I've been through. And I can get through this. I can get through now. And I've got to get through because

there's some place I got to get to. You have somewhere to get to. And to not be bogged on by the anxieties of daily life, but do you able to have that drone vision of being able to say, wait a second, I've been through that, I can get through this, I've got somewhere to get to. Because you've got to. You and I've got to get ready.

And that's why we have Advent. It's a season to get ready to die. So, do it. Get ready to die. Here's what I mean. Pick a date. Like choose a date. Not to actually die, but choose a date to say,

this is the date I'm going to prepare to die. Here's what I'm going to do. Here's what I decided to do for Advent. I picked the date of December 25th. It has significance in my life. December 25th, I'm not only going to spend this Advent preparing to celebrate Christmas. I'm going to live this Advent as if that's the day I know that I'm going to die. My invitation for all.

of us is pick December 25th. That's the day that you're going to wake up dead. Come on. That's the day. And then live Advent as if you're getting ready for that day. So a lot of times when we have these seasons like land or advent, we're like, okay, I'm going to do something new, I'm going to get closer to Jesus or I'm going to do it. That's fine.

Not this time though. This time you're going to spend the next 23 days with the idea that on the 23, the 3,000 day, that's your last day on this planet. So what are you going to do each day to be ready for that day? Is there anyone in your life that you need to ask for forgiveness from? Better do it before the 25th, so you don't have any regrets. Is there anyone in your life who needs your offer of forgiveness? They need to hear you say that I forgive you. To do that this advent, who is it that you want to spend time with before you die on the 25th? Who is it that you want to call before you die on the 25th? If you knew that the 25th is your last day on this planet, would you call anyone

tonight? Would you call them tomorrow? Would you put it off again is a good idea, but I don't have any time for it? We're all going to go to confession this advent, obviously, people. But what if this was going to be your last confession ever before you died? Would there be some things that you'd bring to the Lord that you sometimes hold on to in confession, with some areas of your heart that you give him access to, that sometimes we just don't really give him access to? Or there are some things that you would, is there a way you would go to confession? This Advent, that'll be different than you've done in the past because this is my last confession ever.

Or when it comes to your prayer this Advent, sometimes they're like, I need to pray more, yeah, I need to do this more. Not this Advent. This Advent, it's not an option. This Advent, it's necessary because in 23 days, you're going to stand before your God, and my God. And you want to know who he is on that day. So why not spend this time?

You know, I was thinking about this. I've been thinking about it a lot, obviously. And even I was just, I was part of a sibling group text this afternoon. We're trying to figure out as brothers and sisters what to get at my parents. And I was thinking, just normal conversation. I wasn't like, guys, by the way, I love you so much. I'm going to die in 23 days. I didn't say that.

That'd be weird. But I just read the texts of my siblings who my love. love very much going like, God, thank you so much for every one of them. Like it's such a gift to be part of this group text with my brothers and sisters. And I don't want to waste this time. Being thankful is a great way to get ready to die. Even like little penances, giving up little things, you know what we call those? Actually, the technical word for little penances, giving up stuff, you know,

not hitting this news button, taking a slightly colder shower than maybe you would have, or eating slightly less or a lot less. We call those things mortifications. You know what that word mortification comes from? It means little deaths. There's some little deaths between now and the 23rd. In fact, that's why in your bulletin, we have this insert. It is a calendar.

What I invite everyone to do with this calendar is mark the 25th. That's the last day. We were going to do it so there weren't any dates after the 25th, but whatever. But here's the second. Here's the day you're going to die. To write down something every day, that's what I would do. What I would do on Monday, December the 3rd, that's what I would do if I'm going to die on December the 25th.

That's what I would do. That's how I would pray. On the 4th, this is how I'm going to pray, this is how I'm going to live. Here's who I'm going to call, who I'm going to forgive if I'm going to die on the 25th. Now, a lot of times, you know, people say, if you ever ask, like, general population, if you had a week to live, what would you do? Like, well, I don't know, go see the Grand Canyon. I go skydiving.

Not you. You don't need to collect experiences between now and the 25th. Why? Because you're a Christian, and you know that while the Grand Canyon is beautiful, what you will see the moment after you step from this world is far more beautiful. You don't have to waste your time going to the Grand Canyon. Jumping out of a plane, you know that the moment after you step out of this life, there will be more joy and more excitement and more life than jumping out of a plane could ever offer.

You don't need to waste your time with that. But who do you need to forgive? Who do you need to ask for forgiveness from? How do you need to get closer to Jesus? For God's faithful, life has changed, not ended. And this is the last thing. Are you ready? To die well might be to die without regrets.

Not because we've been perfect, but because we've chosen Jesus. Not because we've never done anything wrong, but because we're ready. December 25th is coming. The day of your death is coming. And the only way you and I can be ready for that is if we get ready for that.