Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 12/09/18 The End?

Episode Date: December 10, 2018

Homily from the Second Sunday of Advent. This might be the end of the dream, but it is not the end of the story. God has begun a good work in you. In fact, he has begun many “good works.“ Many of them will come to an end, but the truly great work that God has begun is a work that he intends to continue to finish. Mass Readings from December 09, 2018: Baruch 5:1-9 Psalms 126:1-6Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11 Luke 3:1-6

So I recently came across the story of a young woman named Marie-Louise Gertner. Her friends and her family, they called her Maddie. When Maddie was 18 years old, she was living in France as the Nazis rolled in and took over, took possession, occupied France. Maddie had spent her whole life. She was raised, her whole family were musicians, and so she spent since she was probably three years old, not just dreaming of being a concert pianist, but she, like, practice. She trained. Everything she was doing, everything she did with her life, was about becoming a great concert pianist.

And so even at 18, she was on the cuss. She was on the verge. She was playing all over the place. She was amazing, incredible pianist. And then Kierkan the Nazis, they were all into France. And things changed. Maddie was a Christian. She's Catholic. And she thought it was part of her job to be part of the resistance against the Nazis in France. And so at 19 years old, as soon as they came in, she realized here's what's going on. At 19 years old, she became a spy for the resistance. And she would put on concerts, piano concerts for Nazi officials. And while she was in the concert, afterwards, she'd visit with people and get all this information and pass it along to the resistance.

I just think it's so cool. Here's a 19-year-old spy. Like, I play the piano. I'll be a spy. You're just making the most of what she could do. And then a couple years later, the Nazis figured it out. and she became their prisoner. And for the next number of months, if not a little over a year,

almost every day this now, by now, 20, 21-year-old Maddie, was tortured every day by this young Nazi doctor. His name was Leo. Eventually, as we know, France was liberated, and the Allies won the war. But Maddie, the torture had changed her so much that the life she went back to was nowhere, near the life she had left. The damage that was done to her central nervous system, the damage

that was done to her arms and her hands made it she could no longer play the piano at all. She spent the rest of her life loving music and longing, wishing she could create music, but being unable to play the piano at all. Maddie had a dream and it was over. She wanted to be a mom and because of the torture that she had gone through, Dr. Leo had made it so that she could no long, she could never, never be a mom. the life she returned to, she couldn't, she couldn't stand, she couldn't sit, she couldn't be awake without being in acute pain for the rest of her life. And we look at Maddie, a story like that, and you're like, my gosh, that, you're done.

Like Maddie, you're, you're, here at 21 years old, you're done. At 21 years old, you're just years old, your story is over it. At 21 years old, it's like, this is the end. Because there's no coming back from that kind of thing. Like the reality of Maddie could look at her life and say, no one can fix this, and she wouldn't be telling a lie. No one can fix this. And it can feel like that's just, that's the end. And you and I know this, life can feel like that a lot.

Actually, life can be that a lot. Then we get to the end. They're like, that's it. That's the end. This is done. It's done. At the end of the semester, less dramatic, but still, it's done. This is it.

It's the haze in the barn. It's what it is. I'm failing out. I'm done. This is over. You and I, your family members, you've experienced real sickness. And it's just like, no, you can't come back from this. I know some of you this last semester have experienced heartbreak. Like you never have before, the end of a relationship.

That's over. It's done. That's the end. Again, no one can fix this. There's no coming back from this. These goodbyes. Some of you here have experienced death. and you know that there's no coming back. This is just, it's what it is. It's the end. Because of that, because we all come to this place where we, at some point in our lives, maybe many points in our lives, you come to the place where we're like,

that's just the end. No one can come back from this. No one can possibly fix this. I think it's important for us to be all of us to be reminded of this truth. Yes, the dream might be over, but the story is not. Yes, this might be the end of the dream. but it is not the end of the story. It's so hard to see that.

It's whole hard to realize that truth when you're in the midst and it feels like, no, this is just the end of everything. There's no coming back from this. That's one of the reasons why the church continues to say, hey, become familiar with this story. Become familiar with this book. Because this book is full of stories of people who are like, no, it's over.

It's done. This is the end. No one can fix this. There's no coming back from this. In fact, the first reading today from the prophet Baruch. Now, here's what you need to know about Baruch. Baruch and Jeremiah, bigger prophet, they were contemporaries. In fact, they worked with each other.

I think Baruch was essentially Jeremiah's like Robin to his Batman. And Baruch's writing in the first reading today about the most devastating thing that happened to Israel. We all know this. We all know that when God came to Abraham, he promised Abraham in the people of Israel. He said, I'm going to make of you a mighty kingdom. I make of you a nation. Secondly, he said, I'm going to give you land. And thirdly, he says, through you, the entirely, he says, through you, the

world is going to be blessed. These are the promises God makes to Abraham. And every Jew hangs all their hopes on this is the promise. This is what God's going to do. He's going to make a mighty kingdom. There's going to be a land. And through the people of Israel, through us, God is going to bless the entire world. And when they get a king, it's like, this is looking good.

They get King David. It's looking even better. They have Solomon. And they're like, we're living the dream. This is it. And then Solomon has a son. And everything goes to crap. because like the kingdom

come out at that second that son of Solomon the kingdom just completely divides there's 10 tribes in the north two tribes in the south and they're no longer united and you may be like well yeah it's fine because it's just a little civil war it's just a little kind of break

maybe there's still hope and then what happens is the Assyrians come in from the north and they destroy those 10 tribes so that they are never recovered never seen never heard from again like God oh yeah god this is the end how are you going to come back from this?

Well, at least we have Jerusalem. At least we have His Holy City. At least we have the temple. At least we have all of this stuff. And when Baruch is writing, the city of Jerusalem is besieged by the Babylonians. And they're about to come in. And what they're about to do is they're about to exile the people of Israel.

Take them, say, you don't even get, you don't even get Jerusalem anymore. You don't even get your temple anymore. We're going to take you up to Babylon. Imagine being in Babylon. You don't have a kingdom. We don't have any land. the story is over, the thing is over. The dream God promised to us, that dream is over.

It's the end. And that's when we have to realize this powerful truth. God does not start anything. He does not plan on finishing. This is the story of this, that God does not start something he doesn't intend to finish. But when we read these stories, we recognize how much of God's story is written in darkness.

This is so important. When we get familiar with the Bible, We realize how much of the people of God's story is written in darkness, how much of it is written in what looks like the end. In fact, the second reading today, St. Paul's Letter to the Philippians. It's one of the things that's called St. Paul's prison letters. Not because he was writing to the prison. He was writing from prison.

Here's St. Paul who's like, I'm an evangelist, I'm an apostle, I'm going out, and he's arrested. He's in chains, and he's writing to the Philippians saying, hey, rejoice. He's writing to Philippians, and we heard this in the reading today, he's in chains, he's in prison. If you looked at his life, he could say, this is the end. It's done.

How in the world am I going to get out of this prison? How in the world am I going to accomplish God's will? What is he right? To the Philippians, he says, I am confident. I was like, dude, how? I am confident. He says, I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you

will continue to complete it. St. Paul knows the story. He knows that so often, yes, this might be the end of the dream, but this is not the end of the story. He knows that, yes, God does most of his stuff in what looks like darkness

and what looks like the end, and when it looks like all hope is lost. He's like, no, no, no, I know this. I know that it might be the end of the dream. It's not the end of the story. I know that God does not start something. He does not intend on finishing. And so he says, he says,

I'm confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it. So here's the reality. God has started a good work in you too. Not just the Philippians. He has begun something in your life that is not yet done. So important to know this. God has started something in your life that is not yet completed. Just think about this. What's the good work that God has begun in your life? There's a ton of good works. I mean, being here, this is something God brought us to this place. When we get to study, we get to learn, we get to grow, we get to become the people who know

stuff, I can do stuff. Maybe you have a job prospect, an opportunity, an internship, a co-op coming up, like, that's a good work that's God's begun. Maybe there's not the end of a relationship, maybe there's the beginning of a relationship. God has done, he's begun a good work in you. You have like family who actually love you back, even if they love you imperfectly. That's a, beginning of a really good work. All those things, all of them are good works. Sometimes they're so good that we can even think that they're the good work. But we know that every one of them at some point will come to an end. And so we know there's a greater work that he started.

In your life, here tonight, there is an even greater work that he has already begun. And that greater work is that you will be his. For you to be his is the good work that he started, that you would be the person he has crafted and called and consecrated to be. That's the great work he's begun in you. And so no matter what you're going through, no matter what the battle is, no matter what the struggle is, no matter what the ending is,

when it comes to that, this is not the end. That's why Baruch can look at the Babylonians coming in to the city of Jerusalem, and he can write what we heard in the first reading today. He wrote to his people who can see all of their dreams crashing to the ground. This is the end of the dream. This is not the end of the story. And Baruch writes the words,

the people are rejoicing that they are remembered by God. Then when you know that God has begun a good work in you and he will continue to complete it, you realize that, no, I can rejoice that I'm remembered by God. Now, what is it to be remembered by God? It doesn't mean that God forgets you. God never forgets you. He's like an elephant that way.

God, it doesn't mean that God is ever passive. It never means that God is absent. To rejoice because you remember by God is the moment that we realize that he acts. When you rejoice that you remember, by God, it's the moment that we realize, wait a second, he's here. To rejoice that you remember by God is the moment you realize, he is fighting for me. He has never stopped fighting for me. That even in darkness and even in secret, he continues. Go back to the Philippians. What do you say?

He says, I'm confident in this. The one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it. That will continue to complete it. It's really important. That means he has not stopped. and he will not stop. He will continue because he's already acting, even though it seems like he's absent, even though it seems like he's passive, he is here and he is fighting for you. That's what we have to make this act of faith,

that God has not stopped, therefore you cannot stop. God has not stopped, therefore I cannot stop. But to take those steps in faith, even if it seems like he's absent, even it seems like he's passive, to realize, no, no, he has not stopped, therefore I must not stop. He is here and he is fighting.

That's why Jeremiah, okay, Baruch and Jeremiah, right, two guys. Jeremiah was living the same thing. Baruch was living. When the Babylonians, this is the coolest thing, when the Babylonians were surrounding Jerusalem, Jeremiah, knowing that God was not absent and God was not passive, the guy was present and God was fighting, knowing that this might be the end of the dream, it's not the end of the story. What Jeremiah does is he takes some money and he buys the plot of land that the Babylonians were camped on as they were besieging Jerusalem. Saying like, no, this isn't it, here's the deal. This dream might be over, but the story's not over.

And even if God doesn't bring me back, he's going to bring the people back. And so I'm going to buy the land that our conquerors are on because I have faith that our God is here and that he is fighting and he will continue to fight. And he will continue to be here. That's amazing. That's what we're called to do. To be able to keep walking in that faith, even when it seems dark, to keep acting so boldly, even when he's secret. That I may not see it, but I know that God is here. I may not see it. I know he's acting. That's why I just love it. It's so cool, you guys.

The first reading, it's the gospel today, beginning of Matthew's gospel. You just heard it. It's, you know, it's in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberia Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod-Tetarch of Galilee, Anneson, Caiapus of the high priest. No, one of the things that Matthew's doing in this by setting up the stage is he's letting us know that this is a historical thing. Like this actually happened, and when did it happen? It happened this time. Where did it happen in this place? It's like Matthew's making a very clear this is not a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, or once upon a time. He's saying, no, it happened at this point.

He's establishing the historicity of this. But the second thing he's doing is he's naming how awful it was. Everyone who was reading Matthew's Gospel, they'd be like, oh, yeah. Remember when a Tiberius Caesar was Caesar? He was the word. Tiberius Caesar was a worse Caesar than Nero, with more violence and more depravity and more awfulness that he did to the people than Nero did. So when Matthew writes, okay, remember when things were so bad that Tiberius Caesar was the Caesar?

Yeah. And then Pilot was the governor. Sometimes we have this image of Pilot at the end of the Gospels where the passion, he's like, well, I don't want to kill Jesus, but if I have to, like, he's kind of this conflicted, like, oh, poor guy having to kill our Lord. But Pontch's Pilate was a really bad guy. There's some out extra biblical sources that write about how, like, terrible, terrible Pontius Pilate was. That's the secular authorities, right?

That's like, that's the government. Like, man, remember when the government was awful? And there was no one good in charge and they were so cruel to everyone. Yeah. Well, at least the church was okay. No, he even mentions, he says also it was the time Annes and Caiaphas were the high priests. There were some extra biblical sources about how terrible Annes and Caiapists were. Like you're like, man, back then when it was just absolutely the worst anyone could ever possibly imagine.

On the government side, we have terrible leaders. On the church side, we have terrible leaders. Remember how God was absent? Remember how he was not present? Remember how he was not fighting? Remember how he was passive? And Matthew says, no, no, in the midst of that, John the Baptist showed up. But even more, even more than that, we know a deeper truth. We know that by that point, when Tiberius was Caesar, Pontius was governor,

Anna's and Caiaphas were high priests, we know that when it was that bad, we know that Jesus had already been on this planet for 30 years. we know that God was present, right? The word had already been made flesh, and God had already not just begun the process. God had already been acting in the process. He had been fighting for us on this planet. Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, here fighting for 30 years,

and nobody knew it. Nobody could see it. All they could see was looking around saying, how could it get any worse? The dream is over. But the story is not. and God does not begin something he doesn't intend to finish. God's not done.

So you're not done. She brings us back to Maddie Gertner. As I said, she spent the rest of her life in this acute pain, longing to be able to make music, longing for children, but having neither. Maddie spent the next 40 years not wishing things were different. Actually, one of her lines was she said, in order to a friend, she said, I shall not make a tragedy of my life.

just the courage in this woman because she realized, no, she has a Catholic Christian. She says, the goal of my life, the great work God has begun is not to be a great pianist. The great work in my life, God's begun, is not to be a mom. The great work of my life is to be like him. And so every day, this is so painful. Every day, what Maddie would do is that she would ask Jesus to make her heart like his heart so that if she ever had the opportunity to see Dr. Leo, she could forgive him like he would.

And in 1984, 40 years after she was released, she got a letter in the mail from Dr. Leo. And by this point, he was an old man, and he was dying. And he remembered Maddie for his whole life, the rest of his life. And he knew he didn't want to die before he asked her for forgiveness. And so he wrote this letter to her asking if they could meet. Maddie said, yeah, you can come to this address. And this man, this old man, shows up, and he falls to his knees in front of her, and he says,

will you forgive me? And in this moment, Maddie took her hands that he had wrecked. And she took his head in her hands that he had destroyed, and she put his head on her womb that he had destroyed. She said, in that moment, I dropped him into the heart of God. And I said, Leo, I forgive you. She said in that moment I realized that forgiving him liberated me. The great work of her life, again, was not to be a great musician or to be a mom,

but the great work of her life was to have a heart like Jesus. And even though those dreams had ended, her story had not. And some of your dreams have ended, but your story has not. And some good works that God had begun that are put to the side. But the great work, the good work that God has begun, he will continue. you to bring it to completion. Because God doesn't start something he does not intend to finish. And tonight when you're in that darkness and it seems like God is not present and God is

passive, we just remember, no. God is here. God is close. God is fighting for you. He has not stopped, so you may not stop. Because the dream might be over. But your story is not.