Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 12/20/20 Silent Waiting

Episode Date: December 20, 2020

Homily from the Fourth Sunday of Advent. Silence magnifies and waiting purifies. Waiting is not meant to be wasted. The chance to wait in silence is often given by God to serve a purpose...above all to change our faith into something new. Mass Readings from December 20, 2020: 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-12, 14, 16 Psalms 89:2-5, 27, 29Romans 16:25-27 Luke 1:26-38

So we know this, we know that, I would say this, I would say the waiting's almost over. I think pretty much we and our missionaries here, we have had our last day of classes. We had our last day of finals. And so that's good. That's over. I know some of my nieces and nephews next week, this upcoming week, is almost over. It's not there. It's not quite, the waiting for them is not quite over.

And also we have Christmas, which means the wait is almost over. I don't know. Do you remember waiting for Christmas? I, gosh. Sorry, question, for real. Was it actually difficult? Did you guys ever have a hard time? Like, stressful?

It's hard to wait. As a kid, it's hard to wait. But I don't know. I think waiting for Christmas right now, for me, is kind of easy in the sense. But I remember, like, back in the day where it was just, it was so hard to wait. And I have the question, like, why is it so hard to wait? What is it about waiting that is so difficult? And I still experience this, right?

It's not just like, I'm so mature right now that I, have no problem waiting. The place I get most stressed out waiting, I think right now is the confession line, which is just the worst. You think like, okay, this is the place where you're going to know what confess your sins. This is the place where grace is at the end of this line. And yet I get so stressed out and so nervous and I just hate waiting in line because, well, you know, sometimes there's a person ahead who's like, they see someone else coming and they're like, oh, no, you can go ahead of me. Are you kidding me? You're letting that, you're letting that person go ahead of all of us too. Or the person who goes in there and takes forever? You're like,

what are they talking about? Like, are they playing a game? Is it playing chess or something? Monopoly is going on and on and on. The hard thing about waiting, I think, is the problem with waiting is that we don't have. The problem with waiting is we don't have what we want. We often don't have peace of mind. The big thing is, I think the problem with waiting is we don't have all the details. It's one of the hardest things about waiting.

The problem with waiting is we don't have all the details. And yet waiting doesn't have to be wasted. doesn't have to be wasted, weeding is actually meant to serve a purpose. You know, throughout the whole scriptures, God many times, he asks his people to wait. I mean, it's like, even in the first reading today from 2nd Samuel, you have David who comes to the prophet Nathan and says, hey, I want to build God at temple. And Nathan's like, go for it. And that night, God appears to Nathan in the dreams.

Does he actually, no, no, no. David, you got to wait. It's almost like all these moments, God's like, no, you got to wait. And it's almost like God's a good dad or something. He always keeps telling us to wait, but it's not just any kind of waiting. The waiting God invites us to, the waiting God commands us to enter into, is not just waiting, it's waiting, it's waiting in silence. It's this going into this state of silent waiting.

So the second reading today is the last, the last words of St. Paul's letter to the Romans. And in those, in that what we just heard, St. Paul says, that there was a mystery that has been, that's kept secret for long ages, but now is manifest. So there's this long, long period of waiting. This secret that's been kept secret, this mystery kept secret for long ages that is now manifest.

Another translation of that is not just a mystery kept secret, but it's a mystery, the mystery, kept in silence for long ages. That's strictly speaking, translating what St. Paul said. The mystery has been kept in silence for long waiting, for long ages. Because there's this reality that we're called to enter into this silent waiting. And think about this. Waiting and silence do two things.

We know this. We know that waiting purifies. We know that silence magnifies. This is one of the reasons why we're invited into this, right? Waiting serves a purpose. It's not wasted. Waiting purifies and silence magnifies. Remember, the problem with waiting is not having all the details.

But when waiting purifies, what it does is it... So, for example, my little brother, when he was applying for medical school, he had always wanted to be a doctor. And so he graduated from undergrad and then applied for medical school. And he didn't get in right away. And so for the next year, he spent his time, he spent his time working in a hospital. And he worked as like a tech or like a nurse's assistant. And when he was working in the hospital in our hometown, he found that he really, really liked nursing. He really liked working with the nurses.

He really liked doing the work that they were doing. And he had this question of like, wait a second, I have to wait this whole year. and in the process of my waiting, I have this new option for myself. And I really like nursing. I really like the nurses. I really like this, all of this stuff. The question was, do I really want to be a doctor? Because I really, really like nursing.

It was that process. He was kind of forced to wait. But what it did was it purified his desire. Do I really want to be a doctor? Or can I choose this other profession, which is just as rewarding justice, fulfilling just as incredible he chose to be a doctor but his desire was purified during that time again waiting purifies even in the Old Testament you have the the person who led the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt you have

Moses I don't know if you know this about Moses but at one point you know he was he was raised in Pharaoh's home and then he killed an Egyptian who was beating up a fellow Israelite slave and Pharaoh heard about this and so Moses had to flee he again he had been in he had been saved, he had been drawn out of the water, raised in the palace, and then he was forced on the run. He spent the next 40 years of his life living as a shepherd far from home. It was 40 years.

He was raised fully in Pharaoh's household, and then for the next 40 years, he just waited before God told him the next step. I wanted that waiting too. He had to wait because he had to wait for that young and impetuous and brinket and brash and hot-headed man to be burned away because waiting purifies. It can mature us because waiting serves a purpose. It just as it purifies and silence, silence magnifies. And we have this happen all the time when it comes to, we have a holy hour here in this chapel every single morning. We've done it ever since I got here on campus. And one of the things that happens is

sometimes students will come in into the chapel. They'll come into adoration. And this is the first time really where they'll be here for an hour, or they'll sit in silence for an hour, without any distraction, without any music, without any other alternative voices or noise. And in that silence, one of the things that they discover is that they're very angry.

Or one of the things in that silence, what they discover is that they're very afraid. Or one of the things that they'll discover in that silence is that they have all this anxiety, and so they'll come to me and they'll say, like, Father, I don't think I can pray anymore because praying is making me so mad. My prayer is making me so anxious.

It's making me so afraid. And I'm like, oh, no, no, no, here's the thing. Your prayer didn't make you anxious. They didn't make you angry. It didn't make you frustrated. It didn't make you afraid. Those things were already there. It's just the silence magnifies those things.

Those things were already in your heart. It's just without any distraction. There's nothing to get in the way of you noticing this because silence magnifies. Other times people, I don't know, they'll go on like a silent retreat. Or even just go away where they're in a place where they just enter into silence and in that silence they experience this profound loneliness And they'll think wrongfully they'll think that it's the it's the silence it's the emptiness It's that place that's giving them a feeling of loneliness like the truth is no that emptiness was already there It's just in the space of silence

They can see the loneliness they can actually feel the loneliness As we said, waiting purifies and silence magnifies. And it's this silent waiting, this great magnifier, this great purifier that does something even more because silent waiting also magnifies and purifies our faith. I think when God invites us and says, wait, it's more than just a test of faith. It's a transformation of faith. I think what he's not just trying to do is giving us a deeper faith. what he's trying to do is giving us a different kind of faith. Because I think that for a lot of us, when it comes to faith,

I think we most often reduce faith to, I acknowledge that God exists. So that's what we think faith is. Like, yeah, no, I believe in God. That's the thing. I know some of his characteristics and I, yeah, I believe in him. And sometimes, and that is faith to a certain degree, but it's not the kind of faith that we're actually called to live in.

To just simply sit back and say, and say, I acknowledge God exists, or to simply sit back and say, I believe in God. Faith is so much more. In fact, I've been re-read the book of Job recently, and one of the things about the book of Job is how God doesn't just, God isn't testing his faith, God is transforming his faith. He's not deepening his faith. He's changing the kind of faith that Job has. So the beginning of the book of Job, you have Job and he's this righteous man.

And he has a wife and he has a bunch of children, his sons. and daughters who are just really blessed. He has got cattle. He's got herds of all kinds. And then Satan comes before God and says, God, will you give me permission to basically take it all away? And so God says, okay, go ahead and take it all away. Because Joe, my man Job, he's going to be faithful. And so Satan does that. Satan, in the story, he basically makes it so all of Job's children are dead in one day. And then he has it so that these marauders come and they take away Job's property in one day. And in one day, Job loses everything. And Job's response, we know, Job believes in God. Job believes in God. And so Job's response to this in Job chapter

one is he just says he, he shaves his head, he tears his clothes because he's torn up. I mean, this isn't like he's just passive about this. He is brokenhearted. His life has been destroyed. And yet his response is faithful. His response is, naked I came forth from my mother's womb. naked I shall go back again. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. That's a lot of faith. But it's not over yet.

Because then Job gets personally afflicted. This was all external to him. And now he gets basically these boils all over his body. He's in constant, constant pain. And he finds himself sitting on top of this ash heap, taking a broken piece of pottery and scratching away at his boils on his flesh. And his wife comes up to him and she says, What are you doing sitting there?

Why don't you just curse God and die? Just the wife of the year right there is... Husbands, if your wife has ever said that, no, that you're not alone. Why don't you just curse God and die? And Job's response, again, he's so faithful. He says, we accept good things from the Lord. Should we not also accept evil?

So he just has this faith, right? He has this, I believe in God. I know that he has these characteristics that he's good and he is faithful and he's just. And yet it gets so much worse for Job. By chapter 7, Job who is believed in God is the silence has magnified his pain. And that waiting has purified some things so that he tells, he cries out and he says, this is chapter 7? He says, is not man's life on earth a drudgery?

Are not his days those like that of a slave? He is a slave who longs for the shade, a hireling who waits for his wages. He goes on to say, in bed, I say, when shall I arise? And then the night drags on. You ever have that feeling where you just, you can't go to sleep?

And just that goes on and on and on. He says, my flesh is clothed with worms and scabs. My skin cracks and festers. And then the days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle. They come and end. Come and end without hope. He goes on. He says, I shall not see happiness again.

And he talks to God and says, how long will it be before you look away from me? And let me alone long enough to even swallow my spit. He goes on to say that I wish I'd never been born. I wish that I had been, I wish I'd perished in my mother's womb. This is a man and what's happened is in this waiting, in this suffering, it has magnified and is in the process of pure terrifying Job's faith because the problem with waiting is not having all the details.

So his friends come along. They try to fill in the gaps. They try to fill in the details and yet the mystery remains the same. So the upshot of the whole thing is I remember reading this reading this book I just reread it. I remember reading this book as a teenager because someone told me like the book of Job has like it's the answer to suffering. It's God's answer to the problem of pain like why do why does God allow bad things to happen to good people and it's funny because God doesn't actually answer the question. God doesn't actually tell Job why. God shows up in this book. But when he shows up, he doesn't give Job the details.

When he shows up, he gives Job himself. And this is the difference. This is what makes all of the difference. In chapter 42, it's the last chapter of the book of Job. His faith has been changed. Here's what he says. He says, I know that the Lord, you, God, can do all things,

and that no purpose of yours can be hindered. And then he says these massive lines. He says, I have dealt with things that I do not understand. Things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know. I had heard of you by word of mouth, but now my eye has seen you. Therefore, I disown what I said. I repent in dust and ashes.

The Job is saying, my faith has changed. I had heard of you by word of mouth, but now I have encountered you. He's saying like, no, I believe. I believed in God and now I believe God. This is the difference. This is the difference. This is the kind of thing that what waiting does, what silent waiting is meant to do,

meant to change our faith from I believe in God to I believe God. From I believe I know about Him to I know Him. To from I know about his characteristics to I know his character. From I know that God is trustworthy to the place where we can say, I trust him. This is the difference. difference to what silence what silent waiting is meant to do meant to change our faith

from I believe in God to I believe God because when we believe in God we say okay the problem is I don't have all the details so give me the details but when we believe God we say may it be done to me according to your word this is this is why Mary is the model for our faith not just because she has a deep faith but because she has the kind of faith that you and I are called to have after the process of silent waiting. Because not that it was easy for Mary,

but when she hears what God's plan is for her, she says, I believe God. Now, keep this in mind, for Mary, she doesn't know what's going to happen. She has no idea what the future holds. She has no idea what's next. She doesn't know the details. But she's called to enter into this silent waiting.

Again, for us, the problem with waiting is not having all the details. But Mary, she just simply asks one clarifying question and then she trusts. She asks one clarifying question and then she trusts. And her faith is revealed as being so much more than I believe in God and it is all about I believe God. Now, this is the last thing. That doesn't mean that this was easy for her. It wasn't.

In fact, I don't know if you caught this, but in Luke's gospel, when he's recounting this to us, he says the angel came to her, and Mary's response is she was greatly troubled. Now, keep that in mind. This is like, this is this great term that really means. She wasn't just kind of startled. She wasn't alarmed. She was greatly troubled. It bothered her to the core.

But what was she greatly troubled by? Sometimes we think, well, yes, you're surprised. He's on angel for crying out loud standing right there. like that would be kind of like shocking. But it doesn't say she was greatly troubled because she saw an angel. It says she was greatly troubled at what was said. So what was said? The archangel Gabriel says to Mary, hail full of grace, the Lord is with you.

Those are the words. These are the words that like shook Mary to the core of herself. Why? Because she was a good Jewish girl and she knew the Jewish scriptures. And when God has a plan for someone, whether it be Moses or David or Gideon or Joshua, any of the people that the Lord God has led into a place of danger, into a place of crisis, into a place of like, this mission is so big that it is way bigger than you and could absolutely crush you,

the words of the angel were always first, the Lord is with you. So Mary knows this. And she's greatly troubled at what was said. To her core, it shakes her because she knows. Here is God calling me to something that is far, far too big for me on my own. And yet, with her faith, being able to say, I believe God,

she is able to say, in the midst of that fear, let it be done to me according to your word. I don't know if those words are familiar to you. I think they should be familiar to you. We already said them once. Actually, twice. You know, it's four times in the Mass. The priest or the deacon greets the people and says,

the Lord be with you. The exact same words. And for the exact same reason. the exact same words of the angel to Garganger, Gabriel, to Mary, and for the exact same reason. Because why? Because when you show up for Mass, what we're showing up for is something bigger than us, something that's more dangerous than us, something that could crush us, something that could kill us. And the very beginning of Mass, the Lord be with you. It's not the priest saying, hey, guys, what's up?

It's the priest saying, you guys, you realize you've been called into this mission, you've called here to worship the Lord. So buckle up. And then we hear the gospel, the Lord be with you. And then in just a second, we're going to enter into the liturgy of the Eucharist. and it's almost the most seemingly the most dangerous part of the Mass where the priest says, the Lord be with you because if he's not, you are approaching the living fire.

You're approaching the everlasting flame. You're approaching the mountain of God, the altar of the most high. And if he is not with us, then we are destroyed by his presence. And lastly, the priest at the end of Mass says, The Lord be with you, no, get out of here. because your mission then is to take the Lord Jesus out into the world. And that mission is so big that you not only can crush us, it will crush us. But we keep coming back.

We keep coming back to worship. And this is why? Because we worship and we wait. And this time, again, the waiting is almost over, but for some things, but in other ways we're entering into this time of silent waiting so that our faith and our hearts may be purified and magnified

so that every single one of us, the more we worship, the more we wait, the more we enter into this time of purifying, this time of magnifying, that our faith may not just be deepened but may be changed. From I believe in God to I believe God. from I know his characteristics to I know his character. From I know that God is trustworthy

to being able to look at the Lord and say, God, be adonement to me according to your word. Because I trust you.