Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 12/25/18 But Why?

Episode Date: December 25, 2018

Homily from the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas). The Why is a Who. Jesus is not merely the “reason for the season”… He is the reason for everything. Mass Readings from December 25, 2018: Isaiah 62:11-12 Psalms 97:1, 6, 11-12Titus 3:4-7 Luke 2:15-20

So Merry Christmas, again. Thank you. You're like, you never know what to say, right? You're like, do you want a response? Sure, why not? Merry Christmas. You know, one of the things that I just always, whenever Christmas comes along, especially Christmas Masses, I want to think of Christmas songs

because it's just one of the things that brings us back to like the season, we have the songs. But one of the things I found was how many times I don't know the actual lyrics, the Christmas songs, but I make them up anyways. Or you mishear them and you go your whole life thinking, like, that's not how it goes. I came across like a list of things.

So like, even like Santa songs, like he's making a list of chicken and rice. It's not how the song goes. It's not actually that. The new popular one, all I want for Christmas is food. Nope, that's not how it goes. I did not know this one. Children listen to hear slave elves in the snow. No one likes that one.

But it makes sense. Santa makes those people work on Christmas. Of course they're slave elves. At least in indentured servitude. So, you know, get dressed. You married, gentlemen. The one I usually think when I was a kid was, later on, we'll perspire as we dream by the fire.

That one makes the most sense to me because it's like, well, yeah, you're by the fire. It's hot. You're going to sweat. But it's funny because even when you get the what, the lyrics right, sometimes you're like, I don't know why we're singing this. Why are we saying the first?

Noelle, like what's a Noel? Other than the name of the girl was that next to me in fourth grade. Like, I don't know. So I looked it up. Noel comes from the old French Neal, which comes from the Latin Natales, which means birth. So the first birth or the first Christmas, the angels did say, okay, now I know. Because sometimes we could even know the what and say, that's nice, but why? Like, yeah, that's the song.

Those are the lyrics. That's what we do. I get it. I get the what. Yeah, but why? I mean, even when it comes to the Christmas story, the most basic information that we all know. We can know the what's. Luke makes a point of saying that after Mary gave birth to Jesus, she wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger.

Like, yeah, I got that what? I know exactly. Why? Not only why did that happen, but why did Luke write about it? Why did he write that a mom wrapped her baby in swaddling cloths? That's what moms do. He might as well written and Mary burped Jesus later on. Like, why? Why include this? Well, because the swaddling cloths are a reference to Christ's

upcoming death. And so even the moment of his birth is marked by death. And Luke wants to let us know that's what's coming. As Fulton Sheen once said, Jesus is the only human being, only one, only one of us, human and God, only person to ever have been born in order to die. that's why Luke says she was wrapping him in swaddling cloths and laid in a manger why did Luke have to include that embarrassing detail that a manger of course is a feeding trough he just wanted to highlight Mary's bad parenting no it's because Jesus is the bread from heaven and he will feed the entire world with himself so you can get all the what's and still say yeah but why because I would say what is a really important

question. What and how are really important questions? It's one of the reasons I love science. Like, science is phenomenal. Science asks really important questions about what and how. Like, what are we looking at? What is the universe? How did it come to be? How does the universe work? The questions, what and how are so important. That's what science asks. In fact, little caveat and side point, sometimes people make this false dichotomy, false battle between faith and science. which makes no sense because we realize that the scientific method was invented by Catholics, like by faithful Catholics. In fact, some of the best scientists in the history of humanity have been faithful Catholics. There's no contradiction between faith and science. Let me clarify,

there's no contradiction between good faith and good science because they ask different questions. Science asks the question, what and how? What is this? How does it work? What is this? How did it get here? faith asks two different questions. Faith asks the questions who and why. The answers to those questions can never contradict because they're asking different questions. And again, thank God for science because we want to know what, we want to know how,

but thank God for faith. Because we might want to know what and how. We need to know who and why. We need to know why. because if we think about it, if we really think about it, there's only two ways they're looking at life. It's only two ways, really, of looking at reality. Two ways of looking at the universe.

One is as if God doesn't exist. It's one approach, that God doesn't exist. The approach of the atheist. And sometimes people are really excited about, yeah, I'm an atheist, I don't believe God exists, because they think that, I work on a college campus, and so here's what I hear. If God doesn't exist, I get to sleep in on Sundays.

And if God doesn't exist, I get to do whatever I want. That's true. If God doesn't exist, you get to do whatever you want. Full stop. Why? Because if God doesn't exist, nothing you do matters. If God doesn't exist, this whole world is an accident. It was not made on purpose, and neither were you. And if God doesn't exist, this whole world, including you, is an accident. So yeah, you get to do whatever you want. Why? Because nothing you do matters. You do not matter if God doesn't exist. The only consequence we're left with is meaninglessness. There is no why.

There is no why. That's one way of looking at the world. The only other alternative is that God does exist. And yes, if God exists, I may not do whatever I want. If God does exist, I may not do whatever I want. Why? Because everything I do, everything you do actually matters. Now, think about it, in the atheist perspective,

it's great you can't lose, but you can't win. And if God exists, yes, the price is you can lose, but the truth is you also can win. If God doesn't exist, there is no why. And if God exists, then there's a why that's more powerful than anything you and I have ever, ever imagined. So what and how is awesome. But we can't start there.

In fact, there's a guy named Simon Sinek. I don't know if you've ever heard of Simon Sinek. He's an author and a speaker. He gave a talk and he wrote a book called Start With Why. You know, we're all about the what's and the hows. And he says, no, no, what you need to do. In an organization, if you're part of a company, part of a group, even in your own life, don't start with what and how.

Start with why. And he gives the example of Apple Computer. And how Apple Computers at one point was pretty innovative. I don't know if you remember that. And he says, we buy Apple products not because of their what and their hows. The what of Apple is we make intuitive technology. That's easy to use. That's the what.

That's what they do. The how is we use the best possible resources, materials, and designs. And Simon Sinek makes the point of saying, like, no one would buy Apple products based off of their what and based off their how. We buy Apple, or some of us buy Apple, based off of their why. Because Apple starts with why. What's their why? Apple says, we believe that technology can change the world for the better. when we think differently. That's their why. Therefore, using the best resources, technology, and

design, we create intuitive tech that's easy to use. They don't start with what or how. They start with why, and that guides and shapes their how. The cool thing is, as I was listening to this talk years ago, I was like, Apple didn't invent this. And Simon Sinek didn't discover this. This actually comes from God. It comes from our gospel today. Where John writes down, in the beginning. In the Beacon's beginning at the start was the Logos. And the Logos was with God. And the Logos was God. How did God start with the Logos? We all know, right? Logos means like word. In the beginning was the word. It does mean that. It also means reason. Pope Benedict in 16th pointed this out. the word logos in Greek actually also means meaning in English.

So in the beginning was the meaning. And the meaning was with God and the meaning was God. Another way to say it is, before all the what, there was the why. Before all of the what, there was the why, the meaning, the whole thing. God starts with why. And when God starts with why, and he says, in the beginning was meaning, And the beginning goes, the why.

One of the things that John is pointing out is that, therefore, all the what, including you, matter. Because of the meaning, because in the beginning was the meaning. All of the what, including you, matters. That your life and your decisions matter. That's why we can't just do whatever we want, because everything you and I choose to do at all makes a difference. Now, some of this, this might not be a shock to you. you might be like, yeah, got it. I am Catholic, by the way. If that's the case, if this, none of this is like news, if none of this is really inspiring, if none of this shocks you,

congratulations, Catholicism worked in your life. Because that's what we should know, right? We should know all of this stuff. Because there is virtually no other philosophy. There is no other religion in the world that declares with as much power and even with as much proof. This fact, you matter to God. Say that again. There is no other religion in the world that declares with as much power or as much proof that you matter to God. You matter to him. Think about that for two seconds.

We shouldn't. I shouldn't matter to God. I mean, just, really, what do I have that would attract him to me? Nothing. What do you have, what do we have that would attract him to us? what we possibly offered to him, and yet here we are with this truth, that you matter to him. You know, Paul even wrote about this in his letter to the Romans. It's Romans chapter 5.

And Paul even says this, he says, Christ, while we were still helpless, he yet died for the ungodly, died for the broken, died for the wounded, died for those who had nothing to offer. He says, indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a good person. even though maybe perhaps for a good person, someone might find the courage to die. But God proves his love for us. This is key. He proves his love for us. And that while we were still sinners, while we were still broken, while we were still wounded, while we were still lost, while we were still a mess, Christ died for us. God proves his love for us. And that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. That's why in John's Gospel, he goes on, doesn't just

say in the beginning was the meaning, the why, and the why was with God, and the why was God. He goes on, in verse 14, he says, and then the Logos became flesh and dwelt among us. He reveals this, the meaning of the universe is a person. The meaning of the universe is a person. The why is actually the who, and the why became flesh and dwelt among us. question, like, how could we be, how could Catholics not be transformed by that? Like, how could we come to Mass week after week, day after day, and not be transformed by this amazing news that the why is a who and the who became one of us and entered into our what? I think probably because most of us would say, you know, I check the box, theist, I check the box, I believe.

So I have meaning in life. I know there's a purpose to life. I'm not, there's not, it's not accidental. And yet most of us are what John Paul II called practical atheists. Yeah, maybe we say, I believe in God, but we don't live like we believe in God. We can say, yeah, no, no, God didn't make this world on accident, but we live on accident. We can say, no, I know God made this world on purpose, made me on purpose, but we don't live on purpose. We don't, we live without knowing him. And so many times we just do stuff without even knowing why. We do stuff without knowing why. You know there's a man, Victor Frankel? I'm sure you've heard of Victor Frankl. He was a psychologist, a Jewish psychologist back in World War II who was imprisoned by the Nazis in a

concentration camp, tortured for years and saw unbearable suffering, unbearable pain. When he got out of the concentration camp, he wrote a book called Man's Search for Meaning. We just paused on this one. This is amazing. Isn't this Christmas Day? What is that? Christmas is Meaning's Search for Man. the Logos search for man. He gets out and he writes this book, Man Search for Meaning. And he said that when he was in the concentration camp,

there were some people who were absolutely crushed by the suffering. They were crushed by tremendous pain. And some seemed to be able to survive it. And he asked the question again and again, why? Like, what's the difference between those who were crushed by their circumstances and those who were able to live through the circumstances? and he came to this conclusion. He said that a man can survive, or human being, can survive any what if he has a strong enough

why. A human person can endure any what as long as he has a powerful enough why. And the why became flesh, and he lived among us. He just realized this, that why, that meaning is bigger than happiness. There may be certain areas of our life where happiness may not be found. but meaning. The why is present even when life appears to make no sense. That the why dwells among us,

even when suffering seems to be unbearable. And the why is with us, even when death seems to be the end of every good story. And that's why we're here today, because we have a strong enough why, a strong enough reason, the meaning of the universe has become one of us. And we could say, we can hear all this is the last thing,

We hear all of us and say, fine, yeah, Father, I get it. But why? But why did he do this? Why does he keep doing this? Why does he keep coming to us? Why does he keep choosing us? Why Christmas? In fact, the catechism asked that question, basically why Christmas?

Catechism gives four answers. I'm only going to give two, because, you know, time and stuff. The first two answers, the catechism gives up why the incarnation? Why did the word? Why did the why become flesh? Catechism says, first, to save us by reconciling us to God. Second, why? that thus we might know God's love, that thus you might know that there is a strong enough why

so you can endure any what? You might still be tormented by it, but why, but why? I don't get it. There was a young woman who was out on our campus a bunch of years ago, and she was, this, this what wasn't enough for her. She needed even as stronger why. So she went into the chapel, she told me this, she went into the chapel and she said, God, I'm not leaving until you give me an answer. why do you keep choosing me? Her art was just really torn apart. She said, God, why do you keep forgiving me? Why do you keep pursuing me?

And she said, I'm not leaving it until you tell me why, which is dangerous. Bring a snack if you ever do that. She sat there and prayed asking that question for hours. And finally she heard the question, God, why do you keep choosing me? Why do you keep forgiving me? And the Lord's voice said, Because I love you. She's very stubborn, and that wasn't good enough. She said, no, God, but why? I get it. I know what. But why? And soon enough, the answer came back, four words.

Because I choose to. God, why would you do all this? Because I love you. Yeah, but why? Because I choose to. The God says, I am the logos. I am the reason. I am the meaning. I am the why. is a who and the why has now entered into our what and that changes everything