Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 12/25/22 Closer Than You Think: Small Enough to Ignore

Episode Date: December 24, 2022

Homily from the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas Mass). At Christmas, in our lives, and in the Mass...God becomes small enough to ignore. God is closer than we think. But the ways that He draws close to us is that He comes so close that we can miss Him and He becomes so small that we can ignore Him. Mass Readings from December 25, 2022: Isaiah 62:1-5 Psalms 89:4-5, 16-17, 27, 29Acts 13:16-17, 22-25 Matthew 1:1-25

Welcome to Sunday homilies with me, Father Mike Schmitz. I hope today's homily inspires and motivates you, and I also hope that it leaves you hungry for the one who gave everything to feed you. If you want to get this in other Sunday Mass resources sent straight to your inbox, sign up at ascensionpress.com slash Sunday, or by texting Sunday to 33777. You can also follow or subscribe on your podcast app for weekly notifications. God bless. The Lord be with you.

What is your script? A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John, chapter 1, verse 1 through 18. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through Him.

And without Him, nothing came to be. What came to be through Him was life. And this life was the light of the human race. The light that shines in the darkness. And the darkness has not overcome it. A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony to testify to the light. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light.

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world. And the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him. But to those who did accept him, he gave power to become children of God. To those who believe in his name who were born not by natural generation, nor by human choice, nor by a man's decision, but of God. And the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

And we saw his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. John testified to him and cried out saying, This is he, of whom I said, the one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me. From His fullness, we have all received grace in place of grace. Because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, the only son, God, who is at the Father's side, has revealed him. The gospel of the Lord. So as I start, I'm going to ask you to forgive me.

But it's Christmas, so give me a little treat. And the treat is, so I know that I bring up Lord of the Rings maybe too often. I don't know if it's too often. It's often enough. I think I mentioned it before the beginning of Advent. And one of the things about this is just, the story of Lord of the Rings is just fascinating. It's compelling. And it's okay.

I'm a nerd. It's Christmas. Thank you for your gift. But I would say this. If you know the story about the Lord of the Rings, there's this place called Middle Earth, right? And there's this evil force. There's this evil being named Sauron. and he is bent on domination.

That's what he wants. He wants simply to enslave all of Middle Earth. All the creatures, right? The elves, the wizards, the wizards, the hobbits. Everyone, he wants to enslave them all. He wants domination. But it's interesting because there's this ring, right? The ring of power.

And if he gets the ring of power, then he wins. But the ring of power is really interesting because the ring of power, it doesn't enslave from the outside. That it doesn't dominate from the outside. The ring of power, the best way to describe it is, it corrupts. And just think of how different it is domination versus corruption. Corruption is when you take something good and just twist it. That's what the ring does, right? It takes something good and twists it.

It takes good people and good ideas and good intentions and good goals. And twists those hearts, twists those people. In fact, you know, here's an intention and I'll do it. whatever I can to get my intention. Here's my goal. And no matter what happens, I'll do whatever I need to to get the goal. So the ring corrupts. In fact, it doesn't just corrupt hearts.

It corrupts relationships. And this is recognized. We recognize corruption. Corruption doesn't just twist my own heart. It breaks relationships, right? It breaks families. It breaks friendships. And so the whole point of the story is to destroy the ring.

You have to do it in the fires of Mount Doom. And so there's all these heroic characters, right? There is Erichorn, who is the great king. There is Gandalf, who's the great wizard. There is Galadriel, who is like the great elf. There's this man named Boromir, who's this noble human being. And all of them would be great, great choices. In fact, if we were writing the story, if we were listening to the story,

if we were watching this, and we didn't know how it ended, we'd think, well, those are the choices, those are the heroic people. They're the ones who are strong, they're powerful, they're big. They can do it. But none of them can actually. In fact, in the story, it's revealed that there's only one being, only one person who can carry the ring. and he's a hobbit, he's the same Frodo.

And it's fascinating because he can't carry the ring because he's big or because he's powerful or because he's heroic. He can carry the ring because he's not. He can carry the ring because he's small. He can carry the ring because he's small. He's small enough to be ignored. So that when this being Sauron is looking for who's carrying this thing, who's going to destroy this thing,

he doesn't see Frodo because Frodo is small enough to be ignored. I mean, that's the case with a lot of good in our lives, right? I think a lot of good in our lives is often small enough to be ignored. But also, it's true when it comes to the bad things in our lives. When it comes to pain in our lives, I think often there is pain in the people around us that is not small for them, right? It's tremendous in them. But for those on the outside, it's so small it can be ignored.

It's so small we don't even notice. I mean, the pain of mental illness can be such interiorly for that individual, an incredible, tremendous burden. But for those outside, it's just so small that we can ignore it. For someone struggling with any kind of battle, interiorly, any kind of battle that they have in their life that none of us know about on the outside, it's so small that it can be ignored. Even great losses, I know a number of people who have had miscarriages, and that is devastating, whose children were still born, and that is devastating, whose children only

lived a short time and then they lost them. And again, of course, this is devastating, but from the outside, we're like, oh, that's, it's, we don't know how to talk about it. We know what to do with it. It's the kind of pain that we know is so big, but also at the same time it's so small that it can be ignored. There's this couple I know out in North Dakota, Ashley and Dane, they just celebrated their first year wedding anniversary. And shortly after their wedding, a couple months later, they discovered that they were pregnant and incredible joy. Even in the midst of pain, Ashley in her first trimester had these just crippling migraine headaches.

But she's like, it's okay because we have a child and he's on his way. At their 20-week appointment, the doctors said that they discovered that Their childs, their babies, kidneys weren't forming. And because of that, his lung, he weren't working, so because of that his lungs wouldn't form. And he wouldn't be able to survive outside the womb for any time at all. And again, you'd imagine, like, all this joy, all this expectation, all this insistent, and in the middle of that, just this devastation.

But for those next four months, this couple, Ashley and Dane, they did everything they could to just love their child in her womb. It's a mix of just sorrow and bitterness and joy and trust. So Ashley ultimately carried their son to term and delivered him via C-section. Peter Joseph lived for one hour. You know, Dane, he spoke so highly about his wife at their son's wake and funeral. Dane said, you know, he said, it is quite the cross to carry a child knowing that he's not going to live.

And my wife did that. It's quite the cross to carry a child, knowing he's not going to live. And of course, I know when I wanted to talk about this, I want to share this, I was afraid I asked to, I'm afraid that I'm poking a wound here. And the response came back that was like, Peter's life isn't a wound. It's a blessing. It's just shorter than they had hoped. It was a life that was shorter.

It's a life that's smaller. It's so small that it could be ignored. You know, of course we hear that and we like, yeah, but God could have fixed that. Like, God could have done something about that? Like, couldn't God have stepped in? Couldn't God have unbroken what was broken? Like, couldn't God have healed what was going wrong? And the answer is, yeah, maybe.

I mean, of course, God's God. He can do whatever. But here's the question. The question is, would that fix anything? I mean, we live in a world where things keep getting broken again, right? We live in a world where we keep saying no to God. We live in a world where we all get sick again. I mean, even if God healed us in any moment, we all get sick again.

In fact, I think about this in last couple of years when it comes to getting sick a couple years ago, we did something really weird as a culture. Really strange that when someone got sick, starting, around March of 2020, when someone got sick, we did something that we really rarely do as human beings. We said, okay, you're sick, we're going to quarantine you. You're sick. We're going to isolate you from everyone else. I mean, again, we need to stop the spread, all these kind of things.

But I just found it so fascinating that in that moment we decided, okay, you're sick, get away. And that was the message, right? You're sick, get away. And again, maybe it's really wise, me it's really smart. But here's what it's done. Here's what an unintended consequence for me in my life right now is that that's what I do whenever someone's sick. My mind is like, okay, you're coughing. Why are you here?

Like, you're sniffling. Why are you near me? And realize there's something that's been twisted, right? Something's been corrupted. A couple years ago, my little sister, she sent me a, video on my birthday and um two little girls her second and third little girl Catherine and Claire

they were with her and they were also they're both these two little girls were just sick and they were again they're just eyes are all red and their nose is all puffy and they just they're stuffy noses and they're coughing and they had me sent me like a birthday video and it was just the most adorable thing ever in the world because they're my niece Catherine super little at the time she's like happy birthday uncle father mike and she had this at one point she said did you have a good party with your friends and it's just like oh my gosh I don't have parties, I'm a grown man. I'll start not have friends. I'm a grown man.

But the thing that struck me is just touched my heart so much, not just what they were saying, not just their birthday greeting. But the fact that here are these just these two little petri dishes, and here is their mom just snuggling in with the two of them. These two little girls that are just sniffling and coughing and full of contagion, just two little cesspools, and their mom is just holding onto them so tightly. She's not afraid to get close. All those kids could offer her was their illness.

That's all they had. It's all they had to offer her. And she still got close. Now someone, you obviously can hear that and they're like, well duh, that's what you do. That's what moms do. I'm like, yeah, I hope so. As their parents do, I hope so. But sometimes we don't.

Sometimes when something is broken or sometimes when something is correct. sometimes when something is sick or unlovely, we stay away. And this is Christmas, right? This is literally Christmas. The God declares, okay, when you're sick and all you have to offer me is your wound, I'm going to come close. When you're sick and all you have to offer me is your sin, I'm going to come close. When you have literally, there's no loveliness in you.

Here's God who declares, I'm going to come close. When all we have to offer him is infection, He comes close. But he comes so small, right? That's the whole message of Christmas here. As a child, God himself, the incarnate God, comes so close to us. But he's so close that we might miss him. And he's so small that we're able to ignore him.

And this is the truth of Christianity, that God gets so small that it makes it possible for us to ignore him. Again, back at Peter Joseph's wake and funeral, his dad stood up and he gave this, he shared, he shared that, yeah, that even though Ashley endured these headaches, what it did was it made her turn to prayer and she actually ended up turning to pray to St. Gemma, St. Gemma Gaghani. St. Gemma Gagani was an Italian saint who, they didn't know this at the time, but both Dane and Ashley felt this real close connection. Later on they found out that St. Jemma Galgani is the patron saint,

of those who suffered from migraines. They didn't even realize this and they realized, okay, God, you're here. Yes, they found it at 20 weeks after five months, that they only have maybe moments with Peter when he was born. Yet here's Ashley who treasured every moment that she could carry her son in her womb,

even though she knew she'd only have a couple moments to carry him in her arms. When Peter Joseph was born, There was a priest there. He was immediately held by his parents. He was immediately baptized and confirmed. This little boy was claimed by God and made a son of God. As I said, he survived for one hour.

And in that hour, he was loved by his mom and his dad. His grandparents got to not only see their grandson alive. They were able to be there as he died. Dan had said that so many people prayed during the course of Ashley's pregnancy, so many people who might not have prayed were praying. And so here's Peter, who got many people to pray. There was, Peter was buried in a coffin that his dad made for him. That while Ashley carried Peter in her womb,

Dane was making a wooden coffin for his son, the one and only birthday present he'd ever give his boy. But at this eulogy, at this wake, Dane was pointing out, he was pointing out, not where God wasn't. He was pointing out all the places God was. It was one of those remarkable situations where in the worst season of their young marriage, they kept noticing all these small things.

They kept noticing all the small places where God kept showing up. They kept noticing all the small ways that God kept revealing himself. They kept noticing all the small ways that God was closer than they thought he would be. But all those ways were so small that they could be ignored. But even in that worst, season of their lives. God was closer because that's what God does. God keeps showing up.

That this isn't just for Christmas. We heard in the gospel today that in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. And then it says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. God keeps showing up and this is the crazy thing. You can say, well yeah, it's fine. He did then. What does he do now? Well, here's a crazy thing. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. And then what did Jesus say? He said, my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Because the bread that I will give you to eat for the life of the world is my flesh. It is just a crazy, this is just blows our mind and should blow our heart to pieces. When we realize that God didn't just show up 2,000 years ago and then leave.

God shows up now. God shows up at this mass. In every tabernacle, in every Catholic church all over the world, God is truly present. But how is he present? He's present in the Eucharist. And he's present. He's so small that we can ignore him. He's so small, he's small enough to be ignored. So this is the question.

This is a question for you and for me. Will I just pass by? Will I just walk by God himself? Who's come into this world, who has come so close that he might be unnoticed, who's become so small, he's become small enough to be ignored. I mean, and there's even hints in the whole Christmas story about how Jesus is going to do this,

how he's going to come close to us, even right now in the Eucharist. For granted out loud, after Jesus is born in a cave in Bethlehem, where does his, where do his parents put him? They place him in a manger. Manger is not like Hebrew for crib. Manger actually is a feeding trough. Manger means eat, a place of eating. Why?

Because he is the bread that came from heaven. I mean, even think about this. What city was Jesus born in? He's born in the city of Bethlehem. In Hebrew, Bethlehem means house of bread. Even more, it crazy. In Arabic, Bethlehem means house of flesh. How amazing is this.

that from all eternity God has planned this out so that here, when the word became flesh and dwelt among us, he's placed in a feeding trough because he knows what's going to happen. He knows what he wants to do. He wants to come so close to us that he enters into our brokenness and he allows himself to be food, both flesh and bread. He's become close enough to miss and he's become small enough to ignore. And so we just can't miss this, even in brokenness, even in brokenness, even In our sorrow, and this is the last thing, at the eulogy for his son, Dane said, I hope.

He said, I hope that many hearts will contemplate the deep mystery to which we have been called. The mystery to which has called Ashley and myself to let go of our child, of our only son, our firstborn. It said the mystery to toil through our lives and to give an account of our lives at our death. because God is close. God has made himself small, so don't miss him. What if we didn't? Like truly, like starting now, what if? What if we saw?

What if we didn't pass by? And what if we didn't ignore him? Starting today, starting at this mass, starting on Christmas Day, what if we noticed? We would realize that even in our grief, he hadn't left, we would notice that even in our unloveliness he hadn't abandoned us. You'd notice that even in our suffering, he is there.

He is there. We realized that he became so small so that we wouldn't be intimidated by him. He becomes so small so that we would draw close to him without fear. But also he's become so small that he's become small enough to ignore. But what have we realized that even though he is small, God is closer than we think?