Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 12/25/23 The Amateur

Episode Date: December 25, 2023

Homily from the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas). The reality is that God is not a professional. He is an amateur. There are many things in life where we merely like the "idea" of that thing. The reality is another story, because the reality makes demands on us. Christmas is a reminder that we not only cannot love the "idea" of God, but that He does not merely love the idea of us. Mass Readings from December 25, 2023: Isaiah 52:7-10 Psalms 98:1-6.Hebrews 1:1-6 John 1:1-18

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 and 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.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John. Glory to you, Lord. 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 shines in 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 so that all might believe through him. He was not the light that 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 the 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 dwelt 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, saying, This was 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 I'll meet you to have a seat So if there's anything that Christmas reveals and anything that the gospel reveals anything that Christianity reveals

is that God is a total amateur. That he's, yeah, that's it. That God is a, he's a total and utter amateur. He's not a pro. We'll come back to that in a little bit. One of my best Christmases, I guess, it was one of my best Christmas Eve's, I think it was one of those things

where we all went to bed, we had Christmas Eve bask, went back home and had some presents and stuff, all went to sleep. And the middle of the night, I heard barking. Now, out on the fourth of six, I keep bringing that up, and all of my siblings,

We all begged our parents for a dog. We all wanted a dog. It was like the dream. Like we pastored them and bothered them and then begged for a dog. And so here in the middle of the night, Christmas Eve night, I wake up, I hear a dog. And I go to my parents' room. I'm like, Mom and Dad, I hear a dog. And they're like, no, you don't.

Like, go back to sleep. And as soon as my mom said that, I heard the dog barked. And I'm like, see, that's the dog. They're like, okay, fine. So they get out of bed and walk downstairs into the furnace room, right? It's a little bit warmer. There's this cardboard box. And inside the box is this golden lab.

And on the box is a little someone had written said to Mike. And I'm like, oh, this is my dog. Oh my gosh, Tim. And I immediately named my dog Tim. I'm like, this is incredible. I hug the dog and held the dog a bit. You know, Tim and petted the dog. And went back to bed. I'm so excited. I have a dog now. I can't wait to get up in the morning and show all my siblings. We have a, you know, I have a dog. We have a dog. And so the next morning happens, Christmas morning, today, right? And we go downstairs. And I'm like, you guys, go into the furnace room. And there's the dog. And like, what's his name? I was like, his name is Tim.

And then my oldest sister was like, uh, his name is not Tim. That's a her. That's a she. That's a girl dog. And I was like, we're the, no, she knows her name now. I've called her Tim multiple times. We can't change it now.

So we just added another M because that's, so T IMM was her name or her whole life. Because apparently T.I.M. is the female version of Tim. I don't know. Now, whenever I tell people, your dog's name is Tim, you name your dog Tim, even if they don't know that it's a female dog. I was like, yeah, yeah. I think it's okay because years later, I mean, so many years later, 20 years later,

I discovered that C.S. Lewis, of whom I am quite a fan, he had a dog. Guess what his dog's name was? Tim, male dog, 1M, but still, like, I'm like, we out in that same wavelength. This is amazing. Now, here's the problem. We not only found out that the dog was named Tim, we found out that the dog was female dog. Pretty quickly, after getting a dog, I found out that I don't really like dog. that much. I mean, just like, let me clarify. I found out that I don't like dogs at all. I mean,

here's a deal. I like the idea of dogs. Abstractly speaking, I make fun of cat people all the time or cats, really. I'm like, oh, you know, dogs are man's best friend. Cats are of the devil, like basically. But in reality, I'm the opposite. So abstractly, conceptually, I'm like, dogs are awesome. And I think they really are. And abstractly, conceptually, cats are kind of weird. But I actually, in person, concretely, I kind of like cats more than dogs. Because like dogs, when you show up, the dogs are up in your face. They're up in your business. They won't stop bothering you. I'm like, just calm down, bro. Like back off. But cats are the cats walk in. They're like, look at you. Like, so. And then they walk away. I'm like,

yes, thank you. That's exactly what I like. That's what I want from a pet, which is to say, I don't want a pet. It's because I want a pet that will leave me alone because I like the idea of a pet more than I actually like the reality of a pet. Why am I bringing this up on Christmas? Because today we hear my favorite God, it is my favorite, probably favorite piece of scripture. This entire book is in the gospel of John chapter 1. And in the beginning was the word. And the word was God. And the word it was with God and the word was God. It's just, it's incredible. It's amazing. It's just, it's so good. It reminds me, in fact, of, I don't know if you're close to completing the catechism in the year.

If you listen to that, maybe you'll start in January 1st. But the very first line, the very opening prologue of the catechism, is kind of like this. It's kind of like what we just heard from John's Gospel. The opening line says this, in a plan of sheer goodness, God freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. It's kind of like what we just heard, is that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And all things came to be through him. So again, catechism says, in a plan of sure goodness, God, in a plan of sure goodness, freely created a man to make him share in his own blessed life.

This is so good. I love that idea. I love that truth abstractly. But the reality, the reality makes demands. I love the idea of a dog. But the reality makes demands. I love the idea that in a plan of sure goodness, God freely created us to share in his own blessed life. I love that. But the reality makes demands. I mean, the scripture goes on. John chapter

one goes on and says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. That what we're celebrating at Christmas is that God is not just an idea. He's not just abstract. That the concrete reality of God comes close. And in fact, that's what the catechism says too. The catechism goes on to say, as I said, God in a plan of sure goodness, freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. And it makes us ask the question, do I like the real God? Do I like the reality of God? Or do I like the abstract concept of a God who loves me? That's awesome. But do I like, do I want? Will I choose? Will I rejoice in

the reality that he shows up and makes demands. So our readers today are Jack and Emily. Jack and Emily, they just got married about half a year ago. Basically, that's six months anniversary coming around around this time. Amazing. And the interesting thing about Jack and Emily, and maybe every married couple, is I don't know too many married couples who get married because they love the idea of marriage. Maybe there's people out there who do that and that's maybe not the best idea. But people don't get married because they love the idea of marriage. I love the idea of a life with you. I mean, yes, probably that's attractive and it's something that's compelling. But they get married because they don't love the idea of marriage.

They love the person. They know who this person is and they say, you, that I actually, I'm willing to have a life where you get to make demands on me. Why? Not because I love the idea of making demands. Because I love you. So here's God. When a plan of your goodness freely created us to make us share in his own

blessed life. And for this reason, at all times, in every place, he draws close to us. Why? The answer is because whatever God is, he's not a pro. The answer is, for whatever else God is, he is an amateur. What I mean by that is this, is that, I'm not saying that's not good at what he does. He's very good. I mean, he gets five out of five for me. But a pro is what? Pro is someone who gets paid. A pro is someone who gets points. Pro is someone who gets credit. A pro is someone who does the thing they do because they get something back. An amateur is someone who does it just because they love it. Right? So amateur, in fact, the word amateur doesn't mean nonprofessional, doesn't mean unexcellent. An amateur, it comes from the word amare, which means to love. And God is an

amateur because he doesn't get anything out of drawing close to us other than he gets the chance to love us. My friend Nick, I bring him up all the time. Nick, he said he was a security guard. He paid his way through Bible College by going being a security guard at night. So one of the guys he worked with was this kind of middle-aged man. He was a security guard because he loved music. That was the reason why. Because he just loved creating music. So he said they have this job all night where he doesn't have to do a lot.

He makes the rounds a couple times a night. But the rest of the time, he just gets to sit at this desk, monitor the screens, and create music. And he didn't want to sell his music. He didn't want to performance music. He didn't want to make a life of music. He just made music because he loved making music. So he was a security guard all night for the love of music. He was an amateur.

Again, he was incredible. He was excellent, but he did it just because he loved making music. And that's what God is. God is an amateur. That Christmas, this whole thing, the cross, he only does this because he loves. But let's pause on that for a second. He only does it because he loves. If I stop there, I'm stopping short.

I don't know if you've ever finished a letter or a no. or a text with love. You know, love the Andersons or whatever, you know, your names are. The reality, of course, is that God doesn't stop there. He doesn't say, love God. He says, love you. So that's the next step, right? Just say love at the end of a text, the end of a letter, end of an email, love, da-da-da-da.

That's fine. But the next level is love you, which is better, right? because I'm saying that you're not to say you're lovable. You're saying you're loved. So you need to know this, you know, whoever you are. You're loved. Love you. Because that love you captures and communicates affection for you.

If someone says this to you, they say, love you, that captures and communicates affection for you. And this might seem weird. But have you ever noticed? Maybe you haven't noticed. You ever noticed this, the kind of the leap, I think it's a leap between like you're sending a text to someone or an email to someone or you're writing to someone. and you say love you versus like, wait a second, I love you.

So I have a family that is very affectionate. Like we are very verbally affectionate. We tell each other affirmations a lot. We're very physically affectionate, a lot of hugging and kissing, that kind of thing. So it shouldn't be an issue. But sometimes I find myself, if I'm texting my siblings, they say something like, da-da-da-da-da-da, love you. And I want to respond to them.

And I want to communicate to them that actually I love you. I have to physically embrace myself for this. I don't know. I'm very weird. I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't like dogs. I have it hard times. But it's that sense of like,

because there's a difference between saying love you and I love you. But when it comes to them, when it comes to those family members, I have to steal and say I have to do it because, why? Because I need you to know that you're not just loved. I need you to know that I love you. Because while love you might capture and communicate affection, I love you captures and communicates commitment. You don't need to know who loves you.

you. You need to know that I love you. This is Christmas. This is, this is not just a love letter to us from God. Not just love, that's the idea, or love you, which is better. But Christmas is God saying, I love you, me, here loving you. And that reality, well, a cute question, do I like that reality? Because this is the Declaration of Christianity. This is the Declaration of Christmas. Do I want that reality? But here's the deal.

Even if you don't, even if I struggle with it, God wants you. Flip it around. God doesn't want the idea of you. God doesn't love the idea of you. God loves you. Christmas is God saying, I love you, essentially saying, I choose you.

For what reason? Because he's an amateur. Just because he loves. And this is the last thing. What do we do with that? There's a young woman I know. She's a former student up here in Duluth. And recently, her father passed away.

She's still young. She's in her mid-20s. And this is their first Christmas where she and her mom and siblings, they won't have their dad. Her mom and her dad adopted her when she was, I'm maybe two or three years old. And there's a way in which her dad has told her whole life that I got to choose you. that most, you know, most mom and dads, they just kind of accept, they just receive whoever a kid is, and that's wonderful too, that's beautiful too. But her dad has told her whole life, like, I got to choose you, and I'm glad I chose you.

And he's told her her whole life that, like, I love you. Again, not the idea of some child we adopted, but I love you because you're my daughter. And I have to say this, for years, she refused their love. Because how she saw herself, she saw herself as just, I'm a burden to them. Yeah, they chose me, but I cost too much. Yeah, maybe they chose me, but every mistake she made and every bad decision that she made was just another reason in her mind why they should not have chosen her. She was loved her whole life. She's been loved her whole life.

But it wasn't until the last two or three years, the last two or three years of her father's life, that she began to believe him. That when he said, I love you, she received it. And she mentioned, she shared that as he was dying, the hour he died, she was able to thank him for choosing her. And he didn't say, you're welcome. He said thank you. Why? Because the greatest gift she could give him

was simply letting him love her. The greatest gift she could give him was realizing, okay, he's chosen me, the reality of me, not the idea of me, the real me. Not because I give him anything, not because I bring him anything, not because I don't make mistakes, not because I'm perfect, but because he's an amateur, an amateur dad.

And the greatest gift she could give him was receiving his love, letting him choose her. And this is Christmas. God has declared to us that He loves you. Not the idea of you, but the reality. And the greatest gift we could ever possibly give to this God who is an amateur. is not to live perfect lives, it's not to never mess up. The greatest gift we could give him maybe this Christmas day is to simply say to this God who is not a professional, this God who is a total and utter amateur, thank you, thank you for choosing me, thank you, thank you for loving me.