Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 12/3/23 Main Character: An Average Star

Episode Date: December 2, 2023

Homily from the First Sunday of Advent. You are God. I am not. When we encounter the true and living God, there is only one response...it involves six little words, but makes a world of difference. Mass Readings from December 3, 2023: Isaiah 63:16-17, 19; 64:2-7 Psalms 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-191 Corinthians 1:3-9 Mark 13:33-37

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 Mark Chapter 13 verses 33 through 37 Jesus said to his disciples Be watchful, keep alert. You do not know when the time will come. It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge each with his own work

and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch. Watch, therefore. You do not know when the Lord of the House is coming, whether in the evening or at midnight or at cock crow or in the morning. May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to all, watch. The Gospel of the Lord. Let you have a seat.

So since it is Advent, now we're approaching Christmas, I figured it would be my annual reference to, I think, what I think actually is the greatest Christmas movie of all time. I know a couple weeks ago I joked about taken being Greatest Christmas movie. I don't know about that. I would say It's a Wonderful Life is almost hands down.

It was my favorite. I don't know if it's the greatest, but it is definitely my favorite. If you don't know this story, it's wonderful life. You guys know this story? It's wonderful life. So here is a little recap.

There's this man. His name is George Bailey. And he lives in the small town of Bedford Falls. And his dream, though, all growing up, his dream is to leave town. And not just to leave town,

but to leave town and become someone important. Like to leave town and live this impactful life, like to going on adventures, building big buildings. He wants to make an impact. He wants to leave his mark. That George Bailey, he wants to change the world. George Bailey, he wants, yeah, he wants to be someone important. But the whole story is the fact that due to a number of different circumstances,

he never leaves town. He has no adventures. There's no huge buildings that he builds. There's no changing the world. And he doesn't. He doesn't become somebody important. He's just average. This is kind of the story if it's a wonderful life is here's this man who ends up becoming, as it says in the movie, a warp frustrated young man. Why? Because he's supposed to be the star. And he ends up just being average.

That he's, in his mind at least, he's supposed to be the main character. And he's just average. I've been thinking about that term a lot lately because, you know, on the internet, see they have this thing called main character. I go, you know you guys have known this one. So main character syndrome is, it's basically this idea, it's not an actual syndrome that psychologists have diagnosed. I've looked that up, made sure, but it's this kind of the person, you might just diagnose them yourself, the kind of person who basically they identify as the protagonist of their own life. Like, they're the person

who, in the most annoying kind of ways, they're the ones who are like, they're self-centered. They see everyone else as like the supporting cast of like their drama, like their issues, their problems are like the number one thing. So you can say of someone like, wow, they're giving off some really major main character energy. Like that idea is that like, no, I'm the center. This is my story. You are all players in my story. You're all supporting cast in my story.

You're here to help me solve my problems. I'm here to become somebody. And that, of course, it's most accentuated, obviously, on the internet. But this isn't all of us. This is every single one of us. And it's not even always bad. I want to clarify this. Being the main character, seeing yourself as the protagonist of your story to a certain degree

can be a really good thing. Because why? Because it highlights the fact that you have agency. It can be used for good, right? It can highlight the fact that, okay, I can't just waste my life. I can't be an observer in my own life. I'm not an NPC, right? So if you know any gaming things, an NPC is a non-player character,

just someone who just happens to be there who has to do what they're programmed. You are not an NPC. You are not meant to be an observer in your own life. But at the same time, we have the question. were you and I, were we made to be the main character? Again, there's something good about taking responsibility and taking action in your own life, in my own life. That's so good. But I think sometimes if we see ourselves as the main character, we can become incredibly weighed down by it. Because why? Because if I'm the main character,

then I have to control everything. If I'm the main character, I have to be perfect. I mean, I think that right now, you know, where we are in our semester, when it comes to students, on campus is there's a lot of weariness and there is a lot of overwhelmed there's a lot of stress there's a lot of just okay I can't wait to get just at the end of the semester because I'm just so tired and not just tired of the work I think so many of us so many of us we're tired of striving to be important we're tired of striving to be the main character because again if you're the main character you have to everything has to be in control you have to be in control of it you have to do everything perfect you can't

fail, you can't be average because you're the star. I mean, just think about that. You need to stand out because who wants to be average, right? You can't be average. You're the star. You're the main character. You know, I was thinking about stars recently. Actually, it's kind of funny enough. Maybe because of Advent, Advent, Christmas, Christmas, Christmas, Christmas stars, that kind of a deal. But it reminded me of this book I read years ago by a man, he's a pastor named Louis Giglio. and he's given talks about this too, but just like when it comes to the stars, like the actual stars in the sky, just even like our scientists on this planet, I mean, if you do this for so one second, just look down at your feet.

If you're right, right wherever you're at, just look down at your feet and just realize this is the amount of space that you're taking up. Like this is your space on this massive planet that we live on, right? I mean, we live in you right now are taking the up, whatever the square footage is of this planet that is so much bigger than every single one of us. The scientists have discovered this, the furthest away scientists have seen into space. So here you are, here I am, taking up our really small little portion of Earth. The furthest scientists have seen into space is a newly discovered galaxy that is 13 billion light years away.

So what's the light year? Quick, quick little science recap. Light travels at a speed of 186,000 miles per second. So light travels that step that fast. So if I were to snap my fingers, that would be enough time. for light to circumnavigate the globe seven times. So why? Because light travels so fast.

186,000 miles per second. So what is a light year? This just blows my mind. A light year is the amount of space light can travel in 365 days. So how far can light travel in 365 days? Light can travel. This is crazy. Light will travel approximately 5.88 trillion miles in one year.

So that's a light year. A late year is a space of 5.88 trillion miles. And again, these are numbers that, like, I just, I kind of, like, scratched my head and I'm like, I don't know what that is. Like, I can imagine 100. I can imagine a thousand, a million. But we get to these big trillion, I don't understand. So let's even look at this.

Maybe you've heard this before. If you were to count to a million, like, and you did it every second, like, how long would that take? Or actually say it like this. When was a million seconds ago? A million seconds ago was roughly 11 days. So it's a long, it's a lot, it's a big, big number. A million seconds ago was 11 days, roughly give or take.

So what was a billion seconds ago? A billion seconds ago, well, this is millions, 11 days, maybe I don't know, a month. A billion seconds ago, it was March of 1992. So roughly 32 years. So go from 11 days, million seconds, to a billion seconds is about 32 years. If you're going up to a trillion seconds, a trillion seconds, a trillion seconds, ago is roughly 32,000 years ago. So just like this massive.

And what is it? A light year? A light year is 5.88 trillion miles. So this galaxy that scientists just discovered, or they've severed it relatively recently, is 13 billion light years away, which means it's 13 billion times 5.88 trillion miles away. And then look down at your feet again. And we're like, okay, this is the amount of ground that I'm taken up, right? now in the furthest galaxy that we've ever seen is 13 billion times 5.88 trillion miles away.

Now, it's even more incredible. Again, Louis Giglio pointed this out. I remember it just, it blew my mind when he, when he said this, he said, okay, so where are we? If we take Earth and we held it up to the sun, like our, our sun, our star, you would have this. If Earth was the size of a golf ball, our sun would have would it be about 15 feet in diameter so in comparison it's pretty tiny right again here's and here you are here I am looking at her feet going okay this is the amount of space I'm taking up on this golf ball this golf ball this earth be a golf ball size to 15 feet in diameter of our sun so really the reality of course is that you could fit 960,000 earths in the sun 160,000 earths in the sun and the reality of course

is that the sun is kind of a normal star. It's one of hundreds upon hundreds times hundreds of billions of stars. That our star is pretty average, in fact. That another star that they found is a star called Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice is 427 light years away. It's kind of in scale comparison. Beetlejuice has twice the size. I remember when Louis Giglio pointed this out,

he said it's twice the size. It's not the twice the size of our sun. It's twice the size of our orbit around our sun. So, Beetlejuice is basically, if Earth was a golf ball and you had a comparison, if you put the golf ball on the ground, the Earth in comparison to Beetlejuice would be like placing a golf ball at the base of the Empire State Building times six. So six Empire State Building stacked on top of each other compared to our Earth would be like Beetlejuice compared to the golf ball.

And so if you were to fill, you'd take 262 trillion Earths to fill Betel Juice. And again, and that's not even the biggest star. In fact, there's so many more stars that are massively larger, the needle juice. In fact, the biggest star they've ever discovered is a star called Canis Majoris, basically Big Dog, it's called, and the Big Dog star, if you were to take the Earth, so I have a golf ball compared to Canis Majoris, it would be like placing a golf ball at the base of Mount Everest. Mount Everest is six miles above sea level. You could fit seven quadrillion earths into this one star.

And Canis Majoris, even though it's really, really large, is only one of hundreds of billions upon hundreds of billions of stars. Now here's where it comes back to Scripture. Look at where you're standing. Here we are. Seven quadrillion earths can fit in one star, one star out of hundreds of billions times hundreds of billions times hundreds of billions. and God made all the stars.

In fact, if you go back to Genesis chapter 1, when it says God made the stars, it's just kind of almost an offhand comment where it says, God made the stars also. In fact, Psalm 33 says like this, he says, by the Lord's word, the heavens were made, by his breath, all the stars. And so if we're going to have a contender

for the title of main character, I think God is kind of locked it in. I think God is going to clinch the title for main character of all time because we look at ourselves and see, realize, okay, wait a second, I actually didn't, not only did I not make any stars? I didn't make this earth. I didn't make this continent.

I probably didn't even make the home that I'm living in. I probably didn't even make the clothes that are on my back. And God breathed this world into existence. He breathed these stars. What would it be like to encounter this God? I mean, again, again, with all of us, with our main character syndrome, where we walk through life and think, like, I've got to control things, I've got to be important. I've got to make an impact.

I've got to be perfect. What would it be like to meet the main character face to face? So if you go back to the Old Testament, you look at the book of Exodus. I have the story of this man, same is Moses. And if there's anyone whose life is set up to look like the main character, for him to be convinced that he actually is meant to be the main character, it would be Moses. I mean, for crying out loud, here he is.

The Israelites are living in slavery in Egypt. And what happens? All the males are to be killed. So they are, except for Moses. At one point, his mother, you know, she puts him in the river. And who finds him in the river, in a basket? But Pharaoh's own daughter, what does she do? She takes him into her own home.

He lives in Pharaoh's palace. I mean, think about this. Here's this man who's meant to be born in slavery, but actually he gets raised in a palace. He gets raised among the princes and the princesses. He gets raised among the Pharaoh himself. And if there's anyone who would think like, man, my life is special. My love is meant to be important.

It probably would be Moses. You know, what happens? Well, he murders an Egyptian. He has to go on the run. and in that he runs off to the wilderness, he meets Zippera, his wife, and then he becomes a shepherd. And I imagine just he's reduced in the wilderness,

he's reduced to being average. This man who may be fought, like, no, no, my life is meant to be important. I'm the main character, my life is meant to make an impact. And now I'm just average. I wonder, I wonder, there's no indication, but I wonder if in scripture, I wonder if in his life he ended up becoming a little bit resentful. But he's the amazing thing.

In the middle of all this, the main character shows up. And he appears, he reveals himself to Moses, right, in the burning bush. There's this moment where God shows up. And he says, okay, Moses, here's the thing. I want you to go to Pharaoh. But I don't want you to go just as you. I want you to go and tell him my message and show him my power. I want you to go to Pharaoh and tell him, the Lord God says, let my people go.

That's my message. and I want you to prove to him that it's me by revealing my power. Here's this miracle and that miracle and the other thing. In the midst of all this, as God reveals that he's the main character and Moses is not, Moses asks the question. He says, okay, God, when I go to Pharaoh, when I go even to other people of Israel, who am I to say, who might to tell them you are? What's your name?

And this is remarkable because in this moment, God actually reveals his name. and God reveals, he says, I am who am. Now, this name is so unique. This name is, in Hebrew would be Yahweh, right? The word Yahweh. This word is so unique that even in our first reading today from the book of the prophet Isaiah, it says the Lord God's name is used many, many times,

but it's not actually written in the Bible because God's name, Yahweh is so sacred, it's so holy, it's so set apart that it's not even spoken, it's not even written in the Bible. In fact, in order to avoid writing the sacred name of God, which is so powerful and so unique to the main character, the Bible writers would instead write capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D in English. So they write the Lord, or the Lord God.

And the Lord God is spoken about in every page of Scripture. Why? Because he is the actual main character. In fact, in the first reading today, his name is uttered three times, but not Yahweh, the name of the Lord. He reveals again, this is definitely. important for us to understand that God reveals that he's the main character more than the one who just made the stars, more than the one who made all things visible and invisible, but the one who's active in this world, the one who's not uncaring in our pain, the one who actually comes to

meet us in our need, who comes to rescue us. And he's not only that, but he's calling Moses to carry his message and his power to his world. And Moses's response is definitive. Moses' response is what becomes, what has to be our response every time we encounter God as the main character. Why? Because God says, I am who am. And then he goes on to say, like, and what you're going to do is you're going to send my message, you're going to do my message. You're going to show them all these things. Moses is virtually his first words in response to God saying, I am. Moses' words are, I am not eloquent in speech.

or I am not good with words. This is important, especially for any of us who are trapped in main character syndrome, which might be all of us with this desire, I need to control, I need to be, I need to produce, I need to be perfect to realize that the secret, in fact, the first posture every one of us needs to have before God is six words. You are God. I am not. The freedom that is found.

for so many people in those six words. Again, if we don't have these six, if we don't have this posture before God himself, we don't have this posture before the main character, the main character, the Lord God himself, we will not get any part of our spiritual life right. In fact, we need this if we want freedom. We need this if we want peace.

We need this. If we actually want a relationship with God, these six words, you are God and I am not. Because here we are so weary. Right? Here we are so worn down, overwhelmed. Okay, all the pressure to perform, your God. I'm not. All the pressure to produce, you are God, I am not.

The pressure to be perfect, you are God, I am not. The pressure to control all the events in our lives, you are God, I am not. The pressure to change the world. Six words, you are God, I am not. The pressure to balance everything or to fix everyone in your life. I'll fix all the relationships. You are God. And I'm not.

The pressure to have all the answers. I can escape that pressure. By those six words, you are God. I am not. And this is in the gospel today too. Right? In the gospel, what does Jesus say? He says, be awake.

Like, watch. And what does that mean other than beware? Live the truth. And the truth is, God, you are God. and I'm not. And this is, again, as I said, this is foundational

for every one of our relationships. If we don't get this first step right, we will get nothing right in our relationship with Jesus. I mean, here's Peter. Jesus gets into Peter's boat. Says what?

He says, he goes out in the deep water for the catch, and he does that, brings in this huge, massive load of fish. And Peter falls at the feet of Jesus

and he says, essentially, he says, depart from you, Lord, I'm a sinful man. You are God. I'm not. Thomas, after Jesus rises,

from the dead. He misses that first appearance of Jesus on Easter Sunday. The next Sunday, he sees Jesus risen from the dead and he falls to his knees and he says those words, my Lord and my God, essentially saying, you are God and I'm not. And even the first reading today, Isaiah, once again, Isaiah says, basically, guys, he says, God, we've sinned. We got it all backwards. We turned it all upside down. You are the potter. We're the clay. You are the Creator, we're the work of your hands. You are God. We are not.

We've been living, and they say this essentially, we've been living as if we were the main character. And that's what we do. Don't we do this all the time? We take our prayer is largely spent advising God. Our prayer can largely be spent counseling God or telling God what he needs to be doing in our lives as opposed to the heart, the beginning,

the soul of our prayer being you are God and I'm not. In fact, the proper response to encountering the Lord God, like Moses, the proper response is what Isaiah did, to repent, to basically said, yeah, I've been living my life, I've been doing just what I want to do. But you're God and I'm not. You know, one of the most incredible things we could do this Advent is to let that define our prayer. And not just to let it define our prayer as we approach God and say,

you are God, I am not, but also to see what are all the places Lord God, in my life where I've flipped it around and I've said I'm going to do what I want to do because I'm the main character. I have to control things. I have to figure out my life. I have to be the star and to be able to this advent say actually I need to go to confession. I need to surrender my claim on the being the main character and say God actually you are. You're the star. You have the freedom of to be average. You know, in light of all the...

His last thing, in the light of all the stars and all the stuff I've been reading about the stars and, you know, Canis Majoris and Beetlejuice and all these other incredible. I've gone hundreds of billions about hundreds of billions of stars. Something struck me. In one of the books I was reading, it said

that our son is just an average star. I thought, that's kind of an oxymoron, isn't it? An average star. Is there such thing as an average? star. And maybe there is. Our sun is an average star. But what does this average star do? This average star is responsible for all life on this planet. Every person who has ever lived on this planet in some ways owes their life to this average star. Everything that grows on this earth owes its life to this average star. Everything that walks on this earth. Everything that walks on this earth.

Every creepy thing, every living thing on this planet owes its life to this average star. See, the thing as we get wrong is we think average means insignificant. That could not be further from the truth. Average does not mean insignificant. Because we have a star. It's an average star. And to our knowledge, it's the only star in existence that gives life, not just heat and not just light. average star is an oxymoron just like average human being is an oxymoron.

You know, C.S. Lewis, he said that if we were to see human beings as you truly are, as we truly are meant to be, we would be tempted to fall down and worship each other because every human being made in God's image and likeness, you've never met an average human being. This reality, of course, is that You're called though, where every one of us is called to be average. You are going to outlive the stars.

After the last star has faded, after the last star has imploded, after the last star has gone out, you will still exist. That's one of the reasons why St. Paul writing to the Corinthians, he says this. He says God is faithful. And by him, you have been called to fellowship with his son, Jesus Christ. Because you might be average. But you're not insignificant.

And that's the secret about it's a wonderful life. George Bailey finds out he's not the main character. He's just average George. But average is not insignificant. He found his place. He found his place in his family. He found his place in his community. He found his place even in God's heart, in God's world.

And we can too. This advent, we can find, we also can find our place. In our family, we can find our place in our community. We can find our place in this world. and we can find our place in God's story. And it begins with six words. You are God. I am not.