Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 2/1/26 Counterfeit Happiness

Episode Date: January 31, 2026

Homily from the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Do not give away what has real value for counterfeit happiness. There are many idols in our lives that promise the happiness that only God can give. The counterfeits of Wealth, Power, Pleasure, and Fame have taken all that people have and left them with nothing. Jesus gives us a new way to live...that actually leads to authentic happiness. Mass Readings from February 1, 2026: Zephaniah 2:3; 3:12-13 Psalm 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-101 Corinthians 1:26-31 Matthew 5:1-12a

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.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 5 verses 1 through 12. When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain. And after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you, when they insult you and persecute you, and utter every evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. The Gospel of the Lord.

Wait you to have a seat. So I'm sure that many of you have, you know that Leonardo DiCaprio movie? Catch me if you can. You've seen the catch. So pretty fun. It came out a bunch of years ago. But it's based on a true story.

If you haven't seen the movie, it's based on a true story about a man named Frank Abagnale. Brain Abagnel was 16 years old when he ran away from home. And he ran away because parents got divorced and the judge said, hey, choose between your mom and dad. He couldn't choose, so he literally just ran away. In order to survive, he just like conned people. And he found out that he was pretty good at just tricking people.

So among other things, you see this in the movie, but if you ever hear him give a talk, it's like it's fascinating. He at one point, he thought, you know, people trust, airplane pilots. So went to a store that sells suits for everything. airplane pilots, and he bought one, and well, he actually stole it, and posed as an airplane he literally flew around the world multiple times posing as a Pan Am pilot. He just, he didn't fly the plane, he just sat in the jump seat. Incredible. He also posed as a doctor. He literally worked

in an ER supervising interns and didn't lose one person, which is amazing. If there was ever, like a complicated thing, he would just defer to the other doctors in the room and no one caught on to him. But he was a really smart guy. He actually even posed as a lawyer in Louisiana he took the Louisiana State bar and passed it. He was a genius of a guy, but over the course of not only too many years, maybe six, seven years, he cashed in millions of dollars in counterfeit checks.

I think this is a strange. He didn't break into any banks. He didn't break into any stores. He didn't break in anyone's stuff. He never forced his way into anything. He just looked the part. He just looked like a pilot. He just looked like a lawyer.

He looked like a doctor. He was a counterfeit. And he had his counterfeit checks. You know, think it back to the, speaking of counterfeits, think back to the gold rush. You know, the California Gold Rush. There were people who had they found, they paned for gold. I don't know if you ever did this. He went to South Dakota, the Black Hills, and they paned for gold.

I was a really good gold miner because I got there. I was with my dish as a kid, and I found these shiny yellow flakes. I'm like, Mom and Dad, I found gold. There were people in the Gold Rush. They did the exact same thing. And when they found those shiny yellow flakes, they, quit their jobs, they sold everything, they reorganized their entire lives around these shiny yellow flakes only to discover, they're actually called pyrite. What we call them? What do you call

him? Fools gold, exactly. And that there are people actually, there were even like scammers who would take this pirate, they'd take this fool's gold and like they spread it around mines and sell it to people who didn't know any better. And people literally bought these mines. They, we call them fools. Why? We call them fools. We call fool's goal, because why? Because only a fool would spend real currency on the counterfeit. Only a fool would spend something that has real value on the counterfeit. And unfortunately, many of us are those fools. Why? Because

many of us, many people, so many people, we spend what has real value on counterfeit happiness. So today we read the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 5. So chapter 5, 6, and 7 of Matthew's Gospel, that's called the Sermon on the Mount. So it's basically the heart of Jesus' teaching. Kind of condensed into three chapters in Matthew's Gospel.

The beginning, today we heard the Beatitudes, this is like the heart of the Sermon on the Mount. So if the Sermon of the Mount is the heart of Jesus' teaching, this is the heart of the heart. And what does Jesus say? He says, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who mourn. Now, I think sometimes we hear that word blessed and we think, oh, consecrated, we set apart.

We don't know what it is to be blessed. It means to be set apart. It means to be consecrated. When Jesus actually says this word, it's, the Greek word is macarius, which doesn't mean blessed. It doesn't mean set apart. It actually legitimately, it simply means happy. So Jesus is saying, no, actually happy, not just set apart, but you're genuinely happy.

When? When you've spotted the counterfeits and you no longer spend real currency on counterfeit happiness, And the four counterfeits are what? The four counterfeits of happiness are wealth, power, pleasure, and fame. Because all those four things, wealth, power, pleasure, fame, they all promise to make us happy. Wealth promises this, you'll be happy if you have enough. Power promises, you'll be happy if you're in control. Pleasure promises, you'll be happy if you can minimize pain and maximize feeling good.

And fame is you'll be happy if everyone knows you. And here's the problem. Here's the problem with the counterfeit happiness is they actually all do that. They all do make us happy. The problem with counterfeit happiness is they actually work. I mean, honestly, let's be honest. Get some money. Get happy.

Power. You can do whatever you want. You get happy. Minimize pain? Feel good? Happy. People know your name? Happy.

I mean, here's the problem. The problem is they all work long enough for us to spend everything we have on them, and then when they've cost us all that we have, we realize they're counterfeit. And this is all of us, right? This is why the beatitudes are the heart of Jesus' teaching, because our hearts are made for more, because our hearts long for happiness. So here's Jesus, in the sermon on the mount today, he's basically saying to a bunch of people who want happiness but are really bad at spotting counterfeits, I need to let you know, happy are the meek. You need to know this. Happy are those who mourn.

Happy are those who long, hunger and thirst for righteousness. Why? Because what's Jesus doing, he's tearing down the idols, he's uncovering the lies, he's exposing the counterfeits. And here's how he does it. Here's, let's take the first one. Welf. What's the live wealth? The live wealth says, I'll be happy when I have enough. Live wealth says, I'll be happy. When I have enough, I'll be taken care of. When I have enough, then I won't need anymore. If they have enough money, then I can stop worrying. Now, again, obviously, finances are real. I mean, your kids got to eat. So, like, this is real. But the lie is this. The counterfeit is this. That self-sufficiency equals safety. The lie is that self-sufficiency equals security. In the course of my life as a priest,

I've come across, I mean, I've met a bunch of people across the socioeconomic spectrum. I mean, people that I've had long-term relationships with who literally have nothing. Like they literally don't even own their own shoes. And have no prospect ever of owning anything, just absolutely destitute, absolutely desperate, and people who have more money than they or their families could spend in multiple lifetimes across the board. And everyone in between.

Here's one of the things I've discovered is that tragedy does not care how many zeros you have in your bank account. The cancer does not care what your financial portfolio looks like. that suffering does not care how much money you have. As Aaron Burr said in the musical, death doesn't discriminate. And so we have this idea that wealth will insulate a person from the pains of life.

It does not. And so to that, to that lie, that counterfeit Jesus says, actually happy are those who are poor in spirit. Jesus says, happy are those who hunger, and thirst for righteousness. Why? What is it to be poor in spirit? Actually, the literal word is humble. Happy are those who are needy. This is Jesus saying, actually, you're happy when you know you're desperate before God. When you know that you don't have enough and you aren't enough when you hunger and thirst. The means you're starving for what you don't have. Jesus is saying,

you're happy then why? Because you are awake. Yeah, because you're aware of the truth that you and I need God. Jesus says that's a recipe for that counterfeit happiness. Why? Because I don't want to need. But you're happy when you know the truth. Not only do you need God, but here's the great thing we know as Christians. We have God. The second counterfeit after wealth is power. What's that say? What's wealth say? Wealth says, I'll be happy when I'm in control. Power says, I'll be happy when I'm strong enough because then nothing can hurt me. That I'll be happy if I have power because then I get to do whatever it is that I want to do. Because why? Because I have to win. This is what the, if someone, if you embrace counterfeit happiness, counterfeit happiness for power, it's like, I have to win.

I have a friend. She's an executive assistant out in New York for a bunch of investment bankers. She told me that this last year, the person that she's the executive assistant for, that his bonus this last year was in the hundreds of millions of dollars. In the hundreds of millions of dollars. Not his salary. This is his bonus. He broke her a bunch of of deals and he got this big bonus. And she was like, that's crazy. I'm like, that's crazy because you've told me how hard this guy worked, that this guy doesn't go home. He has wife and kids. He never sees them. He works from early, early to late. He often doesn't even leave the city to go back to his home. He just works all of the time. I hear this hundreds of millions.

I think, bro, retire. Like, you won the lottery. Like, you're an investment banker. Investing other people's money? You got some money. Invest it. Work for yourself. And I realize I was thinking that he's working because he wants wealth. I don't think his counterfeit happiness is wealth. I think his counterfeit happiness is power. Because why? Because I'm brokering these deals. I'm important.

I have this role in this company. I have status. People want to be in the same room as me. I have influence. This is what's going to make me happy. He's power. And we might hear that and say, well, I'd be happy. Really?

Would we? I'd be happy if that was the best in the world at something. Really? I don't know if we would. So, the best of all time. Greatest of all time. Arguably, the greatest basketball player of all time is Michael Jordan. I don't know basketball.

I just know the internet. And that's what it told me. So arguably, the best, greatest of all time, NBA, Michael Jordan. I mean, the incredible stats, amazing drive, this incredible, just like, work, desire to win. All people talking about Michael Jordan at his peak said, no, this guy had to be the best. In fact, if you crossed him, it would not a good thing.

In fact, there was a story, you know, if you know this, Michael Jordan played for the Bulls. He was number 23. He retired to go play professional baseball, came back to play basketball, but they already retired his jersey, number 23. So he took a new number, number 45. There's a story about how one game,

he wasn't quite up to his potential. And after the game, one of his competitors made a kind of a comment to the side and said, well, looks like 45. is no 23. Apparently, Michael Jordan heard about this. The next night, they had the next game in the series. For all throughout warm-up, he's still wearing his warm-up jersey. He still warm-up clothes, you know, warm-up top.

He doesn't take it off, doesn't take it off. It's tip-off time, and then he takes off his warm-up top, and he's wearing number 23. And he just goes out there and completely demolishes the other team. Like, he lights it up. And at the end of the game, he's got two free throws. Sinks the first one almost looks like he intentionally misses the second one. Everyone's like, that's crazy. I mean, Michael Jordan's known for making free throws.

But at the buzzer, they looked at the score, the total number of points that Michael Jordan put up during that one game, exactly 45. That this guy took everything personally. Like, no one could insult him or slight him. He had to, he always had to get his revenge. And this is one of those crazy things. I've heard that Michael Jordan later in life now is not happy.

He was the greatest in the world, but now he's unhappy. Why? I think it's good of this. Because the fuel that made him the best at basketball is the same fuel that makes living joy incredibly difficult. So to him and to us, Jesus says, actually happy are those who are meek. Happier the merciful. What is to be meek?

To be meek isn't to be weak. To be meek is this. Meek is strength under God's control. Meekness is happier those who are weak. Meek in that sense of that I have all this strength, but I put it at God's service. happy than merciful. Merciful is what

someone can slight me. I don't have to crush my enemies. I don't have to beat everyone who's insulted me. I don't have to beat everyone who's come against me. Happy are those who can actually let go and forgive. So we have wealth and we have power. We have pleasure. Why pleasure is what?

I'll be happy if I minimize pain and maximize feeling good. How do we do it? How do we do it? I think we numb ourselves. How do we minimize pain? we distract ourselves. What do we think about pain?

We just don't think about it. I'm not going to think about this. I'm going to think about something else. In fact, okay, here's a song. Do you guys know the song, Chandelier? By Sia? No? Okay.

You got to know the song. It's like this great party anthem. This whole, if you listen to the song, the music is like, oh, this is so much fun. This is maximum pleasure. In fact, one of the lines, I'm going to swing from the chandelier here, you know. one, two, three, one, two, three, drink.

Like, this is, this is throwing back to I lose count. The song sounds, the music sounds like they're having so much fun. Sia wrote this song for Rihanna, but she is like, it's too good. I need to keep it for myself. Because if you listen to the lyrics, it's the lyrics of someone who's like,

yes, I'm caught up in this and I can't stop. I'm living this life that you see from the outside. It looks like I'm having so much fun, but I'm stuck, and I can't stop. I can't do that. I can't. feel. And she did this on purpose. She was hiding this tragedy beneath this music that sounds so much fun. In fact, I didn't realize this until I was like, this is a fun song. Sarah Borelli's is another

musician, right? Sir Borelli's was on tour and she did this song in their concerts. She would come out with just her voice, just herself, her voice and a small guitar. And she would sing the song, not with like that awesome party anthem, but just with the tragedy. I'm trying to numb myself. And I can't. And this is the reality for us. We want to numb ourselves, but we realize that our hearts cannot be selectively numbed. If I numb the pain and the fear and the grief, I will also automatically numb the joy and the gratitude and the happiness. The same nervous system that feels gratitude, feels grief. And if I numb one, I'm going to numb the other.

Like that same armor we put on where we like, okay, I'm going to guard myself against life by substances and distractions and emotional withdrawal, that means I've also built a shield against love and against relationships and against joy. And so to us who just have this counterfeit of happiness, Jesus says, actually, happy are you who mourn? Why? Because Jesus knows avoiding pain doesn't heal it.

Avoiding grief doesn't heal it. That Jesus knows the truth that pain and grief and loss, they're all part of life. And if I numb those things, I'm numbing life. Jesus, happy are those who can weep, but look at the world through clear eyes, which is why he also says, happier the pure of heart, those who can see the value in people in front of them. Because to be pure of heart means that you see clearly, you see the dignity of someone, and

you don't use them. When you see someone, you realize they're not meant to be used for my pleasure. At OSCI this week, we talked about how, as human beings, we're meant for three things. We're made to worship God, to love people, and to use things. things, as we're made for, to worship God, love people, and use things, and yet we flip it around, and we love things, and use people and ignore God. But Jesus says, happy are you when you let God meet you in your sorrow? And you're happy when you see the image of God in each and every person. So wealth and power and pleasure. The last one, of course, is fame. And the lie of fame says,

I'll be happy when I'm seen. I already mentioned a song that you did. nod at Chandelier. I'm going to mention the second song. And the song is old. It's from 1993. So it's from the Counting Crows. If you know this band, there's a song by the Counting Crows called Mr. Jones. So again, this is like my, this is my era, right? So at one of the lines of Mr. Jones, Adam Duritz, lead singer, sings this line. He says, when everyone loves you, you can never be lonely. At the end of the song, he says, when everyone loves me, that's about as happy as I can be. When everyone loves me, that's about as happy as I can be.

When I'm known, I'm admired, that's it, you've made it. It's crazy, I was thinking about this. Reflecting on growing up in the 90s, in the 80s and 90s, almost every song and movie was about that. Like, that says, I'm going to be somebody someday. When I see my name in lights, everyone's going to know my name. All these things get sold to us.

In fact, they did this Harris poll where they interviewed 3,000 kids from 8,000. years old at 12 years old from UK, US, and China. And they asked them, what do you want to be when you grow up? In the past, the answer was astronaut, car racer, whatever. The number one answer for these eight to 12 years old in U.S. and UK, YouTuber, vlogger. These things associated with being known, these things associated with celebrity. Now, here's better news. The Pew Research Center did the same question with adolescents, with teenagers. What do you want to be? In Interestingly, only 6% of teenagers said they wanted to be famous.

In fact, 80% of teenagers said that fame is not important to them. I think that's a good sign. But here's why I think that is. I think when you get a little older, you realize, man, famous hollow. Or maybe you just see how people who are famous are like, seriously, you're famous? So you might not want to be famous, but here's the thing. I think we still all want to be thought well of. What I mean by that is I think we're still pretty preoccupied.

with what other people think. There's this vice called vanity. In vanity, vanity, vanity doesn't mean that you think you're the best. Here's what vanity is. The actual definition of vanity is the inordinate preoccupation with what other people are thinking of you.

The inordinate preoccupation with what other people are thinking. Now, caveat, sidebar. I think it's important to care what people think about you at least a little bit. Like if you were to say, you meet those people who are like,

I don't care what anyone thinks about me. And we're like, yeah, we can tell you're a jerk. Your sociopath. You should care a little bit. But we all know what it is to have the inordinate preoccupation with what other people think, which means this. You ever found yourself saying something that you knew wasn't true just because someone expected you to say it. Or you found yourself doing something you knew wasn't good because someone expected you to do it.

Or you didn't say the thing you knew is true at the time you knew to say it because of other people. We find ourselves in that trap. And Jesus says, happy are you who are peacemakers? Why? Because you don't seek applause, you seek reconciliation. He says, happy are you who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness? Why? Because you're willing to choose faithfulness over approval. So we have these four things, wealth, power, pleasure, fame. How do you spot the counterfeits?

Great question, camper. So after the Civil War, the U.S. Secret Service was formed. Now, we know the U.S. Secret Service as the people who protect the president jump in front of the bullet. Originally, the U.S. Secret Service was formed after the Civil War because immediately after the Civil War, there's estimated one-third of currency in circulation was counterfeit. They're very, very likely that the money who had a third of it was fake money. And so the Secret Service was established to spot the counterfeits. And so they didn't know how to do this.

So what they would do at first was they'd just examine counterfeits day after day, looked at counterfeits. and they did not get any better at spotting counterfeits until someone had the great idea. The rather than come in and every day look at counterfeits, how about this? How about we show up every day and we study the genuine article? What we're going to do is we're actually going to learn what a real bill looks like. We're going to learn what real currency looks like. They found that when they started studying real currency, they're immediately able to spot the counterfeit.

And that's what we're invited to do with this week. It's the last thing. I sometimes think of the beatitudes. Like if Jesus were to write a book, it was like, How to Be Happy, By Jesus. Subtitle, Eight Steps to Living the Life You've Always Wanted. But in giving us the beatitudes, Jesus is not providing a plan.

He's painting a portrait. That when we hear those words, happy are those who are meek. Happy are those who mourn. Happy those who hunger and thirsts for right. Jesus is describing himself. He's showing us what His heart looks like.

He's showing us what his stance looks like. He's showing us what his face looks like. And so here's the invitation. You guys, I don't know if you know this. We have two and a half weeks until Lent. It's coming so fast. The invitation is this. For the next two and a half weeks,

take a small time each day and look at the portrait. To take just a little bit of time, five minutes, and go to the Gospels and just read a short section from the Gospels. And just look at Jesus and see that heart

that knows it needs God. Look at Jesus and see eyes that can weep without despair. Look at Jesus and see hands that don't clutch at control or a soul that longs for holiness. Look at Jesus and see how he walks through this world and see he has a posture of mercy

and a single clear gaze that sees the truth about the value of every person. Watch Jesus and see feet that walk towards reconciliation and a back that's strong enough to bear misunderstanding. Here's the invitation. And again, just once a day for the next two and a half days until last Wednesday, just crack open your gospels and just say, Jesus, show me what your face really looks like.

Jesus, show me what your heart looks like. Watch Jesus. Examine the portrait. See the real thing. And don't give what has real value away for counterfeit happiness.