Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 2/8/26 Wasted Potential

Episode Date: February 7, 2026

Homily from the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Jesus, do not let what You did for me end with me. To have been given all that one needs...and then to not use it would be a tragedy. We are surrounded by the tragedy of wasted potential. But this doesn't have to be the end of our story. Mass Readings from February 8, 2026: Isaiah 58:7-10 Psalm 112:4-5, 6-7, 8-91 Corinthians 2:1-5 Matthew 5:13-16

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.

Are you reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew? Chapter 5, verses 13 through 16. Jesus said to his disciples, You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste with what can it be seasoned, it is no longer good for anything, but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world.

A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket. it is set on a lampstand where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly father. The gospel of the Lord. Wait you to have a seat. So a little while back, I had a conversation with a man named Daryl Woods Sr.

Daryl Woods, he grew up in Detroit. He, when he was 18 years old, 19 years old, he was, found guilty of a crime he did not commit and was sentenced for life in jail without possibility of parole. His life started out as a tragedy. I mean, in the womb, in fact, he has three older siblings in the womb. His mother's womb, his father died while he was still in utero. His mom gave birth to him, but she had a tailspin. She spun out of control.

She began, she got addicted to drugs and she sort of living on the streets. And so, Daryl and his siblings went to live with his grandma and grandma. grandpa and grandma and grandpa were great but darrell by the time he was 11 12 years old he just he missed his mom and so at 12 years old he ran away from his grandparents house where he was loved or he was taken care of because he just wanted to be with his mom so he went downtown Detroit and he described what downtown Detroit was like when he was a kid and it was not a good place at 12 years old still when he was there his mom received him as best she could but there was a man on he was a kingpin of some sorts.

Daryl said his name was Superfly something. I can't remember what the last part was, but Superfly someone. Took a liking to Daryl, and he said basically, Daryl said if I went to school, I would come home from school, and Superfly would give me $25 or $50 every day just to go to school. He wanted to keep me in school. Even though this guy was a drug dealer, he's like, he wanted to keep me on the straight and arrow,

so gave me $25, $50 every day. He said, the problem was I had all this money. And so I started shooting dice on the sidewalk and started gambling with it, and Superfly one day saw me gambling his money and said, you're cut off, you're done. So by 14, Daryl became a drug dealer himself. Later on, that same year he was 14 years old,

he was shot with a shotgun, almost died, but survived. At 15, he bought his own house with his drug money. At 15, he also got the girl he was sitting pregnant. At 16, his son was born. At 17, his daughter was born. And in 18, he brought a cousin of his into this house where he was going to buy drugs for his cousin. They walked in, two guys followed them, and he didn't know the two guys behind him. But as he's doing this drug deal, the two guys behind him attacked the drug dealer and killed him.

Dero ran away, but he got caught. Even though he didn't know the murderer, he was put on trial and he was found guilty of aiding and abetting this murder. And he was sentenced to life in jail without parole. He was in jail for 29 years for a crime he didn't commit. Now, of course, Darrell wasn't innocent, but he wasn't guilty of this thing, right? In 29 years, 29 years he spent. Just think about from 18 years old for the next 29 years he was in prison. Just what a wasted life.

You actually think about this. All the wasted potential he had. I mean, he had a grandma and grandpa, yes, rough life, but he had grandma and grandpa who loved him and he wasted that. He had Superfly who was given him money. Wasted that. He had all these opportunities and he just kept wasting opportunities. opportunity after opportunity, and you realize, if you look at Darrell's life in so many ways,

you think, oh my gosh, that's so much wasted potential. So I've been thinking these last number of weeks about the tragedy of wasted potential. Like, really, what a tragedy it is for us. We've been given so much and we just, we waste it. And I don't mean like, you know, the kind of, I don't mean potential in the sense of like, I could have done this. Like, for example, if I would have been born in a city that had men's gymnastics, I could be in the Olympics.

Like, no, that's dumb. I mean, that's potential, potential. This is like real potential where it's like, no, you did have it in you and you just didn't use it. Like you did have the chance, you just didn't take it. Like that sense of the, you did have what you needed, but you just wasted it. I think there's something really remarkable about youth. Like if there's something really remarkable of youth, because think about the potential of youth. I mean, the youth is literally, youth is nothing but potential in so many ways.

In fact, there's a guy named Warren Buffett. You all know who Warren Buffett is. Warren Buffett's a big investment guy. Warren Buffett is worth estimated $150 billion. That's how much his net worth is, essentially. But I would say this. I would wager to guess that not one person here would trade your life for his. Like, no, no, no, I'm guessing that.

Not one person here, even though he's worth $150 billion, with a B, $150 billion, not one person would say, yeah, I'd switch places with him. And the reason is because Warren Buffett has $150 billion, but he's also 95 years old. And so no matter what your situation right now, like I have debt, I'm struggling to pay my bills, like not one of us would say I would give up the potential I have of my youth for $150 billion. Because we realize in your hands, right now, in your life, there is so much potential. And I realize that I'm old. I realize a lot of y'all, let's admit it, you're old too.

You don't have, I don't have the potential of youth anymore. I'll tell you, if you're old, you have a different kind of potential. Deal with it. But a problem is when we waste that potential, even the wasted potential of what it is to be a Christian. Because we can show up here on a Sunday, we can show up and say like, no, I believe one God, Father, Holy Spirit, the God created everything. I believe all this stuff.

This is so critically important for us because here we are as Christians, I believe that there are so many of us who walk around, as if someday God might choose us. Like even if we're like, no, I'm a Christian. I follow after Jesus. But I live as if someday I might be good enough for God to give me a chance. I think some of us, we still do this.

We show up to Mass even. And we think, okay, someday I might be good enough for God to claim me. The second reading today, here's St. Paul. He's writing to the Corinthians. And he tells them, listen, when I came among you, I didn't come among you in power with sublimity of wisdom. He said, all I preached to you was I preach to you

was I preached Christ, I preach Christ crucified. What is that? Basically, Jesus crucified is what? It is the sign of God's love for you. That when we see Christ on the cross, this is proof that God has already made his choice for you. Then we preach Christ crucified, it's that the truth that God became one of us

to make it possible for us to have new life. That God became one of us to make it possible for us to be forgiven. He made it possible for us to be adopted by. the Father that Jesus made it possible for us to become a new creation. So here's the thing. All of that has been made possible. What that means is we have the potential to live a new life. That means we have the potential to be forgiven. We have the potential to be new creations. And that's the thing. We have all of this potential that Jesus himself has given to us. How much of that is wasted potential? Because, you know, I know I have the grace.

Sometimes I don't know. I don't want it. Sometimes like, I know I have access to the father to any moment, but, well, later is the moment I want to have access to the father. That we have God's word. How many times do we choose our phone over God's word? That we know that Jesus has made it possible for us to have his mercy, but here's what I think. I think, well, I'm disqualified from God's mercy.

And every time I don't use what God has given to me, that's wasted potential. Let's think about that's qualified thing for a second. I don't know if you've ever felt like you were disqualified. I have to ask this question. Do we realize that the things we believe disqualify us are absolutely no surprise to God? Like there's some things, right? That we're like, ah, but this is really bad. That God's not surprised by that?

Like, yeah, but I fell in a new way. Like, God's not surprised by that? Do you realize that? Do we realize that God knew your weakness when He chose you? that Jesus knew your struggle when he claimed you, that Jesus knew your sin when he picked up that cross, and he did it so that you and I could be forgiven, so you and I could be free so that you and I could have this new life.

And here's the great news. This is incredible. Your being here tonight is a declaration. Every time you pray, that's a declaration. Every time you've ever been to confession, that is the declaration. Here's what you're declaring every single time. This is what your presence here tonight is saying. You're saying this, Jesus, I know what you've done for me. Here's your declaration. Jesus, I'm not going to let what you did for me go to waste on me. That's what you're saying.

Just by being here tonight, you make this declaration. Jesus, I am not going to let what you did for me go to waste on me. So Darrell, Darrow gets arrested. He's in jail. And I said, Darrell, what did you do in jail? He said, I prayed. I read the Bible. I said, you're looking for a loophole. He's not. I was looking for a loophole. Absolutely. I wanted to find a way out. Didn't find a way out. But that's where I found him.

And he said even though he was, you know, tried, found guilty, sentenced to prison, he didn't stop praying and he didn't stop studying the Bible. This time, not because he needed a loophole, but because he knew he needed God. Like he knew that, I'm going to read the Bible, not because this will be my way out, but because this is the only thing I'll have

when I'm stuck in there. And Daryl just said, I'm going to need him. I'm going to need him where they're leading me. And for 29 years, he basically said, I won't let Jesus, I won't let what you did for me go to waste on me. And I think there's a place here for all of us tonight to be able to say, I don't want to have, I don't want to have in my life any more wasted potential.

Again, not what could be, but actually what you have. This is the reality. It's not as if God is waiting to give you something he hasn't yet given you. Realize, I don't know if you realize tonight, you and I, we have everything we need to be saints. Right now, right now, in this moment. We've been given everything we need to be heroic saints. So this is all about what you have.

It's all about actually what you are. So in the gospel today, what's Jesus say? He doesn't say, hey, one day you're going to be the light of the world. He doesn't say, hey, one day you're going to be salt of the earth. He looks at his disciples and says, you are the salt of the earth. Right now, you are the light of the world. you do not have to wait for this. This is the reality that this is your,

who you are, not what you might be. You know, it's fascinating, I've talked about this before, but in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, the scene is this, that Jesus has already lived, he's died, he's risen from the dead, he spent 40 days with his apostles, teaching them, living with them, and at the first chapter of Acts,

he walks up to the city of Bethany. In Bethany, you can see all of Jerusalem. And like you can see the upper room where Jesus gave us the Eucharist. You can see Galgatha where you crucified. You can see where he rose from the dead. You see it all. And the apostles at this point, they ask Jesus one question. Because they know who he is.

They know he's the Messiah. They knew he's the king. So they say, Jesus, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now? Like that is they said, when are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel? And Jesus says two things. The first thing is kind of mysterious and a little sassy. He says, I'm not going to tell. It's not for you to know the times or seasons.

The second thing he says is so. intimidating. Because he says, he's not for you to know the times or seasons, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And then you will be my witnesses here in Jerusalem throughout Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth. So think about this. In response to them asking the question, Jesus, what are you going to bring your hope to the world? He's like, I'm not, you are. Jesus, when are you going to bring grace to the world? You won this whole thing for us. When are you going to bring it to the whole world. He says, I'm not. You are. You'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and then you will be my witnesses here in Jerusalem throughout Judea, Samaria,

to the ends of the earth. Basically, you're going to do it. How are you going to do it? Easy. Be salt and be light. Like this is it. How are you, like today, how are you and I going to bring God's grace to the world? Be salt and be light. Salt makes life good and light makes truth visible. So you know this thing about salt. In the ancient world, salt had four properties. Salt was valuable. People got paid in salt.

That's why you call it a salary. Because salt in salary. Someone's worth their salt. They got paid in salt. It's valuable. Secondly, salt was a preservative. If you didn't have for refrigeration, you cover the meat with salt, it's preserved.

Salt was an antiseptic. So if you get a wound, put salt in there, cleans it out. But the fourth thing is salt, duh, adds flavor. salt adds salt doesn't add it salt doesn't add flavor my bad salt brings out flavor

if you ever taste salt on its own it's kind of like but have you ever I mean think of the best thing think of the best thing it's pot best thing possible to eat in the world steak I don't know I don't care who you are without salt

it's okay but properly salt you're like okay now we're talking like this is this is the best food in the world but when it has salt on it, what it does it do? It brings out all the flavors. Here, a little pro tip. If you like toast, tomorrow morning,

make some toast, put some butter on it, then have a little salt on top. It just pops. It's incredible. Or even peanut butter. Just, mm, it's incredible. Why? Because salt brings out the flavor.

Daryl, when he's in jail, at one point, in 2003, he was exonerated. And he told me this. I'm like, wait, 2003, that you're only in jail for a couple years. What happened? He said, well, the judge who found him guilty, found him not guilty.

I was like, you're free. He's like, well, actually what happened was someone new came to the case. And because of a clerical error, I had to stay in jail, in prison. And I was like, oh, bro, were you ticked? I'm like, I went, I'd been so mad. He's like, no. I said, what'd you do? He said, I praised the Lord. And I was like, come on. And he said, well, what do we say? We say, God is good all the time. All the time, God is good. You say that, right? I was like, yeah? He said, well, is it true or is it not?

If it's true, then I'm going to praise him no matter what. I'm like, you are salt, my brother. Like, you are, this is, imagine being in prison. Think you're going to get out and now you're staying. And being able to praise the Lord. Salt makes life good, even in prison. And you're the salt of the earth. You as Christians are, we're meant to make life good and the light of the world.

What's the light to you? I think this is fascinating. I don't think anyone lights a candle or tries the light of candle. and then stares at the flame. I don't think anyone turns on a light bulb and then stares at the light bulb. We light the candle and we see what it illuminates. We turn on the light and then we see what is lit up. Light makes truth visible.

And so when Jesus says you're the light of the world, he's saying, okay, you live in a way that people can see the truth. Have you heard of Scared Straight? Scared Straight was a movement in prisons back in the day. There was specials on this where basically they'd bring in juvenile delinquents or kids at risk and bring them into the prisons and these mean, tough thugs would surround them and like yell at them and tell them how horrible life in prison is with the gruel and gruel sandwiches and the dementes like all they make.

And they basically, they call it Scared Straight. So we're going to scare you so badly that you don't want to go to jail. Daryl's in jail and he's like, that doesn't work. He said, I lived on the streets. I know kids who lived on the streets. He says, they're carrying AK-47s, they're carrying AR-15s. Like, life is scary.

They're not going to be scared by us yelling at them. They've been scared their entire lives. They've never been loved. So what he did was, he said, he asked the mayor, asked the governor of Michigan, can you bring these juveniles here, and we can surround them with love? He started a movement called Cared Straight.

And for years, mayors all over Michigan, the governors of Detroit, would, sheriffs, police officers, they would send their most at-risk kids to Daryl in prison because they knew when they sent them to Daryl, they wouldn't be scared out of prison. They would be cared into living. What does light do?

Light makes truth visible. You know, I think it's fascinating. Jesus says, the wasted potential of salt and light, salt loses its taste, lights hidden. I think it's fascinating that Jesus doesn't say, the salt became evil or the light became evil. It didn't become evil. It didn't do bad. It just became ineffective. It was indistinguishable from anything else. And so it was wasted. And you are the

salt of the earth and you're the light of the world. It's what Jesus is asking us to do. Be salt and be light. We've already said the first half, right? Today, tonight, by being in mass, you've already said Jesus, I don't want to let what you did for me go to waste on me. Amen. But there's is a next step. The next step is this. Jesus, I don't want to let what you did for me end with me. I don't want to let what you did for me. Stop with me because you are salt, your light. And so what does salt do? Salt makes life good and light makes truth visible. It can't end here. So this is the last thing. I imagine if you're in the here and like, okay, I want that. I don't want to let what Jesus did for me go to waste on me. I also don't

want let what Jesus did for me end with me. I need to find a mission. Like, I need to do this. So when's that, when are you going to find that mission? I think a lot of us we say, I'm going to find that mission when I graduate. I'm going to find that mission when this is over. I want to find that mission when kids are out of the house. I'm going to find that mission later. I have to wait for things to be perfect. And then I'm going to find that mission. And then I'm going to be light. And then I'm going to be solved. And then what Jesus has done for me is not going to end with me. And I think about this. When I asked Darrell about the cared straight thing. I said, when did you start that? He said, um, about three or four years after I got into prison.

I was like, wait, you were like 22, like 23 years old when you started this movement in prison to care for younger adolescents. And he's like, yeah, I mean, I'm in prison, but why wait? If Daryl could be salt in prison, if Daryl could be light in prison, wherever you are standing, right now, wherever you're sitting right now, wherever you are right now, you can be light too. You can be salt too. You don't have to wait. So tonight, this is the invitation to be able to say tonight, Jesus, I will not let what you did for me go to waste on me and beginning tonight and for the rest of my life. I will not let what you did for me, Jesus, end with me. From now on, no more wasted potential.