Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 4/16/23 Homestretch: Faith

Episode Date: April 15, 2023

Homily from Divine Mercy Sunday It is of no use to say "I believe in Jesus" and then go back to life as usual. Faith is at the heart of our relationship with God. But our faith cannot simply be what we agree with or a mere belief. Our faith must move, act, and work. Like the early disciples, we must devote our lives to a "life of faith". Mass Readings from April 16, 2023:Acts 2:42-47Psalm 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-241 Peter 1:3-9 John 20:19-31

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 John, chapter 20 verses 19 through 31. On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, peace be with you. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so now I send you. And when he had said this, he breathed. breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained. Thomas, called Didimus, one of the 12, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, we have seen the Lord, but he said to them, unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. Now, a week later, the disciples were again

inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, peace be with you. Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe. Thomas answered and said to him, my Lord and my God. Jesus said to him, have you come to believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed. Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

The gospel of the Lord. Wait, you'd have a seat. So as I said at the beginning of Mass, this is it. Like, this is the home stretch in so many ways, right? I think sometimes it's really awesome. Like when you're just, you're coming to the end of the thing, like, okay, all this time, we've going, you know, day after day, day after day, and you come into that home stretch, there's something so good about the home stretch. Also, we have to recognize the home stretch is the

hardest part of the race. I mean, let's be honest, right? In fact, if you ever run a marathon, you know this, that if you're on a marathon, the race doesn't really start until mile 20. I mean, yes, you have to run from zero to 20 miles. You have to do that. But the race doesn't really start until mile 20. In fact, the hardest part of the race, basically every person will say this. The hardest part of the race after is at mile 23, from mile 23 to mile 26.2. Those last 3.2 miles are the hardest part. The home stretch is great, but the home stretch is really hard. And so as we're launching into these last three weeks of the semester, it's good to be able to acknowledge both things. Okay, this is good and this is tough. Like, this is good and

this is really difficult because it's really important for us to hold on to this truth. I think this is important for us to remember this and never forget this. When it comes to good times, good times never last. And that's not pessimistic. That's like just reality, right? Remember Wednesday? 75 and sunny? And here we are today. We know this. It's not pessimistic. It's just realistic.

Good times never last. But also, this is also true. Bad times never last either. Good times never last and neither do bad times. That life is made up of good times and bad times. That is what it all is. And so regardless of where we're at in a race, because you might not be in college,

you might not be in your last three weeks of school. But every one of us finds ourselves in either one, one of the good times, or we find ourselves on one of the bad times. We're either in the midst of a good season right now, or we're in the midst of a really, really hard season right now. So it's good to remember that the good times never last and neither do the bad times. But we have to ask the question, what does last? Like, if we're going to race well through good times and bad times, what does last?

So St. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, he says what lasts. In fact, in chapter 12 and chapter 13, Paul writes and he says, it's right through all these good things. He writes about it. He says prophecy. That's great. And miracles, incredible. And words of knowledge, so good.

All these things, faith that can move mountains, so good. But ultimately, he says, but at the end, at the end of the day, at the end of our lives, at the end of the race, there's only three things that remain. Faith, hope, and love. And these three things are going to be the things that get us to the end of the race. They're going to be the three things that get us home. Faith, hope, and love. And so we have three weeks.

So I don't know. I think this week we should talk about faith. I'm not going to tell you yet what we'll talk about next week. But tonight is the reality just stop and say, okay, what is going to get me through the good seasons, what's going to get me through the bad seasons, what's going to get me to the end of the race, what's going to get me through the home stretch is faith. You know, St. Peter today in the second reading, he essentially says this. He says that things are going to get tough.

He says, if you're a Christian, he says, you may have to suffer through various trials. In fact, I think a better translation is not you may have to, is you will have to suffer through various trials. And what are the trials? Well, Peter's talking about some of like the normal trials, just the normal griefs of life, the normal losses of life, the normal sicknesses and sufferings of life. But he's also specifically talking about the result of having faith in Jesus. The trials that come to us because we have faith in Jesus. Because who is Peter writing to? He's writing to a bunch of people who their lives were completely changed, transformed, turned upside down because they believe that Jesus Christ died and then came back from the dead.

Their lives are completely changed because they believe that this person who lived for 30, three years on this earth is actually the eternal God. Because of that, their lives are completely changed because they believe this. I mean, think about this is what we just celebrated last weekend, right? We celebrated the fact that we believe, as a group of people here in this church, we believe that Jesus died and then rose from the dead. We believe in the resurrection of Jesus. We believe that that demonstrates and proves to us that he is who he says is that he actually is God. But to what end? Like why? What's that due? I love how John ends his gospel today.

You know, Jesus, many other things that are not written in this book, but these have been written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and here's the result. And that by believing you may have life in his name. I don't think John just meant by believing you have eternal life, although that is what it means as well. But I don't think it only means that. I think he also says that by believing, you will have life.

You actually live a life of faith. that this life, you and I are living right now, not just eternal life, but this life right now is going to be changed because we believe in Jesus' resurrection. That our relationships are going to be changed because of Jesus' resurrection. That our families are going to be changed because of Jesus' resurrection. But how we spend our time is going to be changed because of Jesus' resurrection. That actually the result is we have a life of faith. And faith isn't just what we believe, right?

Faith isn't just like, oh, I believe this, I agree with this. we realize that faith, we're talking about faith today, that faith has to act, that faith has to move. You have to have what you call a working faith. Because if all faith means is, I believe that Jesus rose from the dead, and then it doesn't change anything, it's a waste. It's useless. In fact, I would say it is of no use to say I believe in Jesus and then go back to my life as usual.

It's of no use to say, I believe in the resurrection, and then live my life as usual. It's no use to say, I believe Jesus is God, and then to live my life as usual. and then to live my life as usual. But so many of us do that, right? That's kind of actually what we just come to expect. In fact, they did a survey a bunch of years ago of the faith of Americans. And one of the things they found that I was pretty shocked by it is that atheism is not that popular.

In fact, in the survey of the entire population of the United States, roughly less than 10% of Americans are actually atheists. That nine out of 10, nine out of 10 people who live in our country they believe that some kind of God exists. But the interesting thing is, I think a lot of us, we would say, yeah, I believe that some kind of God exists, but for all intents and purposes, we're what Pope John Paul II called Christian atheists.

And what that is, is people who say that God exists, but they don't live like God exists. Like I believe that Jesus rose from the dead, but it hasn't changed anything in the way I live. That to be a practical atheist means, again, I say that I believe this is true, that God exists, that Jesus is God. But I don't live like Jesus is God.

I don't live like God exists. It's changed nothing. And again, it's of no use to say that I believe and then go back to my life as usual. That's not how it was in the beginning. I mean, the apostles right away, the disciples right away in the first century, the people that are written about in the first reading today,

Acts chapter 2. It says what? It says, those who believe, right, the disciples, they devoted themselves to four things. So they didn't just believe Jesus was God. They changed their lives and said they voted themselves to four things. One is to the teaching of the apostles. Say, listen to the apostles' teaching.

They believed what they taught. Second thing was the communal life, which basically means, as there's anyone among them who needed something, they would serve the people among them who needed something. The third thing is the breaking of the bread, and that's code from the very beginning. Breaking of the bread means the Eucharist, means the mass. They devoted themselves to the mass.

And the fourth thing is to the prayers. They had a prayer life. So this became the marker. These are the four markers for a person who actually believes in Jesus. that every disciple, these are the four things we do. These are the four things that are different about our lives. We devote ourselves the teaching of the apostles, which means like we listen to the teaching of the bishops.

We believe what the church teaches. That's the first thing. First mark of a disciple. Second mark of the disciple is the communal life. If there's people among us who are in need. We as Christians say, if I can help, we have to help. The third thing, breaking the bread. We devote ourselves to the mass.

And the fourth, the prayers. We have a prayer life. And this, again, this became the marker. This became the four defining characteristics that changed a person's life if they said, I believe Jesus rose from the dead. I believe that Jesus is who he says he is. And this is what we have to do. And in fact, I think it's really interesting because it says in our translation today,

it says they devoted themselves to these four things. But a translation I came across the other day was even more pointed. It said they devoted their lives to. They devoted their lives to the teaching of the apostles, to the communal life, the breaking of the bread, into the prayers. And what that means, I think, what that means is, they realize, like, following Jesus is not like being part of another club.

It's not just the thing I think I'm kind of into right now. It's not like, you know, I'm part of a rocket club, I'm part of the Rotary Club, I'm part of the Lions, I'm part of the Newman Club. Like I'm Catholic. You know, that's not what they were doing. They were saying, basically, I devote my entire life. My life centers around this truth that Jesus actually lived,

suffered, died, and rose from the dead for me. And I think that's what so much of today is, all about. He's saying, okay, I heard the story last weekend. The story last weekend was that Jesus lived, he suffered, he died, and he rose from the dead for the sins of the world. And this weekend, we have the opportunity to say, okay, is that just some story or is that my story? Is that something Jesus did for the world, or is that what Jesus did for me? And this is the crazy thing. All of Christianity is this, is this offer of grace. All of Christianity is, it's an offer of mercy and the only thing we have to do is answer that one question. I can say no and just say,

no, I don't accept it. I don't accept your love. I don't accept your mercy. I can harden my heart and be unchanged. That is your choice. You get to do that. We get to choose that. Or we can say, I know that this is true. But if it is, it has to change my whole life. If it is, it has to actually make a difference in my life. That has to become the kind of person who someone could describe you and say, oh, I know her. She devoted her life to this truth. When she met mercy, mercy changed her. When he was offered mercy, it changed everything. You know, one of my favorite stories of all time is, you all know the story. You know Le Miserab? So maybe you've seen the musical, maybe you've seen the play or the movie. When I was in high school, I started reading the book. I didn't finish it until after college.

It's a big book, you guys. But I just, I loved this whole story. So little recap for those of you who don't remember. Jean Valjean is the main character, right? And at one point, when he's like late teens, early 20s, not very old, he steals a loaf of bread to feed his sister and her starving children. He gets caught, he gets thrown in jail. He keeps trying to break out and they keep recapturing him and keeps throwing him back in jail. So basically, he's in prison for 20 years.

He's not just in like nice prison. He's not like, go to jail. Love for bread, go to jail. Not one of those situations. It's one of the situations where he is on a chain gang. He's treated for 20 years, he's treated as an animal. And so he sees himself as an animal. He's treated as less than human.

So he sees himself after 20 years as being less than human. Finally, after 20 years, he's really, but he's not really free because he has these papers that say that he is a criminal, that he served his time and that he's been let go. And every time he walks into a village or to a town, he has to go to the police station, show them his papers.

Usually they just drove him out of town. If he wanted to stay the night somewhere, he had to show them his papers. They usually wouldn't let him stay. If he wanted to work somewhere, he had to show them his papers, and they wouldn't accept him. So basically, Jean Valjean said,

okay, if this is how the world is going to treat me, this is how I'm going to treat the world. If the world's going to see me as a monster, I'm going to be a monster. And he hardened his heart even more. But one day, he comes to the house of this bishop. He thinks he's just a priest, knocks on his door. And the bishop doesn't chase him away. The bishop doesn't even just give him some food and send him on his way. The bishop invites him into his home, and he sits down with him at his own table, and they share a meal.

That night, he doesn't have him sleep in the barn. He says you can have one of these rooms. He can sleep in a bed for the first time in 20 years. Jean Valjean finds himself in an actual bed. And to repay this bishop back, he gets up in the middle of the night, and he walks into the bishop's room as he's asleep with the intent to murder him. In the book, it's incredible. For some reason, he just stops.

He doesn't do it. Instead, he just goes and steals all the silver in the kitchen, puts it in a bag, and runs off into the night. In the middle of the night, he gets caught by the police. In the morning, they bring him back to the bishop's house because Jean-Baljan said, know the bishop gave me all this stuff. They don't believe him, of course. Knock on the bishop's door, wake him up.

This guy says that you gave him all this. And the bishop covers for him. He says, yeah, absolutely. I gave him all this silver. It's for him. And then he says this line, right? He says, Bejan, you forgot the greatest thing I gave you, which was these two silver candlesticks,

worth more than all the rest of the silver combined. He sent the police on their way. And then in the musical, there's this line that as the bishop looks at Jean Valjean, He says the words, he says, now remember this, my brother. See in this some higher plan. You must use this precious silver to become an honest man. He goes on to say, by the witness of the martyrs, by the passion and the blood. God has raised you out of darkness, and I have bought your soul for God.

In the play, in the musical, he sings a song and has a conversion, and the rest of his life is fine. But in the book, it's one of those moments where he's a monster. He sees himself as a monster. and for the first time in over 20 years, he's being treated, not just as an equal, he's being treated with mercy. And it turns everything upside down for him. Like it changes everything.

And so he actually spends a long time wrestling. Will I actually let this mercy change me, or will I reject it? Will I actually say no to this? Or will I accept it? Ultimately, he receives the mercy. And it changes everything. The whole rest of his life,

the rest of his life, he's devoted, Acts 2.42, he's devoted to the teaching of apostles. He's devoted to the communal life. He helps everyone around him. He's avoided to the Eucharist. He goes to mass on a daily basis for the rest of his life. And he's voted to the prayers. Everything in his life has changed because of mercy. Because mercy is the one thing that bridges the gap between what God has done for the world and what God has done for me. That's why St. John, these have been written so that you may come to believe and that by believing you may have life to actually live a life of faith.

I love what St. Peter says about this though because St. Peter writing, he says, God in his great mercy, he gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead who by the power of God are safeguarded through faith, but you will have to suffer through various trials so that the genuineness of your faith

more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire may redound to his glory. You will have to go through various trials. Why? So your faith can become the kind of faith that's worth living for. One of those trials is like the gospel today. I don't know if you've ever noticed this in the gospel here, the disciples that are gathered together, all together,

and Jesus shows up. Can you imagine what this be like? If you're one of those disciples, you're most likely one of the people who ran away from Jesus. You're most likely one of the people who abandoned Jesus. When he needed you the most, you ran away. Unless it was John, but that's fine. But like everyone else, everyone else,

everyone else. Here's the one who loved them more than anyone's ever loved them, and they left him when he needed them. Here's the one who is completely faithful to them, and they demonstrated that when he needed me, I was faithless. Imagine how embarrassed you'd be when he walks in the room. You see his face, you see his eyes looking right at you, and how ashamed you'd feel. Jesus steps into the worst moment of their lives, and he says, peace be with you. See, this is one of the trials you and I have to go through. it's one thing to let Jesus step into our lives when we're proud of ourselves and we're strong when we've done well we've succeeded but the real challenge is to let Jesus step into our lives on the worst day of our life the real challenge is to let Jesus step into our lives and love us

when we have we feel nothing lovable we've done nothing honorable that's where this kind of faith that is tested as through fire that's the kind of faith that we need to actually embrace if Jesus is going to be able to embrace us. Will I allow God to love me, not just at my best? Well, I allow God to love me at my worst. And this is the last thing. It's one of the reasons why I love the fact that today's Divine Mercy Sunday. You know, if this day isn't super old in the history of the church,

and I think John Paul II gave us Divine Mercy Sunday because he knew what Jesus knows is that too many of us believe in this story, but too few of us live this story. many of us, many of us who say, yes, I believe Jesus rose from the dead for the sake of the world, but too few of us believe that Jesus rose from the dead for the sake of my soul and my life. And mercy is the thing that bridges the gap between what Jesus did for the world and what Jesus did for me. We realize that God's mercy is bigger than my sin. God's love for you is bigger than your shame.

and does he have permission to love you at your worst? That's why we're so often invited to go to confession on this day. We're invited to pray the chaplain of divine mercy on this day because this is the day. This is the day that we get to have the kind of faith that remains. Good times never last. And neither do bad times. But there are three things that last.

There are three things that can get us to the finish line. There's three things that are willing, they're worth devoting our love. lives to. They're worth devoting our lives to you. They're worth living a life of faith, hope, and love.