Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 4/20/25 What Never Dies

Episode Date: April 19, 2025

Homily from the The Resurrection of the Lord, The Mass of Easter Day Get up and do what you can. We know that darkness is real. And death is real. But darkness and death are not the end. There are some things that never die...Faith...Love...the Promise of eternal life. Mass Readings from April, 20, 2025: Acts 10:34a, 37-43 Psalm 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23Colossians 3:1-4 or 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8 John 20:1-9

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz. I am so excited to be joining the Courage Under Fire Gala on May 23rd in Nashville, Tennessee, and I would love for you to be there too. I believe that this world needs people of faith who are willing to live with clarity, conviction and compassion. That's what this night is all about, standing in truth, rooted in Christ and unshaken by the storms around us. You know this. We weren't made for comfort. We were made for courage. So go to the Courage Underfire. Gala by grabbing your ticket at courage underfiregala.org. That's courage underfiregala.org. And God bless. We started this night in darkness. We started this night in darkness for a reason. And that reason is because darkness is real. We started this night in darkness because darkness is real and sadness is real.

And grief is real and loss is real. It's so real that it has led many people to believe that that's all life is, that all life is just darkness and all life is loss and all that life is is grief and sadness. Because we know it's true. We know that the reality of life is that life involves destruction and life involves death and life involved darkness. You know, all of Lent if you've come and joined us on the 6 p.m. Mass. You know, we followed the life of a man named Takashi Nagai. If you've never heard of Takashi Nagai, he was a Japanese Catholic born in the beginning of the last century, he was raised Shinto and he became an atheist when he went to college

and then went on to medical school. Eventually he became Catholic and he also became a radiologist. And one of those things is he just, he came to faith in Jesus Christ and as a radiologist, radiology at the time was like a breakthrough technology and ultimately ended up getting him cancer. And even though he saved countless lives, if Takashi and the guy was honest, he would have told the truth and the truth was he saved lives but he was just throwing stones at death basically why because he was just keeping death away just a little bit longer why because we know this we know the truth of life is that death wins it always wins later on the atomic bomb was dropped directly over his home in Nagasaki and it killed thousands upon thousands by why because because

death wins because destruction wins because darkness wins you know one of the people that that Takashi and God met after the war was Helen Keller. We all know Helen Keller, right? Helen Keller, American born in 1880 in Alabama. The first year and a half of her life, 19 months of her life, she was perfectly healthy little baby. And then she got some kind of sickness, maybe scarlet fever or something. And you know, we all know this. It made her blind and deaf for the rest of her life. And so all of Helen Keller's life, for all of Helen's life, her entire life was darkness. Because darkness wins. I mean, even in the, in the, the gospel. Today we have Mary Magdalene, we have Peter. And we know this. We know that Peter,

on Holy Thursday, what did he after he denied Jesus? He went out into the darkness and he wept. And darkness wins. And even we hear that in the gospel that Mary Magdalene, it said this in the tomorrow morning's gospel. It says that it'll say, she came to the tomb early in the morning while it was still dark. She moved while it was still dark. Why? Because darkness is real and because Jesus really died and because brokenness is real. And yet, this is the crazy thing. Mary Magdalene

still came to the tomb. She still moved. She still acted. That even in the darkness she got up and she did what she could. Even in darkness, she got up and she did what she did. If we think about it, that's what

Peter did and Mary did and Takashi did. And Helen did. They got up and they did what they could. Peter, did we just When he heard, maybe that Jesus had risen from the dead, what did he do? He got up and he ran to the tomb. Helen Keller, we know this when she was seven years old. This woman named Anne Sullivan found her and taught her to communicate by tracing signs on her hand. And she went on to graduate, the first deaf and blind person ever to graduate from college.

She mastered several languages including French and German and Latin for some reason. She authored 14 different books. Why? Because even in darkness, she got up and she did what she did what she did. could. Tagashi and a guy, even as he lay dying, he wrote and he prayed and he gave people hope. Every one of them in darkness, they got up and they did what they could because darkness is real. Let me think about even us. How many times, how many times in our lives are we struck down by life? How many times in our lives are we afflicted? How often in our lives are we just confused? How often are, do we

just feel abandoned. And yet, think about this reality, every one of us came here in some kind of darkness, some kind of secret grief that we carry, some kind of hidden pain, that every one of us experiences, some kind of warrior, some kind of fear. And yet, what did every one of us do tonight? You got up in darkness and you did what you could. Death is real. And destruction is real and darkness is real. Those things are not the only things that are real. Because they exist, death and darkness and destruction. But there's also more. Takashi, he wrote, he wrote after the bomb.

He wrote that there's more. He said this. He said, the atomic bomb destroyed everything. Homes, churches, lives. But it could not destroy what never dies. The faith of the people, the love of God, and the promise of eternal life. It destroyed everything.

But it could not destroy what never dies. faith love the promise of eternal life it could not destroy what never dies it could not destroy what does not and cannot remain in darkness because that's the reason we're here

that's the reason why Takashi and Helen and Mary and Peter got up in darkness and did what they could because on this night Jesus himself entered destruction on this night Jesus himself entered death and on this night Jesus himself entered darkness and on this night Jesus rose from destruction

And on this night Jesus rose from death. And on this night Jesus rose from darkness. On this night, Jesus, in darkness, did what he could. That he rose from death, and he rose from destruction, and he rose from darkness to prove that death is real, but it does not have the last word. And destruction is real, but it does not have the last word. And darkness is real, but it does not have the last word. He made it possible to have faith, like Takashi, to be able to say,

to say, I, listen, everything around me is destroyed. Everything around me is dead, but there are some things that never die. It made it possible for Helen Keller to have compassion. In fact, after Helen visited Takashi, he wrote this, he wrote these words, he was so moved by her compassion, he was so moved by how she had been converted to Christ. He said, unless you've suffered and wept, you really don't understand what compassion is. Nor can you give comfort to someone who's suffering. If you haven't cried, you can't draw another person's tears. unless you've walked in darkness, you cannot help wanderers find the way.

Unless you've looked into the eyes of menacing death and felt its hot breath, you can't help another rise from the dead and taste anew the joy of being alive. Unless you've walked in darkness, you can't help wanderers find the way. The fact that Christ, in darkness, got up and did what he could,

made it possible for Mary Magdalene to love. It made it possible for Peter to have courage. It made it possible for every one of us to say, yes, I'm often afflicted. And yes, I'm often confused and we can find ourselves persecuted, we can find ourselves struck down. But it's not all darkness. In fact, because of Jesus, we can say like Paul, yes, I'm afflicted, but I'm not distressed. I'm confused, but I'm not driven to despair. We can say, we might be persecuted, but we're not abandoned. We also can say, we are struck down, but we're not destroyed. Because Jesus is the light that's entered into the darkness,

you've encountered something that never dies. In fact, I would say this, you've encountered someone who never dies. And every person here who's baptized, the moment you're baptized, you were redeemed by him. If you've received Holy Communion in the Eucharist, you have been fed by him. And if you've ever been confirmed, you've been strengthened by him. Tonight, a number of people here will be baptized. And tonight, tonight, you'll be claimed by God the Father as his son.

and as his daughters, forever. Some of you will receive Holy Communion for their very first time. And in doing that, you'll be strengthened by Jesus himself, fed by Jesus himself, for the very first time in this unique way possible. So many of you will be confirmed, many of you will be confirmed tonight. And this night, this night is going to be a touch point in your lives. This night will be a touch point where you know that God can find you in darkness and God can be found in darkness.

because there are some things that never die. This is the last thing. Blaise Pascal was a man who influenced Takashi Nagai to become Catholic. Blaise Pascal was a French scientist, mathematician, inventor, thinker in the 18th century. He's also a Catholic. And Blaise Pascal was a Catholic man who did Catholic prayers and he went to Catholic Mass, did all those things.

But one night changed his life. In fact, he had this, what he would describe as a mystical experience, this encounter with Jesus that became the touchpoint that became the point for the rest of his life. In fact, he wrote down on a piece of paper just trying to capture what it was like to meet Jesus. And he actually put it in his chest pocket. He carried it with him everywhere he went.

And occasionally he just touched that cloth. He touched that place that was a touch point to remind him. Here's what he wrote. He wrote, in the year of our Lord 1654, Monday, November 23rd, from about half past 10 in the evening to about half past 12.

Fire. God of Abraham. God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers nor of the scholars. Certitude, certitude, feeling, joy, peace. God of Jesus Christ, my God and thy God. Thou God shall be my God. Forgetfulness of the world and of everything except God. He is to be found only by the ways taught in the gospel.

Greatness of the soul of man, righteous father, the world hath not. known thee, but I have known thee. Joy, joy, joy, joy. Tears of joy. Jesus Christ, I have fallen away. I have fled from him, denied him, crucified him. May I not fall away forever. We keep hold of him only by the ways taught in the gospel. Renunciation, total and sweet, total submission to Jesus Christ and to my director. eternally in joy for a day's exercise on earth, I will not forget thy word, amen. That night, that time of darkness,

that encounter with Jesus transformed his life. And again, he put that on a piece of paper, he put it in his chest pocket, he would touch it often. That was his touch point. Tonight, tonight, the bishop will anoint your foreheads with the chrism oil. You'll be confirmed, sealed by the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And that will be a touch point for every one of you. If you ever wonder, Can God find you in darkness just touch that place where the holy oil of Jesus Christ, powered by the Holy Spirit, given by our bishop, sealed and confirmed you? Let that touch point of your forehead just be a reminder. To remind yourself that even in destruction, God has done something. That even in death, God has done something. And that even in darkness, God has done something.

He has done something in your life. So that all of us, even in destruction, and even in death and even in darkness can always, no matter how dark it is, we can get up and do what we can.