Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 5/14/23 A Reason for Your Hope

Episode Date: May 13, 2023

Homily from the Sixth Sunday of Easter Jesus is the Lord. Is He my Lord? Saint Peter tells us to be prepared to give a reason for our hope. We need to be ready to give an explanation for the truth that Jesus is the source of hope. We also need to be ready to give a reason for our personal hope in Jesus.Mass Readings from May 14, 2023:Acts 8:5-8, 14-17Psalm 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 201 Peter 3:15-18 John 14:15-21

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 in your podcast app for weekly notifications. God bless. The Lord be with you.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John. Chapter 14 verses 15 through 21. Jesus said to his disciples, If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to be with you, always, the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him.

But you know him, because he remains with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. In a little while, the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day, you will realize that I am in my father, and you are in me and I in you.

Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him. The gospel of the Lord. Pray you, Lord Jesus Christ. So I was thinking, I just jump right in there. You know, St. Peter in the second reading today.

He has these words that these words have, I would say they've kind of defined my life more, not more than any other words in scripture, but they have defined my life in a very particular and very powerful way. He says, always be ready. He says, always be ready to give an explanation. And I was just thinking about this,

like always be ready, basically, if there's someone who's not Christian, someone who's not Catholic, and they have a question, always be ready to give an explanation but the thing that i've come back to me again and again is is what would someone who's not catholic or what was someone who's not christian what would they notice about me and this is the question we can any of us could ask we could say so what would it be that anyone would notice and would they want an explanation from us i mean what was the last time

someone just came up right away and just said hey tell me what do you believe that probably hasn't ever happened if it has happened as part of like some kind of like team building exercise or or some kind of like get to know you, but it's rare that someone just says, hey, tell me what you believe? So what would they notice? Would they notice like, this person seems to believe X, Y, and Z? I don't really care. What would the world? What were the people around us? What were your neighbors? What would the people that you work with? What would they want you to give an explanation about? Especially because we have this world right now, and maybe it's no different than any other time in history, but in the world right now where it's kind of just a bunch of opinion. It seems like a

bunch of opinion. It seems like everyone is just talking about, this is what I think about that, that's what you think about that, this is my truth, that's your truth. So why would anyone care? I think they care about something and that's what St. Peter highlights that the world hasn't really changed that much, that the world is kind of the same. And when he says, he says, always be ready to give an explanation for what? For the hope that's within you. He says, always be ready to give an explanation for your hope. Because there's, you know, one thing I talk to a bunch of people, and they, I don't really care what you believe. But when you see someone live out what they believe,

and what they believe is something that's based in more than this life, when there's a hope in their heart, when there's hope in their life, and there's hope that actually transforms their lives, they're no longer a teacher, they're now a witness. And that's the huge difference. Because this world, we know this, and Pope Paul VI said this 1960s,

he said, modern world, the modern man, he says, we'll not listen to teachers, but we'll only listen to witnesses. Because the world doesn't care what you think. The world doesn't care what I think. The world doesn't care what we believe. But if we witness to something bigger than ourselves, something more than ourselves,

the world does care. Because we want to know what's the secret of the witness. Because we live in a world that is so far from hope in so many ways. In fact, St. Paul, writing to the Ephesians, he says, before you met Christ, you were without God in this world and without hope in this world. But to have hope is to have a life that's changed. To have hope is not just your opinion, my opinion.

To have hope is not just your truth and my truth. To have hope is to root your life in the truth. In your last weekend, Jesus, he made it very clear. What did Jesus say? He said, I'm the way and the truth and the life. So we have to ask this question. We have to ask the question, what's the truth? I want to go back to last week and then it'll launch into this week.

The question is, what's truth? In fact, that's what Pontius Pilate asks Jesus, right? He's on trial. And Jesus essentially says, I came to bear witness to the truth. Pontius Pilate asks what is truth. Let's define truth. Let's take a second. No, this is, we take all of our students through this, so this is going to be, if you're a student had gone home for the summer and like, oh, I'm sick today, I'm going to watch the mass on, or worship with pray with the mass online. This is going to be the same. This is going to be very similar to you,

very familiar to you, because we always ask the question for all of our students, what is truth? And truth can be so convoluted, it can be so complex, or it can be really, really simple and clear and understandable and graspable in its two words. A definition of truth is simply two words. Truth can be defined as what is. That's it. What is? That we realize a statement is either true or false to the degree that it conforms to reality. A statement is either true or false to the degree that actually accurately reflects what is. So simply truth is what is. And yet at the same time we have a bunch of opinion, right? We have a world that's full of opinion. We have a world that where people will say, no, no, no, well, Father Mike, that might be nice. That's your truth. My truth is

something else. Like you might be Christian. That's wonderful. That's your truth. But I don't believe in Jesus, that's my truth. You're right, you're right. There is such a thing. We have to go with this. We have to realize that they're not wrong. That there is such a thing as your truth and my truth. There is such a thing as, what we call it, subjective truth.

There are subjective statements. Every one of us makes subjective statements on a regular basis. We say things like, I like Domino's Pizza. Or they say things like I like Carribo coffee up here in Minnesota. Or I say things like, I like driving a little bit over the speed limit. Like all three of those things, those are subjectively true? You might say, I don't like Domino's pizza. Are you kidding me?

I like my local pizzeria. well done, support your local businesses, but like, that's your truth. My truth is Domino's. You might say, like, father, I can't believe that you like driving over the speed limit. I never do. I don't like driving over the speed limit. Like, that's wonderful. That's your truth. My truth is five over. I'm fine. Like, I'm not talking 20 over. I'm talking like maybe six. But like, that's my truth. That's your truth. Why? Because that that is possible to have subjective truths that are true for you, but not true for me. And true for me, but not true for you. That's subjective truth. But the amazing thing, the great thing about this world that God made,

He gave us these things like subjective truth, but he also gave us objective truth. The subjective statements are about what? They're about the subject. I like Domino's. You like Diet Coke. Objective truths or objective statements are about the object. There's a Domino's pizza parlor three blocks away from here. That's objectively true. The thing about objective statements, are either true or false, regardless of whether I know it, like it, or believe it. So we're talking about truth. I go, remember, what is? There's such a thing as subjective truth. that's just your truth and some truth that my truth. But when we talk about objective truth,

those statements are either true or false regardless of whether I know it, like it, or believe it. So someone could say, I mean, speaking of speeding, there's a road that goes by here. And there was one of our students back in the day, it's a 30 mile an hour zone. And back in the day, a young woman, she was driving, she was going way over that speed limit,

got pulled over by the police officer. And her defense was, I didn't know that it was 30 miles an hour. And the police officer said, you know, I understand, here's your ticket. Why? Why? Because it's your job to know. If you're driving on the road, it's your job to know. And it still is true, even if you didn't know it. Objective statements are either true or false, even if I don't know it or if I don't like it. We have had horrible weather here in Minnesota up in Duluth in the last, this last spring. It has been spring.

I don't know if spring is ever going to come. If I don't like it, it doesn't change anything. If someone tells me, by the like, don't look out your window, it's snowing again. The fact that I didn't know it doesn't make it not snow. The fact that I don't like it doesn't make it not snow. If I didn't believe it, if I said, nope, I refuse to believe that it's stowing. Question, would that ever affect? You want to have a beach day this summer, picnic day this summer? If it starts raining on you, if you just say, I don't believe that that's true, will that change the rain?

Absolutely not. It does nothing to affect it. Why? Because statements, objective statements, are true or false, regardless of whether I know it, like it, or believe it. They are true or false independent of us. They're discovered, not invented. And that's the thing about objective truth.

It's discovered, not invented. We discover that gravity exists. We didn't invent it. We discover that there are nine planets in our solar system. We didn't invent that, although Pluto, maybe that is a little bit of inventing or some gerrymandering there. But we have this recognition of, yes, there are some things that are subjectively true, true for you but not true for me.

But there's also objective truth. That's true for everyone, whether I know it, like it, or believe it. And one of those statements that's either true for everyone or false for everyone is a statement at the heart of what you and I believe as Christian. that statement is Jesus is God. That Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. That there is no way to the Father except through Jesus. Now, that statement is either true or false.

In fact, a lot of times someone's raised Christian, they're raised Catholic, and they're like, you know, I maybe want to commit my life to Jesus. But listen, what I have to do first is I have to examine all of the other world religions to make sure that I'm making an intelligent decision. And that's not a bad idea. It's a great idea. It's good to know about the world before you make a decision.

At the same time, I can make it really simple. for anyone who's considering being a Christian, you don't have to investigate all other world religions first. I just, I say investigate one claim, investigate one question. All you have to do to know whether you're going to be a Christian for the rest of your life or anything else is ask and answer one question.

Is Jesus who he says he is? Jesus claimed to be God. That's objectively true. His objective statement. He didn't say, I'm like God. I'm like God if you want me to be God. I'm not God if you don't want to be God. He said, I am God.

There's this thing called principle of non-contradiction. And thing cannot both be and not be at the same time in the same way. I know that's a lot of words, but to the principle of non-contradiction, when it comes to objective truth, then cannot both be and not be at the same time in the same way. Jesus can't both be God and not be God at the same time and in the same way. He claimed to be God. So the question we have to ask is, is that true?

Because that's an objective claim. It is either true or false regardless of whether I know it, like it, or believe it. or believe it. You know, one of the things that people say a lot of times about Jesus is they'll say things like, no, no, I like the teaching Jesus of Jesus. I think Jesus was a holy person. I just don't believe he was God. I think Jesus was a prophet, yeah, he was a good person. Maybe one of the greatest people who ever lived, but he just wasn't God. C.S. Lewis points out, he said that's the one thing about Jesus we cannot say. Why? Because he actually claimed to be God, which means if he wasn't God, he wasn't a holy person. If it wasn't God, he wasn't a good man. If it wasn't God,

who wasn't one of the best people to ever live. If he wasn't God, he either wasn't God and didn't know it, in which case he was crazy, or he wasn't God and he knew it, in which case he was lying. Again, in the book, Mirac Christianity, highly recommend read, Lewis goes through this thing called the Trilemma.

Jesus is either the liar, he's a lawyer, he's a lawyer, he's a liar, he's a lunatic, or he's the Lord. That's the question. Those are the only options we have. Jesus either knew he wasn't God and said he was, it means he lied. He didn't know he wasn't God, but he wasn't, in which case he's a lunatic, or he knew

who was God and said he was. Now, here's the question we have to look at. Lewis goes to this. He says, okay, look at the Gospels. Look at all the pictures we have of Jesus, by people who actually knew him. Does he strike us as someone who is a liar? And the answer is even Jesus' enemies, even people who don't like Jesus, the people who hate Jesus, none of them would accuse him of being a liar.

None of them would come up and say, this man, I mean, think about this. To create such a massive lie that you'd follow the personality profile of someone who would be a compulsive liar, someone who would be willing to be a master manipulator, someone who would be someone that narcissistic tendencies, all those pieces. And yet when you see Jesus, when you actually watch him in the Gospels, people who knew him describe him. They describe someone who's the exact opposite of that. So a narcissist is someone who's simply interested in themselves. Someone who's a master manipulator is someone who's not going to give of themselves for someone else in need if they can't give them something back.

But all throughout the Gospels, we have a picture of Jesus who is living the exact opposite way that when he's exhausted because he's been helping people all day and all night. And he sees a whole new group of people. Rather than running away, like I would probably do. Jesus, his heart is moved with compassion for them because they're like sheep without a shepherd. And he goes and gives up himself to just continue to heal, continue to continue to help, to continue to make whole. Jesus doesn't fit the personality profile of a liar. And think about this, as someone who's crazy.

Now, remember, truth is what? Truth is what is. And so we're sane to the degree that our minds conform to what is, right? The more or more closely our minds, your mind and my mind, conform to what is, the more sane we are. So if I were to say something like, I'm a priest, okay, that statement conforms to reality, that belief conforms to reality.

If I were to say, I am the greatest priest alive. No, that statement does not conform to reality. I am now detached from reality. If I truly believe that, I would be not only wrong, but you'd know that. You'd be able to see in the rest of my conversations like, wow, he's not really connected. If I were to say, I am Pope Francis. Hola, how is Estas? Like, if I believe that I was the Pope, like, don't tell anyone, you guys.

And I really believe that, I'd be even more detached from reality. If I thought, like, no, actually, I'm St. Peter. I'm the first Pope. I'm not just now Pope. I'm the first Pope. I really believe that dead Pope, I'm now alive. I'd be so detached from reality. again, you have a conversation with me, you'd pick on, catch on pretty quick that I was not

connected to reality, to what is. If I were to say, I'm a butterfly or jelly donut, I'd be even more disconnected from reality. Here's Jesus. When Jesus came on the scene, he didn't just claim to be a prophet. He didn't just claim to be the greatest prophet. He claimed to just be like Elijah or Jeremiah come back from the dead, although all those things, if he claimed to be those and he wasn't those, you'd catch on really quickly that he was not connected to reality. What did Jesus claim to be? Jesus actually claimed to be the source of all creation. He claimed to be the source of all space and time, that before him nothing existed, that everything that exists came through him. Jesus claimed to be God. Now, if you'd recognize

that my delusion of thinking on the greatest priest on the planet would be obvious right away, if a human being walked into the room and said, by the way, you everyone, I'm God, and they weren't, their disconnect from reality would be so great and so obvious, no one would believe them. Jesus is not a liar and he's not a lunatic that only leaves us with one final option that he actually is who he says he is. And yet at the same time, remember, this is his objective truth? Yet at the same time, is that just my preference? Like at the same time, is that just my hope? Is that just my opinion?

Is that my wish? Is it true because I want it to be true? Do I believe it because he says it? I don't have any other options. No, it's true because he proves himself. Again, look through all through scriptures. Sometimes we think, like people back in the day in the first century, if anyone just walked along and said,

by the way, you guys, I have some new teachings and I'm God, they'd be like, okay, Jesus, that kind of situation. But that's not the case. They did exactly what you and I would do. If someone walked into our lives and said, claimed to be God, we would not believe them unless they did what, unless they proved it. And so that's what Jesus does.

In Mark chapter 2, what happens? They have these four friends, they have a paralyzed friend. They bring them to Jesus. They have to lower them through the roof. And Jesus looks at the friend's faith, looks at the man and says, your sins are forgiven. Everyone's like, wait a second, who but God can forgive sins? Here's Jesus is claiming to be God.

And Jesus is like, I know, right? That's me. And he says, to prove to you that I have the authority to forgive sins. To prove to you, I am who I say I am, he says to the man, rise, pick up your mat and walk. Jesus does this again and again. And in fact, all throughout John's Gospel, we've been reading John's Gospel for the last number of weeks. All throughout John's Gospel, Jesus does these signs and wonders.

What are signs? Signs are something that point to something else. His miracles aren't just because God loves us. Of course he does. His miracles are pointing to the fact that his claim is true. Every one of the miracles is a demonstration. Jesus is saying, my claim to be God is not merely opinion. My claim to be God is not a subjective statement.

My claim to be God is objective, that he is the Lord of the universe. He is the master of life and death, so much so that even when he himself is crucified, when he himself dies and it seems like, I guess we were wrong, what happens? What we've been celebrating for the last six weeks? The Lord of life and death conquers death and comes back to life. And Jesus demonstrates in his resurrection what we've been celebrating for the last six weeks. this month and a half, Jesus demonstrates by his resurrection that he is who he says he is. So we know, we can have faith, we can have confidence.

This is the reason for our hope. Remember what St. Peter said, always be ready to give an explanation for the reason for your hope. As I said, that phrase has dominated my young life especially. When I was at high school was the first time I kind of came to a place of faith in Jesus. And I was like, I want to know, I want to be able to explain this. So I wanted to go to a Catholic college to be able to explain what it was, what is it about Jesus? What is the reason? I want people to ask me, why are you different?

I wanted people to ask me, like, why do you have hope? I wanted people to ask me, like, what do you believe? And so I went to school basically with the express intention of, I want to learn the reason. And that's, what I just shared is some of the reason, some of the reason for every one of us, objectively speaking, some of the reason that we have as Christians, that we have hope. It's an objective truth. the objective reason our Christians have hope

is because Jesus is who he says he is. That's the simple reason. Now you can give an explanation by walking through the liar, lunatic Lord thing, you can walk through the gospels and see all the miracles. You can even look right now. There are dozens, hundreds, thousands of miracles that happen, documented by the Catholic Church

happened every single year. That the name of Jesus continues to heal, the power of Jesus continues to save the Holy Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ continues to transform this world. That's an explanation of the reason for hope. But this is the last thing. St. Peter doesn't just say,

always be ready to give an explanation for the reason for hope. The reason for hope is Jesus is Lord. The reason for hope is Jesus is who he says he is. But St. Peter says, always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks, of a reason for your hope. There are two kinds of truth. There's objective truth, that's truth regardless of whether I know it, like it, or believe it.

And there's subjective truth. We know this about Jesus. Jesus is the Lord. He is the Lord of the universe. He is the Lord of time and space. He is the Lord of life and death. He is the Lord of this world. The question is, is Jesus the Lord of my world?

Is Jesus the Lord of my life? Do I have hope? There's a reason for hope. Jesus Christ, he has demonstrated he is who he says he is. What's the reason for your hope? I mentioned that I had gone to a college with the hope that I would be able to give her an explanation. What happened, unfortunately, was I was presented with a version of theology that wasn't authentic to the Catholic Church. I was presented with my own pride and my own weakness and that ultimately that's the problem. The problem isn't other people. The problem's me. And so I became a

missionary in Central America and I hated the Catholic Church. And I picked and chose what I liked about the faith and I neglected or even hated what I didn't like about the church. And it wasn't because there weren't good reasons for hope. It's because I found it too hard. I just found it too difficult. I didn't know if I could actually live this life of a Christian. I didn't know if I could actually live a life of a Catholic. There were no arguments that argued me out of belief, no arguments that argued me out of hope,

no arguments that argued me out of love. I just struggled because I didn't know if I could do it. I didn't know if I could live it. But then something happened. And in the midst of maybe one of the lowest moments of my life, Jesus stepped in the shape of a priest in my life. And as I was recovering from that moment, Jesus stepped into my life in the shape of my brothers and sisters who were also missionaries. That low moment of my life, I returned again to Jesus in adoration and in the Mass.

I had been going all right, the whole time I'd been going, but I returned in a different way. And that different way was I was broken and I was humbled. And in that brokenness and in that being humble, Jesus gave me courage. Jesus gave me the courage to realize that even when I failed, even when I, there was no way I could ever live this life on my own, that I didn't have to.

That even if I kept falling on my face, that he would take me back. I knew, I knew, without a doubt, that Jesus is the reason for hope, objectively. But when I came to the place where I knew I could trust him and have courage, Jesus became the reason for my hope. I want to always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks for a reason for my hope. And I want you to always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you

for a reason for your hope as well.