Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 5/4/25 Move On: Charcoal Fire

Episode Date: May 3, 2025

Homily from the Third Sunday of Easter To be restored, we must revisit the place of ruin. When we are called to move on, we may need to revisit the places in our lives that need healing in order to allow the Lord to change our future. Mass Readings from May, 4th, 2025: Acts 5:27-32, 40b-41 Psalm 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11-12, 13Revelation 5:11-14 John 21:1-19

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 Under Fire Gala by grabbing your ticket at courage underfiregala.org. That's courage under firegala.org. And God bless.

The Lord be with you. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John. Chapter 21 verses 1 through 19. At that time, Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberius. He revealed himself in this way. Together with Simon Peter, Thomas called Didamus, Nathaniel from Cana and Galilee, Zebedee's sons, and two other. of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, I'm going fishing. They said to him,

we also will come with you. So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, children, have you caught anything to eat? They answered him, no. So he said to them, cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something. So they cast it. And we're not able to. to pull it in because of the number of fish. So the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, it is the Lord. When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tucked in his garment for he was lightly

clad and jumped into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, for they were not far from shore, only about a hundred yards dragging the net with the fish. When they climbed out on shore, they saw our charcoal fire with fish on it and bread. Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish you just caught. So Simon Peter went over and dragged the net ashore full of 153 large fish. fish. Even though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, come, have breakfast. And none of the disciples dared to ask him, who are you, because they realized that it was the

Lord. Jesus came over and took the bread and gave it to them, and in like manner the fish. This was now the third time Jesus was revealed to his disciples after being raised from the dead. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon. Simon. Simon. Simon. Simon. Simon. son of John. Do you love me more than these? Simon Peter answered him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my lambs. He then said to Simon Peter a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Simon Peter answered him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Jesus said to him, tend my sheep. Jesus said to him a third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was distressed that Jesus had said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord,

you know everything. You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. Amen. Amen. I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go. He said this, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, He said to him, follow me. The gospel of the Lord. Made you to have a seat. So I have to ask you guys, if you ever had this,

have you ever had those moments where, I don't know where, like, you're just, you're just, do mind your own business. You're just sitting there, just thinking about whatever. And all of a sudden, like a moment from your past, like comes back. Like something where you said something stupid or you acted stupid or like, you're like, oh my gosh, why did I do it? And all of nowhere, you're like, live in life and all of a sudden you're like,

oh, you had like this cringe of like this, oh my gosh, like, why did I do that? Why would I ever say this thing? Why would I ever do that kind of thing? Or just like it's those moments that just they sneak up on you at some, sometimes and I just, I think of them. That happened to me all the time where it's, it's that, okay, in the middle of life and things are going okay. And then I think back and realize, oh my gosh, I've done that.

Like, why did I say that? Why did I do that? And it's that moment of, I guess, for lack of a better term, cringe, but it's even, it's even worse. I just, it's those moments you just want to move on. Like I just, I don't. I don't want to think about this. I don't want to, or I wish I could go back.

Like, I wish I could go back and do that again, do it all over. You know, we started last week, this series at the end of our semester called Move On. And I realized that there are so many students who are here over the last year. Could have those moments to look back over the last year and think, oh my gosh, like, why did I say that? Why did I do that? That was so stupid. Or even over the last four years, they could look over these last four years and think, like, man, I just, I don't want to think about this, right? I don't want to go back.

I just want to move on. And this is true for all of us, because that's our temptation. Our temptation, when we have those things in our lives, those moments in our lives that are just so painful, those moments were just like, I just wish it had never happened. Our temptation is just leave, right? Just just forget it, just move on.

The question is, is that the best thing we could do? We have those moments of ruin, those places of ruin in our lives, is the best thing we can do is just forget it and move on. You know, in the gospel today, one of the characters, obviously, Jesus is always the main character, but Peter is one of the characters here. And imagine that here's Simon Peter, and what he wants to do in life, he just wants to move on.

I mean, you can imagine this is maybe why he's out of Galilee. Well, Mary Magdalene told them that Jesus told her to tell them to go to Galilee. But in so many ways, Peter's already seen Jesus, right? Peter's already, we think that on Easter Sunday, when Jesus said to him, peace be with you, breathes on him, gives him the Holy Spirit, that there's some kind of forgiveness that's already happened. You can imagine, though, that Peter's is still thinking about that time.

He still still still thinking about that one night when he denied Jesus. And in so many ways, I wonder if Peter's saying, hey, I'm going fishing, is his temptation to just forget it, right? Let's just move on. I don't know if you noticed this, but all four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, they all, they don't all have the same stories. They all talk about how Peter denied knowing Jesus. three times. I imagine Peter just wants to move on.

But here's the interesting thing. I believe that Jesus wants more for Peter than for Peter to merely move on. I think Jesus wants Peter to be more than he is. I think he wants Peter to be free. I believe that one of the reasons why this story in the gospel happens today is because Jesus wants Peter to be restored. And because of that, Jesus brings Peter to the place of his ruin. What's the scene? Seen is what? Fishing on the Sea of Galilee. That's actually one of Peter's like great moments.

When right Jesus gets in his boat, another great moment is he says, well, we've worked hard all night, haven't caught anything. Another great moment. Jesus says, throw your nuts over to the side of the boat. Big catch of fish, another big moment. And had this moment, right, where even John looks at Peter and says, that's the Lord. And Peter jumps in, he races to Jesus, he swims to Jesus.

And then, you know what he sees? He gets to the shore. there's Jesus, but you know what's, what is right next to Jesus? What is right next to Jesus? Is a charcoal fire? You have to realize that scene is not accidental. The only other place in the entire gospels where a charcoal fire is explicitly and specifically named is on the night that Peter denied knowing Jesus. It says, clearly he was warming himself next to a charcoal fire. Peter's worst moment had just happened next to a charcoal fire. You imagine, here he is.

I just want to move on. And he gets to Jesus and he sees that. And in that moment, he's reminded of his past. And that moment he's reminded of the worst moment of his entire life. And he realizes this truth, too, Jesus built that. He sees this reminder of the absolute worst moment of his life. And Jesus is the one who built that. Because why?

Because in order to be restored, you have to revisit the place of your ruin. So Jesus is saying to Peter, listen, in order to move on, you have to go back. See, here's our temptation. Our temptation, we have that place of ruin. Our temptation is either to excuse ourselves or accuse ourselves, right? We're either tempted to deny something or to be defined by that thing. We're tempted either to forget the past or to live in the past. And I think you can see this, how we pretend sometimes, right?

I just like, okay, what I'm going to do? I did that thing, I said that thing. I'm going to act as if it never happened. I just, it was a crazy night. I'm just going to pretend it didn't really ever happen. Or, or, you know, sometimes you just make light of it. I don't know if you ever noticed that. Ever noticed, like, the tendency we sometimes have is to, like, make jokes of our sins. Even serious Christians, we can sometimes find ourselves laughing at past sins.

In fact, C.S. Lewis wrote about this. C.S. Lewis, he said, he said, the temptation to laugh at the past evil comes in very early and is very deadly. we have that temptation, though. He was on to say, he says, we are encouraged to laugh at drunkenness and cruelty and falsehood. The assumption is that such things are laughable because they're absurd. He went on to say, but sin is not absurd, it's damnable. And everyone who laughs at it just doesn't understand it.

So we try to forget it, we laugh at it, or we try to spin it. I don't know, you've maybe heard people say this phrase like, they'll say something like, never regret your people. past, it has made you into the person you are today. Now, I like, I like that sentiment. Because why? Because I think that I can agree, all that we have is part of our story. And we have to accept that to some degree. So yeah, never forget your past. It's made you into who you are today. But what if who I am today is worse? Like, what if who I am today is worse because of my past? That's actually a real possibility. And so I can't just forget it. And I can't, shouldn't laugh at it. And I can't

spin it, but also I'm not saying that regret is the answer. In fact, I'll say more clearly, regret is not the answer. Why? Both Judas and Peter both regretted, right? That night, that Judas betrayed Jesus and Peter denied Jesus. It said both of them deeply regretted what they had done, and they went out, both of them went out into the darkness weeping. That regret does nothing. In fact, there's an audio meme that I came across within the last couple months that has this kind of like old country voice, and this man says this, he says, the dog that weeps after it kills is no better than the dog that doesn't. Your guilt will not purify you.

That the dog that feels badly that has killed an animal is no better than the dog that doesn't. And the human being that weeps after we've done something wrong is no better than the person who doesn't weep. Just having regret, just experiencing our guilt doesn't make us any better than anyone else. but too often when we look back on our story, sometimes regret is all we see. And so what we do is instead of excuse ourselves, we accuse ourselves. But again, that's not the answer. That was what Judas did.

And if that's us, then we won't be able to move on because we'll be hanging on to what's holding us back. And we realize life only moves in one direction. Right? Life can only move forward. But in order to move forward, in order to move on, I might have to revisit the past. You know, the psychologist I was listening to. I read his book and he was talking about our tendency to excuse or accuse it.

Our tendency just try to get as far away as we can from our past. He said this. He said, if you don't deal with the ghosts of your past, they will devour your future. You have to voluntarily confront the chaos and make order out of it. otherwise, it will continue to haunt you. So that's the truth, that that place of our ruin, that place of our greatest shame, that place that charcoal fire in our lives, it might be frightening, it might be embarrassing, it might even be condemning.

But to be restored, we have to revisit the place of our ruin. And I think that's the reason. I think that's one of the reasons why Jesus builds a charcoal fire. Because why? Because I'm sure that Peter saw it, and all he could think of was his failure. I'm sure Peter gets that short line, and he sees that. charcoal fire and all he can think of was his failure. But if Jesus didn't give him the chance to revisit the place of ruin, he could potentially be stuck for the rest of his life,

afraid of fire. You know, that same psychologist, put it like this, especially when we feel that anxiety over our past, anxiety over those, those parts of our lives that were ashamed of it, where parts of our lives were afraid of, those charcoal fires in our lives, he said like this, he said, the anxiety-producing parts of your brain are trying to tell you where there are obstacles in your environment and it says, look out, don't go there, there's fire. Well, maybe, maybe you could master the fire. And then you're a wielder of fire and not a victim. How do you do that? Well, denying doesn't do it. And regret doesn't do it. And beating yourself up doesn't do it. And also time doesn't undo the past. In fact, my last C.S. Lewis quote of the

day, at least, is this C.S. Lewis was talking about, again, that desire we have to just think that time heals everything. He says, we have this strange illusion that mere time cancels sin. I've heard others, and I've often heard myself recounting cruelties and falsehood committed in boyhood as if they were to no concern of the present speakers, and even with laughter. But mere time does nothing either to the fact or to the guilt of a sin. The guilt is washed away not by time, but by repentance and the blood of Jesus Christ. if we have repented of these early sins we should remember the price of our forgiveness

and be humble. Time doesn't do it. Excuse doesn't do it. Accusing doesn't do it. Regret doesn't do it. To be restored, we revisit the place of our ruin and we repent. That's why we go there.

We revisit the place of ruin so that we can repent. Again, remember, both Peter and Judas both repented. But Judas regretted what he had done, and he died in that regret. Peter repented. You know what repent means. Metanoia is the Greek word. Rependance means to think differently. Another way to say it is, to repent is to be convinced of a different way.

To repent is to change your mind. Basically, to repent is to change your answer. And so what does Jesus do? Jesus brings Peter to a charcoal fire. He revisits the place of ruin, and he gives him the chance to change his answer. Peter couldn't change the past, but he could change his answer for a new future. You know, that's why Jesus asks Peter, he says,

Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? How many times? You ask him three times. Why? How many times did Peter deny Jesus? How many times did Peter deny loving Jesus? How many times did Peter deny being a friend of Jesus? Three times.

He even said the third time Peter was hurt. Why was he hurt? Well, because Jesus is digging in. because he wants to restore Peter. Doesn't just want to forgive him, doesn't want to say he forget it. He wants to restore and he wants to make him new. There's a thing called debreedment. Maybe you know about debreedment.

If you ever got like road rash or you got a bike accident or something like this or maybe even had some kind of open sore, debreedment is when the physician or the doctor, the nurse, the person has to go in and take out whatever's necrotic, like the dead tissue, or it has to go in and take out the infected tissue. Basically saying, okay, if I leave this here, there is no way this wound will be restored. So Jesus takes him to that charcoal fire, he takes him to that place of ruin,

and he asks him the question. You can't change your past, but you can change your answer for a new future. So Jesus doesn't make a charcoal fire for Peter so that he can reside in that place of ruin. He makes the charcoal fire for Peter so he can simply revisit the place of ruin and be restored. And this is the last thing. We know that Jesus wanted more for Peter than just merely move on. Jesus wanted Peter to be more than he was. And he brought him to that charcoal fire

so that he could become a wielder of fire. And this is what Jesus wants for us. You realize to revisit the place of ruin, that's what we're doing in confession. If you go to confession, and I'm not excusing myself and I'm not accusing myself and I'm not residing there, and I'm not simply regretting,

but I'm allowing the Holy Spirit to work in me so I can name the moment. so I can go to that place of ruin, so I can revisit the place of ruin and give a new answer. In our new answer, every time we go to confession, our new answer is, Jesus, I love you. And we allow God to transform our present

by surrendering our past. Excuse me, invitation. This summer, and throughout your life, throughout all of our lives, we will have many things to repent of. We'll have many moments to repent. So my invitation is to resolve to return to that charcoal fire confession

at least once a month this entire summer make that resolution that decision I'm going to return to that charcoal fire I'm going to revisit that place of ruin I'm going to confession at least once a month for the entire summer or else the danger of excusing myself the danger of denying or being defined by my sin is just too high because Jesus doesn't want you or any of us

to be defined by our worst choices. He wants us to repent. He wants us to revisit that place of ruin so that you and I, by his grace, can become a wielder of fire so that you and I, by his grace, can be restored.