Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - Episode 123141: 1/1/26 Taken For Granted

Episode Date: December 31, 2025

Homily from the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God Resolve: I will not take these things for granted. We are surrounded by the amazing and miraculous every day. But we often miss it because our lives are too busy and too full. If we take a page out of Mary, the Mother of God's book, we would reflect on all these things...and no longer take them for granted. Mass Readings from January 1, 2026: Numbers 6:22-27Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8Galatians 4:4-7 Luke 2:16-21

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

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke. Chapter 2 verses 16 through 21. The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they may know the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds, and Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.

Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God, for all they had heard and seen just as it had been told to them. When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. The gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you to have a seat.

So I was thinking about this, how the fact that I realize this, I take a lot for granted. There's a lot I take for granted. I think maybe I'm not alone in that. Here on the first day of the new year, it's really easy to look back and be like, I'm just moving forward. Here's what I mean.

I was recently talking to a young dad, a new dad. Actually, I was talking to him two weeks after his daughter had been born. And we were doing a little baptism prep. They wanted to get Margaret Joe baptized right away. So I said, okay, any takeaways? Any things you've learned in the first two weeks of being a dad? Any two weeks, his wife was there too, like any things you learn in the first two weeks of being a parent. And he volunteered in French and he said, yes, two things right away. He said, number one, he said,

every baby I've ever seen in my entire life. I just saw them as a little like a little potato. Like he's just like, just a little kind of, yep, there they are, little peanut done, pass them by. He says, I look at my daughter now and I notice all of the, all of the intricacies, like all the various, like everything about her is so unique. It's not little potato. It is like, this is a little person that has all these, again, it's so individual. That's the first thing. He said, I took for granted. See a baby?

Yeah, just a baby. See my daughter? I'm like, not just a baby. The second thing he said is, he said, I realize I have to, I get to. He's like, I do everything for her. Like my wife and I, we do everything for her. And he said, I realize someone did that for me. He's like all the things we're doing like constantly around the clock,

making sure that, you know, she is fed and warm and all these kind of things. He said, someone did, and I know their names, mom and dad. And he said, they did. He said, my relationship with my parents has, in two weeks time, has drastically shifted because I realize all these things been doing for my daughter, Margaret. They did for me. He said, and then in high school, I was a jerk to them. Like, I treated them as if, like, Mom and Dad, you don't know me. And I realize I took so much for granted. And he's like, I can't take that for granted anymore. And even that's the decision of, like, I will not.

I will not take these things for granted. Today is the Feast of Mary Mother of God. And I think sometimes we can say that. We can just say, yeah, Mary Mother of God. And we could take that for granted. We could take it for granted that, well, of course, Mary's the Mother of God. I don't know if you know this, but that was a pretty hotly debated topic. In fact, this has very little to do about Mary, the title.

It has more to do about Jesus. Here's the idea. Is that back in the day, some big theologians were praying about this and we're saying, okay, so at what point did Jesus become God? Like, at what point did, here's this human being? Did he become God when the father spoke over him? The Holy Spirit came upon him? Was he a human being when he was born into this world?

When did he become human? and the church was like, no, he was human at, he was God at conception. Like, here is the eternal God, right? This is Jesus is the second person of the Trinity. He's always been God. Jesus is not a human person. Jesus is a divine person, right? The eternal divine person, second person of Trinity, the son of God.

That divine person at one point in time took on a human nature. in the Virgin Mary's womb. Since Mary is the mother of the human nature of Jesus, and Jesus is a divine person, then you'd say that Mary is the mother of God, if that makes any sense. That she is the term was the Theotocos or Theotocos. She's the Godbearer.

That because, once again, it has everything to do with Jesus, that Jesus has always been a divine person at the moment of his conception, he took on it, he joined his divine nature to a human nature. But Jesus the whole time, he never was a human person. He's a divine person, if that makes any sense. So then therefore, Mary, the mother of God, the Mary is the mother of God. I took that for granted.

I took it for granted that here is what God has done for me. Here's what God has done for you. Is that the eternal second person of the Trinity joined himself to, human nature and in this mysterious way without leaving heaven because he's God, abide, abided in Mary's womb. And I realize this. I realize I don't think about that enough. In the gospel today, it says that Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. And I realize I go from thing to thing to thing and it's rare, it's really rare that I take the opportunity to reflect on what God is doing in my life.

is because I was reflecting, I'm reflecting on that. And I was like, well, because there's not enough time. He's got to keep going to the next thing. There's not enough room. Like, there's not enough room in my brain to reflect on stuff. It's not a room in my heart. There's not enough room in my life to reflect on things. And I realize that if I don't make room, it's kind of like here we are on the Christmas

season. If I don't make room, it's like Jesus, Mary and Joseph looking for a room in the inn and there's no room. It's like God himself knocking on the door of my heart saying, can I come in? But there's no room. Why? Because there's no time. Why? Because things are just too full. I forget things that happen so fast.

What ends up happening is I end up taking life for granted. Yesterday, 2025 ended. And here we are in 2026. And I just think that's how things go. I just think, yep, we're going to next. And then in a year from now, we're going to be celebrating January 1st, 2027. And that's how it goes. And I have no idea. We have no idea if we're going to be around for that. We have no idea if any of us are still going to be alive in that moment. we have no idea if we're going to make it through this day. And yet I take so much for granted. So I want to just get to this place where I refuse and say,

no, I will not take these things for granted. I will not take life for granted. I don't take what God has done for me for granted. How do I do that? Well, we have to make room. And this is the last thing. Very simple today. I think we have to make room.

And I think we make room. I resolve New Year's resolution to make room. And that resolution is what's called a consciousness examin. Consciousness examin is when you go over your day and just pause at the end of your day, at some point in your day, and you go over how it's been in two ways. One is you call up on the Holy Spirit, right? You begin that prayer, call on the Holy Spirit. But then you go back and say, okay, God, where are all the moments in my life where you were there

and you blessed me? Where are the things I'm grateful for in my life? And you ponder on them and thank God for them. Very simple. Secondly, you go back over your day and say, where were the moments God where you offered me your grace and I said no, or I ignored you, or I refused you or rejected you, where I just go back and then repent, right?

Say I'm sorry. It's very, very simple, but it's one of those ways in which we can actually make room in our lives for what God is doing. In a simpler way? You're like, I don't have time due to a consciousness examiner. I've talked about this in the last year or two. It's just called the high-low God moment. So basically you go in prayer, you say, okay, what was the high moment of today?

What was the low moment of today? What was the God moment of today? If you've never done that, it is both challenging. It's also a blessing. Because it is a blessing to refuse to take life for granted. But that's what we're called to do on this first day of the new year. To realize there are so many things I take for granted. But from now on, I will not take these things for granted.