"Always Courageous" | 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Fr. Mike's Homily) #sundayhomily

so there's this TV show that um I used to watch a little bit of I'm not sure we're not going to say the name of the TV show out loud because I don't really recommend it but there was a character in this TV show is a comedy um who was from Minnesota and uh he was a lovable character from Minnesota as all motans are and uh at one point it was it was the episode where his dad died and he was talking about his dad because this this character had a great relationship with with his father and he's talking to his best friend about what it was like to grow up with his Dad in Minnesota he said the whole family would take these trips and they Drive North uh in Minnesota you know up to towards Canada and he said all the other you know his mom would be asleep and the other other his brothers would be asleep but he said but I I would stay up and I I'd sit there in that middle seat behind my dad and I would just watch as he drove into the night and and he and he said this he said I always felt so safe even driving at night my be because my dad was driving he said he was like some sort of superhero who who could just see out into the darkness and now he's just gone and it's pitch black and I can't see where I'm going I can't see anything I was thinking about that especially here on this day on this you know Father's Day like the role of dads in so many ways the role of good Dads the RO role of great dads is is that it's that they keep their lives moving forward you know keep their families moving forward even when even when it's pitch black even when like you can't see anything down the road you can't can't see anything beyond the beyond the headlights but something about good Dads who just keep on going even when they can't see ahead and this is the truth for all of us this is the truth for every Christian something about Christians that that we're what we're called to do is we're called to just keep going keep moving forward even we when we can't see ahead even even even when what we're facing is something that's overwhelming so so second the second reading today is from 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 St Paul's talking about the uncertainty basically St Paul's saying like we don't know what's going to happen like not only are we in a place of uncertainty right now we have no idea what's coming down the road in fact in in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 right before this Paul talks about what his experience of life is like he says here's we find ourselves as these Christians and we find ourselves Afflicted we find ourselves per perplexed we find our ourselves persecuted we find ourselves struck down because that was the ordinary situation to be a Christian to be afflicted to be perplexed to be persecuted to be struck down and you can imagine that situation just like what would be the emotion that would dominate your life here's this character right in the TV show in the middle of the night driving into the darkness he's like but I wasn't afraid CU because he said my dad could see beyond the headlights it's why St Paul says he says yeah we're Afflicted but but we're perplexed but he says we're constrained but we're struck down but he says we're Afflicted but we're not constrained he says we're perplexed but we're not driven to despair we're persecuted but we're not abandoned and he said we're struck down but we're not destroyed and in the middle of all this we have this first reading the second reading today in the middle of all of this he says we are always courageous that's what he says I mean again let's go back to our lives as we're driving through this life we realize we cannot see beyond beyond the headlights there's so much of life that is completely uncertain so much of life that is dangerous for us and yet St Paul says no no no we're courageous isn't he doesn't just say we're sometimes he says we are always courageous basically we this is what marks Our Lives not fear but what marks Our Lives of the Christian even in the midst of danger is courage now let's pause on this for a second because I think it's important I think we have to realize that courage is not the absence of fear I think you maybe you've heard that before we need to hear it again to feel fear to experience fear is not to fear is not to experience failure courage is not the absence of fear the most courageous people among us are the ones who experience fear but who nonetheless are willing to move forward that's the key people who are courageous are those who experience fear but who nonetheless are willing to move forward those who are experien fear but are nonetheless are willing to do God's will because if there's anything we know we know that it is it's easy to be courageous when there's nothing to be afraid of every one of us knows that it's easy to be courageous when there's nothing to be afraid of in fact at the same time I would say this I would say it's impossible to be courageous when there's nothing to be afraid of it's actually impossible why because so we put on this Camp every summer and I think it was last summer we put on the camp uh on on the virtues and one of the virtues virtue of courage or virtue of fortitude is has a unique definition and one of the definitions of the virtue of fortitude is all of the other virtues at the moment they're needed the most so all all the other virtues at the moment they're needed the most so you have Prudence you have Justice you have you have Temperance you have you have all these other you have honesty you have uh this this the virtue of even virtue of of prayer fortitude is what helps us be honest or be just or be prudent or be temperate it helps us show up to prayer when we least feel like being honest or just or prudent or tempered or showing up for prayer we realize that courage fortitude is the ability ability to do the right thing when the right thing is hard to do because again we don't need courage you don't need courage when it's easy to do the right thing when the right thing is easy to do but courage is doing the right thing when the right thing's hard to do because we all know this again it's easy to be courageous when the sun is shining and you're feeling good and everything's going your way it's easy to be an armchair courageous person that's why St Paul says no no no here's the thing we're not armch courageous we're not just courageous on sunny days we're not just courageous when things are going well we're perplexed and C courageous we are struck down and we're courageous we're persecuted and we're courageous he says we're Afflicted and we're still courageous I mean this is this is so important basically they're saying all these things are happening and still nonetheless we are still going to walk into an unknown because God has called us there this is this is this is the secret for every single Christian to have the courage to walk into the unknown for one reason because God has called us there I don't know what's going to happen like I you know in this in this day and age right now I me think about our culture I don't know what's going to happen with our culture I don't know what's going to happen with our country like none of us knows what's going to happen with our future or with our families and that's that's one of the reasons why you know dads like really really good Dads they just keep their families moving forward and and here's the thing maybe their pretending like honestly I think maybe sometimes dads are just like I don't know I'm in charge they gave me this baby I left the hospital and now I have to act as if I know what I'm doing and I think sometimes I think sometimes I wonder if this I wonder if dads are so used to pretending that they know what's going on that it's actually pretty scary for them to admit that they don't I wonder if that's that's one of the realities in our lives that that dads again good dads are so used to pretending they know what what's going on used to pretending like okay yep I got it all together that they're unable to actually admit when they don't Berne Brown is a I think she's a psychologist or sociologist or something olist and she writes books and she studies vulnerability she studies shame and at one point she tells the story about uh she was doing a book signing after one of her talks and there's all these women lined up and amongst all these women was a man and this man walked up to her and he said that he said how come you don't uh have any stories about vulnerability and shame when it comes to B how come all all you talk about is women and vulnerability or women and shame and ber Brown said at the time she said well I told him I well I don't study women or sorry I don't study men and this man looked at her and said well that's awfully convenient and she said what do you mean she he said because he was there with his daughters and with his wife and he said because I have these three daughters and this wife who would rather see me die than see me fall off my horse like they would rather see me actually end up dead rather than see me as someone who actually needs help see rather than see me as someone who actually is vulnerable as someone who actually is wounded because why because this man in particular now you that might not be your dad your dad might be like no I'm very vulnerable I'm very open to my shame but some men aren't because why because that takes a lot of Courage the courage to actually say I need help in this moment St Paul saying this this sense of okay here in the midst of uncertainty in the midst of the unknown in the midst when I don't know what to do as followers of Christ that in the midst of fear to choose to still move forward um there's I don't I don't know if you've heard of the Army Rangers the Army Rangers are among the most elite highly trained fighting force on the planet I mean you know the Navy Seals everyone knows about the seals not as many people know about the Rangers the Rangers are basically the Army's equivalent of the Navy Seals they're incredible they're amazing again one of the most highly trained fighting forces in the world in the history of humanity it's they're amazing and one of their Motts is Rangers lead the way in fact that's one of the reasons why St Andrew the apostle is the patron saint of the Rangers is because Andrew was the first called and so the Rangers are the first ones they're the ones who lead the way that's one of their motos they have the Rangers have another motto though and this motto is just so it's so understated because there are some motos that are like you know like like Le Rangers lead the way that that sense of like we're the first in the battle we're the ones who like you know we bleed the most we kill the most we do the most violence the ranger the official Ranger motto though is this Latin phrase suas pante and suas pante doesn't mean like yeah we're totally that we're the toughest supon doesn't mean that we're the baddest suas pante doesn't mean that that we're the biggest Killers out there Su Asante simply means voluntarily or more literal translation is um of their own accord and the idea behind this is okay if you're going to be a ranger whatever you do you're going to go into battle you're going to be again Rangers lead the way you're going to be the first to battle and you're going to do this of your own accord that if you're going to be a ranger you're going to be asked to go rescue people from the the clutches of death and you're going to do this not constrained you're not going to do this in a way that's you're commanded to you're going to do this voluntarily you're going to do this because you volunteered for it you're going to do this of your own accord in fact there's a guy who wrote about this and he said he said this so powerfully he says supon or voluntarily it means that they didn't have to do this that they signed up to be held to a higher standard and he said the rest of life is like that too he said there's here's we have to understand there's honor in doing what you have to do there is right there's honor in doing simply what you have to do in getting your work in on time in in making ends meet and being a solid employee doing the minimum is is still doing and even the minimum can be really really hard I think we have to need to understand that doing the minimum is still doing and sometimes the minimum can be really really hard and that's why it's so special when people do more than the minimum of their own accord that's why it's so spe I mean to for anyone to join the military is a really big deal for anyone to join the military and say no I'm placing myself at the service of my country that's amazing but to be able to be someone like a ranger and say I'm actually going to go above and beyond and not only am I going to go above and beyond I'm going to do this in a particular way I'm going to do this of my own accord I'm going to do this Su Asante and this is one of the reasons why Christians are called to do this we're called to say we're always courageous why because to Simply bear your burden and walk into the future into the unknown that's not just for dads it's not just for Rangers it's for grandmas and grandpas and moms and single people in in fact every Christian is called to do this Paul says we not just the apostles not just the other disciples not just he say we are always courageous so how do we do that like how do we say I'm going to I'm going to walk into the future I'm going to walk into the unknown I'm going to walk into the place of fear with courage and I like how St Paul says it he says how we do that is we walk by faith not by sight how how do how do we actually how do how are we always courageous how do we walk into the unknown how how do we walk into danger we walk by faith and not by sight so what's walking by faith well a walking by faith is not turning off your brain like walking by faith is not shutting down your critical thinking systems walking by faith is not choosing to be willfully blind but it is to be willing to continue to walk even after things have grown dark we realize this there is evidence to our senses right there we look around and sometimes it feels like oh there's there's no hope we look around at our lives and say it seems like there's no answer we can look around and think like okay what I see is it seems like there's no way out there's no way forward sometimes we look at this and say hey actually you know what it'd be easier to cheat and I could probably get away with it we could look at our situation and say well this would be easier to lie and I'd probably get away with it then we look at other people and think and think well some people seem to be happier if they just live outside God's law and it seems like nothing's happening to them again this is what we see this is living by sight it seems like sometimes we just are tempted to say maybe that's what I should do maybe I should just do what I want to do that's what it is to walk by sight it seems like people can get away with this why shouldn't I but then we have God's law then we have God's word then we have the fact that God has spoken that that Jesus has come into this world and that he sent his holy spirit Among Us and the reality is yeah I might choose the good and not get what I want in this life I might actually choose God's Will and not get what I want in this life that actually choosing God's law and choosing what God has asked us to do might cost us something in fact it might cost us everything might cost us every visible good that's why St Paul says therefore we don't walk by sight what we see can be deceiving we walk by faith meaning I strive to please him basically saying God I'm going to trust your word over my fears that's walking by faith God I'm going to trust your your word over my insecurities that's walking by faith God I'm going to trust in your word over this world that's walking by faith that's what it is to be courageous and it can look look different in everyone's life I might have shared this story before but this is not about Dad but about a grandma um my mom mom Helen Grandma Helen she was a nurse uh down in the Twin Cities at a hospital down there she was actually the head nurse of the hospital so she had she had worked really really hard to get her position she had worked really really hard so many years she had given up so much she had sacrificed so much uh of her family she had sacrificed so much of her life so much of herself to be able to be there for her nurses to be there for the patients and then at one point this this hospital she worked at decided that they were going to perform abortions at the hospital and my grandma went to the administration and she said two things one was she asked them to stop performing abortions like no this is this is wrong we're here we're dedicated here our lives are every one of us here as a medical professional our lives are dedicated to saving lives and now you've just actually committed this hospital to ending lives intentionally to murdering she asked them to stop and to the very least she said you have to not ask my nurses the nurses she's in charge of to carry the dead bodies of these babies and just throw them away just dispose of them she say my nurses will not dispose of these babies that you killed and she said either you stop doing abortions or I leave and had to say that hospital continues to do to do abortions and my grandma left she's courageous she had no idea what would happen how how her family would suffer financially how she would suffer emotionally and spiritually how her kids actually would have to carry that burden as well CU her kids my uncles and my mom carried that that burden that my grandma had to shoulder because she chose to say I trust God's word over this man's world she's courageous St Paul says we have to be we're always courageous that if God has asked me to do one thing and the world tells me to do another to do another I choose what God has asked me to do even if I don't know where it's going and this is the very very last thing the reality is we can't know where it's going in fact kind of the final line in that TV show where this young man is saying my dad he was a superhero he could just drive into the night and he and he he could see beyond the headlights at one point there's a scene where his dad says actually son you want to know a secret I couldn't see worth the darn either I just kept driving this is what we're called to we are always courageous and even in the midst of fear we move forward nonetheless and even in the midst of things that being struck down or being perplexed being persecuted being confounded we say I will follow you God and walk by faith not by sight and I will do this voluntarily I would do this of my own accord [Music]

Channel: Sundays with Ascension

Views: 53,193

Keywords: ascension presents, fr. mike live mass, ascension, fr. mike schmitz, father mike, sunday mass, Catholic Mass, short homily, short catholic homily, sunday homily fr mike, Holy Mass with Fr. Mike, catholic mass, Year B, Sundays with Ascension, sunday mass 2024, Short Homily, Catholic homily, homily today, homily june 16, Mass for june 16, eleventh sunday ordinary time, ordinary time, fear, courage, anxiety, power in words, word made flesh

Id: v_uvuGzyC-I

Length: 19min 16sec (1156 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 16 2024