Day 1 Keynotes | Fr. Mike Schmitz and Emily Wilson | SLS20

[Music] our first speaker of SLS 20 comes to us from the Newman Center of the University of minnesota-duluth he has had a front-row seat to the battle on the college campus every day he sees and he knows the need brothers and sisters help me welcome to SLS 20 father Mike Schmidt [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh hello oh man okay I love you too so much so much um okay so welcome everybody is it okay if we pray again I know we just had masks can we pray helps me out a ton and the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Father in Heaven we give you praise and glory thank you so much for bringing us here to this place thank you for bringing us here safely thank you for bringing us here again or for the first time we just give you praise Lord God cuz you've called us by name you know our names you love us help us to never take you for granted help us to never ever see you as optional help us to never treat Jesus as he as if he is just one good choice among many oh God tonight I ask you to send your Holy Spirit and they in the name of your son to convict our hearts that we need him that were not fine in Jesus name we pray Father Son Holy Spirit okay so again I'm really excited to be here you guys I wish I was going through the hallway got to meet a couple people and um I was like man I just in a big thing like this I don't know if that if the large group thing is a draw for you all if it's like oh it's a large group you know because sometimes it's really easy in a large group to feel um we say that in Duluth you say it all the time to feel unseen you know it's really easy to feel unknown it's really easy to feel unloved and I just want to begin this whole thing tonight this whole SLS conference we already began it I guess but to continue it by my express my prayer to you that that throughout this week and throughout your life that you are seen and that you're known that you're loved that you know you matter and so part of me wanted to come on here and say like I wish I got to meet every single one of you and then I thought about it some more and I thought maybe not because I'm sure that at some level we would probably end up annoying each other or at least you would annoy me I mean I don't know why it's just kidding I thought like I'm gonna go out there I'm gonna insult people right away get them on my side and move on but it's one of those things like people we do stuff we just do things that annoy people want a burn extra Express one of my pet peeves - y'all uh-hum one of my pet peeves is when I talk to someone like coming back from Christmas coming back from break when you see someone right and you're like hey oh man how was Christmas and their answer is it was Christmas like oh man it's so good to see you how is break it was break here's number one not number one pet peeve on the top of the top 5 of my pet peeve list is when you ask someone hey how's it going and they respond with it's going I'm like all right I'm sorry are you bothered by the fact that I want to know how you are like if you say hey how are you I am it's just such a non answer that it's just like oh my gosh like okay I'm sorry I'll leave you alone now from now on I want to ask you how you are I won't try to act like you matter to me but sometimes you know one of the answers we come back to a lot of times is not just you know it was Christmas it was break it's going how are you I'm fine that's not a bad answer I mean it's it's an answer tells me something but that bet that sometimes we actually believe it actually in fact I'm afraid I'm afraid that too often when we someone ask you how you're doing or our answer like I'm fine that we believe that that's true I've been praying about this for a really long time as I knew that I'd be here with you all for about a year now and I've just been it's been learned over and over in my heart and over over my head and there's have this conviction that um I am afraid that when we say I'm fine that you actually believe it you actually think like you know I am I I'm fine and maybe like you're fine in the sense that it's Monday and I'm in Phoenix and that's awesome but like when it comes to like life like when it comes to even who I am I think I'm afraid that most of us actually believe that I'm okay if you're a part of an emergency personnel like you've firefighter or a nurse doctor EMT kind of thing one of the things they trained you to do is when you come upon a scene is find someone who's in distress that you assess them and you can assess them and you rank them according to four criteria right they ask you try to figure out if they're alert and oriented times one alert and oriented times to alert and oriented times three or alert to in orient two times four so if someone to come up on the scene here's this person and you want to assess if they're alert and oriented towards one times one its if they know their name like do you know your name you know who you are right that's alert in orient two times one if you know your name and you know where you are you're alert in Norrington times two if you know your name you know who you are you know where you are and you know when it is right so like what year is it who's the president you know who's the Pope whatever see if you're alert you know who you are you know where you are you know when it is you're alert and oriented times three but if you know your name you know who you are you know where you are you know when it is and you know how you got there right you know exactly what happened right before this you know why you're in distress you're alert in oriented times four and I wonder if a lot of us spend our lives not I learned through our alert in or any times for this the conference is all about like go out and like you know made permission amen to that but the first thing we need to do is like this let's go in first we're gonna go out that's that's later on but tonight we're gonna go in because I'm not fine you guys think it's too often I think too many of us we spend our lives I don't really know who I am you might know this story of a guy named Simon Peter he was a fisherman in Luke chapter 5 it talks about Simon um this story right where Jesus Jesus is preaching and Simon's doing well you guys Simon's not he's he's got his own business right he's brother he's partners with his rather like yeah they have business partners James and John as well they're fishermen on the shores of the Sea of Galilee and I mean Peters Simon is doing okay I mean like you know he has his own yacht so obviously he's he's doing pretty okay money-wise and at one point Jesus is preaching and here's Peter and he says help he's doing he's working he's doing okay he's doing fine Peter how are you I'm fine and then Jesus singles him out and says hey Simon can I get in your boat and while I preach you know I want to get away from the shore so I can see everybody great absolutely he's like I'm doing more than fine this is fantastic I'm okay and then after Jesus gets on preaching here's here's Peter who's like I'm Emma here at Jesus he's this great preacher he's he's in my boat he's in my life in some degree to some degree and then Jesus says Peter push out for a catch and then you know you know the whole story unfolds I fished all night but at your bidding I'll do what you asked me to do and he throws the net over and it says they gathered in so many fish that they were in danger of sinking and they called to their partners to come help them here's the next line in Luke chapter 5 it says when Peter saw the Simon Peter saw this he fell at the knees of Jesus and he said depart from me Lord for I am a sinful man for astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him now I wanted to Pilate this Simon Peter was not overwhelmed by like wow there's so many fish your Lord like it was he was not overwhelmed by the number of fish he was overwhelmed by the person in the boat with him and when he realized the true identity of who Jesus actually is he realized who he exact actually was not I'm not fine I pray I don't know how many of us have ever actually met Jesus in that way we were like oh my gosh sometimes we walk into church like we're God's gift to the Catholic Church are you kidding me I don't have gray hair and I'm in a church I mean like you go home for Christmas break and you're been a daily Mass or like oh my gosh there's hope for the world like I know you're welcome you're welcome everyone but have we ever have we ever met Jesus in the boat and we're like oh my gosh I am NOT fine in the face of real goodness I'm not real I'm not good you know I was raised Catholic um sent to Catholic school went to Catholic Mass and and I hated Catholic everything I'll be really brief at this story when I was 15 years old there was a Simon Peter sending this to Jesus in his boat moment and I don't just God's grace where all of a sudden I just had this awareness like I knew the Ten Commandments I knew the rules I knew like okay I've got to go to confession a couple times a year and have to make up stuff like I don't know I probably was mean to someone but at one point when I was 15 or 16 it was actually like the Holy Spirit moved to my heart and I felt like Simon Peter in the boat or I look at Jesus like oh my gosh you're so good you have to leave because I'm not fine like it's not all good and I'm not all good and had this deep conviction of like oh my gosh I need you Jesus and all of a sudden I realized oh my gosh I need you Jesus it was the best thing it was the worst moment of my life up to that point but also translated into the best moment of my life because I realized I'm not fine but you're more than fine you're good that's alert in our knee times one I know who I am I'm not fine you have to leave me Lord I'm a sinful man you know it goes on there's a story in Luke in John's Gospel John chapter force one of the very first stories in in John's Gospel and here's Jesus and he's traveling with his disciples they go to this place in Samaria and they meet this woman at a well you probably heard the story of the woman at the well that's what they call it were really creative were Catholics and and it says that she's drawing water at noontime you probably maybe heard a priest talk about this or someone preached on this the reason why she was drawing water at noontime is because in her village she was isolated in her village she was unseen in her village they people thought they knew her and Jesus starts talking to her and he says can I have a drink and she's shocked by this no one ever sees her no one ever looks at her no one knows her and she says can you at you ask me a woman who's a Samaritan for a drink no one sees me no one knows me no one cares about me and Jesus says if you knew who was asking you if you knew who I was you would ask me for water and she's like you don't even have a jug where are you gonna get your water like he's like oh shoot that's right okay say I let me introduce myself I am Jesus and so I made water um at one point though he he gets to the heart of her everything he says hey go get your husband and this is the moment where she knows herself also the moment where Jesus has put his finger on the greatest pain in her life she says I don't have a husband Jesus says it's true thank you Jesus I just said it's true you're right in the Sangha do not have a husband for you have had five husbands and the one you're with now is not your husband see so means she thought she knew who she was I mean in this moment Jesus reveals where she is you know when it comes to like I'm fine a lot of times we pretend we're fine imagine this woman in this village this is how it goes this is how it goes you know I imagine her getting married the first time and this heartbreak of that marriage ending so she musters up the courage so I'll try again and that marriage ending in destruction and he'll try it again I'll try it again I'll try it again here she is with this sixth guy she's like doesn't even have the heart to even commit so say people say how are you doing I'm fine I'm just pretending I'm fine you know people like this do you know people do we know people like this that their hearts have been broken so many times how are you doing I'm fine because apparently this is what relationships are like apparently it's just normal to not be seen it's just normal not to be known as it's normal not to be loved and so here I don't even know where I'm going but then Jesus shows up and what does he do he reveals there's so much more he feels to her not only who she is he reveals to her exactly where she's broken and she's able to he's able to tell her you don't have to pretend that you're fine anymore wouldn't that be amazing Simon Peter could Sam content like listen I've got business I got my major I got my work done I'm distracted from the fact that I'm not fine he or she is pertaining she's not fine was a third person there's a third person is the rich young man in Luke's Gospel now the rich young man might be this is what I wanted to talk about because this is maybe some of us rich young man is like a church kid I don't know if all you all church kids maybe this is the first church thing you've ever been to you're right there Chung the rich young man is the church kid he's a good guy and he goes to Jesus and he says okay good teacher what must I do to inherit eternal life Jesus says well keep the commandments in Richard a man says Oh Lord I've kept all of those since I was a kid what else like you think oh come on Jesus like what that's that's my warmup so Jesus says okay there's still one thing left for you so all of you have distributed to the poor then you'll have treasure in heaven and then come follow me at this he went away sad for he had many possessions see sometimes we focus on this we think that um that the reason he walked away is cuz he had many possessions I mean it says that but I think that there's something more at the heart it wasn't that he wasn't willing to do something it was that he wasn't willing to be someone wasn't that he was not that he wasn't willing to try to do the good thing he already tried to do the good thing Jesus is like that's that's unfortunately sad enough that's not fine you need to actually come follow me that's the last piece you need to come follow me that's the heart of it because here you're coming to me taking like I'm one option out of many but you actually need me after that conversion I was 15 or 16 years old I went through high school went through college in college I am just kind of brag a little bit I'm not myself what to daily Mass every day by myself just because I didn't have any friends um next day like I made a holy hour everyday by myself because again with the friends thing work for campus ministry I became a missionary in Central America after I graduated college and I got to tell you I was doing all the right things I was doing all these good things but I have to say there's some of you know this story that at one point I got deathly sick and a priest came to my bedside to give me anointing to give me a confession to give me Eucharist and I waved him away when he offered me confession I was like now I mom good I'm good I'm fine I said without going too deep into it you guys I was doing all the right things I mean I was I was in a third-world country for crying out loud serving Jesus but if I would have died in that moment I have to tell you I would have been lost it to Jesus forever why because he's just an option I just saw Jesus as optional really really good a really good choice but not the one I absolutely absolutely needed I'm trying to say I'm afraid I'm afraid that many of us in the space and I don't want to I'm not trying to point fingers I don't know you we already established at the beginning but I'm afraid that we have no idea who we are I'm afraid so many of us have no idea where we are or when we are or how we ended up in this situation because of that our attitude is Jesus is optional because I'm fine you know the people of Israel when they were slaves in Egypt they knew they were not fine it's hard to be a slave or be a pompom family of flames to last for 300 years and think that you're fine because their slavery was obvious to them their need was absolutely obvious to them they knew it they were slaves and they knew who they were they were slaves they knew where they were there in Egypt they know when they were 300 years deep into a people of slavery and they knew how they got there and then what happens if they knew a bigger truth is that they were not who they were supposed to be they knew a bigger truth they were not who they were supposed to be they were not where they were supposed to be they were not when in God's history where they were supposed to be they needed a God who was willing to fight for them and here's you guys this is the great news they got a god they had a God who's willing to fight for them and so we know the story right from because we've all seen the Prince of Egypt we know how the story goes down right they're slaves Moses goes there let my people go Pharaoh says no and so then God sends all these plagues right one plague after the other the Nile turns to blood there's frogs there's bees there's not bees there's flies there's sounds like the trick question for all the Bible scholars there's there's boils as plagues there's the death of the firstborn and we hear that we're like well I don't know if I want to follow a God like that really yeah God would visit destruction and death upon the Egyptians you don't know if you'd want to follow a God who is going to fight for his kids and let nothing stop him because that's what the Exodus after that story is all about remember the movie taken Liam Neeson little brief synopsis of the movie taken Liam Neeson has a daughter she's taken but she's kidnapped and she's abducted into the sex trade sex slavery and here's Liam Neeson was a good father to his daughter and the whole story the movie the whole movie is Liam Neeson being a good dad who does absolutely whatever it takes to get her back if anything or anyone gets in his way he will do whatever it takes to get past them or get through them to get to her and the book of Exodus is that story the good God the good dad the people of Israel had that chosen people of Israel there's still his chosen people you know the good dad who is willing to do anything who's unwilling to let anything stop him from west rescuing his firstborn child Israel this is this is not a god who's optional a god like that is more than we could hope for and a god like that is exactly what you and I need because he's not optional and I'm not fine you guys I've gone through a lot of my life thinking that I was a good person I'm not a good person I'm not a good person I'm a desperate person I'm not fine Jesus for me he's not an option he's a necessity question do you do we realize that st. Paul writing to the Ephesians he says listen before you realized that you had a God who's willing to fight for you you were what he says you were without hope and without God in this world you and you knew it you were not fine but in the fullness of time and the fullness of time God sent his son why he didn't just send plagues he sent himself for God so loved the world he gave His only Son so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life not an option why because every one of us you know what our default is we're born into this world our default is death Nygard that's our default our default is left alone hell if god were to leave you alone God were to leave us alone the result is eternal separation from him that's that's what it is yeah but my sister she and her husband they don't go to Mass and they seem like they're doing fine yeah the guys on my team they don't go to church and on pray and they're doing fine listen the girls of my sorority they don't they don't like they're not Christian and they're fine someone asked Jesus Lord will many be saved and Jesus says this he says this is now this is God speaking he says wide is the road the leads to destruction and narrow narrow is the path that leads to life then he looks at them and says so you need to strive that's what he says so you need to strive why because God has sent astounding to the world like we're saved by grace through faith right it's God's free gift it is God's free gift there's nothing we could do nothing we could earn we couldn't bring this to ourselves it is God's free gift I need him and he showed up like what the heck you're so good God but then when it comes to this wide road that leads to destruction in this narrow road that leads to him Jesus then says you so you need to strive you know that word strive someone told me this the other day the word strive is the same word that Luke uses to describe Jesus is agony in the garden you need to agonize for heaven you need to a ganache for heaven because if you don't and if I don't hell is an option if you don't and I don't being without hope and without God in this world is a reality that may not seem fairs the last thing I might not seem fair and I get it I'm just God's free gift that was his fare he didn't have to do that nothing great was ever accomplished in this world by drifting there nothing great was ever accomplished in this world representing that everything was fine nothing great was ever accomplished in this world by choosing comfort but to recognize that here's God's gift he's who you are you worth dying for you're his son you're his daughter that where you are in this time in this place is an opportunity to actually see I don't know if this page is the last page of my life table to say but tonight tonight I know that he's no longer an option trellis is how I got here I got here because in this original wound that I was born with I didn't deserve I didn't do anything to earn it but I got here because oh my god was willing to fight for me and I need him to fight for me let's pray a prayer if there's ever been a time when you saw God is optional it's what I just confess with me and you say this alidade get loud you can pray out loud if you'd like but Jesus I need to confess in your name Jesus in your name I confess that I have treated you like you were optional Jesus I confess that I've treated you as if you were one choice among many I confess my unbelief Jesus I confess that I've viewed my need as merely a preference Jesus I confess that I am NOT fine brothers pray with me pray that with me right now Jesus I confess that I am NOT fine Jesus I confess that I've treated you like an option Jesus I confess that I'm unaware of my deep need in Jesus I claim your victory Jesus I claim your grace Jesus I claim my identity in your name she says I claim her you've placed me in this world Jesus I claimed when you have brought me to this place and Jesus I claim the sacrifice that brought me to this grace in Jesus name I declare I am NOT fine and in Jesus name I declare that I am his and when he god bless you all the Father Son and the Holy Spirit amen I think the people have been the best to tell us who we are because they see it reflected in our actions we joyfully serve the universal Church in our community apostolate of evangelization in catechesis the community can always look to the foundress and how she lived her life sister Idol is simple modest intelligent trusting in God surrender to God faith filled loving the year was 1940 and this was hungry Eastern Europe and the country was facing possible war they saw firsthand the devastation of your she knew that God is greater than this God is with them God is helping them and she can rely totally and completely on God they had to wear regular street clothes because they weren't free to talk about God they weren't free to worship God the community was invited to the United States by eight different bishops sister Ida ever obedient to the church asked Cardinal McIntyre if we should adopt the traditional habit and he looked at her and he said sister Ida stay as you are the church will need you as you are our teamwork our way of being together is part of our community spirit we look at every person as belonging to the body of Christ this is my brother or sister and this is the same from the very beginning how sister Ida began our community to this day children were the original inspiration for sister Ida and beginning our community we can help young people to listen to the voice of God to see God everywhere and that they would know they don't have to do it alone we were never meant to do life alone if they sense we're giving them our time and attention that we are with them that we work with them they can see God and feel God more readily founded in Hungary in 1940 by servant of God sister Ida the society devoted to the Sacred Heart is a religious community of women they're active consecrated life is characterized by oneness with God genuine love for one another and loving service for his church over this week we will be showing videos and should have giving shoutouts to highlight various apostolates and ministries that are alongside us and mission these and many others will be in Mission way all week long so please check them out man what an incredible way to kick off this conference thank you father Mike after reading an encyclical by st. John Paul the second our next speaker felt a call to share the gospel all over the world in response to this call she has traveled all over the world spoken and given her testimony to many others she has authored two books and not on about you she's a blast to follow on social media she's a straight shooter from LA please help me welcome to the stage Emily Wilson [Applause] [Music] good evening sls good evening merry Christmas to all of you there is no patron saint of YouTube yet but I think I have some stiff competition in that guy praise the Lord for father Mike amen merry Christmas to all of you today is six geese a-laying we're only halfway through I am partial to six geese a-laying because four years ago on this day I got married to my husband we made vows to love one another until death and it was a very very beautiful day so happy anniversary to my husband who is here two things I want you to know do not fear the sacrament of marriage it is a great joy if the Lord calls you to it and Christmas time is a great time to get married because your parish pays for all your decorations spectacular photos thanks to your parish - thumbs up for that put that in your pocket for all you unmarried people out there it is a gift to be here on this night not very long ago I was a student at Arizona State University yeah a couple miles down the road from here I love visiting your colleges and speaking at your universities because I say how many students go to your school you say it's huge there's like 6,000 people here there are 73,000 students at Arizona State University when I was at ASU I was not Emily Wilson I was student ID number one - zero zero zero four five five four seven I didn't that my professors didn't know my name most of the time I sat in these massive classes and that's just who I was Arizona State is also a funny place because culturally it's better known for its parties and it's like cultural social scene then it's academics it's kind of ironic and I felt the irony as I desperately tried to cling to my Catholic faith in college I tried to strive for virtue and for holiness and in the beginning of every sporting event who would run out but our dear mascot the devil you guys have these cutesy poot see little mascots I was talking to people from Nebraska little corncob Bulldogs right Bulldogs over at Georgia there's some people the little leprechaun a happy guy yeah our mascot is the devil right so people are like the devil comes out of the tunnel they're like yeah people are trying to get their kids to like high-five the devil take pictures of the devil the Devils doing push-ups and we're all like cheer and yeah one two three when we make a touchdown it was not ironic to me because in college was one of the play yeah I mean my time in college was so so difficult as a Catholic young person I was betrayed and I was mocked and I was made fun of which might be the experience of some of you who are in college today or out of college I've done two things in my life one was graduate Arizona State University with my Catholic faith intact and alive and the second one was labor for 41 hours with my son only to have a c-section in the end thank you very much the labor in the c-section was so much easier than living my Catholic faith in college and that might be your experience too I know some of you are in college and some of you are out of college but today it is so difficult to be a Catholic person in the world amen that it is so difficult that to live this faith and to be a Catholic person who strives for virtue and strives for holiness and tonight I want to talk about Jesus Christ a person who has been the love of my life for so many years and how key yours in my relationship with Jesus is not firstly to our leadership not firstly to our ministry but firstly to your life as a human being just as a person have you ever walked into a crowded arrivals terminal in a country where you didn't speak the language yeah you got there and you think like oh my goodness okay how am I gonna get where I need to go in 2014 my husband Daniel and I we arrived we were dating back then in a the arrivals terminal in Rome Italy some of you have probably been there we arrived in the Rome terminal and we were supposed to figure out how to get to our host family's home we were staying with a host family that Daniel's parish priest had set us up with so we arrived there Daniel speaks Dutch German JavaScript English I speak English some English and some pig latin too and so weeks we arrive there and we're trying to figure this out and we're like okay we got to get to this house how are we gonna do that I'm speaking some pig latin nobody understands we all of a sudden are approached by this man this man comes right up to us and I'm totally startled and he looks at Daniel and he looks at me says Daniel Emily in a thick accent in a kind voice and I'm thinking how do you know me Daniel says oh oh my gosh yes this is the father of the family who were staying with I saw it in his email signature this tiny little photo the father had come for us Medus right in the middle of this chaos walked right up to us he had been waiting there for who knows how long and came to meet us right where we were has Jesus Christ not done that for you met you in the middle of maybe darkness or chaos or confusion and come to find you exactly where you are do you remember that first encounter yet you had with the person of Jesus maybe even was that a mass maybe it was in adoration maybe it was through someone else we all remember that first encounter with Jesus because like father Mike was talking about it takes your breath away that you're startled by this person who is so good and so loving and you know that the moment he approaches you to find you you know that all at once Jesus Christ probably approached you in your life if you are sitting in this room and you found out in that moment the answer to a question it answered one of the most important questions you have about yourself because you and I asked human beings in our lives we want to be known it's a reality of who you are we want to know that somebody knows us that somebody cares - we want to be known and some of you are introverts in the room and you think I don't want anyone to know me as an introvert herself wanting to talk to people and wanting to be known are two very different things you could deny at all you want but you want to be known in the depths of your soul for who you are and who God created you to be it is the reality of our life that we have this deep deep desire there's a historical true story that happened after World War two was over world war two was over and there was a few hundred French soldiers who were prisoners of war who had been imprisoned in camps and tortured and so psychologically devastated that they came to M neva and they had no idea who they were they had totally forgotten their identity there was a few hundred of them and some of them were identified by Red Cross records some of them were identified by fellow prisoners of war when they had come home but there were still a few dozen men nobody knew who they were so they decided to hold an event at the Paris Opera House for anyone looking for someone that they loved hoping that one of these men would be their husband or child they held this event at the Paris Opera House in hopes of reuniting people with these soldiers that someone would know who they are and they could be reunited with those people so I imagine that night at the Paris Opera House right people shuffle into this theater they had publicized it in many newspapers they shuffle into the theater just just holding on to hope that one of the men on that stage would be a man that they know and love so as the first soldier was instructed he came out to the front of the stage and in front of all these people I imagined them holding their breath he was instructed in French to shout into the crowd does anybody know who I am does anybody know who I am what was he hoping to hear most likely his name for someone to shout his name with confidence and joy because it was mean that he was known is that not a place where you and I have stood in our lives hoping that someone would know us and not only no us no all of us our sin our weakness our strengths our joy our addictions and love us even in the midst of all of that would know us so deeply and so intimately and stay and was that question not answered for you in that encounter with Jesus when he approached you and all of a sudden you knew who you were and you knew who he was because that happens for every single one of us Jesus comes to find us and after that what does he do he speaks our name we see in Scripture Jia's jesus knew Zacchaeus before Zacchaeus even saw him father might talk beautifully about the woman at the well that Jesus knew her deeply and it stunned her it took her breath away she's she's thinking how do you know me one of my favorite moments in Scripture is Jesus with Mary Magdalene on Easter morning when she's standing there in the middle of darkness and confusion and sorrow and grief she sees Jesus and who does she think he is she thinks he's the gardener and at what moment does she know who he is when he calls her by name I love thinking about how tenderly Jesus must have spoken her name in that moment he says Mary and she says rabbi teacher she knows exactly who he is and who she is all in one moment and Jesus does the very same thing for us comes to find us and calls us by name and in that moment we think yes this is who I am because it's says in Scripture Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 5 before I formed you in the womb I knew you I know you're sitting and you're standing I've counted every hair on your head I know the ugliest parts of your life and I love you even in the midst of it in all of your sorrow in all of your joy in all of your sin I love you still Jesus came to find me again and again in college in the midst of that search for belonging in the midst of this wanting to be known in the midst of this sea of 73,000 people Jesus came to me in an intimate encounter in the Eucharist every single day I there was a small Interfaith Chapel on campus some of you at ESU probably know the Danforth Chapel it was an interfaith Chapel there and you know on a crowded day at daily Mass there was like 12 people like wow it's really crowded in here today there's a lot of people there's 12 people I know some of you have hundreds of people that attend your daily masses but I would go there and I would meet Jesus and Jesus would meet me there in the middle of my sorrow and my just just desperate desperate desire for belonging daily mass meeting Jesus in the Eucharist has been was the rock on which I stood in college every single day and it's still the rock on which I stand today that this intimacy with Jesus was cultivated by meeting him there every single day if there is a daily Mass on your campus or close by to your campus I'd encourage you to go if it fits in your schedule and you just like miss it every once in a while you're totally missing out totally missing out that Jesus would make himself available to us in the Eucharist every single day what gift amen so Jesus calls us finds us calls us and invites in us into this relationship but this relationship can be very difficult because not only does our world tell you and I that religion is stupid and faith is meaningless but the devil is out to convince us the evil one wants us to believe that nobody knows you nobody cares - and if they did if someone saw all of you every corner of your heart that you try to hide from everybody if someone saw all of that they wouldn't only look away with disgust even the Lord they would run from you they would not stay we must battle against the lies that the evil one speaks into our life that nobody knows you and nobody cares and claim the that Jesus comes to find us that he calls us by name that he knows us and sees all of it and stays because when we battle against these lies when we realize how known and how loved we are we learn to trust the Lord my friend David once told me trust is a result of knowing you are loved Trust is a result of knowing that you are loved because when I trust Jesus I want to follow him and that's a beautiful thing about Jesus Jesus has never violated your trust in human relationships probably most of us in this room have had our trust violated sometimes horrific ly by people sometimes horrific ly by people who say they know and love Jesus Christ people who have betrayed you horribly violated your trust horribly and in human relationships we get to decide we're gonna overcome this you've broken my trust but we're gonna figure out how to move on and maintain this relationship and keep going but there is no time no space no place that the Lord has violated yours or my trust has taken what you have shared with him in the black of night those moments those intimate moments with Jesus and shared what you shared with him with somebody else or use it against you or retracted any of his love because of what you shared with him he is all good and he is all trustworthy and he is willing to accept all of ourselves as we give ourselves over to him in trust he says come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest I want you to follow me I want you to trust me and you have to step into that invitation with boldness because they think some of you on this night you come but you feel like you still can't trust Jesus with all of yourself in all of your life you feel like you can't trust him maybe with these dark places or you feel like you maybe you're just running from Jesus that you can't trust God my question for you on this night how can you lead people to a God you don't trust yourself how can you possibly lead people to a God you yourself are running from it's like trying to do a magic trick and as far as I can see this conference isn't for magicians there's too many nuns here for that this conference is for people who want to be missionary disciples and we have to accept all of Jesus gives all of himself and we have to accept this and step into that call to trust and to follow him with joy and with courage because when we step into that call when we make Jesus the center of our life when we trust him with everything everything in our life flows from that place everything in our life flows from the person of Jesus Christ and that's what he designed us for that when we step into that call Jesus flows into our relationships into our work into our ministry into every conversation we have with people every encounter with people they encounter the love of Jesus Christ and some of you in this room on this night this obstacle to intimacy is that you believe that you're God's problem child you're not God's problem child you're his beloved child and you believe that when you walk into the confessional the Lord Himself says you again some of you have felt that way and I want you to understand that you are not God's problem child you are his beloved and he wants you to believe and know that and turn to him with all of yourself and all of your heart and you will encounter Jesus Christ again this week if you're open I'm pretty sure of it we just encountered him in the Holy Sacrifice of the mass if you're open to it he will make his presence known to you he will find you again if you need to be found again if you are the sheep that has gone astray he will come to find you and he will call you by your name and on this night I want to invite you to a commitment or to a recommitment of following Jesus of trusting him with your whole life of stepping up to say Lord I want to make you the center of my life so that everything can flow from you and some of you in this room you're like I don't even know why I'm here my friend who talks about Jesus all the time was like you need nee nee nee need to come to this conference it's got to be so cool and you're like I'm not a leader this friend talks about Jesus all the time and he sounds like a pretty cool guy but I've never like said I'm gonna follow him this is for you too that in this moment I'm going to invite you a touch into a time of prayer this week we're gonna unpack a verse from Acts chapter 2 verse 42 you can bring that up onto the screen and they devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching and fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers and we're gonna do some of that this week fellowship breaking bread praying but tonight is a commitment to prayer is an invitation to prayer an invitation for you in your own heart to say Jesus I commit or recommit to following you again I give you all of myself and I want all of you to flow out from my heart into the world and to every person I minister to every person I meet may they know your love through me [Music]

Channel: FOCUS Catholic

Views: 102,997

Rating: 4.8781924 out of 5

Keywords: SLS20, SLS, FOCUS, FOCUS Catholic, FOCUS Conference, College Students, Catholic Faith, Catholic Student, College Student, Catholic Conference, Catholic, Spiritual Multiplication, Catholic Talks, Eucharist, Catholic College Students, Living the Faith, SEEK, SEEK2019, SEEK by FOCUS, SLS by FOCUS, Fr Mike talks, Fr Mike homily, Ascension, Ascension Presents, Ascension Catholic, Homily

Id: 8sraUrbMPQY

Length: 51min 41sec (3101 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 31 2019