Fr. Mike Schmitz: Anti-Fragile Faith | SEEK2019

[Applause] Hey so I want to thank you all for being there I know that just before we start I know that you could have gone to a thousand different role maybe not thousand but you could have gone to a bunch of other talks and so I'm just really grateful and I hope that this honors you I'm gonna have to confess in the course of this this Tahoe's this conversation but it's gonna be a monologue in the course of this talk this is something that is weighed really heavily on me for a number of years and so there might be a couple of times when I go into like full-on dad mode and I'm so sorry if that happens but because it's just it's something that I think is more necessary than ever and more lacking than ever in our church today if you saw the title of the the toxic hand have fragile faith and we're going to talk about that in a bit to kick it off I want to talk about a guy I read about there's a book that came out a couple years ago called the boys in the boat and it was about the US Olympic rowing team from 1936 and they followed the story the course of this book calls the story of a young man named Joe ranks until Rance did not have a great life didn't have the life that say like from the coal his beginnings he'd be an Olympian he'd be a great human being someday when Joe is born in the midst of the Great Depression when he was four years old his mother died and at five years old he came down with the scarlet fever and so his dad did his dad was overwhelmed his dad that thought I can't take care of this five-year-old with a scarlet fever so he living in Spokane Washington he put just interrupted my story living in Spokane his parents put his dad put him on a train by himself five years old put him on a train by himself to his aunt and uncle's house across the country I think it's not an uncle live in Connecticut there you go a five year old Joe Rance with scarlet fever he's not an uncle didn't know what to do because here's a kid who's got scarlet fever so they put this five-year-old in the Attic for a year when he got better his aunt uncle put him back on the train at six years old and send them back to Washington Joe's dad remarried but his new mom didn't like Joe and so when Joe was 15 years old he walked home from school and he walked up this long dirt driveway and he sees the family truck all loaded up packed up and there's his stepmom sitting and right next to the driver's seat and there's his two little brothers sitting next to their mom and the driver seats empty his dad's standing on the porch Joe walks by the by the truck walks up to his dad and his dad says yeah Joe um we're going to we're going to the coast he's like well should I get my stuff and his dad will tell mrs. no no no no you're staying here here he said well can I come can't I go with you and said no your mom doesn't want you to come home so yeah just stay there and just stood on the porch and he watched as his two stepbrothers and his stepmom and his father just drove away and at 15 years old Joe rats had to learn how to make away in this life that's the kind of thing that could crush a human being any one of those things is the kind of thing that could crush a human being but it didn't it crushed Joe why because it's the reality then that one of the truths of life is this is that in life we will all face difficulties that's not the question whether or not we'll face difficulties is not the question how we will face those difficulties that's the question we have to go through difficulties in fact in book of the Acts of the Apostles chapter 14 verse 22 it's not just a matter of in life you have to go through difficulties in Scripture it says this it says that the disciples the Apostles they strengthen the spirits of the disciples and exhorted them to persevere in the faith saying this it is necessary for us to go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God not optional for us to go through many hardships at trantridge they can you have a God not drift through life and you'll enter the kingdom of God not kind of get whatever you want because God sugar daddy and he's going to give you whatever you want he states the Apostles taking the disciples who are who who are us followers of Christ and they say this listen here's the hard word it is necessary for us it is necessary necessary for you to go through many hardships in order to enter the kingdom of heaven but that's not what we do typically at least not the 21st century not least not us when we go through hardships or maybe our primary temptation is to blame God rather than it's a claim guy then we go through difficulties ease our temptation is to say well if God was good he wouldn't let me do this our temptation is when we experience I mean real difficulty real painting real suffering we say no God listen either he doesn't exist or he's not good he just doesn't care and our temptation as I said it's an other it's more to blame God than it is to claim God and one of the reasons for that is because we need someone to blame let's blame our mom and dad but I think we should blame parents there was it was my head was merely a joke but no one laughed and so I realized that didn't work and maybe I should be really serious blame your mom and dad for everything that's not what I'm saying but here's the deal though you know that Indy I guess maybe the 80s early 90s there came the rise what they call helicopter parents you've heard of the term helicopter parents right so that's that's the helicopter parent is the one who like hovers over their kids making sure that they're you know buckled in and have their helmets on and the elbow brace and the knee pads and the wrist guards and making sure that nothing happens or you know in fact I remember walking with a head of housing thing on our campus used to be used to be head of housing he's a Catholic beacon and he said he remembered what he started working at university Minnesota Duluth he said that he would deal with kids he would deal with students because he done with housing thing but he said in the last 10-15 years he doesn't deal as much with students he deals with their parents that he'll have someone a parent waiting for in his office who says yeah my my son or my daughter has a problem with the roommate and they driven up this parent had driven up two and half hours from the Twin Cities up to Duluth because they're there to resolve the situation there the helicopter parents know that that began right when the 80s 90s we have entered into a new iteration of the helicopter parenting it's what I call the Zamboni parent in the helicopter parent comes in and you know I'm gonna come in and make everything okay the Zamboni parent goes ahead of the kids and make sure there's no more rough ice things are it's all smoothed out for the kids making sure why because that's what in our worldview that's what a good parent does like we've actually kind of and maybe our parents have done this our parents have embraced the myth the lie that their primary job is to protect you that their primary job is to keep you from harm don't get me wrong that's one of their jobs I got to be a good parent touch that stove like no no but the primary job appearance is not to protect their children there's a psychologist out of them Canada who says the primary job of parents is not to protect their kids the primary job of a parent is to help their children become courageous that your mom and dad's primary job was to help you become courageous if you become parents your primary job other than protecting your kids you know from stoves is to help your kids become courageous to help your kids become the kind of kids kind of adults who can walk through this difficult dangerous painful world and not become broken by it because when you become that kind of person who can go through many trials you realize this is massive true as you continue to grow as you continue to live it life does not become easier you become stronger you need to embrace this that plan is not that likely become easier for me me it's a high one becomes stronger and the parents job is for that no but we haven't we don't necessarily have parents who embrace that job they embrace the good task of protecting me and so what happens is we bring that vision of a parent a good parent is one who protects you from from harm who protects you from trouble who smooths out the ice in front of you and we bring that to dad our head our heavenly dad and for heavenly dad doesn't come to rescue us this isn't care about her heavenly dad doesn't pave the way before us if he doesn't know who her heavenly dad isn't there at every moment when to take away our pain and we wonder is he actually even good spoiler he is very good but he's not just a good god he's a good dad and a good dad and our good dad wants to make you stronger he wants to make me Draper he wants to make you into the kind of person who looks like him right because it's oh my gosh think about Jesus Christ himself God in the flesh jesus said whoever sees me sees the father what do you see Jesus do you see this man who's able to embrace and endure and persevere through what it says in acts the Apostles persevere and go through many difficulties and Jesus looks just like that and dad wants us to look just like you remember reading a book actually I didn't read the whole book I read the first line line of the book it's a book called the road less traveled by man mm Scott Peck it was like a really really it was a best-seller in the 80s and the first line I opened the book and like this is you know people like this back in the day and when they had shoulder pads and you know perms and stuff and I read the first line and I was like that's it I don't need to read anymore the first line of the book had three words just said life is difficult I thought yep but we need to be reminded of that we need to be reminded of the fact that you know I took some time to walk through this world as different as if as if this world is a cruise ship as if this world is a picnic field and the reality of this is this rule it's not a cruise ship is a battleship in the field in which you and I are walking through it's not a picnic field it is a battlefield there's the story of Brigadier General Brigadier General Dutch Cota in World War two who he's the he was the general command of the 29th division and the outbreak of will when American when the Allied troops landed on d-day these young men had never seen war before and so brigadier general Kota he comes upon these American entry infantrymen who are pinned down by Germans who are in a farmhouse shooting at them and the general comes up to the young man that says why are you hunkered down like this is why are you not moving me why are you not fighting me and the answer was this young soldier looked up to general and says what the Germans are in there sir and they're shooting at us as if he was surprised like he's like yeah we're landing and we're landing on the shores of you know Paris or France and we're just gonna have some wine and cheese and that guy's you know that's but we'll all of a sudden we have this farmhouse where people are actually shooting back at us is what are we supposed to do they didn't realize you land on this he make it past that first wave a normally what you're gonna find is a bunch of farmhouses a bunch of Germans and they're gonna be shooting at you they didn't realize it and they didn't know what to do that's what so many of us are in that position right like okay get it father life is hard life is hard why weren't I supposed to do with that well general Kota but he does he says okay boys stay here he grabs two grenades off of his vest which I always think is cool the fact that in all the descriptions of that story though he says grabbing the zubur names from his chest the general says you men isn't called boys you men stay here and start shooting at the farmhouse while my men go around the other side and we're gonna show you how to take back a farmhouse that has Germans in it that are shooting at you he runs around the other side and it's like a huge like war whoop like washes the farmhouse sets the other guys are shooting at it rushes inside throws the grenades runs back out Bob things go off goes back to the young man who says now do you know how to take that farmhouse that has Germans in it yes sir we do in order to take back to that farmhouse you gotta fight Lee because that's part of it that's part of what it is to be a mature adult it's part of it a part of what it is to be mature Catholic is a mature Catholic woman or a mature Catholic man is one who has the ability to embrace the harsh realities of life this is one of the things you do now you're gonna need in order to have faith that can actually live in almost any circumstances you not have to embrace the reality that life is difficult to have that kind of mentality and the kind of heart that kind of become the kind of person that can embrace the reality that life is hard to embrace the harsh realities of life it's one of the first ingredients to being a mature resilient Catholic another thing you need to do is you know is that funny how in the midst of pain one of the things we asked is likely what does mean in the midst of real difficulty real struggle we say where does this mean and we don't know the meaning in mature Catholic is one who not only can accept and embrace the harsh realities of life but one would also realizes that there is meaning in this moment even if I don't understand the meaning of this moment in mature Catholic is one who knows with certainty that this moment has meaning even if I can't understand the meaning of this moment why because you have a bigger vision because you've realized once again okay this is part of what I have to go through why because God is my dad and he wants me to be an adult God is my dad and he wants me to look like him God is my dad and he's given me the grace so that I can like the Apostles like every other Christian ahead of me reforming me whose dominance he needs me to be able to be the kind of person who can go through many hardships that's what this means what it means is that God can use this to make me into the person he wants me to be here's the most important and most important very important your story is very important like the events of your life those are all important but what's more important than your story then then then the tail of your life then the events that happen in your life what's more important than that is the who you become not just the what lets you do you know who you become in your story is far more important than the what you do in your story which even in this moment I don't know the meaning I realize there's meaning in every moment why is this helping me helping me become the person you need that this world need you to become to embrace the harsh realities of life then also to say I might not know the meaning of this moment but I know this moment has meaning third what you need to do is I need to know I need to be convinced but I can choose to act even when the situation seems hopeless that when you were experiencing incredible payment when you're experiencing incredible difficulty when you're in the midst of incredible suffering you can still choose to act even when things seem hopeless it's a phrase I came across a while back called automatic ingenuity what automatic ingenuity is is what every baseball player has and I'm not a baseball fan but I'm a fan of baseball players because if there's any sport word we're to be excellent in it you have to fail regularly it's baseball batting 300 you know point three zero zero that's 3300 is if you're in a major league to bat 300 that's considered like legendary that's Hall of Fame material bad in 300 means that 70% of the time you bump you get struck out battey 300 being amazing at baseball means that the 70% of the time you go up too bad you don't make make the first base just because thing doesn't seem hopeless doesn't mean I can't act just because I can't do everything doesn't mean I can't do anything there's a man whose name is dr. David rubbing him dr. David ravine back in 1984 he was only 45 years old and he was diagnosed with ALS Lou Gehrig's disease and within the space of one year this is incredible physic you some physician endocrinologist but dedicated his entire life to the learning medicine to becoming a good husband and a good father and a good family man and a great doctor at 45 years old within one year his limbs became paralyzed his voice box became paralyzed and within one year all he could move was one eyebrow thanks to technology his family hooked him up with a computer that could read as I fell and with one eyebrow he was able to communicate with his family now dr. David ravine could have said that what I watched so much this is not fair and he could've just moved he could've ended this life he could have done all these things but what he did was with one eyebrow in this spelling machine he was able to communicate to his family tell me he loved without him with one eyebrow he was able when when family and friends came to visit he was able to tell jokes with one eyebrow with one eyebrow doctors in training medical students would come and visit him and he was able to mentor medical students with one eyebrow in fact in the last years of his life he wrote an entire endocrinology textbook with one eyebrow they have that kind of resilience in the midst of difficulty missing in a gnome I embraced the fact that light was difficult I know that there's meaning in this moment even if I can't understand the meaning of this moment and also as just because I can't do everything that's been a can't you anything a willingness to act even when things seem hopeless that's what makes not just an amazing story that's what makes an amazing person see I think one of our problems though is we hear that and we're like well but when it comes to God when it comes to God our faith is so conditional like our trust in God can be so conditional to us to so many of us God is Santa then I'm gonna maybe ruin some people's days in a second depending on where you are with the whole Santa thing but you can remember back when you wanted to see Santa remember back to when seeing Santa was the thing you needed like mom dad this is not an option I need to see Santa we have to go there in fact I know if there's a family in Duluth that went to see Santa I think roughly four to six times in the two weeks leading up to Christmas this last year because one of the little girls was like no mom we have to see Santa I don't think he heard me right the last time then when you and I were obsessed with seeing Santa we didn't need to see Santa because we just liked the guy you might have likely got I'm more of a mercenary um we want to see Santa why because if I see Santa I get the thinking the only reason I want to see Santa is I want to see Santa and then get the thing it's not about Santa it's about the straining listen there's there's a better person to go to so I can get this thing I'll go to the better person to get the thinning you know Elf on the Shelf if that doesn't track then that's that's it new thing whatever whoever gets me the thing that's why go to we have such a mercenary heart our love our faith is so conditional then we're even willing to when it comes to God or even willing to ask the question not just God what have you done for me however if you've ever asked God that question now what have you ever done for me oftentimes we ask the question not god what have you done for me we're so shallow in no offense that you're not shallow I'm so shallow but I've asked God the question not what he be done for me more like God what have you done for me lately because I asked for this thing I ain't get it I thought they needed you to do this for me and you didn't do it so it's not really that God doesn't do anything for me it's what have you done for me lately to God our faith is so conditional our trust in him could be so conditional if you don't give me the thing then you don't get my heart you don't give me the thing you don't get my trust you don't do the thing for me I don't have any faith in you we're so quickly forget all that he does I got an email from a woman man it was a while back and she was really heartbroken again Heartbreakers real like I don't know I'm not trying to say that difficulty is struggle and death and sickness aren't real things they obviously they are this woman's heart was broken because a really good friend of hers had just died she described this woman's life she said this woman got married for this man and he had a son one son had a number of developmental disabilities and she's just loved her son and cared for her son but at one point about ten years ago her husband left her just lately took off and she was carried she cared for her son a year before this she had been diagnosed with a disease that quickly he wrote in her life and she dismissed the year prior to this praying and asking God for healing coming back again and again asking God to be with her this email said that her son wasn't even able to get there in time before his mom her mom his mom died he got there just afterwards but that at her death she was surrounded by friends and extended family and that priest was there the dad now is caring for the son but this woman said how in the world can I trust in the God who let that happen and it's an okay question sometimes it's really important ask those questions but it's also important to highlight a few things I tried to highlight gently and my email back to her it was yeah that this woman cared for her son now he has a dad who cares for him he's taking care of her yes he wasn't able to get to his mom's death bed but she wasn't alone she was surrounded by friends and other family she was surrounded by priests yes yes she actually ended up dying but before she died a priest her confession gave her the Eucharist forgave her anointing the sick and also gave her this thing called the alcoholic pardon which is basically a plenary indulgence which means you die you go to heaven all she got from God was heaven and someone to care for her son and the ability to be surrounded by friends and family the last year of her life all she got from God was meaning all she got from God was loved she didn't get healing Lee she got everything else besides that so whatever that doesn't help is my trust conditional it's one of the reasons why I love the Book of Daniel Daniel chapter 7 chapter 3 read chapter 12 whatever Daniel chapter 3 what's happened is people in Israel the people of Israel had been exiled God promised this incredible blessing incredible dynasty this land to his people if they were unfaithful and so the Babylonians come in and they uproot all these people and bringing them to Babylon so all God's promises seem - to the ground and then there's these three guys there's name of Shadrach Meshach Abednego and you might know him as Hananiah Azariah and Mishael and then get kind of promoted in the kingdom there but at one point king nebuchadnezzar decides that if people don't bow down and worship I statue then they're dead and so here's Hananiah Azariah and Mishael who belong to the one guy who allowed them to be exiled and they said we won't bow down before your statue okay I love this is chapter three he's so cool when they tell King Nebuchadnezzar that they will not bow down before a statue it says this is Nebuchadnezzar flew into a range and sent forward Shadrach Meshach Abednego aka Hananiah Azariah Michel you guys got this in quick King Nebuchadnezzar questioned them he said is it true Shadrach Meshach and Abednego or Hananiah Azariah Michel that you will not serve my God or worship the golden statue that I set up be ready now to fall down and worship the statue I may whenever you hear the sound of the trumpet booth the lyre of the harp etc otherwise he says you shall be instantly cast into a white-hot furnace in the ash this question and who is the God who can deliver you out of my hands you couldn't be couldn't stay in your homeland you think your God could keep you you whenever I want to do to you who's the God who can deliver you out of my hands so then and Shadrach Meshach and Abednego aka Hananiah Azariah Misha I'll answer the King Nebuchadnezzar and this is where you're like oh it's you dude oh man to be like this their first words to him there is no need for us to answer you O king all right there's no need for us to defend ourselves before you in this matter if our God whom we serve can say this let them save us if our God whom we serve can save us let him say this maybe save us but then in verse 18 they say this thing that's just like if you thought what they said before this was guts easy if he can save us may he say this but even if he will not know this okay we will not serve your God or worship the golden statue that you set up our God can save us if he wants to save us may you say this but even if he will not we have you no other God than him that is that is not conditional faith that's resilient faith that's the faith that can go through anything and remain unchanged this is the faith of Jesus himself think of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane how did Jesus talk to his dad in the garden at seminary he didn't say dad this is the best okay I can't wait with that cross tomorrow morning oh I can hardly sleep guys have with me I'm so excited Jesus approaches his dad your dad my dad he does two things he says he tells the truth he's honest to me says his dad ABBA if this is cup compassed for me please please let it pass for me there's like an escape your sufferings our call is not necessarily to rush into sufferings that's not the point of the talk today don't worry you don't find you Jesus is honest with his dad and says dad if this is if it's possible for this cup of past meeting please let it pass me by but he's not only honest he also trust and he looks at his dad answers but dad not my will your will be done that sounds a lot like Hananiah Azariah Michel doesn't it dad I know you can save him you can let this cup pass me but if you don't if you don't I know what you're gonna be with me not only will you be with me you'll make me stronger through this because while so many of us have this thing so many have the conditional faith right conditional trust in God we might call that fragile faith that if we haven't I believe in God yeah yeah of course he loves me I know this because he blex me we encounter an obstacle fragile faith gets broken by the obstacle have fragile trust means you have this distrust you have this faith but when it encounters the obstacle it gets crushed to have resilient faith means this means you have the kind of faith and the trust of a new encounter the obstacle you're able to do it leading in acts 14 be able to go through it and you go through the obstacle and you remain unchanged you endure that's awesome but you and I are called to more than simply far more than fragile faith far more than conditional faith were even called to more than resilient baby we're called to have something even more there's a man whose name is in the seen television economist he's also a Christian and he noticed this is this reality in throughout the world there's a number of systems that aren't fragile they're not broken by obstacles and they're also not resilient they're not merely resilient they don't simply there are some things that are resilient like you know and axe is resilient chops a piece of wood and it indoors but he said there are some things that when they encounter a challenge when they encounter an obstacle they don't get broken and they don't really get through it they get stronger we have a bunch of those systems in this room right now your body is one of those systems your body's a kind of system that when you're getting a challenge to get stronger your brain is this isn't like that that if you've ever tried studying I know some of you have I've tried us mostess ASIMO systems osmosis or you sleep on the book when like I'm gonna get it I'm gonna get it I'm gonna get it that is work what happens is when you can challenge your brain when you actually stretch and flex your brain it's a challenge but your brain changes a number of your athletes and you know this is what happens the only way to get stronger is to overload the muscles you can't get strong off a two and a half pound dumbbell unless that's how strong you are right now you haven't actually it's not the first reps that do it is it it's the last reps that do it but what happens you challenge the body to such a degree that it has to adapt to become stronger that's what inoculation is you get something like a little bit of the disease in your body adapts it doesn't get crushed by it doesn't merely pass through it your body becomes easy and high with the same club called anti fragile because we're fragility is when you have something that's so fragile they counted the obstacle and gets broken and resilience is that accounts was the obstacle and it can make it through and no change anti fragility it's when it counters the obstacle it becomes more than it was when it encounters the obstacle it becomes more than it was in the same Club invented the word because he said he knows a bunch of languages and he could find a word in any language for this reality that we know happens but he didn't invent it he didn't even discover this concept this concept is back in Romans chapter 5 in Romans 5 st. Paul writes about those and when he writes is Romans 5 verse 1 when following this is therefore brother and sisters we're justified by faith we have peace with God through Jesus through whom we've gained access by faith to His grace in which we stand and we boast in the hope of the glory of God here's where he goes on not only we boast in the glory of God not only that but we also boast of our afflictions it's pause on that one for a second you may have heard that phrase before or that line before you ever done that boasting your afflictions maybe some of you have I don't even know that look slightly like you guys you have no idea I am so we it's like I'm the weakest ever ever you think you've seen weak no no no you give me a temptation like I fall for it every time every every every time we say Falls as we boast in our afflictions knowingly that affliction produces endurance and endurance produces character and proven character produces hope and hope does not necessarily because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts st. Paul is able to say listen I anti fragile faith I cannot every temptation that comes against me every obstacle that I experience every suffering that I endure it's not wasted on me doesn't crush me I don't really get through it it makes me into the kind of human being the kind of Christian the kind of person who looks just like Jesus he's making me look like him through this there's every time I go through this affliction it produces endurance and that matters is his character and that produces is hope and my goal is love it's a kind of thing that can make your favor stronger and stronger the more its embraced so you don't know see your weaknesses anymore as a liability and to be able to say I don't see my losses as a liability God can do all things in me even in my failures even in the face of death my faith can become stronger and stronger and stronger no matter no matter what you're going through which is real it's real it's something is real sickness is real death is real loss is real but no matter what you're going through it can produce anti fragility no matter what you go through and no matter how old you are that's why I share a story with you how about a young girl from our diocese I've shared the story about her a bunch of times that she's assistance so powerful in my life her name is Mallory on December twenty first twenty seven twenty sixteen December 21st 2016 Mallory was 15 years old and she was diagnosed with cancer and she just man she entered into the next year of her life it's so much prayer his sister named breathe they call my Irish twins cuz they're within 12 months apart and she and Bri spent the next year regularly praying with each other I remember it was the first Tuesday of November the next year right so December 21st 2016 it was the first Tuesday in November 2017 we had a minister meeting on them director of youth ministry for my dioceses all these ministers know Malvin or sister Bree and they knew that that mal was in the hospital room in Duluth and so when the administer said hey it's 10 o'clock or so could we just we just prayed for mal in the hospital my and so we just basically all stood up there like faces the direction the hospital and like raised her hands in this and she said the mal asked her purse and she asked that God heal her today or God uses whatever happens today praise glory that's what we prayed for it's raised your hands just prayed God heal Mel can you scoot the healed mouth send your Holy Spirit upon that room just kept training Holy Spirit come upon that room the heal mal or that whatever else happens today that your glorified then the two hours later we said max at noon and just offered it up from form a like Lord this is your sacrifices you Father for your glory that the sacrifice of your son United the sacrifice of mal for your glory we didn't know that at 10 o'clock the exact moment we pray for the Holy Spirit to come on hon malleus hospital room that our Bishop was there and he was confirming her giving the sacrament confirmation and not here with the Holy Spirit for her healing or for God's glory we also didn't know at the very moment that we were lifting up the Eucharist to the Father for the father's glory that was the moment that now stepped from this world into God's presence fifteen so amazingly think that here's a 15 year old who could have every reason to say you told me that was good when I was 14 at camp but now here I am and November you know she was able to have anti fragile faith because because she remembered she's like Hananiah Azariah me shadow she remembered that her dad loves her very much her prayer was God I know you can see I know you can heal me me but even if you don't I just want you to be glorified malonyl sister used to keep a little prayer journal we have a camp in junior high kids and she started doing it there and every day after she'd pray she do a like a rose in a thorn have you ever heard of that kind of concept for the end of the day what's my rose of the day like the good blessing what's the thorn what's the thing I need prayers for the thing I've hurt in that day and at her funeral the priest was preaching he he had her journal which is slightly rude and read aloud the 15 year old journal careful what you write but you know after now got back from our camp he was August 26 2016 and mal had read Matthew 25 apparel lover the wise and the foolish is parable the wise and foolish virgins and and she wrote in her journal she with it she said nothing really struck out so I just take this line and the door was locked I picked it nothing stuck out so I just picked me of words and the door was locked she wrote this because it's kind of like you know you only have one chance to make your life worthy of going to heaven and after you die the doors to heaven will either be open to you or locked it's your so make your life worthy of going to heaven it's my lease later on after she was diagnosed she wrote you know Rose um be hockey team came to my room to visit in the sidebar children Bishop server also came in for one of the most incredible things again really she was diagnosed on December twenty first two thousand two thousand sixteen and that day in her journal she wrote Rose going to adoration tonight and being able to hand my load to God thorn spending all afternoon / evening in the ER and then finding the tumor and then parentheses she wrote oh but that's also kind of my rose smiley face imagine him imagine having that kind of anti fragile baby I think of a 14 year old 15 year old and now eternal two-year-old in heaven that when things didn't go her way he wasn't crushed why because I've dad I know he loves me and when she went through all those with that pain and she lost all her hair and she's going off to the stuff that she still kept short of a prayer her seen her sister loved the chaplains by mercy they were prayed almost every day together and that is just persevered and they do it because it's necessary that you and I either do her endure the persevere and go through many sufferings entered the kingdom of God she did that but but she did even more that actually embraced this she always remembered I know I have a dad I know he loves me even if he doesn't heal me I know that I'm his his affliction produces endurance and endurance produces character but that kind of character you're never without hope last thing I don't know if there was ever was an easy time to belong to Jesus I don't know if there ever was an easy time to have faith seems like sometimes it was easier you know seems like for other people and other cultures there was a time where it was kind of just handed to you if that ever existed that time is over and the world doesn't need immature adolescents fragile and Christians with conditional hope or conditional fading or conditional love Freud yada but our dad hears what he wants for everyone in this room he wants every single one of us to be able to be the kind of people who not only can why not do it through suffering but who with His grace are able to acknowledge yeah likely is difficult and I might not know the meaning of this moment and just because things are difficult and because I can't do everything doesn't mean I can't do anything dad needs you to be the kind of people are willing to cling to him and say you can heal me Lee but even if you don't I'm Yours in this moment and every moment and forever I'll glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end amen nobody god bless you all the Father Son Holy Spirit amen [Applause]

Channel: FOCUS Catholic

Views: 375,191

Rating: 4.8737659 out of 5

Keywords: catholic, faith, catholic church, christian joy, fr. mike schmitz, fr. mike, seek 2019, SEEK, catholic conference, college, Catholic youth conference

Id: yDnXk5iiCxM

Length: 46min 31sec (2791 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 06 2019