Fr. Mike Schmitz: "Evangelization" | SLS2016

the hats thank you um sorry about that Connor where's Connor is he over here over here I can't see oh there you guys do Connor dawn of justice there it is there we go you and me buddy we're gonna do it thanks Matt you guys I didn't even know he was gonna get dressed up like that I just I always wear this I don't know it's kind of kind of life for me let's say a prayer is that okay no okay they say for the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit father in heaven we praise and glorify your name we thank you so much for bringing us to this place for bringing us to this summit we thank you for their gift of faith thank you for the gift of your love thank you for the gift of pouring your life out into us and thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit in the name of the lord jesus christ in through the power of the most precious blood I take authority over every unclean spirit that's come upon every person in this place and bind it away in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and then even that same Lord Jesus Christ father asked you to send your Holy Spirit upon every person in this place a spirit of truth to enlighten our minds and a spirit of love to enflame our hearts that we can belong to you be your disciples your missionary disciples this day and every day of our lives Lord Jesus Christ use us transform the world make this prayer through the intercession of Our Lady the queen of the Rosary the queen of victory in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father Son Holy Spirit awesome so I am very excited to be here um I'm really excited like can I I didn't ask backstage if I can move I'm going to I didn't ask if I was able to and like no stand on the X here we are I'm very excited to be here and um one of the reasons why I'm excited to be here is because I wish I wish honestly that I had been in your position when I was in college and I think back when I when I'm as I'm here as I'm walking around as on on our campus on our campus um I'm just so I'm so humbled and so honored because here you are and I realized myself in college I was such a tool like I'm complete I was a huge tool at one point this quick little couple stories um I was at one point I was kind of a good kid and so I had clean the language and I didn't ever swear and then between my freshman and sophomore years I decided to start swearing I thought it would be a cool thing my my brother-in-law my sister are really good swearers and so I thought well I'm gonna I don't know when they swear it's super funny so I'm gonna start swearing and so I did and it wasn't as funny and especially wasn't that's funny because I worked in the campus ministry office I remember this very very clearly I was sitting on the couch in the chemist ministry office facing the entryway facing the door and the priests who is the chaplain comes in we all called him father Tim oh and he walks in the door and I was like father Tim oh how the bleep are you the bleep word rhymes with what hockey players hit into the goal so imagine you're chaplain walks into your new ins Center and you say hey father how the Aria and the priests eat he's like fine and he walked over to his office and I'm like I should stop doing that I think I think now is the time to stop with the swearing but it was remarkable because I spent three and a half years working in the campus ministry office at my college because one semester in they said hey you really care about Jesus so how about you join our campus ministry I'm like great awesome and I became in charge of the campus ministry office on my university but I want to tell you what in charge of my chemist ministry office looked like it meant this and then I sat on the couch a couple hours a week I mine answered phones and then when people came in I said hi priests is over there it meant that I occasionally set up and occasionally cleaned up after Mass and I was in charge that's all it meant and I can I look back at that I think man I look at you and think oh my gosh cuz you're in charge but you're taking charge and the crazy thing is this when I was a high school that's not what I imagined being a Christian would look like when I was high school in fact um and my senior year I was asked of high school I was asked to be an escort at the Miss Nisswa beauty pageant yes and so what that what that entailed was this I got dressed up in a suit at the Miss miss hua beauty pageant and they were young lady would come out and I would offer my arm and we walked to the end of the thing I would let her go and she would do a twirl to come back and that was my job for the night and at one point before the show started they said we wanna you know kind of tell a little bit about the escorts you and this other guy so what's your name my name's Mike Schmitz okay I'm your senior in high school yep Brainerd uh-huh what's your goal for life I remember looking at this woman in saying the first thing came to my mind I said I want to win as many souls for Jesus as I possibly can and and she looked at me and she said Bob would I just say you want to make a difference sure that's fine it's crazy because I get to college and what I what am i doing I'm not winning souls for Jesus I'm in charge that means I sit on the couch I say hey when the people come in there's a priest over there that was a nice guy on college in on college campus bill but Jesus didn't say go be nice people go into the world and just be like tax payers go into the world and just stay out of jail go get them Christians like no where does Jesus say that Curtis told us the other day exactly what Jesus said it's Matthew chapter 28 Jesus says the Great Commission go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you behold I'm with you till the end go and make disciples here I'm on call it on the college campus at college and I'm just on a couch being a nice guy you though you're in charge are you doing a good job though because you know what's possible to fail imagine this imagine maybe you heard this before imagine there's a shoe factory and imagine the shoe factory fell in like a perfect location perfect spot wherever it needed to be and it create built it got a bunch of people to build this incredible facility like this the best state-of-the-art equipment this fantastic location and they hired the best possible people to work at the shoe factory these people they not only were good at their jobs but they really liked working a there was a great like corporate culture for them and they really got along those great healthy spirit and and every day every day all day these trucks would come in bringing the best possible shoe materials so they would bring in leather and rubber and laces and whatever else you need to make shoes all day and if you would show up at the shoe factory you would say man this place is amazing this place look at these people they love it here they get along with each other this place is hopping everyone's busy this is a great shoe factory imagine if at the end of the day if at the end of the week if at the end of the quarter they didn't make any shoes question with that shoe factory be a success or a failure be a failure but no no we have a great look at our building look at our property it's this excellently taken care of look at our staff our staff is so happy to be here we love each other if at the end of the day that shoe factory doesn't make shoes that shoe factory is not a success the shoe factory is a failure and Jesus Christ straight Commission was this go make pancakes on Sundays after mass go and have a good great CCD program go and like get people confirmed and send them on their way Jesus says go therefore and make disciples evangelize all nations bring the gospel to them here's the question if you were to look at your diocese back home if you were to look at your campus if you look at your parish if you were to look at a Catholic Church are we known as a disciple-making church well yeah yeah father totally we had we had a whole RCIA class jail last year people P became Catholic how many wait like at least a dozen it was incredible a dozen people became Catholic on your campus last year it was amazing how many people were on campus like 14,000 that's not success that's failure so the question we have to ask ourselves is this if the Great Commission is go therefore make disciples if we don't as a church make disciples are we a success or are we a failure not a trick question I kind of set you guys up for that one I kind of spelled it out and figured um that was are we a success are we a failure deeper question more personal when Jesus said go therefore make disciples he wasn't saying hey y'all go there for y'all and y'all make disciples you saying you Timothy we you didn't say to him I don't have to moszer or not um you Peter you Andrew you James you John go make disciples if James did make any disciples with Jamie success James a successful Christian or failure failure he says Michael go make disciples question if I don't make disciples am i a successful Christian or a failure brothers sisters if you don't go and make disciples are you a success at being a Christian or a failure it's possible to fail it is possible to fail it's possible to not live on mission because that's what this is all about what this is all about is living on mission not just a one time thing not just a part time thing not just the most time thing but living on mission is saying Jesus Christ paved the way made it possible and now to Paul the Holy Spirit working in you and working in me we can make it actual I'm say that again Jesus Christ paved the way made it possible to make disciples of all nations to save the world now it's up to the Holy Spirit working through you to make what Christ made possible actual here in your lives on your campuses in your families and it's not gonna be just Jesus that's why I love this um the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles Acts the Apostles chapter one at one point here's the Apostles Jesus has died he's risen from the dead he's been living with his apostles for the last forty days teaching them and inspiring them and giving them courage and he takes them outside of Jerusalem to a town called Bethany overlooking the city of Jerusalem and from that city you can see everything the Apostles could have saw they could have seen the upper room where Jesus gave the Eucharist they could have seen a Caiaphas house where Jesus was held prisoner they could see gaagaa they could see the tomb where he rose from the dead and the Apostles asked Jesus's question Lord because they know he's the Lord now they have no doubt he's the dude aka the Lord Lord are you at this point going to restore the kingdom to Israel they asked him Jesus are you are you gonna do it now are you gonna save the world now Jesus answers and says basically I love the answer it's not for you to know no oven not for you to know times are seasons but here's the button but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and then you will be my witnesses here in Jerusalem throughout Judea and Samaria to the ends of the world so again just a little kiss in response to the question Lord you gonna do it now go ahead God Jesus go do it go save everyone Jesus says no no no no you will receive the power of the Holy Spirit and then you're gonna be my witnesses then you're going to do it what I made possible the Holy Spirit in you is going to make actual because you're gonna receive power because why because Jesus had spent the last three years investing in his apostles you know when he said hey come follow me I wasn't like he just walked away and just kind of like yeah if you want to keep following me guys he lived with them you think like okay here's God your imagine this imagine your god no for some of you this is gonna be a lot easier than for others you're like I do that all the time like that's nothing new father it's like kind of like my daily meditation um imagine your garden you have an opportunity to use 33 years to save the world redeem the world what do you do you can go out as far and wide as possible and Jesus did travel you could speak to as many people as possible and Jesus did speak you could heal everybody in Jesus did heal or you could invest deeply in just a few and then promise your Holy Spirit and teach them to do what you do teach them to live how you live I don't know if you know this but some people estimated that 80% of Jesus Christ public ministry 80% of his public ministry in those three years where he was was going out and doing his thing 80% of that time was with a which was within a five-mile radius why because he wasn't going far and wide he was going narrow in deep he was investing deeply into these few people and saying listen listen I'm gonna share my life with you so you can share your life with others I'm gonna pour out my life for you so you can go on pour all your life brothers I'm gonna give you my holy spirit so that you in turn can pass that Holy Spirit on to every person who comes after and what happens is this this becomes the model for a Christianity as was shared earlier the scripture verse for today for tonight comes from 2nd Timothy 2:2 but I want to start even earlier at 2nd Timothy just to in a second Timothy sorry 2nd Timothy 1 whatever it's this numbers I'm not a mathematician you guys a beginning of 2nd Timothy 1 Jesus says this he says I remind you stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands for what for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and of love and of self-control brothers and sisters if you are in this room and you are baptized you have that spirit in you already if you're baptized you have that spirit not of cowardice you have this spirit of power and of love and of self-control inside of you already what's it waiting for it's only waiting for you to say yes therefore do to entrust of faithful people who will have the ability to teach others as well because that's how Paul lived Paul had equipped Timothy Paul had invested deeply into Timothy and he said okay Timothy I'm gonna lay my hands on you you're gonna receive the power of the Holy Spirit just like every person who's been baptized here at one point you at that point you receive the power of the Holy Spirit and then hopefully someone invests in deeply in you says you now have not only the power you know have the opportunity but the crazy thing is this to entrust to faithful men who have the amend women who have the will have the ability to teach that is always a risk always a risk I remember I first years on on campus at UMD I was like okay I'm gonna do this so I'm gonna pick some people like people who are available people who are faithful people are contagious people who are teachable what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna just pour my life into them and then what they're gonna do is they're gonna go out and they're gonna start Bible studies they're gonna go out on campus they're gonna start evangelizing people we're gonna start growing this ministry and I did this these guys that would get up at like 5:30 in the morning to like have like I'd go get breakfast for them and bring it to my house and like they'd come over whenever they wanted to let me eventually got there and I just poured myself out for these guys and not one of them ever started the Bible study not one of them ever even shared the gospel on campus I was like what a waste but it wasn't it was a risk and it wasn't even a waste it was an investment because what is st. Paul said to Timothy entrust to faithful men and women and what ultimately happened since then there was men and though the other women who did nothing on campus have now spent the last few years of their lives after campus making disciples because this is the risk whenever you invite someone in you're risking everything and the recognition of course is gonna be this the recognition is that have you ever heard this if you're heard when when either you've been invited into discipleship or or someone else has invited another person in discipleship that's like well I don't want to be your project you ever hear that like someone say like listening you don't like treat someone like a project you gotta treat them like a person because I'm not just yearly evangelization project I'm not just a person you're investing in they're entrusting the because you want something out of me now say that's that's a totally a hundred percent correct we treat people like people not projects that's why I love Jesus that's one of the reasons I love Jesus a lot you know one of the many reasons I love Jesus is it he treated people like people not projects look at Luke chapter 18 there's this tragic tragic story it's the story of the rich young man in this rich young man he opens the door to Jesus runs up as his teacher master what must I do to inherit eternal life Jesus tells him follow the commandments yeah yeah I did that already what else do I have to do Jesus says you have one thing left go sell whatever you have give it to the poor then come follow me and fact I skipped a line it says here it says Jesus looking at him loved him see for Jesus this man wasn't a project he was a person that he loved that he wanted to invest in they doing Jesus saw this person who's just mildly open Lord what do I have to do a teacher what do I have to do when he's found someone who's just mildly open he said I will invite you to do this are you willing to come follow me I want to invest in you looking at him not you're not my project looking at him he's a person and he loved him and it says this is crazy it's more of them saddest lines in the Bible he says the one the rich man heard this he became quite sad and walked away now you might not get it because that's English but you know when you read that like this and when it says he became quite sad sometimes we have the image of like you know Charlie Brown being sad like walks away like know the the Greek word that Luke uses for he became quite sad is the same word that Luke uses to describe the agony Jesus experienced in the garden Gethsemane when he sweat blood this man was grieved by saying no to Jesus and rightly so let me think about this think about how different the world would have been if this one person had let Jesus love him think about how different the world would be if this one person would have let Jesus use him I mean based off these 12 guys minus one add one back judas matthias right based off these these guys right now 2,000 years later there's over a billion Catholics in the world imagine 2,000 years ago what if there was one more what if there was one more who let Jesus love him who gave Jesus permission to love him and gave these the permission to invest in him st. James went to Spain camp became Catholic Spain st. Thomas went to India in front of the first Christian communities in this fourth line where could this one guy have gone you know faith was just basically introduced to China in Africa relatively recently imagine if this guy if this rich young man who didn't give Jesus permission to love him didn't give Jesus permission to invest in him deeply imagine if he had said yes and then gone to Africa imagine if he said yes and went to China and we would think like and then for the next 2,000 years China had become known as the hotbed of Christianity how different would this world be if this one person had said yes just one person had let Jesus love him and let him invest deeply in him but he went away said why because he got his life all figured out he knows what he wants to do he knows what he's gonna be listen Jesus listen I oh I'll be good do I really have to be yours that whole story reminds me of my patron saint again in high school um my goal was what I want to win as many souls for Jesus Christ as I possibly can so when it's time to be confirmed I picked this guy Frances Xavier as my patron saint and if you are cheering you know they say Francis Xavier is the patron saint of missionaries and I chose Francis Xavier because when this would happen Francis Xavier started out a relatively wealthy family and he went to University of Paris where he was gonna study law and become a great lawyer he had his whole life mapped out for him but this one guy named Ignatius of Loyola had a previous had the conversion to Jesus Christ and he saw something in Francis Xavier that was like listen you're gonna be a nice guy you either be a nice guy or you could change the world you can either follow your path and become a lawyer and just have your nice little life or you could change the world and Ignatius started going after Frances he saw something in Francis that said no man jesus loves this man Jesus wants to use this man so Ignatius kept pounding Francis like so much to the point that probably some of you are like I have a mission areas like that they're very annoying aren't they Ignatius was like that because he saw something in Francis that probably your missionaries see in you finally at one point Francis Xavier let his heart be one for Jesus and he let Ignatius pour himself out now Ignatius wanted to be the missionary to the world Ignatius wanted to be the one who won the world for Christ Ignatius got to go to Rome and stay there poor Ignatius for Francis Xavier got to go out he left from Portugal and began to just spread the gospel he got to India and their stories he wrote back to his his brother in Christ Ignatius he said here in India so many people they longed for Jesus he says I'm baptizing so many people every day that I go to bed without a voice say this stand in the river and the whole time I just say i baptize you in the name of the Father and of the son of Holy Spirit okay i baptize you in the name of the Father Son Holy Spirit next I thought thank you and he said I would go to be without a voice because I'm baptizing you he said this he said the only reason people here are not becoming Christians is because there's no one here to help them become Christians Francis Xavier this guy who had he know had my life I got my everything set up I I know what I'm gonna be all about he said how I wish I can go back to the universities in Europe he said I would run through the hallways of these universities like a madman crying out and I'm gonna dampen his language a little bit because he got pretty intense he said he said how many people here in India are going to hell thanks to you because you have more learning than you have love you have more learning than you have loved the only reason they're not they don't know Jesus is because there's no one here to tell them about Jesus the only reason they're not Jesus is because you're more interested in your textbooks and your grades then you are in loving the people who are actually around you because the truth of the matter is this you don't have to go to India he's have to go home you don't have to go to some far-off land you just have to go to your own roommates and your classmates and just notice the fact that people around us are starving when the problems is this one of the problems is because in Minnesota at least we have this thing in Minnesota anyone from here for Minnesota well that is the loudest you'll ever hear a Minnesotan get because we have this thing in Minnesota called Minnesota nice I don't even firt a Minnesota nice but what Minnesota nice is is that we have this whole thing I mean their shirts they have like the outline of Minnesota and they're just as nice cuz that's because in Minnesota versus oh hi oh gosh don't you know or for a cure well well gosh I'm just gonna get you some hot dish and we're gonna have some little play some bingo there and it's gonna be it's just gonna be fantastic and so we're just gonna be very nice to you well what Minnesota nice basically amounts is - is this Minnesota nice means you don't bother anyone that's all it is if you want to go to Minnesota if you want to just be nice for Duke by doing nothing come to Minnesota because all you have to do to be Minnesota nice is just not bother anyone just get stay out of their way and so for us in Minnesota or in for America wherever it's like why want Evangelos I want to share the gospel well no I just I don't want to bother anyone I don't wanna like have to you know get in their way and actually share the gospel with people because maybe they'll think like no no no please please don't share this with me because we're from Minnesota that's why I'm so I'm so like if you remember Smallville I mean I TV show Smallville how many times in the course of Smallville that that whole like 10 seasons I know that um did someone use the line mind your own business Clark because why all the time seriously literally every episode there's the wine mind your own business Clark because Clark is like this here's a person who has ability here's a person who has something good to offer and he says when someone needs help I can help when someone needs help I can help you need help I can help mind your business Clark you ever think about like how unknowing he would be to be around like how annoying any hero would be to be around because here's the crazy thing about heroes heroes don't wait for permission to act they just see someone in need and they say I can help I'm the kind of person who's capable of offering something heroes are the kind of people who don't wait for permission to help they don't wait for permission to act that's why there's this quote from john paul ii i came across at the culture project and it said this it said John Paul the great at one of our youth ministers calls him he's called Saint John Paul the Beast I'm so st. John Paul the great / Saint John Paul the Beast says it is necessary John Paul says this it is necessary that the heroic becomes daily and if a daily becomes heroic it's necessary that the heroic becomes daily and that the daily become zero of what he's basically saying is this is that it's not enough for us to live mediocre lives that every single Christian is called to be heroic which means what which means when there's a need I can help which means what I don't need permission to act I don't need permission to help someone because I've got the Commission because Jesus Christ has already told me this so how do we do this how to do this here's three quick things three quick ways in which we can invest deeply in the people around us the first thing is this to realize the pre thing is to realize Jesus is not inviting you to break down any doors Jesus is not inviting you to break down any doors or force your way into anyone's lives the first thing to do is I simply say okay I've received the Great Commission I don't have to wait for permission under seat I've received the Great Commission so the first thing I do is I do what the Apostles would do a member Jeff Cavins told me this once he said he said you know so many people look at discipleship as like a checklist okay I'm following Jesus here's what I got to do today check check check what are the original disciples how did they do it he says what they they woke up look to cross a smouldering fire at Jesus said Jesus where are we gonna go today that's the first thing just pray pray for an open door the first thing to be part of the Great Commission we have to do is to pray for an open door that's why there's a there's a man who were here works here for for focus name's Mark Bartek he's Regional Director and Mark he's told me they see how he says he says when he gets his plane ticket yes if he has to travel he gets a plane ticket he looked ok I'm in seat 23a as soon as he sees that seat number he starts praying for the person in seat 23b I'm sitting in self 23a God give me an opening for the person in 23b that I can share with him the gospel or share with her the gospel of Jesus Christ which is completely not what I do I get 23 and I'm like Jesus please let that person Twitter be leave me alone I just I just want to sleep I just want to rest but mark prays for that opening I pray for an opening if you're gonna be part of the rate Commission you're gonna make disciples first thing pray for an opening the second thing to do is to notice when there's an open door second thing we need to do is engage is no notice other people that basically the second thing if you want to be a disciple of Jesus and make disciples to invest deeply first thing we have to do is you have to care they care about other people who are on this planet that's countercultural GK Chesterton once said this he said each generation is converted by the saint who contradicts it the most each generation is converted by the saint who contradicts it the most what is our culture currently known for nobody cares about anybody we have surface relationships everyone's here everyone's doing their thing and no one looks up you realize this to be a saint that contradicts your culture the most means looking up from your phone how dramatic it's just that's that's all one pray for an opening number to care about other people to care about other people and to notice them it's care about other people and notice them to look up for your phone and realize there's other people to take them seriously the third thing we have to do is just invite them invite and invest because I would ask this you people again Minnesotans will say this well I can all gosh shucks Oh golly gee I can't talk about Jesus because no one wants to talk about the Lord you know what if one of your friends open the door for you if you go to church right oh yeah but a hot dish over here are you part of a Bible study haw you betcha what about the Vikings game they totally defeated the Packers did they yeah we don't like that priest anymore what if someone gave you an opening are you willing to take it are you willing to actually invite someone into relationship with Jesus there's a young priest am i die systems father Daniel and father Daniel had been invited by these people to go to a hospital because they were friends with this man who is Muslim who's in the hospital so would you go over and visit our friend who's Muslim in hospital father Daniel says sure I'll go over there and he's a good Minnesotan so he walked in and said you know me I won't do the accent oh gosh Oh mister sir okay he said you know he was very nice very pleasant he visited with the guy how you doing I feeling okay great you're getting out soon okay wonderful maybe you say a prayer for you okay sure I'll pray with you and just really general prayer all right left went home well I did my job I wouldn't visited the sick corporal bertka missery he gets back to the rectory and his pastor father Tony says how'd it go well what great my talk with him and pray with him and father Tony says well did you ask him if he wanted to become Christian he's like well no authority says well get back there and do it and so father Daniel is like okay you know he goes back and he goes back to the hospital room knocks on the door he says oh yeah I'm sorry I'm coming back in and um I just you know father come on in I just figured I'd ask um did you want to become Catholic yeah what do you what were you waiting for just like I didn't know this recognition of course there's so many people who are not becoming Christian for one reason alone because no one's there to help them become Christians we pray for an opening we notice other don't care about them then we have to invite them we have to do something about this because here's the great news the incredible news is this people watched you to be authentically Catholic no here truth is this the world thinks it hates Catholics divor doesn't hate Catholics the world is waiting for you to truly care about them and care about Jesus I mean to say it's so easy for us it's the same thing when Star Wars came out and the force awakens came out people that I mean that movie honestly there's a lightsaber in the back there at that movie and that movie grossed over a billion dollars in ten days not because it's a great movie it's good very good it did it it didn't gross ten mil or million billion a lots of money because it's good it grossed that because all it had to be was a Star Wars movie because people wanted it to be a Star Wars it's literally the same movies Episode four there's an orphan living on the desert planet a droid shows up and says you have to go help they get and the Millennium Falcon and fly and destroy a planet that's a weapon I mean it's the same it's the same story all the only thing the only thing this new movie had to be was it had I didn't give anything away I'm not and also just kidding the only thing it had to Pete was a Star Wars movie because people wanted that the only thing you have to be it's an authentic Catholic Christian because people want you to be that I lived on one as a seminary and I lived in this island nation called Saint Vincent and the Grenadines I know it's a rough life as a seminarian and living in the Caribbean and on this island he was really rough actually on there only 7% Catholic and every day from 6:00 a.m. until 11 8 p.m. people came to the door asking for help remember this one nun her name was sister Augustine or tiara called sister Augustine I'm not sure why but sister Augustine and she was about this tall and like I think 112 years old but she was like filled with the fire of the Lord as well as the fire of sister Augustine and I remember this in Washington's interaction between her and this young couple coming in for help and this this man this strapping young man comes in with the woman next to him and says yes sister we'd like we need some help for rent we need some help for some firewood we've to help for some food and just just looks intimate says well young man are you coming to mass on Sundays and he said no since does he says how come you're not coming to mass on Sundays well cuz sister because uh because no one invited me to Mass she looks at me she says did anyone invite you to come to ask for money and and he looks at her and he says no sister but no sister but everyone knows if you're in trouble you go to the Catholic Church that was this that was like the story of the salad no there were a lot of other churches on this island but this man this was the story that just I just everyone knows if you need help you go to the Catholic Church people want us to be good people want us to be us people simply want us to be want this to be true it's the last thing this is what we have to do the church says this again and again it says evangelization going out is that the church's deepest identity it's the very heart of Christianity the very heart of the Catholic Church is to be on mission what Jesus made possible through the power of the Holy Spirit living in you you make actual present right now Jesus you're gonna do it no you are where if I don't do it well then people die you might know about this but on off the coast of New England there's this island of Nantucket and off the island of Nantucket on Nantucket Island on the on the leeward side or start the windward side of the island the ocean side of the island if you go there today you'll find these these little huts dotted like 50 every 50 or 100 meters along the shore of the island Nantucket and they're what they call they call them Hut's of Refuge and what they're from is from way back in the day there's a group of people who lived on the island of Nantucket who called themselves the Humane Society now of course we all know about the Amane society now right they take care of animals and they get strays and they spay and neuter pets and whatnot they are good do-gooders but back in the day people who are part of the Maine society their job was this if there was ever a storm out on the North Atlantic and you're part of the Maine society your job was to go to one of these huts of refuge and sit in it and scan the horizon looking for ships specifically for ships that were in distress and if you saw a ship that was in distress hitting this rocks your job was to ring a bell and every person who was part of the Union Society would rush to the shore get into a wooden rowboat and row into the storm to search for survivors from the ship that I just sunk your job was to go save lives if you're part of the Maine society and what happened was they did this for years and years and years they'd roll out into these storms in these little wooden boats trying to save lives the Maine Society was a group of human beings who cared enough about other human beings that the willing to go out immerse their lives to save lives well you know what happened is over the course of time the Coast Guard was formed and so the job of saving people's lives was no longer in the hands of these people Humane Society was now the professionals job it was a professionals job to go out and to risk their lives to save other people's lives but the crazy thing is this the Humane Society didn't disband they didn't cease to exist they just kept doing nice things every I mean even now like every year or so they have a brunch where they give someone an award for being a good person for doing some kind of nice civil service and they are a great a good organization the only problem is this they're no longer in the business of saving lives why cuz that's the professionals job I think a lot of times we look at the church like this from the beginning Jesus says listen you you're gonna receive power you're gonna go out and it's your job to save lives then here come the priests and here come the monks here come the nuns and we say well no that's the professionals job I'm just like I'm just like an ordinary Catholic you realize that in the beginning the job of the ordinary Catholic was to go save lives and what do we do we still have our you know our things on Sunday we took come together we still pray we still sing our songs we'll get into our holy huddle and we're like this is great this is awesome I love Jesus me too awesome great let's go out and change the world pay our taxes and don't swear too much and don't smoke weed like what you know but but question is the church in the business of saving lives we're supposed to be mr. Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit to do so I gave us the Commission to pray for an opening so I know what doesn't care about other people and then to invite in to invest into their lives am i doing that many people say well yeah but what I've tried father I tried and I failed like I totally okay I inviting people to a study and no one wanted to come I've been trying the whole last year to invite my roommate to something and every time I do they just completely reject me Lord or father whatever you know how I see myself in your eyes true lord Vader um great Vader means father right lord Vader Lord father um so my father know I've been trying this I mean trying to get in the game again and nothing works I'm just failing all the time alright get back out there get back out there there's too many Christians Pope Francis said there's too many Christians don't move because they're afraid to fail you know in the Humane Society imagine this you hear the bell ring is a ship in distress on the horizon and you get into this wooden rowboat and you row out into a storm that just sunk a ship you'd have no idea if anyone out there still alive you have no idea if you're even gonna make it back to shore you might go out and stay out you might lose everything that's the price of being a part of the main society that's why they had a saying they're saying the main society was this you have to go out you don't have to come back if there's someone whose life needs saving you have to go you don't have to make it home hey there's a chance that you could save someone's life you have to go you have to you're part of this it means you don't stay on shore and meet you go out even if you don't make it back and that's where it is to be a Catholic Christian that's why I'm gonna fight you to do this one thing well we haven't done yet you've been given a lot of tools this week but I think there's something more that's needed I think you need to be invited have the opportunity to say yes here's one invite you to do in a second I'm gonna invite anyone who's willing to to be actually used to be part of the the new humane society the the the the mission of Jesus Christ if you're willing to say Lord I'll receive that Holy Spirit I received this great comission I do want to go out even if I'd crash and burn even if I completely fail Jesus I'm willing to give you permission to use me to invest deeply in me so I can invest a billion others I don't invite you to do this to make a decision tonight if you are willing to be part of the new evangelization if you're willing to be a new apostle for Jesus Christ if you're willing to go back to your home and to your dorm and to your house and to your campus and you're willing to say Lord Jesus use me use me to save lives I'm gonna invite you to stand only only if you're willing to be used only if you're willing to be an apostle only if you're willing to be part of this new Humane Society this new mission of Jesus to receive His Holy Spirit and we're I want you to repeat after me in the name of the Father the Son and of the Holy Spirit I'm invite you to do the I state your name thing so just go ahead and do that i father Michael Thomas Francis Xavier Schmitz give Jesus Christ God the Father and the Holy Spirit absolute permission gotta give you permission to love me gotta give you permission to forgive me gotta give you permission to redeem me gotta give you permission to take away my past gotta give you permission to give me a future and in the name of Jesus Christ I give Almighty God permission to use me to use my hands and my feet to use my heart and my mind to use my voice and my entire self whether I succeed or fail whether I bear fruit or collapse whether I raise up disciples or come home empty-handed Jesus I gave you permission to make me your missionary disciple in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I sent as a sky goddess and his holy spirit upon every one of you who are gathered in this place I in the name of Jesus Christ in the Parvez Holy Church I commissioned you as missionary disciples to go into your homes into your families into your parishes into your schools onto your campuses back to your homes to pray for an opening to notice and love other people and to invite and to vest invest deeply in their lives my buddy god bless you all the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit amen go out transform the world for Jesus Christ amen

Channel: FOCUS Catholic

Views: 164,236

Rating: 4.8709278 out of 5

Keywords: fr mike schmitz, catholic, sls, sls2016, focus, fellowship of catholic university students

Id: mhUN910ie5E

Length: 48min 36sec (2916 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 07 2017