Fr. Mike Schmitz | How to Have Faith in Jesus (Even When It’s Hard)

foreign thank you guys thank you so much um it's uh okay a doesn't that kind of sound like the beginning of the Avengers theme so I was like so hoping like tomorrow night last night I heard you know Paul and Chica and I was like I hope that on the second night they played it it's okay I'm fine um but actually it's so intimidating to be able to be here not just because of you all but also Adam and Maria how humbling is that just to see these people who are just giving of themselves it's amazing also humbling to go after sister Bethany years ago you guys years ago um sister was giving a talk online on Tuesday on the night of seek and I was giving a talk the next night and as she was talking I was thinking oh shoot I'm going tomorrow after her and one of our students said father I turned to my friend while his sister Bethany Madonna was giving her a talk and I said oh shoot father Mike has to go after her and that was a whole day later and I was like immediately after I'm like oh my gosh again it's super humbling what's also really humbling is just I'm so okay I'm gonna get to the point of the talk first but I'm so humbled and honored to be able to just share some words with you all tonight especially I know that um our students at the University of Minnesota Duluth the Bulldogs I am so grateful for them because I know that uh at events like this we don't get to see each other very often and so they just they're so generous they just like get to share each other get to share each other with the world um you know one of the things that I'm really going to reflect on today is Matthew chapter 28 verse 17. so if you want to dial that into your brains Matthew chapter 8 20 Matthew chapter 28 verse 17. so after everything sister Bethany Madonna just talked about right after Jesus does all of his miracles after Jesus uh raises the dead right after Jesus himself has been crucified has resurrected from the dead after the apostles have seen Angels like they've seen the glory of the Angels saying he's risen he's no longer dead Matthew chapter 28 verse 17 Jesus says go to Galilee and there you'll see me so 28 17 says when they saw him they worshiped but some doubted like what that's crazy that just blows my mind I mean again this is after everything this is after Jesus has proven that he is who he says he is Jesus devans Jesus has demonstrated that he is God he is the Lord of Life he's the Lord over death he can conquer death he can forgive sins all of these things are true and they it's not like they don't know it not like that well someone once told us that Jesus is the Lord like they know that he's God and they saw him and worshiped but some doubted you know one of the things that is a consequence of what sister Bethany Madonna told us all is this truth and that truth is Jesus is either of no importance or he is of absolute importance the only thing Jesus cannot be is relatively important because he's God he has demonstrated that he is God not kind of like your God or my God but the god so he is either the god which means he's absolutely important or he's not which means he's of zero importance it's the only thing he cannot be is relatively relatively important and here's the apostles here's the disciples they saw him and they worshiped but some doubted and I have to ask the question like why what is there to doubt it's true like he is who he says he is what is there to doubt not at all next point no I I really I don't know I because it maybe is the case that they're doubting him maybe they're doubting who he is maybe they're doubting what he's done I think it's something different I think they know that he is who he says he is but also I think that they know who they are and they know that okay Jesus is God that maybe they're doubting the next thing maybe they're doubting The Next Step maybe they're doubting their response they worshiped but they doubted you know I think that doubt can mean a few things one of the things that it definitely means is it's the opposite of this one big word called faith they worship but they doubted you know to have faith what is it to have faith you know C.S Lewis we've talked about him a lot tonight C.S Lewis we'll talk about them two more times tonight C.S Lewis once said he said before I became a Christian I was always puzzled by why Christians talked about faith as a virtue he said because if the only reason you believe anything is because it's true the only reason we should believe anything is because it's true and so if something is true to say that you believe it is how is that the moral thing to do how is that the right thing to do it's like saying I'm virtuous because I believe two plus two is four look at my morals like that's not good it's just smart it's just being honest so he's puzzled like why would Christians say that faith is a virtue if you believe Jesus Is God why is that a virtue to say that you believe Jesus is God why is that the good thing not just the smart thing or the honest thing and he says basically I think it's for the same reason as they worshiped but some doubted because there are consequences to belief there are consequences to belief I think you know by now that faith is not a Feeling I think you know by now that faith has to if it's going to be real faith it has to transcend feelings faith has to be more powerful than feelings we think about even we talk about the guy in Old Testament Abraham I call him the father of our faith why because he really felt it you know like that's not why we call Abraham the father of faith we call Abraham the father of our faith because God said Abraham leave the your Homeland and go to the promised land and what did he do Bible scholars he did it thank you over there like a for the day and the gold star so we call Abraham the father of faith not because he was like oh yeah I'm really feeling close to the Lord now it's because God said do this and he did it I mean think about the people of Israel when God set them free from slavery what'd they do they walked a certain direction because God told them to they lived a certain way because God told them to they worshiped a certain way because God told them to they didn't they weren't stopping every three steps going like how am I feeling how do I feel right now like they didn't stop and ask that question why because they knew the one who had called them this is the thing faith is not a Feeling if we believe something we only believe it because it's true not just true for you not just true for me but true about truth and if Jesus Is God that means he's the god not one of many and if he's God that means everything he says is true if Jesus Is God that means everything he says is true that's why faith is a virtue because there are times in your life and in my life when it would be really really convenient if it wasn't true again C.S Lewis goes back he talks about this he says he says I know I I know and how anesthesia works I know I can trust the anesthesiologist he says but that doesn't mean I don't panic when he clamps that thing over my face and I start going under maybe I'll suffocate he says he says you might know he says a young man might know that a pretty girl that he knows very well always tells lies but when he sees her and he's like oh gosh I'm all twitterpated he's I'm paraphrasing C.S Lewis he is sometimes he might say oh just this once I'll tell her some deep dark secret about myself even though he knows the truth and the same thing is true he says it's about Christianity he says there will be a moment when there's bad news there'll be a moment when you're in trouble or you're living among a lot of other people who do not believe it University anyone and all at once your emotions will rise up and carry out a blitz on your belief or there will come a moment when you want he says when he wants a woman or he wants to tell a lie or he sees a chance of making money in some way that is not perfectly fair in those moments it would be very convenient for Christianity not to be true that's why faith is holding on to things your reason has once accepted in spite of your changing moods faith is holding on to things truths your reason has accepted in spite of your changing moods faith is not a feeling it's it's more like this it's more like surrender it's more like trust it's more like this it is it is saying yes to God that's what it is it's a relationship so we I know sometimes when I say like oh Faith it's a relationship people are like oh yeah I love that are you sure you do because because it has to be a real relationship with a real God when I say that again if faith is going to be real it's a real relationship yes saying yes to God but it has to be a real relationship with a real God not a god of my own invention and not my own version of God if Jesus in Jesus God has fully revealed himself in Jesus here's what God has said God has said he's declared this God has said this about you he says I declare I'm going to love you as you as who I know you are sometimes we like to disqualify ourselves like no you can't love me as I am you you only love the good version of me and God says this no no I declare this over you I love you as you I'm going to love you as you but here's what I'm asking I'm asking you to love me as me here's this call of Christianity God declares I'm going to love you as you not a different version of you not a better version of you not a Holier version of you I'm going to love you as you and I'm going to ask you to love me as me so how has God revealed himself that's how he's calling you to love him that's why faith is everything because it means a real relationship with a real God not a God my own invention not my own version of God in fact I came across these two different descriptions they're from athletes and I'm not trying to throw athletes under the bus I apologize athletes but one is from a football player one small baseball player one football player he was uh his name is Norm Evans he was a lineman for the Miami Dolphins he's a Christian as well he wrote a book about Jesus once and this is what he said he said he says here's Norm's version of Jesus I guarantee you that Christ would be the toughest guy who ever played the game of football if you were alive today I would picture him as a six foot six inch 260 pound defensive tackle who would always make the big plays and be hard to keep out of the backfield for offensive linemen like myself that's Norm's version of Jesus it's normism maybe there's a man named Prince Peterson he played for the Yankees and uh here's Fritz's version of Jesus he says I firmly believe that if Jesus Christ was sliding into second base he had knocked the second baseman into left field to break up the double play he goes he wanted to say he said Christ not he might not throw a spitball but he would play hard within the rules Jesus wouldn't be playing baseball you guys we all know this I used to have a debate with my friend best friend in high school he was a basketball player and I was a swimmer and he was like no no of course Jesus would play basketball because he's always given up The Rock and I was like of course Jesus would be a swimmer because he just run across the water and he'd win every race but that's that's our own version and again Fritz Norm myself we're not the first people to say this about Jesus in fact we we specialize our biggest temptation is like okay I want a relationship with Jesus I want to have faith in Jesus Jesus is who he says he is so I'm going to have faith in him then we created our own version of Jesus and this goes all the way back to the Old Testament you probably know this story it's in the book of Exodus here's people of Israel they've been set free from slavery after 300 years of slavery God has set them free he led them you know remember all the ten plagues that pass over the whole deal he gets them to the Red Sea opens the waters they walk through the waters Moses says hey you guys wait here I'm gonna go up the thought on the top of Mount Sinai and get the Commandments this sounds familiar amen good so if doesn't there's this thing a podcast I know about um so Moses goes up the mountain and what happens here's the people of Israel who've just been set free from slavery from certain death by the Lord God and they go to Aaron Moses his brother and they say hey fashion for us a God that we can worship I remember when I first read this story I was like you nerdy dogs like what the heck are you kidding me I always thought of this as an example of how quickly we turn away from the Lord I always thought of it as here's here's Aaron who's making a whole nother God that all the people of Israel who've just been set free from slavery they've just been set free from the through the Red Sea that they said you know what we don't want him anymore we want this new God and then I started paying attention to what the Bible actually said in Exodus chapter 32 the people of Israel don't say we don't want you anymore God we want a new God they make the golden calf and they bow down before it and they say this o Israel this is the God who saved you they didn't think they were inventing a whole another God they were just creating their own version of God the god that approves all the things they approve of God that likes all the things they like God who loves all the things they love God it doesn't like the things they don't like think about that if that's my version of God who's made in the image of whom if my God if my Jesus loves all the things I love if he likes all the things I like if he hates all the things I hate who's made in the image of whom even like when it comes to sense of humor we sometimes think of Jesus as having a sense of humor I would say of course he did I mean the God who invented laughter of course he has a sense of humor but here's the thing he doesn't have your sense of humor I'm guarantee you that because you and I both laugh at Zoolander and at National Lampoon's Vacation and dumb and dumber and all those things and worse than that the reality of course if I haven't been consoled by Jesus in the Gospels I haven't been paying attention to him I've been because if I haven't been consoled by The God Who declares his love for me either I haven't been paying attention to him or I've been paying more attention to my excuses because you couldn't possibly love me You couldn't possibly want me you could possibly choose me and and if I haven't been convicted by Jesus in the Gospels I haven't been paying attention I've ever been challenged by the Gospels haven't been paying attention haven't been called to actually change the way I live and change the way I think changing what I love and what I don't love then I haven't been paying attention to the gospels or I've been making excuses and saying no no this is in my case it's okay you know Saint Augustine this again this is nothing new I'm not trying to point fingers this is what we've always done seeing Augustine back in the fourth Century he said this he said if I accept what I like in the gospels and reject what I don't like in the gospels it's not the gospels I believe it's myself if you and I accept what we like in the gospels we accept what we like in Jesus teachings but reject what we don't like in Jesus's teachings it's not Jesus we believe in it's ourselves it's not Jesus we love it's ourselves you know I think the largest Christian denomination in the world is also the smallest it's called meism is the largest because it's the most Christians are just like I believe in my own version of Jesus it's also the smallest because it's the one I particularly believe in none of us all believe the same thing we all have our own particular version of Jesus it's a church of one in fact I Know a Man who've been emailing me a bunch of times and he's always just challenging me on this this church teaching and that church teaching and I've noticed over the course of our correspondence that all of his critiques actually centered around three issues and every one of those three issues was related to sexual morality he had no problems with Jesus as calling to uh forgive people to serve the poor no problem with Jesus is Calling to believe in him in the Eucharist no problem with Jesus is Calling to anything except all these teachings all these struggles had to do with I couldn't possibly accept this teaching with regard to sexual morality you might pointed this out to him he was like well you tell me where show me where Jesus prohibits this or that one of his issues and I know this is personal for a lot of us here who are in this this space and so I don't mean to again point fingers don't need to bring up anything it's painful but this is a harsh reality of Our Lives one of Jesus's teachings he said I could never accept I want to the church's teaching I could never possibly accept is Jesus is teaching about you can't get divorced and remarried I said okay well I understand that it's very difficult but if I could show you where Jesus says you cannot divorce and remarry would you believe it because Jesus is God you have to believe what he says right it's like sure so I showed him in three places and three different gospels that Jesus says if you divorce and remarry you're committing adultery his first response was huh his second response was well I looked up on the internet and there are some people that don't think that's what it means okay meism my own particular version of Jesus where when he challenges what I like or what I want to do he goes to the sign versus when he convicts me in fact I know this man who uh he was the first person in his family to graduate high school he paid his way through college by volunteering joining the Air Force he paid for his way through medical school by serving in the Air Force this is a man who's worked hard his entire life he saved up a ton of money he's invested really really wisely and he says he told me he said father Mike every time I hear the gospels hear the word of Jesus where he says how hard it is for someone who is wealthy to enter the Kingdom of Heaven he says I get chills he says my blood runs cold and I sank I ask myself I asked Jesus I say Jesus what do you want me to do with this money because I I am convicted every single time I yes he no if he's an American he says I worked hard for my money but he's a Christian first yep I worked hard for this money and Jesus says how hard it is for someone who is wealthy to enter the Kingdom of Heaven he lets himself be convicted because if Jesus Is God then he gets to convict me if Jesus Is God then I'm a Christian first it's an American second or third or fourth you know C.S Lewis talking about this he said in one of the hardest teachings of Jesus the one the one people find most difficult to follow says people right away who think especially College sorry I don't need to pick on you but like young people anybody who's like the teach is not sexuality and he's like yeah those are tough sometimes but when we hear Jesus as teachings about Mercy when we hear Jesus's teachings about forgiveness where he says whoever's hurt you the most that's the one person you have to forgive the quickest when Jesus teaches us the Our father and says every day multiple times a day pray this prayer God Father in heaven do not forgive me if I don't forgive with people who have hurt me that's what we're praying when we pray the Lord's Prayer forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us I'm begging God the Father God just just remember don't forgive me if I don't forgive the people who have hurt me and if Jesus Is God that's part of his teachings no people said to see us Lewis like oh yeah I wonder how you'd feel I wonder how you would respond if you were one of those those polls who are in the concentration camps I wonder what you would say or how would you would respond if you were standing in front of one of those Nazis and C.S Lewis he says I also wonder I wonder very much I don't know because this is the truth for every one of us Jesus is who he says he is because of that he is the way the life and the truth that means everything he teaches is true regardless of what our culture says even if I can't do it during World War II it was a young woman named Corey ten Boom she's a Christian woman from a Christian family as a teenager when World War II broke out she and her family as Christians they saved hundreds of Jews by hiding them in her in their homes at some point the Gestapo found out about this they killed her mother they arrested her father her sister and herself sent them off to a place called ravensbrook a concentration camp they're her father was killed there her sister and her were stripped naked and marched paraded in front of all these male soldiers they were humiliated ultimately her sister Betsy died at the end of the war Corey ten boom got out of reference Brooke and she began preaching a message of Mercy a message of forgiveness all throughout Europe which is such a was such a broken place and after one of her sermons in this church she said this young German man walked up the aisle came towards me after I gave this message about okay if Jesus is who he says he is if Jesus has called us to Mercy we have to forgive those and this young man walked down the down the center aisle and she said the moment I saw his eyes I recognized him he was one of the guards in ravensbrook in fact he was one of those guards who seemed to take particular Delight in her suffering and her sister's suffering that her sister Betsy died at the hands of this man this man walked to her and he said Fraulein I too was at ravensbrook and since the war I've become a Christian and Jesus Christ has forgiven me my sins and I've been praying to Jesus that he would give me the chance to meet one of my victims so I could ask her for forgiveness as well and so here I stand in front of you as your brother and Jesus would you forgive me and Corey Den boom she said in that moment I knew the truth in that moment I knew that that's what Jesus had asked of me but in that moment I couldn't I couldn't forgive him again Matthew 28 verse 17 they worshiped but they doubted she said in that moment I couldn't I remember what Saint Paul said in the last letter to the Romans chapter 5. the love of God has been poured out into our hearts I couldn't forgive him but Jesus could so she said she stretched out her hand and she clasped this young man's hand she felt this again faith is not a feeling but she felt this overwhelming love for this man the love of God had been poured out into her heart and she embraced him and she forgave him this is the last thing Jesus is who he says he is he is God which means that he gets to tell us how to live he gets to tell us how to walk he gets to tell us what to do and there can still be times when we're like but I don't I don't have it in me I don't know if I can do this it goes so contrary to what the world is saying it goes so contrary to what like I understand even know to be true in those moments I just invite all of us to think about John chapter six we know it's all of us know John chapter 6. where Jesus talks about the Eucharist and he this hardest teaching where here are these disciples hundreds of disciples are walking away from Jesus because he's told them that he's going to give them his flesh to eat and his blood to drink if you have one have life you must eat my pleasure drink my blood and hundreds are leaving as a result of this John chapter 6 says as a result of this many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him and in that moment Jesus turns to the 12th he turns to those Apostles he turns to the original boy band and he asks them he says he says do you also want to leave here's the deal I am who I say I am I am the Lord God I made that big yellow thing in the sky like I am the only God there is I am the way the truth and the life and I just said the truth do you also want to leave I love this because at that moment Peter looks at Jesus and he says Master where are we going to go he says we have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God remember faith is a relationship that even when he did not know how are you going to do this how are you going to feed us I have no idea how you're going to give us your flesh and blood to eat and to give us bring us to eternal life I don't know how you're going to do this but I do know you I don't know how you're going to do this but I do trust you and you are who you say you are and even when I'm weak you are strong even when I'm lost you are the truth even when I don't understand you bring light I've come to believe and I'm convinced that you are God the god it's with my whole life I can do nothing else but say yes to the god of Truth have a good night [Music]

Channel: FOCUS Catholic

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Id: DHaRm0xdliY

Length: 27min 2sec (1622 seconds)

Published: Mon May 29 2023