Fr. Mike Schmitz | Saturday Homily: What To Do When We Are Lost | Steubenville Youth Conference

[Music] you [Music] I don't know the Jesus here's Mary and she finds herself in this place of brokenness and she goes to the tomb that goes to the apostles and she says yeah they've Jesus is gone and I don't know where he is looks at the Angels why are you weeping I because he's gone I don't know what to do just those three words I don't know or four words I do not know like either way it's just in our brokenness just I just I don't I don't know I I don't know if you've ever felt like that you get to this place in life because that's how life goes right that we realize that all of us recognize that even though we want life to be a cruise ship life is more often a battleship that offers we want life to be a picnic and on the field that's more like life on a battlefield that we recognize that there's these things that just hit us in Paris apart we get to this place where like I don't know I do not I don't know why this is happening and not only I don't know why's it status I don't know what to do I don't know what to do I was thinking about I thinking about this because last couple weeks I've been really just it's been on my heart a lot like I think in those moments I don't know what to do or I don't know what's going on that we that's the biggest moon that we all can experience because in that moment what we're tempted to do is the number one thing that we shouldn't do in that moment what we're tempted to do is attempted to hold bring our hearts back right we tempted to not trust or attempted to say okay I don't know what's going on this is crazy this is difficult this is hard I'm in pain and so we draw back we take our hearts back especially we take our hearts back from the only one who could hold our hearts in a moment of pain we do is recycle I won't trust in the middle of trouble I will not trust when life is filled with trouble I will not trust why because I do not know what to do so budgeteers ago I was in Israel and there's this place called Yad Vashem I don't know if you've ever heard of the audition i'm yad vashem is the holocaust memorial me in just outside Jerusalem and so it's incredibly a powerful incredibly tragic incredibly sorrowful sad place and so you're walking through this this this this building that has all these millions of people who have died and there's some some of these moments are like and then there's like you know how Christians kind of collaborated sometimes with the Nazis our Christians have not always treated our brothers and sisters the Jews very well and so you walk by those those you know boots in those signs and I'm like oh okay yes cover up the collar yeah no I don't know what those but at one point it's 150 like 15 year-old kid comes up to me and he's like hey um and out of nowhere like he's from California who's a Jewish kid came up to me out of nowhere he's like hey um did you know that my cousin my dad's cousins died in the Holocaust I'm like uh no I don't know your dad kind of it this I'm like no oh my gosh that's terrible I'm so sorry he's like yeah um yeah they got killed in the Holocaust and and where's my dad and he pointed over to his dad and his dad was like one of the largest men I've ever seen in my life he was like he was like 64 65 like his big husky fella and with this you know massive beard and this his son goes over and says yes said he wants to know about your cousins who died in the Holocaust and I'm like no like I'm like why do I and and his dad that was taken aback it's like oh okay he looks at me and sees the collar and sits like this like like what is the story what he's okay so uh yes so my my cousin cousins and they were living in Germany in the wait wait why do you want to know I'm like I don't sir I have no I I'm completely respectful but I know your son just started talking to me and then he could figure it out the story's like oh yeah I get it he does that he just walks up to people and talks it and I think I'm sorry I don't mean to interrupt I know this is a you know a sacred place and so I started walking away I get like five steps and all of a sudden here this booming voice from this large man just he kid figured out what's going on and he's like hey stop get back here right now I'm like no just keep walking so I know I stopped sitting like yes is it get over here I have some questions I want to ask you because he kind of recovered he figured out that here's a priest he's a Catholic Christian actually asked me are you a Christian I said uh-huh um and he was you know he again he had gathered his wits and he he said can use the thing I don't know this thing same kind of thing like in the midst of suffering and myths of pain here's what I've never understood he looks mean he said here's something I've never understood in my life you say that you're Christian you Christians say the us the Jews killed Jesus and you blame us for killing him and yet you also say that Jesus's death is what saves you so you say that we're the villains because we killed Jesus but actually by his death you have life so how come we're not the hero and he was really mad he was really ramped up and how it's like okay Jesus help me right now um it's the first I looked and said well first you know as Christians as Catholics we don't actually believe that the Jews killed Jesus in fact our theology is that he died for what he died for my sins be able to look at him and say actually I believe as a Catholic Christian that I killed Jesus that it was my sin to kill Jesus in fact I'm number of you probably have seen the movie the passion that was made by you know Mel Gibson mill Gibson's the director of this whole this whole film and he doesn't he doesn't show up in he's not in the movie at all except for one scene and the one scene that Mel Gibson is in is when Jesus's hands are being nailed to the cross those are Mel Gibson's hands holding the nail and driving in it driving it in through his hands because Mel Gibson believes the same thing we believe as Catholics is that it was my sins that killed Jesus so first I said we don't believe but you is my sins he's like oh okay okay yeah but like I don't get it I don't know how you would say this great thing your salvation came out of the worst thing I said actually that's exactly what we believe we believe that the crucifixion of Jesus is the worst thing has ever happened in the history of the world I mean think about this this is the worst thing that's ever happened and he's talked about a I don't make light of this talk about a bad day but this is it's not just a bad day for Jesus this is a bad day for us because why because here is God who is immune he's unstoppable he's invincible he is you cannot hurt God because he's God what happened but from the moment God makes himself vulnerable what do we start trying to do we start trying to hurt him think about this the moment God makes himself vulnerable we start trying to kill him he gets born in Bethlehem and Herod says let's kill everybody we want to kill him they parents have to go out we to Egypt why because we want to kill him when he becomes into his public life he goes back to Nazareth and they say we want to kill you goes into Jerusalem they want to kill him and then finally on Good Friday we actually ended up we succeeded in killing him the worst day in the world not just for God but for Humanity but out of the worst thing that's ever happened in human history God brought the best thing that's ever happened in human history out of the worst thing God's death and our worst was shown on Good Friday but Jesus saves us so I'm talking to this man who's Jewish and I said how about this how about the story you know the story of Joseph right yes almost so you all know the story of 2-digit Joseph remember Joseph he had he was like the tenth of or eleventh of all these sons he had this like Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and at one point his brothers sold him into slavery now think about this you might have some sibling rivalry but with your experience with your siblings they've never a tried to kill you and then the good brother says no let's not kill him let's sell them into slavery that'll be way better like as bad as your family might be you probably haven't done that yet so Joseph gets sold into slavery and I'm thinking about Joseph's life at any moment and Joseph it's like you could be like me but Mary says I have no idea I don't know what's going on I don't know what's happening right now you sold in slavery and actually does pretty good job he's an honest person he's took he continues to honor God even in the midst of being a slave to Potiphar this guy but at one point part of his wife tries to you know make advances make the moves with Joseph and Joseph like Noah I want to honor your master and I honor God so I'm not going to do this as a reward he gets thrown into jail no if that was me I'd be like yep typical thanks a lot God like how many times do we have that kind of experience where you try to do something good and like it goes all wrong typical thanks a lot God or you get on the bus to go to stupid bill and something bad happens like typical I try to serve God and I don't get my juice box like whatever that thing is and then all of a sudden you know he goes to jail and God still with him that's crazy thing God is still with Joseph in jail and he's able to interpret some people's dreams and he says okay here's your dreams God's interpret your dreams but remember me when you go to talk to Pharaoh and what happened the guy who gets out of jail forgets to talk to Vera about him typical figures my life and everything like I don't that Joseph would be so easy for Joseph to say I don't know what's happening but then as God is involved in all of this Joseph that Joseph doesn't say that Joseph says I'm gonna be faithful ends up that Joseph becomes number two in the entire kingdom of Egypt and because Joseph allowed himself to not just say I don't know therefore I'm gonna hold my heart back I don't know what's going on therefore I'm going to pull back I don't know so I'm not going to be faithful to God because it doesn't seem like he's faithful to me because of that Joseph was able not only to save the entire kingdom of Egypt he was also to save his entire family from family from starvation at the end of the book his brothers come to him and say you're going to kill us now because you must want to take vengeance on us and Joseph says then and listen I didn't know why God did this like Mary Magdalene I didn't know why God did this all but he took your evil thing and he brought great good out of it he took the evil that you wanted to do and he brought great good out of it and so I talked to this man in Yad Vashem and said like Joseph you know Joseph does a terrible thing the God took something evil that was done to this man and he saved the entire people of Israel by that action I said that's exactly what happens in the cross and this man looks and says well that makes sense thanks a lot have a good day and that was basically it but it just kept coming back to me you know the whole Bible is all about this didn't almost every story in scripture has someone in a moments where they're like I don't know I don't know what's happening right now and again if you find yourself in that kind of moment you're not alone you're just another person in God story you're your person that God's saying listen please in that moment when you don't know please still hold onto me in that moment where you don't know would you please not take your heart back but give you move your heart forward in fact there's another story the last second or last story I want to share with you guys today um there's a story in the Book of Daniel you know in terrible thing happens right people Israel delegate exile to get exiled up to Babylon and there's these three guys their names are Hananiah Azariah and Mishael hen and i Azariah michel they get chosen out of all the young men from Israel who are now in some other foreign land they'd like to serve King Nebuchadnezzar so like okay well here we are and we're going to try to be faithful to God I don't know what's happening I don't know why God is allowing King Nebuchadnezzar to destroy our people but we're going to be faithful I don't know what's going on will be faithful at one point King Nebuchadnezzar a Rexes huge statue of himself he says whenever you hear the symbols whenever here is a trumpet whenever you hear the horns everyone in the kingdom was to bow down to my statue but Hananiah Azariah and Mishael they said we belong to the Lord God so we can't do that so the symbols go off the horns go off everyone's kneeling except the three guys Hananiah Azariah and Mishael are like yeah no and I love our scripture describes this is in Daniel chapter 3 if King Nebuchadnezzar he kind of had an ego problem and he like flew into a rage it says this it says he blew into a rage into verse 13 and he questioned them is it true henan I Azariah and Mishael that you will sir not serve my god or worship the golden statue I set up you will do this he says you will do this or you shall be instantly cast into the white-hot furnace apparently they had this massive furnace that they had so so hot that it was white-hot wasn't this red hot wasn't blue hot it was white hot I will burn you alive he says I will burn you alive and let you bow down before the statue I erected in abandon your God in the me ask the question and who is the God who will be able to deliver you out of my hands here is Nebuchadnezzar who has all the power and hen and I as where I me shall have no power you can imagine that moment dem alone like well I just I don't know why cuz life has not turned out how I expected I thought I was going to be faithful to God and I thought he would respond with just like blessings and who is the God who can deliver you out of my hands but this is where things get super intense this is when Shadrach beat or hen and I Azariah and Mishael they look back at the king and I love this because these are the people who are their slaves basically and their talking is the most powerful person in the world and they say this there's no need for us to defend ourselves before you in this matter oh really now we don't have to defend ourselves before you like yeah you do he's the king he's going to kill you in a second we don't have to explain ourselves to you here's the line if our God whom we serve can save us he'll save us if the God whom we serve can save us from the white-hot furnace and from your hands o King may he save us the next line is the line that kills me but even if he will not know o King that we will not serve your God or worship the golden statue you set up think about this in this moment where everything is falling apart this moment where they're standing in front of their very death and they say we don't have to explain ourselves to you if our God if our God if our God can save us may he save us but even if he doesn't he's still our God but even if he will not we will still trust him see this is the key because every single one of us will get to this place that Mary Magdalene was that were like I don't know what why when I gave everything to Jesus is everything taken away henan i Azariah Michel how why when I trust it in Yahweh our God is now I'm standing in front of the furnace I don't know what to do I don't know what to do right now here's what's going to happen in your telling you guys I don't know if you've already had this it's what's going to happen in your life you are going to get to this place where everything will drop out where your friends will have left where the people that you've loved live left or they'll be taken away where everything you hoped for is going to seem like it's being stripped away from you like very Magdalene that everything she trusted in is now gone I hate to say that that's just what's going to happen and in that moment I don't know what to do now I don't I don't know scripture tells us exactly what to do Hannah mad me sorry me sorry hen and I Michelle and Ann Anaya stand in front of the king if our God can save us may you save us but even if you will not we will praise Him and then what happens is they gets thrown into the fire and in the fire what do they do in the fire it says they prayed aloud blessed are you and praise worthy O Lord our God of Our Fathers blessed it is your name holy is your name what they do I don't know what to do in bits of trouble here's what you do in the midst of trouble praise God here's what here's what we are tempted to do I'm tempted to hold my heart back in trouble I want to want to trust but here's the thing scripture tells us in the midst of trouble the answer is praise him in the midst of trouble the answer is and yet I will praise Him another guy I don't need to confuse you with all these names have a cook he was in the same position as Hananiah Azariah Michel he was stripped from his home stripped from his family and everything was gone in the very last lines in his book of habakkuk he says all everything else is gone and yet and I will praise the Lord there'll come a day very soon when you'll go to pray and you won't feel anything you go to pray and you say like all the things that I thought I'd give my heart to Jesus at soobin Ville and I went back home I don't feel anything anymore what do i do then I don't know yes you do I will praise Him this is the last thing back in uh 1871 there's this man named Horatio Spafford pretty sure Stafford lives in Chicago Illinois and he had a wife you loved he had five kids he had four girls and a little boy and a ratio and his wife big love Jesus they were Christians love Jesus and at one point though his little boy got sick and in middle tonight one night in the middle of the night his son his little boy just to hide taken away one night he thinks that that would be there'll be that'd be enough for someone to just be broken but that's not then what happened was 1871 there was a great fire in Chicago animation Stafford lost everything his whole business was destroyed he had no money left he think at that point he'd say like listen I I'm out I don't know what to do now I'm out but he didn't he was like no I belong to Jesus to recover he said ok I'm going to send Keith they're going to his dad was going to move to Europe they said we need a new start we're going to leave America leave Chicago or going to Europe have a fresh start you know over and over Europe we're going to we're going to start new of a new life out there and so he had some business to happen to wrap up in Chicago so he sent his wife and his four remaining girls on an ocean liner across the Atlantic but in 1873 in the middle of the North Atlantic that boat hit another boat and it sank the next morning in the middle of North Atlantic all they found was his wife holding on to this life raft the only one who survived from his family she gets to Europe she Telegraph's them she says these words saved alone what shall I do now you can imagine this guy he's little boys dead he's lost everything and that was for little girls his four girls been taken away from him she tells his life stay there I'm coming to you and he gets on his ship and it begins sailing across the Atlantic the captain knew Horatio story and so in the middle of the night they were crossing over the exact spot where his four girls were killed and the captain sent word to ratios come up to the come to the cockpit come up here this is the spot maybe she actually stalled the ship because I know you lost your four girls you think in that place in that moment in that night hurry she would say I don't know I don't know that I can trust God I don't know that I can praise him I don't know that I can give it my heart lost everything when he goes back down to his cabin and he sits down and he writes this song that when the waves come against me when ocean threatens to overwhelm me and when everything is attacked me stripped me of everything I love my heart says it's well my heart says it as well that when I don't know what to do it's all gone what I will say and I won't take my heart back I will give praise I won't take my heart back I will give worship and I let's say it is well it is it is well with my soul you guys I don't know where you are like I don't know if you're in the middle of that that moment where God is taking stuff or where someone else is taking stuff and you don't know what to do but I do know what you need to do we need to praise that's the answer I don't know what to do you need to praise we're going to pray right now okay wherever you're sitting to stay sitting and we're going to praise God and amidst the trouble when a praise God in the midst of a storm we're going to praise God when I do not know what's going on say it as well it as well [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: Steubenville Youth Conferences

Views: 57,471

Keywords: Catholic, Charismatic, Youth Conference, Youth, Conference, Evangelization, Steubenville Conferences, Steubenville, Fr, Mike, Schmitz, Homily, Main Campus

Id: 8RpVXeKXTK0

Length: 23min 18sec (1398 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 14 2017