Fr. Mike Schmitz: Share | SEEK2019

I love you too good morning in a sec I'm gonna talk about Lucy but right now at first I thought I want to start by talking about Sarah um when I was in fourth grade first day of class this fourth grader named Sarah North Way walked into the room and I was instantly done I was over I was like wow I wanted to call my mom mom I met her this is it she's the one and so I mean it was one of those situations where every single day like when Sarah North they walk in the room like I'm there she is still with fourth grade fifth grade sixth grade Sarah went off to the public middle school and I stayed at the Catholic middle school the reason I wanted to go to the public middle school is because Sarah North Way was going to the public middle school the reason I joined band was because the Catholic kids could go to the public middle school to be in band and I thought you know you guys don't understand how cool I was in sixth grade let me paint you a picture I loved Indiana Jones he was like the epitome of cool for me and since I didn't yet have my archaeology degree and says it would be too dangerous to bring a bullwhip to class I did the next best thing I everywhere I went wore a fedora now picture the sixth grader who only wore tennis shoes jeans t-shirts and a fedora like I don't think you can comprehend the level of cool we're talking about right now walking from the Catholic middle school over to the public middle school and since I was only there to see Sarah North way I did what you did if you wanted to be in band but didn't want to learn how to play any instruments I play percussion and so there I am playing my percussion looking across over at the flute section because that's where sara is and at one point over halfway into the year all of a sudden this girl named Christian schlicht Kristen walks across the band as she walks up to me and she says I have a message from Sara what yeah it's a question I'm like what is it ma'am Sara wants to know if you love her well I mean you know I was used to like then like like and then we maybe talk about this whole you know love thing but I was like well no I mean you know I lied like her okay Kristen goes back to Sara comes back about two minutes later walks up and said no she wants to know if you love her well if my options are I love Sara Northway or she never talks to me again I'm like yeah I love her well she wants to know if you want to go out with her now this my parents had a rule that we couldn't date until we were 16 so I'm really sorry mom and dad if you're watching this but it's like yeah absolutely I you know my heart for Sara was so I mean man had been smitten with this girl for over two and a half years and here she wants to know if I love her of course I do you want to date with her date with her date her like of course I do and that whole week we dated and what our date consisted of was me in my tennis shoes in jeans and t-shirt and Fedora walking over to the public middle school playing percussion and looking over at Sarah from the corner of my eye I once did walk out of the auditorium with her no I walked out of the auditorium in her vicinity I didn't actually say anything to her but I was in love until next Monday when Kristen walked across the band from the food section and she says Sarah wants you to know that she hates you and I was like okay because the problem the issue was like no what you guys you don't understand what we had was real my love for Sarah North Way is undying but nothing changed like my behavior day I really did I had a thing man it's a thing for Sarah North Way but nothing changed we were dating nothing Jim we have a we have a relationship nothing changed and this is my fear is that my fear is that for all y'all for all y'all Jesus is gonna be your Sarah North Way or like you love him but nothing changes and occasionally you look across the little thing like there is but nothing changes what's gonna happen though if it happen is is when we leave and we go back to life um the temptation is gonna be to think like well maybe that wasn't real maybe like what I encountered Jesus maybe that love I have for maybe that wasn't real maybe what I experienced in confession maybe it wasn't real because I'll go back I'm going back home and like nothing seems to automatically change maybe my encounter with him in the Eucharist wasn't real because I go back home and nothing has changed the temptation the fear that I have is that you might start to doubt that it was real that he's real what you have with him is real because well I'm gonna go back home and nothing is gonna change and I'm gonna go back home and this is the big thing is I'm gonna go back and we're gonna set our campus on fire and you're gonna go back home and you won't and you might think maybe that wasn't real because nothing changed you know it's so funny um some of you heard of the miracle of Fatima Our Lady of Fatima you know on October 17th 1913 I think is the date there was this kid this thing called the miracle of the Sun right and so in Fatima Portugal there are these three Shepherd children Mary appeared to them a number of times and said okay October 17th 1913 bring people out to this place because I will reveal the father's glory the father will reveal his glory it's what happened were you know this was became big news and so literally tens of thousands of people came to this came to this field in the place able to take torrential downpour everyone their clothes were soaked to the bone that the field in which they were standing was like covered in water and mud and just all of a sudden the rain stopped in tens of thousands people both believers and atheist skeptics who had come out there to disprove this whole thing they looked up in the sky and they all reported that they saw the Sun they could look directly at the Sun and all of a sudden start to shimmer in a new way and started to vibrate in a new way all of a sudden he started to move around the sky in a way that they described is it was like the Sun was dancing throughout the sky and tens of thousands of people were witnesses to this thing and what's even more incredible to me is that as soon as it ended people looked you know looked away from the Sun because then it gets really bright and burns your eyes don't do that but they looked at each other looked at themselves and these clothes that had been soaked through had become in moments instantly dry this field that had standing water in it in moments was instantly dry these people did not merely witness a miracle the people experience the power of God I have a friend is name's Mikey and Mike has a devotion of Fatima and it was he said he was recently talking to a retired bishop up in northeastern United States and when the fish have heard that Mike had a devotion to Fatima he said Oh coming to mice my study in Isha hooked him over brought him over to his study and he pulled out one of these books he was a book on Fatima that was written like in 1930-something and he opened the book up to this dog-eared page where there was a black and white photograph and this bishop pointed to this young man a young woman and said this is my aunt and my uncle they were at Fatima they saw they experienced the miracle my uncle in this picture is 18 years old not and this picture is 17 years old they experienced the miracle and they let it change them he said in Here I am I'm now a priest and a bishop said back home four of my relatives are priests everyone in my family has been raised in the church and as in a vibrant faith because my aunt and my uncle they never let us forget what God had done they never let us forget what God had done they never let us forget what happened to them you know Saint Peter writing to his friends other Christians in 2nd Peter chapter 1 he writes this he says therefore I will always remind you of these things even though you already know them and are established in the truth you have I will always remind you of these things because I can guarantee you there were people who were at Fatima who experienced the power of God the real miracle of that they experienced this their clothes were wet then their dry their eyes were unburned by looking at the Sun they experienced the power of God and then they got on a bus and life happened then they got on a train like we know then Monday happened and they had to get back to work then they had to do this their normal relationships they had to you're out navigate they experience the power of God but nothing changed and they forgot they forgot therefore I will always remind you of these things even though you already know of them and are established in the truth you have and so I think it's right and this demean talking as well as st. Peter I think it right as long as I am able to stir you up by a reminder what you've experienced during this five these five days is real God is real he loves you with a real love and this joy you've experienced in these five days is real and the relationships we've experienced in these days is real and the voice of God you heard in these days is real why because you created room for him in these five days the problem is this there might not be room for you there might not be room for him in the life you've created back home there might not be room for him in the environment you've created back home you have all these plans we have all these plans we're gonna get on the bus we're gonna strategize talk to your missionaries and like okay how are we gonna bring the gospel to campus you can have an incredible strategy for sharing the gospel on your campus we're gonna light it on fire it's gonna be amazing and it won't happen why because what happened here was real but now I'm not willing to change my environment back home there's a man named Peter Drucker Peter Drucker's like the the guru of management guru of leadership the guru of a lot of guru thinked Peter Drucker said has this line he says you know companies businesses organizations they can have amazing strategies but here's what you need to know culture the culture of a company the culture of our organization culture eats strategy for breakfast and you might be here and be like super pumped up last night man Christa fanuc I'm like I was exhausted listening and watching like dude go because you're just taking all my ok I was so pumped up but we know this emotion excitement herbs and flows it wanes it waxes we know that willpower no listen father you don't understand like I'm gonna do this thing on campus willpower fades your environment will eat your willpower for breakfast and unless you and I are willing to change our environment nothing will change but we're willing to change our environment nothing will change why because the environment that a lot of us are coming from is not an environment in which joy can grow the schedule that you and I keep during the school year is not the kind of schedule that allows friendships to thrive if I go right back to the same schedule the same pace of life that I had before I got here the same pace of life I had last fall and I just lived that life will I end up being closer to Jesus or will I just well I soon will I soon forget I soon forget this aunt and uncle they never let us forget what happened to them because when they went back home things had to change st. Peter again therefore I will always remind you of these things even though you already know them your life will not change until your environment changes your life will not change until the pace of your life changes until you and I make some decisions it says okay how will I slow down enough to have time for Jesus how will I slow down enough to have time for other people because here's the reality it's like you can say something real happened to me at sink a miracle happened to me Jesus say in my life so what if someone comes up to you and says hey um I know you're Catholic and everything I've really I've really experienced this kind of call to you tell me about Jesus last semester look at your schedule would you have time to even tell your friend how about you would you have time to walk with someone who's like please someone walk with me or you'd be like oh that is awesome that's so great mmm I just I just you know I'm my schedules really full maybe we can meet in like three weeks for like half an hour maybe coffee or something like this or would you change your environment and actually design a schedule that has enough freedom for someone else to interrupt you you know you guys know this and I'm so sorry college is one of the most selfish times in a person's life potentially doesn't have to be you know that's that's optional College is potentially one of the most selfish times in a person's life and we think like you know that's normal I got to take care of me like I'm paying money to take care of me I'm so I'm just gonna take care of me too though about me cuz all about me and I mean as opposed to this is my opportunity I have more hate people hate me when I say this I'm so sorry ahead of time you have more free time now than you will ever have for the rest of your life until you retire I'm so busy whoa just wait but the environment that you creates because here's the thing is we either create our environment or we inherit an environment and if the environment you inherit is not one that has space for Jesus or even space for other people there won't be any space for growth and I will soon forget I will soon forget we don't have any room for a friendships how will I have friendships you know one of the biggest wounds of my early years on campus we had this event where we have Mass on Thursday nights and a meal afterwards and the pouce we have is really small and it's just packed with people it's awesome in this one young woman named Ashley she would come to every Mass and meal to come to every massive meal she would amass and and she'd go to the meal and and then at one point she would leave and she said she told me after a couple months of doing this she said every night every Thursday night I would leave the Newman house crying cuz that would show up people were nice to me people would talk to me and then they go off to their own friends that everyone here at Newman is really friendly but no one wants to be my friend you know the thing that will change the world the thing that will change the church a thing I'll transform our culture it's not people onstage it's friendships its families the gospel will not advance from a stage the gospel can only advance through friendships and through families and if I don't have any time for either then I don't have time for the gospel and I will soon forget what God has done in my life now you might not be able to control every part of your environment but here's the thing about me leaders of me thinking about human beings is you still have the ability to thrive in hostile environments you might not be able to control everything about your environment the environment you're going back to but the amazing thing about us as human beings especially us as Catholic Christians we actually thrive in any environment have you ever seen the documentary the human planet you've seen the human planet it's so cool just check it out it's like maybe seven or eight different ecosystems and how human beings can live in all these different ecosystems of the desert of the rainforest of there's one that is like the Arctic in the polar kind of area it's really hard it's a hostile environment and one point in this documentary they show this father and his son and they need to get some food and so they they load up all their sled dogs and they start pulling this little ice house and they travel for it days like two or three days and they finally get to this place and then they start like sawing through the ice over a metre thick pull out this huge block of ice using the dogs and everything and then they start fishing as they continue fishing finally they catch this massive whale shark it's a it's a fish that weighs over 2,000 pounds and then they it takes them forever to give it up and you know get it through the hole and then they get it on too short or onto the ice onto the snow and they start cutting it up they load it onto the back of the thing and they start pulling at home and I'm watching this thinking like oh my gosh they're set for the whole rest of the winter like now now they can relax because they have enough food for the entire rest of the winter and the narrator says with the fish they just caught two thousand pound whale shark they will have enough food to feed their dogs for the next two weeks because two in a hostile environment means I have to work for it you live in a hostile environment means I can't just go on autopilot to live in a hostile to thrive in a hostile environment means I have to make some decisions I gotta get up and I gotta move and I can't do it alone I've got to get up and I gotta move but I can't do it alone another one of the the ecosystems is was in like the Serengeti and there's these tribesmen who needed food and there if they found out that the best way it could get food is that they followed a pride of lions that was hunting and so the cameramen follow these these three men who are out in the plains and they're following this pride of lions and this pride of lions finally takes down a water buffalo the best way for these people to get food and bring it back to their village was to basically here's this massive group of lions who are ravenously hungry right they're just chomping away at this water buffalo and what these three men do is they stand shoulder to shoulder and they just start get up and they start walking toward the pride of lions that's eating the water buffalo they just killed and these are what and they found that as long as they stand together the lines look up and they see this they see this wall coming at them and they chase away a dozen or more lions and then the one guy goes down and starts cutting off like a leg well they were there to stand and keep watch pick up the leg sling it over their shoulder and walk away back to the village like here's the thing if one of those guys were to walk up to a pro you just walk up to the Lions and take their food that's what you do by yourself you would be dead what if we joined together as brothers as sisters as friends you can walk up to lions and they scatter Satan prowls around this world like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour resist him solid in your faith standing shoulder to shoulder with your brothers shoulder to shoulder with your sisters I can't do it alone friendship friendship is how the gospel is gonna be passed on friendship relationship changing my environment is as how I will not forget what God has done this has been real this Israel God is real am I willing to change my environment because one of the battles and we're all going to experience is whether there's room but that this room in your life for Jesus and for other people but the other battle may be the last battle I just want to talk about is the battle of indifference you know any differences in differences sneaky a difference is really subtle because indifference doesn't mean not caring this is really important indifference does not mean not caring indifference is not not being moved indifference is this a difference is when you went to junior high or high school or college and you walked into the cafeteria with your tray you didn't know anybody and you're kind of walking along I like kind of like this kind of look like I don't care if I sit down at all but I need a place to sit like someone please invite me to their table but I don't care I don't care I don't care and then someone says hey come sit here and you sit down you're like oh good I'm good I'm here guy thank you for inviting me and then you just you see someone else walking you're like well so looks would be that guy indifferent doesn't mean you don't care indifference doesn't mean you're not moved like you could still look at that person to say oh my gosh I remember what that felt like I'm gonna sit here and eat my food indifference isn't not caring indifference is not caring enough to act and I just I wanted I want to tell you what a difference really looks like on the way here on the way here I got on a plane that's my first apology that's all of you took buses and I'm sitting you know bunch of rows back in this girl and she got on the plane she got out of the way for this other little kid and as she got out of the way her knee dislocated and she fell into this chair three seats ahead of me she fell into this into the seat and I looked up like oh gosh what happened and I looked up and I was like oh that's a girl I wonder if she's coming to seek because we're on the plane to Indianapolis and then I saw you know some flight attendants come to her and I saw the don't went right in front of her like okay right here and okay well okay she looks like she's taken care of and then at one point she looked back she was in pain and we caught her eye over my little headrest in front of me and you guys I got to tell you I I was moved I was like oh my gosh aah what looks like it people have take a look that looks like she's being taken care of and then again she looked back okay I moved back down okay she's she's good I have not stopped thinking about her this whole week every person on the crutches I'm like is that her whole rest of the flight I was like man I hope she got escorted off the plane was like I hope I hope she's okay hope she's okay the whole time except I watched bird box as well but although other than that like I you know I've a friend named Ryan Ryan graduated from UMD he was a missionary for a while and Jesus is the center of Ryan's life Ryan cares about the Lord it's the center of his life his wife's life and Ryan has a great friend that he grew up with who's also raised Catholic but doesn't really do much when it comes to the faith and they play soccer together a couple times a week and a couple weeks ago Ryan realized he's that he doesn't ever talk to this friend about Jesus it never brings up God around this friend and it wasn't like he doesn't care about Jesus wasn't like he doesn't care about his friend he just didn't because of indifference it wasn't that he didn't care is that he didn't care enough to say something until a couple weeks ago he barred it up and he said hey to his friend he said hey have you ever noticed that I don't ever talk to you about God and his friend looked at him and said yeah I have noticed that no Ryan didn't talk with his friend about God because he didn't want to be rude that want to impose anything but his friend was like you know the sense I get is that when you don't talk to me about the most important thing in your life is that I'm not very important in your life that's indifference it's not not being moved what it is is not moving so last night if I look tired as because I couldn't sleep last night because that girl on the plane her name is Lucy Lucy emailed me she said father Mike I was on my way to seek on your flight so excited I saw you on my plane I was into the podcast listen to the videos and stuff and I was so excited and I just located my kneecap and all this stuff happened and some people who are so generous they came to help me out and I looked back you looked up but you didn't come up I was looking for my dad sorry about the seepage but you didn't move gotta tell you guys it wasn't that I wasn't moved it's that I didn't move it wasn't that I didn't care I didn't care enough to act that's gonna happen to every one of us even after you've been following Jesus for a long time even when people think you're better than you actually are so what do you do well you say you're sorry yes Jesus for help you get up and you try again you're gonna fail you're going back to a harsh environment your heart and my heart is broken you're going to fail what did you do when you fail you say you're sorry you asked Jesus for help you get up and you try again because you're all Lucy everyone here is Lucy she didn't make it here she's alive she's alive we lost their doctors did their best she didn't make it here but everyone here is Lucy I'm Lucy kind of person who doesn't invest in people who care but people who care enough to reach out seers I'm about you to do the last thing here before we take a break and have mass I want you to stand up please person next to is Lucy I'm gonna call anybody get into triangles get into groups of three right where you're standing descriptive three make sure no one's left out everyone's Lucy make sure no one's left out or it's okay to the here's what we're gonna do I need one person to take points one person to lead this prayer turn to someone in the in that group that little group of triangles and just be just pray in Jesus name because every one of us needs healing every one of us has a broken heart every one of us involved it experiences discouragement so I just invite you to pray over this person I here in Jesus name or father send your holy spirit of healing upon your child here you go I didn't say that out loud say something like that Lord Jesus your name may the father sent his holy spirit of healing upon his child who's here everyone of us experiences a brokenness every one of us experiences a need for more a need for strength that we don't have so in Jesus name father asked you to send upon your child here a spirit of strength go ahead and pray that out loud you don't don't be afraid indifference you means I care about I don't care enough to act to go ahead and speak father in Jesus name ask you to spend your spirit of courage you know so many of us experience discouragement we're afraid to go on home we're afraid of going back to the world fraid to go on back to our sins but father in Jesus name I ask you to send your holy spirit of courage upon your child here we're all gonna forget we're all gonna be tempted to forget so father in Jesus name I ask you to send your spirit of memory your spirit that remembers your spirit that remembers upon your child who's here they need to be reminded of your love they need to be reminded of your faithfulness they need to be reminded that this is real father in Jesus name send that spirit of remembrance turn to the next person another person take point and continue to pray just reach out to Lucy reach out to the person next to you we just longs to hear this worst word father in the name of your son Jesus Christ seal upon this child's heart when you have done in their life father in the name of your son Jesus seal upon their heart what you have done father give this person the spirit of memory a spirit of remembrance that they will never forget what you've done that they will never forget you're faithful as they will never forget your love they'll never forget that you honor them by giving your son to us father in the name of Jesus your son seal this truth upon their heart seal this truth upon their mind the next person just turn and pray so many of us are standing as 17,000 people we can feel so alone you ride a bus to write a play and write it write it write a van and just we're gonna feel so alone some of us are driving home alone and that spirit of loneliness the spirit of I've been abandoned and just Pig root in our hearts so please pray for Lucy pray for your friend father in Jesus name ask you to send the spirit of friendship it's in your spirit of anti loneliness than your spirit of communion the father and the name of your son Jesus let your child know that they are not and never will be forgotten even when we fail to love them send your spirit that always reminds them of your love for them Lord Jesus we praise You Father we thank you brothers and sisters continue to reach out to each other standing side by side facing the devil with Jesus Christ our Lord being willing to change our environment because you can live in a hostile environment if you're prepared for it with Jesus and His grace and when you comes to your friends never let them forget what God has done for them never let them forget what God has done for you never let them forget what God has done and mighty god bless you all the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit amen [Applause]

Channel: FOCUS Catholic

Views: 207,905

Rating: 4.9204121 out of 5

Keywords: fr mike schmitz, catholic talks, seek conference, catholic knowledge, fr mike, youth catholics, college, catholic conference, gospel

Id: 9CF7GpW8rNQ

Length: 34min 34sec (2074 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 15 2019