← Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz
Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz
07/12/26 No Bad Days
00:16:29
Homily from the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. It is possible to live the rest of your life with no more bad days. Life can be so overwhelmingly difficult and challenging. But challenge and suffering can and do change us; they can break us down or they can change us. Not only that, but every challenge can be united to Christ and can change lives.
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Welcome to Sunday Homilies with me, Fr. Mike Schmitz. I hope today's homily inspires and motivates you, and I also hope that it leaves you hungry for the One who gave everything to feed you. If you want to get this and other Sunday Mass resources sent straight to your inbox, sign up@ascensionpress.com Sunday or by texting Sunday to 33777. You can also follow or subscribe in your podcast app for weekly notifications. God Bless the Lord be with you. A reading from the Holy Gospel According to Matthew Glory to you, oh Lord. Chapter 13, verses 1 through 23 on that day Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore, and he spoke to them at length in parables, saying, a sower went out to sow, and as he sowed some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some seed fell on rocky ground where it had little soil. It sprang up at once, because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose, it was scorched and withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit a hundred or sixty or thirty fold. Whoever has ears ought to hear. The disciples approached and said, why do you speak to them in parables? Jesus said to them in reply, because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven have been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted to anyone who has more will be given, and he will grow rich from anyone who has not even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because they look but do not see, and hear, but do not listen or understand. Isaiah's prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says, you shall indeed hear, but not understand. You shall indeed look, but never see. Gross is the heart of this people. They will hardly hear with their ears. They have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and be converted and I heal them. But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. Amen, I say to you. Many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it. Hear then the parable of the sower. The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it. And the evil comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the Word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the Word, he immediately falls away. The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the Word. But then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the Word, and it bears no fruit. But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the Word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirty fold the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. Why don't you have a seat? So here's a question. What is your perfect day? Like? Just. Just. Yeah. I was asked this question not too long ago, but someone said, what? What's your perfect day? And I was like, what kind of day? Perfect day off? Perfect day of work? Like, what's your perfect day? I think it's a really good question, what is your perfect day? Because here's why it's a good question. I think it's a good question. Because if I don't know my perfect day, then I don't know what a bad day is. If I don't know what I'm shooting for, if I don't know what a good day is, how can I know what a bad day is? So what's a good day? Like, just a question for every one of us to ask. What would have to happen for a day to be a good day? Someone says, have a good day. Great. What does that mean? What would it be to have no bad days? That's kind of the question. What's your perfect day? What's a good day? But what would it be to have no bad days? I think that's something we could all shoot for. Like, that idea of, like, okay, here's my goal. Here's my goal for the rest, from this day until the rest of my life, to have no bad days. So the question would be, what? What does that look like? If that's the goal, I think. I think here's. Maybe I could be wrong on this, but I think sometimes we imagine that once we come to Jesus and we. We give him what we need to give him, like, we give him our whole heart, that it just keeps getting better and better. I think some. And sometimes that image comes to us from saints. Like, we tell stories about saints like Saint Therese of the Sioux or Saint Augustine, and. And they have this big battle in their life. And it. The way we tell their story is once they got past this big battle, they just started getting better and better. Like every day was a good day. They had no bad days whatsoever. Once Augustine got past this whole, like, you know, chastity issue, once Rez got past her scrupulosity and her being overly sensitive, after that, it was just like, the sky's the limit. Nothing got in their way. And if you read the actual stories of the actual Saints, you realize that is nowhere near what happened in their lives. We've just highlighted one particular struggle, one particular battle, and one particular victory. But every day for the Saints, for every one of us, every day is actually a battle. And that's one of the reasons why I'm so grateful for the gospel today. I'm so grateful for the gospel because Jesus makes it very clear, this parable in Matthew chapter 13, that here's the sow, the seed that's sown, and immediately what happens, immediately the seed is challenged. This is the great news for us. Here's the sower, right? Who's the Lord himself, who sows his grace on the world immediately as that seed is sown and it is challenged. Number one, the enemy comes along, steals it. Number two, you have this rocky ground. There's a persecution that happens, there's tribulation that happens, and it just withers it. Number three, there's thorns that choke it. Worldly anxiety, lure of riches. Basically, Jesus is letting us know, like, okay, you have to get ready for this. You have to get ready for this. It's Sirach 2, 1, which is one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible, my son. When you come to serve the Lord God, prepare yourself for trial. When you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trial. And we think, sometimes we think that the fact that there's trial ruins things. And I guess, yes, in the parable. Let's keep this in mind, in the parable, the trial definitely ruins some stuff. I mean, when you get choked out, you're kind of ruined. When things get dried up, when things get stolen or fallen away, those are bad things, because it's true. Life can be so overwhelmingly difficult. This is just the reality. Every one of us knows. You come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trial. But sometimes life can be so difficult. I was listening to a podcast by a man named Chris Williamson, and he was talking about the very first time he ever went to a Jordan Peterson conference or event where Jordan Peterson will. He'll give a talk, and then he'll take questions from the audience. And someone stood up, or they sent their question in, and someone in the audience asked this question. They said this. They said, the depth of my conscience causes me to suffer. This person feels things, so the depth of my conscience causes me to suffer. And he asked the question, is it a blessing or a curse to feel everything so very deeply? And Chris Williamson in the audience there, he was like, wow, that's. That's even just. That's just one sliver of someone hurting. What is this guy on stage gonna say? And Dr. Peterson stopped and he thought about it, and he looked out at the audience and he said, the only way out is through. Then we find ourselves in place of suffering, Right? The only way out is through. He said, if you take more of the thing that poisons you and turn it into a tonic, you can turn it into a tonic that girdles the world around you. When you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trials. And oftentimes the only way out of them is through. There's so much pain in the world that the only way out is through. That's one of the reasons we say, through what? Well, through Jesus. Remember what Jesus said. He said, in this world, you will have trouble. In this world, there are the obstacles. In this world, there are the struggles. In this world, there are the battles. In this world, you will have trouble. But he went on to say, but take heart, I've overcome the world. But there's. There's pain. It's real. But so is he. That's one of the reasons why. First, Peter. Peter is writing in chapter four, he says this. He says, do not be surprised at your trial by fire. He's basically, here's Peter writing to early Christians saying, who are being persecuted. They are suffering so much. He said, but don't be surprised. Don't be surprised at the fiery trial that's occurring among you as if something strange is happening to you. Don't be surprised. As if this is unusual, as if this is strange, as if something strange is happening to you. Yes. It has the capacity to injure you. Right. It has the capacity to steal, to fall away, to choke you out. It also has the capacity to do something more. And this trial can injure you, but this trial can also do something powerful. One Peter, chapter one. He says this. He says, sometimes you're going through this trial. Why? So that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable by fire, may prove for the praise and glory and honor of the revelation of Jesus Christ. Having a bad day. No, actually. Actually, this is something more than a. Something other than a bad day. No, I want good days. I don't want rainy days. And it might sound cliche to say this, but look at the first reading. Isaiah. Isaiah says, just as the snow and rain come down and do not return there until they've watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, we realize that here as human beings, we need bad days. As human beings, we need rainy days. Without rainy days, there are no crops. Without rainy days, there is nothing that is made fertile. There is nothing that is made fruitful. The trials are necessary. And the trials are so necessary for us. There's a comedian. His name is Jimmy Carr. At one point, Jimmy Carr said this. He said, you cannot have an easy life and a good character. You cannot have an easy life and a great character. Trials are necessary. He said, show me a trust fund kid that inherited a bunch of money, and I will show you someone who is mentally tortured. Now, we might say, I'd rather be mentally tortured if I had all that money. But no, you cannot have an easy life and good character. The trials are doing something. Peter says, don't. Don't be surprised as if something unusual is happening to you. But you have to know this. We have to be able to know that this trial. This trial is doing something to me. It's doing something to me that I need. It's doing something to me that it's making me into someone or something that I could not be, something I could not do without this. That's our perspective. Right? That's the second reading today. Romans, chapter 8, where St. Paul says this again, he says, I consider the sufferings of this precious present age as nothing compared to the glory to be revealed in us. Something happens. Like good. In fact, that perspective, that attitude comes from a man named Jocko Willink. Jocko Willink was a former Navy seal. Now he does podcasts, and he also runs a couple companies. At one point, he was talking about this. He talked about a man who worked for him when he was still with SEAL teams. The man would pull him over, call him up, and have a major problem. And Jocko would always respond with, good. And then one day, this guy came to him and he said he was complaining about something significant in his life, something really going wrong. And he said, you know, before you say anything, I know what you're going to say. And Jocko looked at him and says, well, what am I going to say? He said, you're going to tell me Good. When something's wrong, he said, that's always your answer. When something's going badly, you always look at me and you always say, good. And Jaco said, that's right. Because when things are going bad, there's always going to be some good. And he uses an example. He says, you didn't get the new high speed gear that we wanted. Good. You didn't get promoted. Good. More time to get better. You got unexpected problems. Good. Now you have an opportunity to figure out a solution. That attitude of being able to say, whatever happens, okay, Lord, good. Not because you're tough. I'm not tough. Not because we're seals, but because we trust. This is the key. We're not able to look at any kind of day, good day or bad day, and say good because we're tough. We're able to look at any kind of day, good day or a bad day, and say good because we trust. In fact, I came across what might be my new favorite scripture. I mentioned Syracuse chapter two, verse one. My son, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trials. But first Peter, chapter 2, verse 19, it sums it up. He says this. He says, when a person can suffer injustice and endure hardships through an awareness of God's presence, this is the work of God's grace in him. Once again, when a person can suffer injustice and endure hardships through an awareness of God's presence, this is the work of God's grace in him. Reminds me of something I came across recently. Father Dan Rehill. Father Dan is a priest and he noted about what it is to have a good day, what is to have a bad day. He said this. He said, you ever have a day when you wake up and you're rested and the coffee's waiting for you and your children say, good morning, Mommy, Good morning, Daddy, and we love you so much. And you go to work and all things, you hit all the green lights and your boss is waiting for you and he's got a promotion for you and a big raise. He says, those are the days that we enjoy God's grace. He said, that's a good day. He says, but there are also days when you wake up tired and you stub your toe on the bed and there's no hot water in your shower and the coffee's bitter and you're going to get fired when you get to work and the kids are screaming at you and they hate your food and everything about you. And he says, those are the days that we endure with God's grace. Then he pointed out something critical. And this is the last thing he pointed out, the fact that he said this. Those days have more power to save souls than the days that we enjoy. What does that mean for you? He says that means there are no more good days or bad days. There are only days of grace. This is the truth for us as followers of Jesus. The truth is that those who can suffer injustice and endure hardships with an awareness of God's presence, that is the work of God's grace in us. And we can look at whatever is happening and say, lord, good. Use it. We can look at the calamities that befall us, whether they're small or if they're massive, and say, okay, God, good use. Use it. That we thank God. We praise him for his grace when there's. When the sunny skies are there and when we get all the good things we've been praying for. God, thank you. Good. Thank you. But also when there are storm clouds and when there is devastation and when there is pain and when we've lost, when we've failed, when we're disgraced, when we're embarrassed, we can say, okay, God, good. Use this with that kind of trust. Every day is a good day, with that kind of perspective. From this day until the day that you and I step into heaven, there are no more bad days.