← Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz
Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz
07/19/26 We Do Not Know How
00:21:15
Homily from the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Faith grows through trial and prayer. We all want a greater faith...and we all want a purified love. But how does our faith grow and how does our love get purified? Through trial and prayer. But we do not know how to pray as we ought. Prayer is more a posture than it is a procedure. And the posture is trust.
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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 and with your spirit. A Reading from the Holy Gospel According to Matthew Glory to you, o Lord. Chapter 13, verses 24 through 43 Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying, the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep, his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from? He answered, an enemy has done this. His slave said to him, do you want us to go and pull them up? He replied, no, if you pull up the weeds, you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest. Then at the harvest time I will say to the harvesters, first collect the weeds and tie them into bundles for burning, but gather the wheat into my barn. He proposed another parable to the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches. He spoke to them another parable the kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened. All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables. He spoke to them only in parables to fulfill what had been said through the I will open my mouth in parables. I will announce what has laid hidden from the foundation of the world. Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, explain to us the parables of the weeds in the field. He said in reply, he who sows good seed is the Son of man, the field is the world, and the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the Evil One, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age. And the harvesters are angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. He will throw them into the fiery furnace where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear the gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. I invite you to have a seat. So one of the things that keeps coming back whenever someone's. I think when someone takes the Lord seriously, when someone takes their faith seriously, I think one of the big desires is, I want to have more. Like, I just want to. It's the same prayer that when the apostles went to Jesus, they said, lord, increase our faith. It's that same thing. I think a lot of us, we would say, okay, when I come to the Lord, here we are in the middle of summer. Just like that sense of, like, I just want. I want to be better, right? I want to have more faith. I want to. I want to love God better. I don't know how many times I could. I could go back and think like, that is what I want. I just. God, help me to love you more or even just this, help me to have more faith. Because I think this. I think that maybe we all think this. We think that if I had more faith, then things would be easier. Another way to say it is, I think I will. And so the answer I think I would go to is I would have more faith if I had the answers. Like, if I. If I had more answers, I'd have more faith. If I had. If I had more information, I'd have more faith. Another way to say it, I think sometimes if I had more assurance, then I would have more faith. Like, just that sense, if I had a feeling of confidence that my faith would grow. And maybe that's true. But I think sometimes we also think that if I had more faith, then prayer would be easy, or if I had more faith, then I'd be able to pray. And again, maybe. Maybe that's the case. But I would say this. I would say there are two things that are required for faith to grow. There's two things that are required for love to be purified. Well, the first thing. Well, the third thing is grace. We need grace. God is the one who does it. Like, we can do all the things we do. None of it matters without God's grace. So that is the unseen, maybe in this case, kind of unspoken factor moving, which is God's grace is always at work. Like we can do all the work we want, but. But unless God causes the growth, it's not going to grow. So God's grace is there, but beyond God's grace. The two things that we all need for faith to grow are trial and prayer. What we need for faith to grow is difficulty and prayer. So the second reading today, It's Romans, chapter eight. And St. Paul says this. He says, the Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought. And this is. Again, here's what St. Paul is highlighting. The Spirit comes to aid of our weakness. So this trial, this, this tribulation, this difficulty. The Spirit comes to us not in our strength. Spirit comes to us in our weakness. So we need trial because we don't know how to pray as we ought, because we also need prayer. Again, this is one of those situations. Let's come back to this. If I want faith to grow, what am I, what. What am I going to need? Well, trust me, but you don't have to go looking for trials to keep that in mind. The trials will find you. Tribulation will find you. Suffering will find all of us. What that means then is my response. My response to trial. That's where faith grows. If my response to difficulty, to weakness, my response to trial is prayer. That's where faith grows. That when I realize, okay, I'm not in control and this is so important for all of us, right? I think a lot of times I have that assurance, that feeling of confidence in my faith or feeling confidence in God, when I'm more confident in myself, like I know I have the ability to. I'll figure this out. I think sometimes when we've. We realize I can no longer have confidence in myself. Because why? Because we've all had that experience where things are just kind of quote, unquote, too big for me. When the trial that's happening is more than I can handle if I respond to that with prayer. That's where faith grows and that's where love is purified. The catechism says it like this. Catechism says it says filial faith like, so that trust in God the Father, as Isaiah's kids fill. Filial trust is tested. It proves itself in tribulation. Filial trust is tested. Filial trust proves itself in tribulation, which is one of the reasons why the Catechism points out that it's actually the response of prayer, like petitionary prayer, when I'm praying for myself or I'm praying for someone else. And I don't see the result when I have to live in that space, that gap between the request and the response, right that time between when I'm praying for God and I haven't gotten a response that time, that trial, that tribulation, that's where faith can grow. Because why? Because Catechism points out some people even stop praying when they think their prayer isn't heard. And so we realize is. We realize that the tribulation, the trial that comes to us can be large. It can be something dramatic, can be something powerful. It also can be just kind of the ordinary difficulty of finding time to pray. Let's focus on this for a second. The ordinary difficulty of finding time to pray. There's a priest, Father Michael Scanlan. Father Michael Scanlan. Scanlon was. He's a. He was a Franciscan priest who was assigned to be the president of Franciscan University of Steubenville back. Way back in the day. And he's the one who took Steubenville from what it was to what it is like, just. Just. He followed the Holy Spirit and led this place. An incredible human being, Father Michael Scanlon. At one point, he wrote a book on prayer. And one of the many brilliant things he talked about in that book on prayer was he said, every prayer is an exercise of faith. Like every time, every time we show up in prayer, in prayer, it's an exercise of faith. Because why? Because when we pray, we put down everything else we possibly could be doing in that moment, we put it down. Anything that could be entertaining, put it down. Anything that could be inspiring, put it down. Anything that could be productive, we put it down. And we just spend time in God's presence and we just speak to him. We just listen to his voice and it is come. And if God is not listening, if God is not there, it is a complete waste of time. That's one of the reasons why every time we carve out any time for prayer, it's an exercise of faith. What I'm saying is, God here, I'm putting my money where my mouth is. I'm putting my time where I believe my faith is. And I'm saying, God, if you're not there, this is a waste of time. But I'm here. Why? Because I know you are there. I trust that you are listening to me. I trust that you are good. And that's one of the things, it's beyond this. And not just giving God time, we're also. Every time we pray, it's an expression of this trust that God is there, that God is listening, that God cares. Every time we pray, of course, we've all experienced dryness in prayer. We've all experienced distraction in prayer. Always had those times of prayer, but it feels completely empty. It feels like nothing is happening. But to stay there again, this is the ordinary trial, this is ordinary tribulation. To stay there when it seems like nothing is happening, to remain in that place with God, that strengthens that, that grows, that builds our faith. Remember that trust is tested in those moments. The catechism, it's proven in tribulation. Please. Because we've all experienced this. We've all experienced that time of prayer where I just don't want to be there. To not run away, to be in that moment, to not run away, to not escape the silence, but to simply, gently and patiently remain with the Lord. That is an exercise of faith. Of course, every time we talk about prayer, the question comes up like, well, how do you do this? And, you know, how do you pray? I'm going to remain with the Lord. If I'm going to exercise this faith, I want my. My faith to grow. How do I do it? And the church has a lot of procedures. I mean, there's a. There's so many different ways of praying that are really, actually genuinely helpful. You have the rosary. That's a great way of praying, the chaplet. Sometimes you have these acronyms, right? Acts. ACTS is a great way to pray. Going to prayer. What do I do? Well, I do acts. I have adoration, then contrition, then repentance, and then supplication, right? Where I ask God for stuff. So that's a great procedure for prayer. Or even there's an acronym, pray, P R A, Y, where it's praise, repent, ask, and then yield. Those are all great procedures. And if I get really good at those, or like lectio divina or agnation prayer, those are all great procedures. But prayer at its heart isn't a procedure. Prayer at its heart is a posture that if it begins with. We have to realize prayer doesn't ever begin with competence. Prayer begins with dependence. So prayer isn't a procedure, even though we have some good procedures. But prayer is a posture. What's the posture? The posture is trust. Posture is God, I trust that you're going to be the one who's leading me in my prayer. Romans 8, let's go back to what St. Paul said. He said, the Holy Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness because we don't know how to pray as we ought. Here's the question. The catechism asked this question, are we convinced of that? That truth? I don't know how to pray as I ought. So regularly I will have people ask me this great question and I'm so grateful. Every time someone texts me this question, they ask me this question, they'll come up and they'll say, hey, Father, how can I pray for you? And again, genuinely, really grateful for that question because it shows that someone really cares. But I have to tell you, nine times out of ten, my answer is, I don't know. Honestly, someone says, how can I pray for you? I mean, let's go back to the gospels, not the gospel for today, but do you remember the gospel where there's the blind man who calls out to Jesus, his Bartimaeus, right, son of Timaeus. At one point he's calling, son of David, have pity on me. And Jesus calls him, and Jesus asks the man, what do you want me to do for you? That's kind of like the question, how can I pray for you? Now Bartimaeus has a great answer. Bartimaeus knows. I think there's something really, really good. I think if Jesus ever asked us, what do you want me to do for you to have an answer is good. Or if you're someone to say, hey, how can I pray for you? To have an answer is really good because it reveals something, to be able to. I think this, if you can give an answer, that means you have the insight, you have the confidence, you know the desires of your heart. If you can give an answer, you know what's going on inside. That's really good, that's wise. And if you can give an answer, you also know that you can trust God by being vulnerable. I don't know if you've ever experienced this. Sometimes people experience this hesitation to actually be vulnerable with their heart, what they really want with Jesus. Like they're hesitate to approach the Father with like this thing, okay, here's what's really on my heart. So I'm going to talk about something else. I'm going to ask for something else because the thing on my heart, I know it's silly, I know it's small. So I'm not even gonna bother God with that. No, the people who have great, great trust know that I can trust God with a silly prayer. I can trust God, I can bother God with The small things. If you have that, that faith, that trust, that, that awareness, you can bother God with the small things. That's phenomenal. That is so good. So when Jesus asks Bartimaeus, what can I do for you? Bartimaeus has an answer. Bartimaeus doesn't shy away from it. He doesn't hide his. His answer. He knows what he wants. He says, lord, I want to see. That is a good answer. And if someone ever asks you, how can I pray for you? And you know, it's wonderful to be able to tell them that if you come into prayer and you know, God, here's the thing on my heart, it's great to have that insight in yourself and that trust in God to be able to tell him this. But here's what I know about myself. I also know, I don't know. Like, when someone asks me this question, when they say, how can I pray for you? I'm like, I don't know what's good for me. Like, this is the state of my life right now, where I'm like, God, I don't. I don't know. I have some projects I'd like to get done and some other things I'd like to have resolved, but I don't know what's good for me. I don't know what I need. And there's so many days where I realize I don't know how to pray. You know, St. James even writes this. He says, you ask, but you don't receive because you ask wrongly. Like when you go prayer, he says you ask, but you don't receive because you asked wrongly. Now, he's not saying you didn't do the right procedure. He's not saying that. He says you ask wrongly to spend on your passions. What St. James is talking about there is. He's saying you're praying against God's will. You ask wrongly. You're not letting God be the center of your life. You're not letting him lead the prayer. You're trying to lead the prayer, and you have a divided heart. And so that's why I say, like, when it comes to this, this time of someone asks, how can I pray for you? I'm not sure, because God, I don't know how to pray in that space. That space, when we don't know is where God can do something incredible again, that. That space between the request and God's response, that can increase our faith and can purify our love. Because often I hear I have this. I find this. I often find that I want Something other than what God wants, or I want something less than what God wants for me. In fact, maybe you have this experience too where I realize I can want this thing so badly that I actually want it more than I want him. And that thing isn't even necessarily a result. The thing even isn't necessarily like, God, give me this thing. I want the Loompa Loompa. Now, Dati, it's not that situation where I just want a thing. I want a result. Sometimes I just want an answer. Sometimes that's all I want. I mean, how many times in my life I've shared this before? Years of my life, every one of my prayers was God, just give me the answer. What do you want me to do with my life? What's my vocation? And I am not going to be settled until you me an answer. Why? Because I just want to know as why do you want to know? I want to know so I don't have to worry, which is ridiculous. God, I want this resolved. Why? So I don't have to worry anymore. God, I want to know why? So I don't have to worry anymore. You know that not worrying right now is an option that's actually on the table. I don't have to know. And I can still stop. And I can stop worrying. But the reality, of course, is that prayer reveals the conditions of my heart. What I mean by that? I said conditions of my heart. Prayer reveals the conditions of my heart. What are my conditions, God, I'll do this if you do that, God, I'll be able to stop worrying if you answer me, God, I'll be at peace if you do what I ask you for, God, I'll trust you if you give me what I want. Prayer often reveals the conditions in our heart. And that's one of the reasons why the catechism says that. That trust is tested in tribulation. That the process, the process of between. That thing that happens between when we ask God in his response, between our request and his response, that process with that posture that is prayer. The process of waiting with the posture of trust. That's prayer. And to be okay with weakness, to be okay with dependence. Why? Because the Spirit does not abandon us in our weakness. The Spirit comes to our aid in our weakness. And this is the last thing. But we still don't know how to pray. Well, again, we still don't know how to pray as we ought. So what do we do? There's a prayer. I've been so moved by our students. They've been trained really well by our focus missionaries, and really discipled really well by people who pray really, really well. Where, if I'm ever meeting with them and say, hey, could you lead us with a prayer? Almost invariably every one of them will stop before they say anything else. They'll just say these words, come, Holy Spirit, teach me how to pray. And then they'll move into prayer. And I think, this is. This is what I want us all to do, like this week. And so, like starting today, every time we pray, I'm convinced I do not know how to pray as I ought. I don't even know what I want. I don't know what God wants from me. I don't know how to talk to God. I don't know how to listen to God. I'm convinced of this. So my invitation is, every one of us, as we enter into prayer, whether that's the mass or the rosary or the chaplet or acts or prayer, whatever, the thing is to be able to stop and just say, come, Holy Spirit, teach me to pray. Come, Holy Spirit, teach me how to pray. I was talking to a student the other day and they said, well, what do you do after that, though? Like, after you ask the Holy Spirit to help you out to pray, what do you do? Well, then you just pray. Then you actually trust that God is going to answer this prayer and God is going to teach you to pray. Not because we're strong, but because we're weak. Not because we're competent, but because we're dependent. The two things we need for faith to grow and for love to be purified are trials in prayer. The trials will always come. The question is, in the face of those trials, will we pray and will we trust? Come, Holy Spirit, teach us how to pray.