← Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz
Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz
08/03/25 Memento Mori
00:21:34
Homily from the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Remember you will die. Remember you have died. We are called to live a new life. But we cannot live a new life until we have allowed our old life to die. We need to remember that we will die in the future. Christians also have the chance to remember that we already have died.
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Fr. Mike Schmitz
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 Luke Glory to you, Lord. Chapter 12, verses 13 through 21 Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me. He replied to him, friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator. Then he said to the crowd, take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one's life does not consist of possessions. Then he told them a parable. There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. He asked himself, what shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest? And he said, this is what I shall. I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones there. I shall store all my grain and other goods. And I shall say to myself, now, now, as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years. Rest, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, you fool, this night your life will be demanded of you and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong? Thus will it be for those all those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God. The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. I'd like you to have a seat. So years ago I came across, I would think, maybe the most intimidating prayer that I've ever prayed in my life. And I had come back to it again and again at the same time. It was very interesting. I came across this prayer, I think maybe when I was in high school. At the same time, when I was in high school, I was thinking I was 15, 16 years old, and I would go to the local parish, St. Francis, BCC parish, and on Saturday mornings I would pray. I made a kind of commitment was in high school. I'd make one holy hour a week. So I'd kind of park myself in front of the tabernacle on a Saturday morning and pray. But off to the side of the tabernacle, like not facing it, but literally to the side, was one of my favorite paintings I'd ever Come across painting was of St. Francis of Assisi. And it was this cool, like the light was cool. And he had his cowl up, you know, the hood was up. And in his hands he was holding a skull, human skull. And he just was looking. You couldn't even really see his face. He was just looking at the skull. You could tell he was looking at the skull. And I remember because Saturday mornings was also when they cleaned the church and so there'd be people all around, you know, cleaning up. And I remember one morning in particular, there are these two or three women talking with each other and one of them said, oh, Father, put that up here. I think I really like it. And I really liked it. And this other woman's like, ah, why would he, why would he do that? Why would he have this painting of St. Francis of Assisi, like looking at a human skull? She thought it was so unnerving and so unsettling, so out of place. But the first woman and I, we just. There's something about that image, that picture, that painting that resonated with me and I just. I loved it because it connected something even with me at 15 or 16 years old was something about this. There's a Latin phrase, right? The Latin phrase is memento mori. Remember your death. And what I just implicitly knew was that that is a good thing to do. Like St. Francis of Assisi realizing, hey, my life is not going to go on forever. I need to remember my death. And that in so many ways I think has. I know it's dictated his life, dictated the course of his life, dictated the course of my life. This knowledge that every one of us needs to take into the depth of our hearts and realize that it could all be gone, like in the blink of an eye. Everything we hold, everything we hold dear, everything we. Even everything we're worried about, even everything we hate, it could all be gone. In fact, not just it all could be gone, it all will be gone. So memento mori. In fact, this is kind of interesting. Over the last little bit, I was visiting a family and when I'm with this family, sometimes they really like, kind of watch TV a bit early streaming services. And so when I'm visiting them, oftentimes it's the time where I will watch like a guilty pleasure type TV show. And so I think reality TV is all goodly pleasure. I don't think there's anything good necessarily in it. But I was watching one of these reality TV shows and actually the season I was watching with this family was from March of 2020. And as the season was progressing, they kept mentioning Covid or this coronavirus, all these kind of things. And I was thinking, wow, this is fascinating. I'm watching what I lived through five years ago, we all lived through five years ago, and they have no idea what's coming. And it was one of those fascinating things. Of course, reality tv, like, really thrives on drama and thrives on conflict and thrives on all these unresolved issues. And it was fascinating to watch as all these things were coming up, to be kind of standing outside and watching, knowing that as they're giving the date, oh, this is March 10, or this is March 11, March 12, knowing that in a day, all of the things they're fighting about will be over because their season will be over, because this conflict will be over, because what the coronavirus was going to do was going to render it all essentially meaningless. It's going to say that you are so stressed about all of these things. You're fighting about all these things, the tensions over all these things, and tomorrow you're going to get a phone call that says, hey, your season is over and it's all going to be gone. Now, I think that's just life, right? That's all of us. And I think when we know that memento mori, when we know that we can fall into one of two camps, one is, in a blink of an eye, it will all be gone. Therefore, none of it matters. Like all these tensions, all these stresses, all these things that people are going through on this reality TV show, You know what? It's not going to matter at all because it's all going to be done. One way to look at life is like the first reading that Coleth, right? The teacher says, vanity of vanities. Now, it's a bad translation for us because it does mean, like a mirror over your dresser. It doesn't mean having being vain. Vanity of vanities simply means meaninglessness of meaninglessnesses, that it's all vapor, it's all smoke. Everything we get worried about, everything we love, everything we want to hold on to, it's all just smoke. One of the ways of looking at life is that's it. None of it means anything. So it's all going to end. Therefore, rest, eat, drink, be merry, because you're going to die. That's not the actual Christian position. That's not actually the Catholic view of life. The Catholic view is the opposite. It's all going to end. Memento mori. Remember your death. It's all going to end. And it all matters, it's all going to end, therefore, memento mori. Remember, it's all going to end, therefore, how well you live. In fact, I would say this. The scriptures today keep pointing us back to this question of, okay, since it's all going to end, what will you value the most? Because we could fall into the Koheleth trap, the Ecclesiastes trap that says the vanity day, vanities, it's all smoke. So all that you're working for, it's all going to be gone. All your possessions, it's all going to be gone. Everyone you love, it's all going to be gone. Work hard, it's all going to be gone. It's all just smoke. Or. Or we could have this position that Jesus seems to offer in the gospel today. It's very, very brief. It's only a couple sentences. This guy comes up to Jesus and says, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me. Jesus doesn't help him. Because I wonder if one of the reasons Jesus doesn't help him is because he knows, okay, fine, I'll make your brother share the inheritance with you. And then what? Now you have money. Great. And then what? It all means nothing without God. Because I think the message of today's readings, the message of this weekend, is, yes, remember your death, memento mori, but also remember God. Remember your death, and remember God. If you're going to have a. If any of us are going to have a proper valuation of life, of what we care about, of what we live for, we have to remember our death. We have to also remember God. Now, I invite you to pause on this right now. Here we are, first weekend in August. What are you worried about right now? Like, what is keeping you up at night right now? What are the things that you're realizing that you're holding onto or working so hard for or stressed over, or you have to get this done and that done and all these things. What is breaking your heart right now? I think there's even a pause on this one. To realize if you are here right now and you have a broken heart for whatever reason, to know this, to know that your heart will not remain broken. Over the course of this last summer, I've been able to speak with a lot of people who. That devastating things happen in their lives, tragic things happening in their lives, some of the worst imaginable crises, and their hearts are truly broken. But to realize that your heart will not stay broken. You know, there's a study out of University of Chicago, Dr. Linda Waite. She did the Study on marriages, on unhappy marriages. And she researched, I think it was 600, almost 700 couples who would describe themselves as in unhappy marriages. She followed these couples, those who stayed together and those who divorced. She found this something fascinating. She found that those who stayed together five years later, 2/3 of them, the vast majority of them five years later reported that they were no longer stressed out, the same things they were stressed about, and actually said that they were. Now they would describe their marriages as happy marriages. These couples that, if you took a snapshot, a slice of their marriage in that point five years before this, would say, I'm in an unhappy marriage. I need to escape this thing. But those who stayed together five years later reported, no, I'm actually in a happy marriage. And those people who divorced, very, very few of them reported any increase in happiness. What was overwhelming them at the moment, what seemed like a crisis at the moment, what broke their heart at the moment, their hearts didn't stay broken. And I think the word is neither will yours. Why memento mori, we have to remember, it will all be gone, but also remember God, there's more. This is. Be able to remember this today. You will die. It will all be gone. And remember God, there is more. There's more to life than just this life. So memento mori, you know, memento mori has been picked up by a lot of, like, Stoics. Marcus Aurelius is a Stoic philosopher. You know, he's also the emperor back in the day. And Ryan Holiday has great books on resources on Stoic philosophy and the Stoic virtues. And so memento mori is one of those Stoic virtues, to remember that you're going to die. You have a proper valuation of life. That's good. We can embrace that as Christians. But there's something remarkable. I would say this memento mori is not just about the future. Remember the fact that you're going to die. For Christians, it's not just about the future. It's also about the past. What I mean by that is we Christians would say momento mori. Just like Marcus Aurelius, remember, you're going to die future. But we also would say memento mori because we have died. That's what St. Paul says to the Colossians. Today we actually get to apply this, remember, both to the future and to the past. St. Paul says, Remember you have died. And as Christians, we die twice, right? We die in the moment of our baptism. Because baptism, of course, is where we have our sins washed away. Baptism is where we're brought into the family. Of God. Baptism is where we were made a member of the church. But also we. Baptism is where we get new life. And we cannot have new life unless the old person dies, right? Unless. Unless we. We can't have resurrection unless we enter into the tomb. Baptism killed us in order to give us life. So St. Paul says, remember, you have died already. And I think that one of the. One of the problems is this. The reality is St. Paul is saying, you have surrendered any claim you might have had on your own life. That's. That's what he means by you have died. That when you were baptized, you have surrendered any claim you might have had on your life. It is no longer yours. You have died. So, memento mori. Now, I mentioned die twice. We died. Moment of baptism. But then there's an ongoing process, as St. Paul says, is putting to death that which is in us, that has fallen. I just again, I fall into this trap, and I think, this is so important. I keep forgetting that I've died. What I mean by that is I keep living as if this life is mine. And I have this image outside of my head of someone looking at me laughing and saying, like, the angels and saints in heaven look at me laughing and saying, like, who is this knucklehead? He thinks he's still alive. Like, here's the dead body in the grave trying to crawl out of the grave. That's why St. Paul says, that's a little gruesome, but that's why St. Paul says, Put to death. Therefore, put to death the parts of you that are earthly. What I mean by that, I think what he means by that is put to death. Remember, you have died. Memento mori. Put to death the parts of you that keep saying mine. They keep looking at my life and saying, that's mine. Why? Because remember your death. Memento mori. You have died. So what are the parts of us that keep saying mine? Well, St. Paul, in this little section in Colossians, he names three. The parts of us that say mine are parts related to sex, stuff and speech. And so St. Paul says, Put out those things. Immorality and infidelity, etc. The stuff that related to sex, put that away. How do we do that? Well, you know, it's fascinating. Over the course of the summer, I get a chance to speak with a lot of high schoolers, a lot of young people. This is one of those wounds that a lot of young people have. A lot of people have. In fact, I would say about all these things, sex stuff and speech. We might not have all three of those. It might not be our vices, might not be the things we have to put to death, but at least one of them, probably two of them, would affect us. A lot of people are affected by this desire to use other people. And so how does that manifest itself in a person's life? One of the things I tell young people is two things to keep in mind. If this is something, this is part of the old man that keeps saying mine, or keeps saying, I want to use people for my own selfish pleasure. Two things to keep in mind. Number one is be patient with yourself. So if you have a problem when it comes to any sin, you have a problem with any kind of besetting virtue, of besetting vice or any kind of besetting sin, any kind of thing keeps coming back up, habitual, you know, wound. Be patient with yourself. But number two is be ruthless with your environment in the sense that if I keep an open door to any kind of sin, but particularly sexual sin, keep an open door to that, just have to shut the door and actually kind of purge my environment of any access to this. So, number one, be patient with yourself. But number two, be ruthless with your environment in the sense of, I need to get rid of this. In fact, I remember I mentioned this many times before, but there was a young woman, her name is Anastasia. At one point, Anastasia asked her father the question of, dad, what kind of man should I marry? And there's so many things a father could say, like, you look for a guy who is virtuous, a guy who. Who loves you more more, loves Jesus more and loves you, all these kind of things. But he just looked at her and he said, find a man who can fast. So when it comes to any of these besetting things, these things trying to crawl out of the grave, here's St. Paul saying, Put that man to death. How do we do that? Well, one, be patient with yourself. Two, be ruthless with your environment. But third, to be able to say, okay, I might not always be attacked by this particular sin against virtue, against chastity, but you can always learn to control your appetites. So find a man who can fast. Find a person. Be a person who can fast. So sex stuff and speech, so stuff, I think is fascinating. He says that greed, that is idolatry. St. Paul says the greed, that is idolatry, that takes stuff, which is fine, it's good. That makes it into the absolute ultimate thing. How do you put the old man to death? How do you put the old self to death when it Comes to stuff, I'd say this gives the part of us that wants to hoard what we have, wants to hold on to what we have, can only be killed by giving away what we have. And so people say, well, how about this? Embrace random acts of kindness. Those are great. Random acts of kindness are awesome. Leaving an extra tip, that's wonderful. Seeing a person on the side of the road and giving them some help, that's great. Random acts of kindness are important, but they're not enough. We need to have actually scheduled acts of kindness. We need to have. Where I look at all that I have, kind of like the man in the gospel, look at all that I have and say, okay, now where am I going to give? Where am I going to make a sacrificial gift of myself? If it's just random acts of kindness, I'll only do it when I feel like it. But if it's scheduled acts of giving, then I get to have the habit of being generous. And I would say this. If I don't, if I don't, if we don't develop the habit of being generous, which means I've assessed what I have and I've made the decision ahead of time, this is what I'm going to give to help other people on a regular basis. If we don't cultivate the habit of generosity, the habit of giving, the Holy Spirit will never be able to live in our lives. That's how important generosity is. So how do I put the old self to death in the area of stuff is cultivate the habit of giving. And the last thing St. Paul says, sex, stuff and speech. He says, stop lying to one another. In fact, that sounds a lot like. There's a Canadian psychologist who wrote a book about, like, here's some rules for life. One of those rules for life, he said he noticed this in himself. He noticed that he was often lying. He was often saying things that weren't true. So one of the rules he had was always tell the truth. And then he put kind of parenthetically, but at least don't lie. Because sometimes it might not be the exact moment to tell the full unvarnished truth. But he said, but at least, at least, the very least, don't lie. So that's what St. Paul says, stop lying to one another. Why do we lie? We lie for one of two reasons. Either because we want to get something that we want, that we don't deserve, right? I want this thing. I don't deserve it. So I'm going to tell whatever kind of Untruth. There is. So I can get this thing that I want, but I don't deserve, or I want to get out of something that I actually deserve. So I'm going to tell a lie saying, oh, no, I never did that when I actually did that either. I'm going to tell a lie because I want to get something I don't deserve. I'm going to tell a lie so I can get out of something that I do deserve. St. Paul says, Stop lying. Always tell the truth. If we do those three things, if we ate in these three areas of sex, stuff and speech, we're not only going to put the old self to death, we will have that new life in Christ. And this is the last thing which brings me back to the hardest prayer, the most intimidating prayer I've ever come across in my entire life. It's a prayer by a man named Saint Ignatius of Loyola, who's the founder of the Jesuits. And it's a prayer that I try to pray every day, but it actually is really intimidating. It's a really difficult prayer to pray, but it goes to the very heart of what St. Paul is telling us we have to do today. We have to remember our death. Not only the future death that's coming, but also remember our death, the fact that I no longer have any claim on my life. Here's the Take Lord, receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my entire will. All I have and call my own. You have given all to me, to you, Lord. I return it. Everything is yours. Do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace, and that is enough for me. Take, Lord, and receive everything I am. It's all yours. Give me only your love and your grace, and that is enough. Remember your death, the death that's coming. And remember your death. You have already died.