← The Fr. Mike Schmitz Catholic Podcast
The Fr. Mike Schmitz Catholic Podcast
“I’ve Been Thinking About This Everyday”
00:06:25
In our fast-paced world, it's easy to forget our dignity and worth. However, Fr. Mike Schmitz reminds us that every person is worth more than the entire universe. Yet at every Mass, we still pray, "Lord, I am not worthy." How can both be true? Fr. Mike unpacks this beautiful paradox of the Catholic faith. Our worth is immeasurable, but in the Eucharist, even the smallest fragment of the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, is the greatest reality on earth. When we say, "Lord, I am not worthy," we're not denying our dignity. We're humbly acknowledging God's infinite holiness and our need for His mercy.
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Ah. I normally maybe don't necessarily kind of divulge this kind of thing of, like, what's going on in my heart, but I think it's. It's significant enough and it hits me enough that I just. Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and this is Ascension presents. So here we. Here's where we start. Consider you. Have you realized that there is nothing in the universe more valuable than you? What I mean by that is nothing in the created world that is more valuable than you. That you. If you're listening, you're watching this right now, you are more valuable. You are worth more than the Rocky Mountains, the beauty of the ocean. You are worth more than the ocean. You, individual, as an individual, you have more dignity and you have more worth than the entire planet. In fact, you have more dignity. You have more worth than the entire solar system. You are worth more than the entire universe. This is your value. This is your dignity. This is your worth. This is your value. You are worth more than all of that. But something strikes me at every Mass as I, as the priest, ministerial priest, I'm holding the bread in my hands in that moment. I am worth more than this bread. I'm worth more than this wine. I'm worth more than the chalice it's in. But then when the priest utters, in this case, me, when the priest utters the words, this is my body, or the words, this is my blood, what I'm holding in my hands is worth more than my life. There's a moment in the Mass where the priest will fracture a small piece of the host and place it in the chalice, in the precious blood. I'm looking at this little host, every single Mass, I'm looking at this little host, thinking this small, this small, tiny particle of the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus is worth more than my whole life. This is the most precious thing I've ever come into contact with besides another human being. And it's so striking, it's so humbling, it's so incredible to be able to be in front of the Eucharist, in my case, as a priest, to be able to fracture off this small piece of the Eucharist, place it in the precious blood, and realize this small thing is worth more than my life. Because this is the triune God, right? This is the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ himself. The mystery of not just simply what the Eucharist is, but who the Eucharist is, is flabbergasting. It's mind boggling. It is so humbling. One moment it's just bread, just wine. I'm worth more than that. I have more. You have more dignity than that. But the moment that it becomes the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus, this is the most valuable, most worthy, because it's not just a thing, right? It's a who. Now, I was sharing that with some teenagers relatively recently, and it was moving. They were kind of. I think they kind of got it a little bit. You know, sometimes I don't know if you're getting this right now, but they kind of got it. And they're like, okay, that's good. But at the same time, like, don't we still have value? And of course, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely, we have value. Again, you're still worth more than the whole universe. That we know this, that God loves you as if there was only you. Like, this is so important for us to interiorize. God loves you as if you were the only one he loved. So you still have inestimable worth and dignity and value. And in the face of God himself, he's more. And maybe this is one of the reasons why we echo the words of the centurion when we say, lord, I'm not worthy, that you enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed. There's this declaration of not that we have no worth, but that in comparison to him and his value and his worth and his glory, Lord, I'm not worthy. I think there's something so good about finding ourselves in this place where, wow, we are because of God, we are greater than many of us even imagine. But also in the face of God, before the Lord himself. Lord, I'm not worthy. I think, who is it? Blaise Pascal? Or maybe it's many other people have said this, that we are all beggars before God, even with our great, incredible worth and value and dignity before God, we are humbled. Before God, we are again. Go back to this. Go back to this moment in the Mass. And maybe it's a moment where later on, when you receive Holy Communion, when you receive Holy Communion and realize that, okay, in this moment, Lord, on my tongue, something more worthy, more precious, more valuable than my entire life. And this is the thing, is it doesn't denigrate us. It puts us in proper relation. We say, lord, I'm not worthy. And yet he still comes to us. And it's true that we are not worthy. We pale and compare. Our dignity and worth value pales in comparison to the dignity, value and glory of God himself, and yet he comes to us because that is how deeply, how powerfully, how profoundly he loves you. So next Mass, you go to the next adoration, you go to, as you're looking at Jesus in the Eucharist to realize, wow, Lord, you've created out of this whole world, you created me, and you've given me this inestimable worth, value and dignity. And I'm looking at the one thing in the entire universe that is vastly more valuable than me and God. That's you. That's what I've been praying about for the last four to six months. Anyways, from all of us here at Ascension presents, My name is Father Mike. God bless.