Father Mike Schmitz (0:00)

Calm, peaceful. One of the greatest sounds in the world. I really, genuinely believe this. This is not me pandering to anyone. Hi, my name's Father Mike Schmitz, and this is Ascension Presents. I don't think there's any argument that one of the greatest sounds in the world is children laughing. And I mean, like, anyone from, like, here's a kid who's, I don't know, six, eight years old, all the way down to if you have a baby, a baby laughing, it's the best sound. It is incredible. I would also make the case, or at least I would also submit as a possibility, that one of the worst sounds in the Is a baby crying. I think I read somewhere that when they were trying to torture prisoners of war, they would actually just play on loudspeakers or pipe into the room that these prisoners of war would be the people, these victims of torture. They would pipe in the sound of babies crying. So we have missionaries on our campus who. They have a baby. And we love Camilla. Camilla is her name. And Camilla is 10 weeks old right now. And Camilla is awesome. Her parents are great. But the other day, Camilla was. She was losing it. She was crying. And I was thinking as I was sitting there, just hearing, the inner mom and dad are taking care of her. They're doing great. Why do babies cry? Okay, we love babies laughing. It's painful to hear babies crying. But why do babies cry? And I believe the answer is this. Babies cry because something's wrong. They cry because there's some kind of discomfort again. They're uncomfortable, they're afraid, they're tired, they're. They're hungry. They need to be changed, like, all these things. But when it comes down to it is babies aren't, like, being jerks. They're uncomfortable. And this is the only way that they can communicate to their parents that they're uncomfortable. You just think about that every time. Every time I hear a baby cry, it's like, wait a second. Again, this is. This is not something to be upset about. This should spark curiosity, right? It should spark that sense of, like, oh, something's wrong. And this is the only way that this person, right, this baby, this is the only way this person can communicate something's wrong. And if I cry, if I make this noise, someone will hear, someone will care, and someone will come. That sense of someone is going to help. And I keep seeing this with little Camilla, right? Her mom and dad. Someone is going to hear. Mom's going to hear this. Dad's going to hear this. They're going to care and they're going to come like they're going to help. I've been reading about a man named Takashi Nagai, who was a Japanese Catholic man who after his wife was killed in the bomb on Nagasaki, he had two children left, a four year old daughter and a ten year old son. And at one point, one of the things that broke his heart was that his four year old daughter, as she kept getting older, she wouldn't cry, she'd laugh, but she wouldn't cry. And he was dying. He knew he only had a couple months, maybe a couple years to live. And it broke his heart that his daughter, she knew how to laugh and she didn't know how to cry. Now, she cried before. She cried before the bomb. She cried before she lost her mom. But afterwards, when her dad was sick, he could hardly move. She stopped crying. And one of his reflections was this was that children cry because they believe, right? Children cry because they believe that someone will hear, that someone will care and that someone will come. And his fear was that his daughter was learning that it's not worth crying because no one hears, no one cares, and no one's going to come. You know, I think it's Psalm 18 that says, in my distress I called upon the Lord and he heard my cry. To realize that that's what we do in prayer. In my distress, I called upon the Lord and he heard my cry. What is prayer? Prayer is that calling out to God. You know, obviously at its basic, most basic form, prayer is that turn to the Lord. It's that shifting of our heart. It's a shifting of our gaze to the Lord. But at some point, what do we do in prayer? At some point? In prayer we call out, at some point in prayer, in my distress, I called upon the Lord and what? And he heard my cry. That's why I just have to say this word. If you're someone who you're asking yourself, wait, do I even have any faith? Like, do I even, do I even believe? Do I even trust? What depth do I have of faith? Still, I'll say this. If you keep praying, you still have faith. If you keep crying out to the Lord, right? In my distress, I cried out to the Lord and he heard my voice. If you keep crying, if you keep making that again, why does the baby cry? Because something's wrong and they don't have any way to express it. How many times are we in that place where. Okay, okay, Lord, something's wrong and I'm going to keep turning to you why? Because I believe that if I cry out to you, I believe that if I turn to you, I believe that if I look to you, I believe that if I call out to you, you're going to hear, you're going to care, and you're going to come, that you're going to do something. I beg every person who's listening or watching this to take that into your heart. Especially when you're discouraged, especially when you're wondering, do I still pray? Especially if you're wondering about your own heart, like, do still have, actually have faith? If you even cry out to the Lord, if you even turn to the Lord, the answer is yes. If you keep even saying the simplest of prayers, the answer is yes. That prayer, that simple prayer, is like little baby Camilla. It is a cry knowing that your father hears and your father cares. Your father's going to do something. It is an incredible and courageous expression of faith. So don't give up and keep on crying out to the Lord. For all of us here at Ascension presents, My name is Father Mike. God bless. This chair is going to fall off, fall apart. It's going to completely collapse. It's going to collapse any moment. That leg that just. I just moved is exploding.