Hi, my name's Father Mike Schmitz and this is Ascension Presents.
So years ago I came across this quote and it is attributed to C.S. Lewis,
but I went online and it's attributed to like a thousand other people as well,
but here's the quote I'm gonna say it was C.S. Lewis. Here it is:
"It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it."
I thought about every test I ever took, I thought about every sporting competition that was in,
like the pressure that I was experiencing. I think about - I mean even these videos
or the podcast I do of my Sunday homilies - is I think how oftentimes, I'll stress
I'll worry, I'll fret, and I'll carry this burden and I'm thinking,
"Wait, I have to do the work, right? I have to do the tasks - that's not a problem."
That's not difficult, just, you know, making a video. It's not difficult.
Preaching is not difficult. Teaching is not difficult. It's the way I carry it.
It's the "what I'm looking for?" It's what you might call the "work behind the work."
Most of us, we are not, we're NOT simply preoccupied with the burden itself, right?
The task we have to do, the state in life that we find ourselves in,
even the pain, the sickness, the tragedy - what we might be experiencing
because that can be hard enough, right?
but it's the burden beneath the burden, it's the work behind the work. That's what breaks us down.
So as an example, I remember even just go back to like high school days or even just
whenever I compete now in any kind of sporting kind of a thing.
The competition is difficult enough, right, like the doing the work is difficult enough
but then what I found myself doing is like, "What will people think of me when I do this thing?"
Like "What if I fail?" because the burden beneath the burden is "Well, I can't fail"
If I fail, then that means I'm a failure.
Another way people do this is like when it comes to school,
when it comes to college they get into, when it comes to the kind of job they have,
when it comes to the kind of family they have,
I mean think about this, how many times is there the case where you know your kids are acting up,
but you know like, "No this is, they're tired, they've had a long day.
"They're really sick." Whatever the reason is, you know the reason why,
but all of a sudden you're in public and your kids are acting up and it's one of those things of like,
"Oh my gosh kids, just stop!"
It's bothering me even more, not because they're acting up even more, but because of what someone else might think.
So many of us get so preoccupied with what others would think that we just burn ourselves up and burn ourselves out
by carrying the burden the wrong way. So let's get rid of that.
Second burden we sometimes carry - burden beneath the burden - is resentment.
I'm going through this situation, this tragedy, this illness, this trial and I don't want to, right?
And I begin to resent reality and I spend so much energy not just carrying the burden,
like not just dealing with the sickness, not just dealing with the tragedy,
not just dealing with the sorrow and the grief that I have in my life, but also amplifying it
by resenting the fact that I have to go through this tragedy,
by resenting the fact that I'm sick, by resenting the fact that I lost this thing that was precious to me
as opposed to just saying, "You know what, it's what I've got to do. It's not good but it's my reality right now.
"It's not great but it's my lot in life. I don't want to be sick but I am and so let me just deal with that."
Get rid of whatever kind of resentment, get rid of what people think. Don't pay attention to the resentment.
But also, there's so much weight that we place on our work.
We equate work to our worth or we equate our job to our identity,
and the way we do our job or our success then becomes like who we are.
No. Work is what I have to do in order to make money, in order to feed my family,
or the work is what I have to do because I'm called to it
but all of a sudden it's "My work is my identity."
and if I carry it like that, that means all failure means I'm a failure.
That means all success means I'm a success but that success is very tenuous and can be taken away at any moment.
It means when people praise me, that means that I'm praiseworthy.
And if people don't like what I'm doing, that means that I'm not likeable.
No, that's the work beneath the work, that's the burden behind the burden.
Your identity is something far greater than your work
and your identity is something far more impressive than your success.
I just invite every person, if you've experienced that load beneath the load,
right, the burden beneath the burden is to recover your sense of identity.
Who are you really?
You're not your work. You're not your burden. You're not the task.
You're not your tragedy. You're not your sickness.
Who you truly are is, if you're a baptized Christian, you are a son or a daughter of God.
That's your identity.
If you're not a baptized Christian, you are a beloved creature of God, made in his image and likeness, destined for eternity in Christ as well
but that's your identity.
Not the burden, not the work, not the tragedy, not the failure, not the success.
And your audience doesn't have to be the crowd.
Your audience is not how many likes you get, how many shares you get, how many retweets you get, how much money you make.
Your audience is an audience of one.
An audience of one.
So today, as you have to carry your load, as you have to carry your burden - you have to do it - we all have to, right,
are you carrying that burden, are you bearing that load for an audience of one?
Your Dad in heaven, who sees what you're doing, who sees your life and who knows your burden,
and who loves you and is so very proud of you.
It is not the load that wears us down, it's the way we carry it.
Carry it for the audience of one, our Dad, as a child of God and realize that makes all the difference.
From all of us here at Ascension Presents, my name is Father Mike.
God bless.