Hi, my name is Fr. Mike Schmitz and this is Ascension Presents. How am I supposed to get
something out of a homily when, sometimes, I'm not getting anything out
of the homily? Good question, camper! First thing is, when it comes to ... we're going to talk about
how to listen to a homily, because I think there's just as much skill and
work sometimes in listening to a homily as there is in preparing and delivering a homily.
It is always easier to be a critic than to create (I actually made a
video about that). It's always easier to be a critic than it is to create. So
I can sit back and watch the movie, I can sit back and listen to the homily, or to
the talk or whatever the thing is, to look at the painting and say "Well that's
ridiculous. He should have done this, this, and this." To approach Mass with that kind
of—to approach the homily part of Mass—with that kind of receptivity (I'm
gonna talk about that in a second) but to approach it with that kind of maybe even
humility. I remember when my little sister was going to school... (right?
Was she going to school? I don't know.) She was living next to the seminary
when I was going to seminary, and so she got to meet a bunch of my seminarian
friends, and when we got to the point "x" number of years later and we were
getting ordained, she knew we were having to give homilies as deacons. She
said "I will never complain about a homily ever again" because she
knew us personally. Until then, she had only known the priest a little bit, from
afar, like "Oh my gosh, this is all you could do? This is the
best you could do?" Then she saw us and realized "Wow, these men were
responding to a call to be a priest, not because they were like, "You know what I'm
good at? I'm good at public speaking. I'm gonna do that.'" What she found was a bunch
of guys who just wanted to be holy and just wanted to help the people of God,
and because of that they had to get up and give talks and they had no idea. We
had no idea. We're just freaking out, every time. I have to tell you
honestly, this is like on Saturday night or before the first homily of the
weekend: I'm always either literally in tears or virtually in tears.
Because I'm like "God I don't know what you want me to say to your people."
Because it's a big deal, right? So that's one thing. That's like, OK, damper the
judgment ... muscle. But then how do you still get
someone to listen then? I would say that the number one thing I think is so important
for the people of God is to read the Scriptures ahead of time. I think it's
probably essential and it is a massive game-changer. What I mean by that
is, say on Monday you read the readings for the upcoming Sunday. Not like racing
through it, but also not like you have to dive down deeply and
understand or take everything out of it all at once. But just read through them so
you get to have a general sense of what's coming that Sunday. Then on Tuesday,
spend that Tuesday time of prayer with the first reading. And then on Wednesday,
spend that Wednesday time of prayer with the second reading. And then Thursday,
spend that Thursday time at prayer with the Gospel reading. On Friday (here's my
invitation), on Friday write down what you think the Lord God is saying to you from
all of those readings. In fact, you could do that every day. When you write it when
you read through on Monday: write down what's the one thing that you think "This
I should remember the rest of this day." On Tuesday when you read through the Old
Testament reading or the first reading, write down what is God saying there and
this is what I should carry with me for the rest of the day. On Wednesday, what's
the one thing I should carry with me for the rest of the day? Thursday it's the same
thing, and on Friday to be able to just say "OK. So ultimately, what is God
saying about my life? What's he saying about how I need to be moved?" Because
that's the thing: so many of us, we go to to Mass and the Word of God is
proclaimed—not even the homily—but the Word of God is proclaimed, and it goes in
one ear and out the other. So at the end of mass, or even at the end
of the homily, I'm like "What was the reading about? I don't remember. I can't
quite place it." But what if you—you—took the time Monday
through Friday and you actually not only read the readings, but you went into them
and asked the question "What's the one thing from this that the Lord God wants
me to carry with me for the rest of the day?" Because the next step is the
question "How does God want to move me?" Whenever Scripture is
proclaimed, it's always meant to move and change the people of God. It's either to move
us up towards the Lord, to change our behavior, to enlighten our mind so we can
know him more clearly, to enlighten ourselves so we can
know his truth more profoundly. But he always wants us to move in some way,
shape, or form. So we could ask the question "OK, how is God wanting to move
me in this moment?" When it comes to proclaiming the first readings—you know the First Reading, the
psalm response, and the Second Reading—we sit down. And for the
Gospel we stand. But that sitting down does not mean we're in a position of
passivity. It means we're in a position of receptivity. This is a very
important difference: to be passive is just like "Yeah, I'm just kind of
whatever, just wash over me" kind of a thing. But to be receptive means I'm
ready to move. That's why I like standing for the Gospel, because it does
literally have that I'm-ready-to-move-ness about it. But how many times do we
stand there, hands heavy on the pew in front of us, kind of leaning on
all fours essentially, our feet and our hands,
instead of saying "OK, I'm ready to move." An example I love to give is of the two
dancers Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. You probably know this dance duo of the
19th century (20th century?). I remember hearing someone say once that Fred
Astaire was an incredible dancer. And yet, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred
Astaire did, but she did it backwards and in high heels. So she was
incredible as well. And Ginger Rogers was Fred Astaire's favorite dance partner.
Interesting note: I heard that Ginger Rogers was not a professional dancer.
She was an amateur. But that's the reason why Fred Astaire loved dancing with her.
Because he was the professional; she was the amateur. And so, as the professional,
he got to lead. And as the amateur, she let him lead her. So if he wanted to go this
way, she's right there. She wouldn't fight him on this like "I know better than you."
She would just let him lead. Because of that, she was his absolute favorite dance
partner, and because of that when you get to watch them you see it's just like the
phrase poetry in motion—it's beautiful. This is us when it comes to
the Lord's proclaiming his word to us. He's the master and we're the amateurs.
He is the leader, we're the followers. So when we hear the word of Scripture, the Word
of God proclaimed, do I just stand there and say "No, no. no. We're going this way or we're
going that way." Or do I say "OK Lord, speak. Your servant
is listening. Lord lead me, I will follow you. Lord, how is it you
want to move me?" So that's what I invite you to do the next time you come to Mass
to be able to listen to a homily really well, is first,
I'm not a critic because it's easier
to critique than it is to create. I have this humility of "I'm just
gonna trust that the priest cares about me and he's doing his best, but also, I showed
up prepared, I showed up ready. Why? Because I read the Scriptures Monday through
Friday. I even wrote down "Here is what God is saying to me" so that even if the
homily the priest gives is bad, I wrote my own homily. It was in those notes
every day Monday through Friday when the Word of God spoke to me and said here is
how I want you to move, here's where I want you to go, here's what I want you to
carry with you for the rest of this day. My guarantee is this: if you and
I do this, the Word of God will have all the power that it's meant to have. The
Word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword and the
Word of God does not does not come down from heaven and return there void,
but always accomplishes the works or the will for which it was intended. You can
be that soil, I can be that soil, that's ready to grow, that's ready to bring forth
fruit. That's the kind of person that's ready to move. Only if I show up prepared.
From all of us here at Ascension Presents, my name is Father Mike. God bless and "like",
subscribe, comment and please, like seriously, do this thing. Read the
scripture. Write down what the Lord's saying to me. Where is he wanting me to move...
You know what I'm saying? Okay, thanks! OK, I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done.
Peace!