Love it. That was the chair by the way, not me.
(chair squeaking)
Hi, my name's Father Mike Schmitz and this is Ascension Presents.
So, for the last couple of weeks and months
I've had a number of people either email me or message me or even just talk to me on the street,
all having kind of like, the same kind of dilemma and the dilemma is this:
There's a certain part of the Mass that they just
really do not like,
and that part of the Mass that they don't like is when we all have to say
um, right before we receive the Holy Communion, we say,
"Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof,
but only say the word and my soul shall be healed."
And, and you know a lot of times people will say like, "No, no I get it, it comes from the Bible,
there's a centurion who, who has- declares his unworthiness for the Lord to come to heal his servant."
Um, but at some point, like aren't you, at some point after
you recognize that, OK, as human beings, we're made in God's image and likeness,
that as Christians we're redeemed by him.
As Catholics that he calls us to his altar.
Like at some point, don't you just kinda realize that you are worthy?
And I think that's a phenomenal, phenomenal question.
The Catholic church is so quick to assert the dignity of every human being,
and the equality of every human being when it comes to worth,
that there is no person who is worth more, there is no person who has greater dignity,
that you actually, you and I can't—our dignity can't be taken away from us, our worth can't be given away,
that we have this intrinsic worth,
this intrinsic dignity because of the fact that we're made in God's image and likeness.
You are good, even though we're fallen.
We're good, we're fallen, but even we're all redeemed by Jesus Christ.
No, not everyone participates in that redemption.
That's a whole [other] theological point.
But, the point remains.
You're made in the image of God.
We're fallen.
God declares that he loves you, and I think about this and then I think that's a really profound point.
In fact, my old buddy C.S. Lewis, he talks about this in a collection of essays called the Weight of Glory.
He says this, he says, "The infinite value of each individual soul is not a Christian doctrine."
"The infinite value of each individual soul is not a Christian doctrine." He goes on to say,
"God did not die for man because of some value he perceived in him.
He loved us, not because we are lovable but because he is Love."
And I think that's so amazing and I love this, because it's so important for us to realize this:
that all of the goodness in you and all of the goodness in me,
all of the goodness in every human being
who has ever lived or ever will live, it all comes from him.
That on our own,
the reason we have goodness, the reason that we say, "No we're good, made in God's image and likeness,"
is because we're made in God's image and likeness because it comes from him.
And that there wasn't something he saw in you or saw in me that said, "Oh, they're completely worth redeeming,
they're completely worth dying for."
No, there wasn't anything lovable in us.
Saint Paul even wrote this, to the Roman Christians, he says
he wrote in Romans chapter 5,
"God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Not when we were all healed, not when we were all great, not when we were all fixed,
not when we had anything to offer him, we had nothing to offer him.
He chose to love us, he proved his love for us in that, so what's that do? That
asserts and reaffirms the fact that you have worth, you have dignity,
that in comparison to everyone around you on this planet
you are loved,
infinitely loved,
and you're worthy.
You have worth, right? You're worthy.
But here's the thing, that's in relation to other people.
In relation to other people, every human being has this, again, inestimable value
because the Lord has declared this over us and because he's made us in this certain way.
But at this part of the Mass when we say, "Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof,"
we're not talking about our worthiness in relation to other people,
we're talking about our worthiness in relation to him.
And that's a world of difference,
because in that moment we are saying, "Lord I am not worthy that YOU should enter under my roof.
God, in comparison to you, you alone are worthy.
God alone, you are ... you alone are worthy.
I am unworthy."
You know, it's not like-—that's not trashing on yourself.
That's simply declaring the truth.
There is an inestimable inequality between God's worthiness and our unworthiness.
If we're not willing to say that, that "God, you're worthy and I'm unworthy, in comparison to you,"
that what we're ultimately saying is, "God, yeah you should've died for me.
Yeah, actually God, you kind of owed it to me to redeem me.
That actually, at this moment God, at this moment in the Mass um ... *heh* yeah...uhh,
You ought to offer your Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity to someone like me."
But we're not saying that, we're saying, "Actually God, in relation this, your Beauty, your Truth, your Goodness, your Holiness,
you let me participate in that but I don't have any on my own.
Apart from you, I'm zero.
But with you, and that's the crazy thing is, but Lord, but with you, Lord,
you make me new."
Here's what God does: God makes you and I able to be in his presence.
We're not worthy to be in his presence.
That's why I love that the prayer doesn't just end: "Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof."
We say, "but only say the word", why? Because we know him, we know the God we're about to receive.
We know the God who's declared our goodness. We know the God who's redeemed us.
We know that he wants us to come near to him.
We first have to recognize that I don't deserve this.
You didn't owe this to me.
I am not worthy but because of your redemption, I am able.
I am not enough.
But because of you, I have more than enough.
We need that humility I think, I think that's so important.
Hopefully, the next time you go to Mass,
and you get the chance to utter those words,
be able to say them with all the meaning that we're called to pray them with,
recognizing, "Lord, you alone are worthy.
I am not worthy, but because of your goodness, I am able."
From all of us here at Ascension Presents, my name is Father Mike.
God bless.