Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - Episodes Tagged with “Purpose”

08/14/22 Finish the Race

Ascension — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 08:00:00 -0500

Homily from the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Sometimes God gives the victory and sometimes God gives what we need to finish the race.

Every one of us is in the middle of the race of our lives. God has called us and brought us here, even when there is no victory in sight and even when victory is not possible. But God will always give whatever we need to finish the race.

Mass Readings from August 14, 2022:
Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10
Psalms 40:2-4, 18
Hebrews 12:1-4

01/09/22 Children of the Father

Ascension — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 14:00:00 -0600

Homily from the Baptism of the Lord.

Jesus changed the water. Now the water changes you.

Why was Jesus baptized? Not because He needed it, but because we need it. We need baptism to be saved, to be children of God, and to be in a new and real relationship with God.

Mass Readings from January 9, 2022:
Isaiah 42:1-4,6-7
Psalms 29:1-2, 3-4, 3, 9-10
Acts 10:34-38

01/02/22 It's Not About You

Ascension — Sun, 02 Jan 2022 08:00:00 -0600

Homily from the Epiphany of the Lord.

Worship can help us escape the trap that life is about us.

When life is about us, it is not food for the human heart. When we realize that life is about Someone other than us, we are allowed to have a heart that is larger…a heart that is large enough to give.

Mass Readings from January 2, 2022:
Isaiah 60:1-6
Psalms 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-13
Ephesians 3:2-3, 5-6

12/26/21 Be Careful

Ascension — Sun, 26 Dec 2021 15:15:00 -0600

Homily from the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

Family is the School of Love.

Everyone is part of a family in some way. Be careful with each other.

Mass Readings from December 26, 2021:
Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14
Psalms 128:1-2, 3, 4-5
Colossians 3:12-21

12/12/21 Abounding Love: Large Hearted

Ascension — Mon, 13 Dec 2021 15:00:00 -0600

Homily from the Third Sunday of Advent.

Be Where Your Feet Are.

Too often, what keeps our heart small is the fact that we do the minimum minimally. What we are called to do, we put the least amount of our heart into it. But to be magnanimous, we do even the minimum excellently. Which is often nothing more than simply doing one thing at a time. Abounding love is focused love.

Mass Readings from December 12, 2021:
Zephaniah 3:14-18
Isaiah 12:2-6
Philippians 4:4-7

11/28/21 Abounding Love: No Room

Ascension — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 21:00:00 -0600

Homily from the First Sunday of Advent.

Two things are clear about the inn at Bethlehem: Love Incarnate showed up and there was no room for Him.

Too often, we want to love the way we have been created to love. But we find ourselves incapable of loving this way. Not because we aren't willing or because we don't want to...but because our lives are simply too full. We have no room to love.

Mass Readings from November 28th, 2021:
Jeremiah 33:14-16
Psalms 25:4-5, 8-10, 14
1 Thessalonians 3:12—4:2

08/08/21 Consumer Catholic: Farther to Go

Ascension — Mon, 09 Aug 2021 15:00:00 -0500

Homily from the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

The best of your life is ahead of you...you will need food for the journey.

The worst days of our life often come after the best days of our life. But even in those "worst days", you are not done yet. God has more for you to do and further for you to go. He wants to feed you with what you are going to need to have enough strength for the journey.

Mass Readings from August 8, 2021:
1 Kings 19:4-85
Psalms 34:2-9
Ephesians 4:30—5:2

05/23/21 Kingdom Gifts

Ascension — Sun, 23 May 2021 12:00:00 -0500

Homily from Pentecost Sunday.

Am I willing to use the gifts that God has already given?

At Pentecost, the disciples received the Holy Spirit and the subsequent gifts of the Holy Spirit. These gifts glorify the Father and have changed the world. If we were given these gifts, we could also glorify the Father and change the world…but would we?

Mass Readings from May 23, 2021:
Acts 2:1-11
Psalms 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34
1 Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13

10/18/20 Roadmap: Be A Saint

Ascension — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 22:00:00 -0500

Homily from the Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

The roadmap begins with “Who.”

There is one true goal in life: to be a saint. Many of us believe this, but is there a path? Without a plan, we will certainly fail to hit the goal. Without a roadmap, we will spend our time on this planet wandering as if we neither know where we are or where we are going.

Mass Readings from October 18, 2020:
Isaiah 45:1, 4-6
Psalms 96:1, 3-5, 7-10
1 Thessalonians 1:1-5

08/30/20 How Do I Look? "Lucky"

Ascension — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 15:00:00 -0500

Homily from the Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Am I being conformed or transformed?

Christians must not only live differently in the world, we must look differently at the world.

Mass Readings from August 30, 2020:
Jeremiah 20:7-9
Psalms 63:2-6, 8-9
Romans 12:1-2

04/05/20 Un-Done: Unfinished

Ascension — Sun, 05 Apr 2020 16:00:00 -0500

Homily from Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion.

Jesus has not removed suffering from our lives, He has redeemed the suffering in our lives.

Jesus accomplished the Father’s will in His passion, death, and resurrection. His mission of salvation is “finished.” And yet, Christ’s Body on earth still lives out the mission of Her Head: we are called to unite our sufferings to His for the salvation of the world. And this work — the work He has entrusted to us — remains unfinished.

Mass Readings from April 5, 2020:
Isaiah 50:4-7
Psalms 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24
Philippians 2:6-11

03/22/20 Un-Done: God Shows Up

Ascension — Sun, 22 Mar 2020 20:00:00 -0500

Homily from the Fourth Sunday of Lent.

Real suffering in this world reveals the deeper part of us that has come undone.

God made this world good, but He did not make it unbreakable. This world has come undone, and our sickness and suffering reveals the deeper ways our hearts have come undone.

Mass Readings from March 22, 2020:
1 Samuel 16:1, 6-7, 10-13
Psalms 23: 1-6
Ephesians 5:8-14

02/09/20 Good...For Nothing?

Ascension — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Homily from the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Refuse to live as salt and light, and the Father remains unknown, unloved, and unglorified.

God trusts us with being His representatives in this world. He has made us His and He has made us good. But to what end? God has made us good for a purpose. Do we live in such a way that we have been made good for nothing?

Mass Readings from February 9, 2020:
Isaiah 58:7-10
Psalms 112:4-5, 6-7, 8-9
1 Corinthians 2:1-5

08/25/19 Hope and Discipline

Ascension — Mon, 26 Aug 2019 08:00:00 -0500

Homily from the Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Discipline is the mark of the mature Christian.

We have to do difficult things all of the time. Why do we do them? We do them because we hope. We have the confidence that what we do makes a difference. The hope that, even when discipline becomes difficult, the discipline makes a difference.

Mass Readings from August 25, 2019:
Isaiah 66:18-21
Psalms 117:1-2
Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13

01/27/19 Disqualified: Prevented or Prepared?

Ascension — Mon, 28 Jan 2019 07:00:00 -0600

Homily from the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time.

What great work may God be preparing you for right now?

In Christ, your past might not be the thing that prevent you from being a part of God’s great work… It might be the thing that has prepared you.

Mass Readings from January 27, 2019:
Nehemiah 8:2-6, 8-10
Psalms 19:8, 9, 10, 15
1 Corinthians 12:12-30

12/25/18 But Why?

Ascension — Tue, 25 Dec 2018 07:30:00 -0600

Homily from the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas).

The Why is a Who.

Jesus is not merely the “reason for the season”… He is the reason for everything.

Mass Readings from December 25, 2018:
Isaiah 62:11-12
Psalms 97:1, 6, 11-12
Titus 3:4-7

12/02/18 Be Ready, Get Ready

Ascension — Mon, 03 Dec 2018 07:00:00 -0600

Homily from the First Sunday of Advent.

You will never be ready unless you get ready.

Advent is a season of preparation. We get ready to celebrate the first coming of Christ into this world. We also get ready for His Second Coming at the end of the world…or at the end of our individual lives. During Advent, we get ready to die.

Mass Readings from December 02, 2018:
Jeremiah 33:14-16
Psalms 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14
1 Thessalonians 3:12—4:2