04/26/26 The Next...: The Next Road

2:02 So you probably know this. We know that this is for UMD, for CSS. This is the last week of classes. One more week of classes. And then I just think about this. Like think about the road that brought you here. Like the road that brought you to this moment, the road that brought you to this season, or even like, you know, we're in the fourth Sunday of Easter. Three weeks ago, some of many of you, 55 people in this community became Catholic. and the road that brought you to the Catholic Church, or if that was the past, like just to think about the fact that wherever you're right now, there was some road that led you to this moment. Whether you're in school, out of school, it doesn't matter. Whether you've always been Catholic or just it's kind of a new thing for you. There was this road that brought you here. And this is one of those things that always happens. Whenever we're like, okay, this is the road that brought me here, there's a new question that comes up. And the question is, okay, the road brought me here. Now what?

2:56 Especially when we get to the end of something. It's like, okay, now what? In fact, the first reading today, Acts of the Apostles, right? Peter gets up and he proclaims that here's Jesus, crucified, died, risen from the dead. These people hear these words and that's what they ask. They're like, well, now what? In fact, their question is this, what are we to do?

3:17 What do we do to now? And I guess for so many of us, that's the question, right? The question that's in our hearts is not just what have I done or what brought me here? You know, we started this series three weeks ago about like called the next because it's not about the first confession or first communion. It's about the next one. It's not about just the road that God is here. It's about the next thing. And so the big question every one of us could ask right now in this moment is the question they asked when Peter preached. The question is, what are we to do now? Or what are we to do next? And I think for a lot of us, that question is really daunting. I think that question is a lot really intimidating because we're like, we're afraid of this. Like, what if I make a mistake? Like, what if I do the wrong thing? What if I choose wrong?

4:03 You know one of the most famous American poems that's out there? We all know it by Robert Frost, right? The Road Not Taken. And it's one of those poems that, if you remember studying it, it was probably one of those poems that in your mind, it seems like this really, this bold declaration of independence, like two roads diverging, I would, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that's made all the difference. as if like it's this heroic declaration of like, I'm the man. The poem, I didn't realize this, the poem was actually meant as a joke. The poem was actually meant to tease. Robert Frost wrote this poem to tease one of his friends. So Robert Frost, American poet, lived in England for a couple years. While he was in England, he made good friends with this man named Edward Thomas. Edward Thomas himself was a poet. And they used to go these long walks. They'd wander through the countryside and they talk about art and literature and poetry and life and all these kind of things and Robert Frost would always be so frustrated or entertained because when he and Edward Thomas got to a fork in the road Thomas would agonize over which one to take and he would say like we'll take let's take this one because uh we'll probably see some see something more interesting we'll probably see something exceptional probably have a great adventure down this road and he's And Frost would say, apparently, invariably, afterwards, Thomas would regret.

5:26 He'd become convinced that the other road would have been better. And so Robert Frost wrote this poem to make fun of his friend. In fact, if you look at the poem, he says like this. Two roads diverge in the yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both, and be one traveler long I stood and looked down one as far as I could, to where it bent in the undergrowth. The next stanza. Then I took the other. And it's just as fair, and having perhaps the better claim, because it was grassy and wanted wear, though as for that passing there, had warned them really about the same. Basically, Robert Frost is saying both trails are exactly the same. Like, basically, just choose one of them. They're both going to be fine. But Edward Thomas would always be upset. He'd always say, I should have taken the other one. So Frost wrote in a letter to Thomas afterwards, he said, no matter which road you take, you'll always sigh and wish you'd taken another.

6:19 To which Edward Thomas said, your joke isn't funny. Which is true. When you have to explain the joke to every single junior high student who's ever lived, the joke doesn't work. But this is the line. The line that says, that made all the difference. It was Frost teasing Thomas because he always imagined that the road not taken was the better road. He always imagined that the road not taken was the perfect one. that the road not taken was the perfect road. And so the question, what are we to do? we get afraid because we think, I need to take the perfect road or else I'm going to regret it. I need to take the perfect road or I'm going to regret it. Back in 2009, there's a nurse who's a palliative care nurse.

7:13 She worked in hospice. And she wrote a blog post because she had been interviewing all the men and women who were at the end of their lives. And at the end of their lives, she asked them questions like, if you could live your life over again, what would you do differently? And she said, all of them asking all these questions, she said they all kind of had the same answers. And so she actually turned that blog post into a book in 2011. The book is entitled, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. And the top five regrets of those dying are this. Number one, I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself and not what other people expected. Number two was, I wished I hadn't worked so hard. Like, I wish I hadn't made work my personality. Number three was, I wish that I had the courage to express my feelings or to tell the truth. number four was I wish I'd stayed in touch with my friends and number five was I wish I'd let myself be happier I just think it's so fast I think I think every one of those is so fascinating that last one I had the chance I could have been happy I just didn't let myself I wish I'd let myself be happier you know I think I think I think these regrets are all very fascinating but I think what's even more fascinating is what they didn't say. None of them said, I wish I chose a different major.

8:38 None of them said, I wish I lived in a different city. I wish I chose a different college, and yet we think about us, and we're like, these are all the things that we're stressing over. I wish I had a different internship. These are all the things that we're stressing over, and yet not one person on their deathbed said that was one of their regrets. Because we know this, we know that life is not about finding the perfect road.

8:59 Just like we know that life is not about your first confession or your first Mass. It's about the next confession, about the next Mass. That's one of the reasons why we made the resolution, right, a couple weeks ago. This summer, we want to go to confession every two to four weeks. It's about the next confession. This summer, we want to go to at least one daily Mass every single week because it's about the next Mass. And for all those of us who know this, it's not about figuring out the perfect road. It's simply about taking the next road. even when it's confusing.

9:32 And I totally, and I'm making it sound easy, but also I have to do this because when I was a senior in college, I remember going to my college chaplain, Father Timo, and talking to Father Timo and being like, Father, I have to figure this out. I don't know, should I be a missionary? Should I go to grad school? Should I go to seminary? Should I propose? Like, what do I do? And Father Timo looked at me and he just was like, well, just choose. and I was like why are you kidding me I was like what but but father what if I choose wrong and this man looked back at me and he just said well then just choose again and I was so frustrated and so annoyed but he was right because this is how life works in fact this is the gift of being a Christian this is the gift of being a follower of Jesus that Saint Paul St. Peter says in the Acts of the Apostles they ask him what are we to do and he answers he says repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins repent you've made the wrong decision okay turn around and that's for us too like if we realize I keep choosing sin well then I need to repent and go to where God's grace is but even in all these choices of life that reality if I'm on the wrong road then just take the next road that as followers of Jesus, we actually have the ability to do this.

10:58 Because repentance, what? Repentance is a Greek word, metanoia, which means change your mind. If you change your mind, you change your direction. c.s lewis our pal he once said this he said if you're on the wrong road progress means doing an about turn and walking back to the right road he said and in this case the one who turns back soonest is the most progressive one this happened this happened to me last week actually last week i was driving and i missed my turn and i was immediately i was just like what the you know i was stressed and I was annoyed. I'm like, I'm going to be late now. I was just exasperated. And I just, I remember I was also in Duluth. I'm like, I should know better. But I remember like being on the road and I'm like, okay, now I'm going to be late and being mad at myself. And then hearing myself in my head saying, but this is where you are. Like, I don't want to be here. Okay, but this is where you are just take the next right road wherever we're at wherever we're at I'm on the wrong road I don't want to be here I made the wrong choice I made the wrong turn fine but this is where you are just take the next right road there is no perfect road again in all of this remember the most important thing is this you're a Christian in all this remember the most important thing you're a Catholic. Another way to say it is you are a follower of Jesus and so the greatest regret, your greatest regret and my greatest regret is not going to be failure. Our greatest regret is going to be not being faithful. Not faithful to your ideals, but not being faithful to him.

12:39 Because we know this, the road is the relationship. What did Jesus say in the gospel today? He's like, I'm the good shepherd. I walk ahead of my sheep and they hear my voice and they follow me. remember later on Jesus says I am the way the truth and life he's the way he's the road so when we ask the question what are we to do what direction should I go the answer is very simple they hear my voice and they follow me so what's what is the next thing we need to do I would say this the next right road is taking the space and the time to hear his voice and follow them do you know they did a study and they discovered that the single greatest predictor of spiritual growth they found out the single greatest predictor of spiritual maturity was this very simple it was simply regular consistent personal prayer time the single greatest predictor of whether someone's faith is going to grow or if it's going to stall out and die was just consistent personal prayer time alone with the Lord like there's time alone with his word and so again this next summer the next confession every two to four weeks the next mass once daily every week but even more important is I invite every one of us to make this resolution to be able to say okay over the course of the summer I want to have this consistent just time where I park myself in front of the Lord or where Like, where I take his word and I read it.

14:12 Or, I don't know, get some priest in Duluth to read it to you. Like, just, just take time with him. this is going to be the single greatest predictor of who you'll be come next September.

14:33 Of where you'll be in relationship with Jesus come next September. Regardless of the road you're on, that's going to be the most significant. And again, sometimes we do it wrong. In fact, last summer I came across the story of a woman who read the Bible wrong. He's like, how do you read the Bible wrong? Here's how she did it. She was convicted or convinced by her pastor to read the Bible, the whole thing, from the beginning to the end. And she did it, which I was so impressed by. I didn't even help. but she said she had been a Christian for years almost her whole life and she got to the end of the Bible and she said I put the Bible down after having read every single word and she said I closed the cover and I realized I do not like God I read the whole thing I read every single word and I got done and I write I do not like him I might even hate him and so she went to her pastor She said, I read the whole Bible.

15:26 I don't like God now. And her pastor didn't freak out. I would have freaked out. He didn't freak out. And he said, okay, here's what I want you to do. He said, I want you to do it again. I want you to read the Bible again. But this time, he said, when you read God's word, don't look, stop looking for yourself.

15:46 Stop looking for, here's insight into your personality, insight into your call, your vocation. He said, stop looking for yourself. and instead just let him reveal himself to you. So to her credit, a lot of character. To her credit, that's what she did. Started it over again, started reading the Bible again and she said, I was like three, four books into it. Maybe at Leviticus. She said, I hit Leviticus and I realized, oh my goodness, I'm in love with him. because she heard his voice.

16:19 She heard his voice, and she fell in love. This is what every one of us is called to do. In fact, 24 years ago, this month, it was a month or so before I got ordained a priest. And I was over at, the guys in my class, we're over at the house of Archbishop Harry Flynn. He used to be the bishop of St. Paul, Minneapolis. And he invited us over to his house so we could have a holy hour, like adoration in front of Jesus, and then have dinner. So we went and we prayed an hour and then he reposed the Eucharist back in the tabernacle. And then he said, before we leave, gentlemen, I need you to do this. I want you to, I want to challenge you, every one of you to do exactly what we did every single day for the rest of your priesthood. He said, every single day, I'm going to challenge you to park yourself in front of Jesus in the Eucharist for at least one hour every single day. And he said, here's why. Because you're going to get ordained and you're going to be so busy. There's going to be days where you say something you shouldn't have said or do something you shouldn't have done.

17:11 there's gonna be days where you didn't say something you should have said or didn't do something you should have done and you're gonna be so busy you're not even gonna realize it but if you take time every day and just go before Jesus he'll show you what you should have said or should have done he'll show you what you shouldn't have said or shouldn't have done you're gonna have these regrets but you can't go back life only moves in one direction you have to keep moving forward and the goal is not to take the perfect road the goal is to take the next road this is the last thing Regrets. how to live without regrets. And I don't mean like the lame joke of Robert Frost's regret, and I don't even mean the regret of those who are dying, because yes, those people who are in palliative care, those people in hospice who are dying, they might be closer to death, so they see things more clearly, but just approaching death is no guarantee that you see things the way they are.

18:16 But what if you, here's a question, what if you could talk to someone who had died and ask them what they regret? Like, what if you could talk to someone who died in friendship with Jesus, but was in purgatory? And you could ask them, is there anything in your life that you regret? You died in friendship with God. Do you regret anything? Well, a couple weeks ago, we celebrated the peace of divine mercy. And so this reality that at one point, Jesus appeared to Sister Faustina, St. Faustina, and had these private revelations. Part of the private revelations of Jesus to St. Faustina is he showed her the afterlife. He gave her a glimpse of heaven, which filled her heart with so much joy she thought she'd die. He gave her a glimpse of hell, which filled her with so much fear she thought she'd die. But he also allowed her to talk to souls in purgatory. And she said, this is actually from a Catholic woman named Anna Munley.

19:11 She said that the souls in purgatory revealed to St. Faustina their three regrets. The three regrets of every soul in purgatory. Number one was the value of time. That while alive, they realized that here they are in purgatory where everything is clear, right? That there's no deceptions, there's no distractions. They can see their lives as they really were. Number one, the value of time. That while alive, every moment was actionable. Every moment had meaningful weight. and they regretted even wasting one minute on trivial distractions. Second was how we treated others.

19:53 They said that all excuses for their behavior fell away. That in the light of truth, they regret missed opportunities for forgiveness. They regretted missed opportunities for kindness. They regretted missing their opportunities. Or they chose silence over truth and silence over love. The impact of gossip on people's lives around them. every one of those was this regret how they treated others but they said they said that the greatest regret more than the value of time and more than how they treated other people their greatest regret of the souls in purgatory was love for God that their deepest regret was realizing how little God was loved and not like I should have prayed more but really realizing I could have loved him more every moment I did show up for prayer and I could have loved him more in purgatory they saw how every moment God was there not just in big moments but in the ordinary moments of life in suffering, in joy, in the sacraments and they realized their biggest regret was God was always there and they just didn't love him Thank you.

21:02 And of course, that could be us. it could be us it doesn't have to be because we still have time like here we are we still have time not to waste time we still have time to value others every one of us right now still have time to love God and not just later on like later on tonight or tomorrow in this moment right now you're already at mass you might as well love him Instead of just sitting there, we can just be here and saying, but Jesus, I'm sitting here for love of you. God, I'm going to worship you for love of you. I'm going to receive communion for love of you. Every one of us, we have the opportunity right now to simply choose to love God with this breath, with this heartbeat, with this thought, with this choice, with this road.

21:57 So what are we to do? we don't need to find the perfect road. We just follow Jesus. We just love Jesus. And we simply take the next.