11/16/25 In The Light

0:00 Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and I just want to take a moment to thank you so much for listening to these homilies and for being part of this community. It's the online community, the virtual front pew, we call it, but it's also a part of our Bulldog Catholic, our University of Minnesota Duluth Newman Center community. You might know that as part of the Duluth Newman Center, we are in the Seeds of Faith campaign. The Seeds of Faith campaign is trying to raise money to build a church and Newman Center as well as to support that and fund the ongoing upkeep of that church and Newman Center for years to come. We've been traveling all over the country for a couple of years now. And our students, current students, have sacrificed my presence on campus in an unfortunate way, but in such a generous way. They have been thoughtful of future generations of students. They have sacrificed my being here so that students who maybe aren't even born yet will one day be able to worship in a real church and get together in a real student center.

0:57 but we still have students here. Once a year on the Thursday before Thanksgiving, we ask those who are friends and those who are family of Bulldog Catholic of the Duluth Newman Center to consider supporting our day-to-day ministry. This one day is the one time that we ask our friends, our benefactors, to bless our current students. This is the one day that we We ask for support for the ongoing ministry, the day-to-day ministry, to pay the bills, to keep the lights on, to keep the heat on as it gets colder and colder here in northern Minnesota, as well as to employ a growing staff to serve our growing students. If you'd like to join us this Thursday at the Essential Presents channel, we have a live stream starting at 7 p.m. Central Time, where we'll do some Q&A, we'll have some interaction with myself, as well as some current students and some current staff, as well as just have an opportunity to get together and to pray.

1:52 If at any point before that date, during that day or after the day, you'd like to consider financially supporting us, please know that you can. Go to bold.catholic.org and just hit donate. Or you can go to givemn.org, that's giveminnesota.org, and just search for Newman or Duluth, and you'll see us right there on the webpage and just donate that way. If you're unable or unwilling to support us financially, I could ask for your prayers. We have so many students in OCIA right now. We have so many students coming to Bible studies. The place is packed and there is such a great need that we just are in need for that financial support. And we know that God can take care of his church. We know that God wants these miracles to happen. And so please consider prayerfully supporting us as well. Please keep us in your prayers on a daily basis.

2:45 If you're willing to, I ask you to please keep me in your prayers on a daily basis, as well as each one of these students who is growing in their knowledge of the Lord. Every prayer helps, every dollar helps. So this Thursday, November 20th, 7 p.m., join us for the live stream or go to bulldogcatholic.org or givemn.org and make a difference. Make a difference in the life of a student who is here on campus now. And if you're unwilling or unable to do that, please know of my great thanks, truly, for just listening and being a part of this community in whatever way you're able, in whatever way you're willing. And from all of us here at Bulldog Catholic, my name is Father Mike. God bless. The Lord be with you. And with your spirit. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke. Glory to you, Lord. Chapter 21, verses 5 through 19. While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, All that you see here, The days will come when there will not be left one stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.

3:51 Then they asked him, Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen? He answered, See that you not be deceived. For many will come in my name, saying, I am he, and the time has come. Do not follow them. When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified, for such things must happen first. But it will not immediately be the end. And then he said to them, nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines and plagues from place to place and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky. Before all this happens, however, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and to prisons and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony. But remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand For I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.

4:51 You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. And they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance, you will save your lives. The Gospel of the Lord. Wait, you'd have a seat. So have you ever had the experience when you see a photograph of someone, a picture of someone, and you're like, oh my gosh, I love this photo of you. And they say, oh wow, yeah, me too. Have you ever had the experience where someone is like, you show, you're like, this photo of you is great and they agree? This is rare, isn't it? It's kind of rare that that happens. Because mostly it's like, oh, this is great of you. You're like, I don't like it. That's us. I mean, this happened. My mom, years ago, my mom actually liked the photo. It was, she, it was so out of character that when my mom liked the photo, my sister was like, called me up. There's a photo of herself that mom likes. They actually, she said, when I die, this is long before she was six. She said, when I die, I want this photo on my funeral card. So that's what we did after she had passed away, put that photo on her funeral card. She even framed it. It was up in the house. Now this is a woman who is beautiful. She was gorgeous, hated every photo of herself. And so when she saw one that was like, I like that, we're all like, why? What I mean, that is like, I couldn't see that. I didn't, I had no idea why she liked this one photo of herself because all the, they're all great. I think sometimes it's like, what? Well, you know, I like the lighting here is good. I look tanner. I look more alive.

6:30 I look, you know, less wrinkles, whatever the thing is. I think a lot of times it's that, right? It's like, I look good in this light. I think there's something about that, just like I want to be seen, we all want to be seen in a good light. Because there's always, again, just be honest, we all have those things about us, like I like to de-emphasize this about me. I'm like, oh, this is good light because this light emphasizes the things I like about myself. And again, there's nothing inherently wrong with wanting to be seen in a good light. In fact, there's something actually good when you look at someone else and it's like, you try to see their behavior in a good light, that means you're giving them benefit of the doubt. Like, you know, I'm going to interpret your behavior in the best possible way. So again, there's nothing wrong with wanting to be seen in a good light.

7:15 But here's the question, the question we asked at the beginning of Mass. Because it has to do with, do I only want to be seen in a good light? Or am I willing to be seen in the light? Here's the question, would I rather be admired or loved? I don't know what y'all said. both are nice. One is better. We know that, right? I think a lot of us, we prefer to be admired. Just daily life. We prefer to be admired because it's safe. I prefer to be admired because it is, it's, I'm in control of what you see. And if you see only the good things, then yeah, you admire me. To love, to be loved is risky. Because again, do you get married? I let you see what I want you to see. I let you know about me what I want you to know. But to be loved means this, means you have to let yourself be seen. To be loved, you actually have, in order to be loved, you have to be known. I think it's fascinating. No one's ever said human beings are made to be admired.

8:14 But you're here again and again, especially as Christians, we know that we are made to be loved. God is love. God is not admiration. And God made us out of admiration. No, God made us out of love. He made us for love. In fact, the great commandment is to love God, to love people around us, our neighbor as ourself. There's never, there's no command to admire, no command to be admired. Everything comes down to love. And yet I want to be seen in a good light. And God says, but you're made to actually be seen in the light. That's the first reading today from the prophet Malachi. What's he say? The first opening line, he says, the day is coming. The day is coming and it's blazing like an oven. Now that day, typically scripture interprets that day as the end, like the end of time, like when the Lord himself arrives. So I don't know if you know this, this is the second to last Sunday in the ordinary time. So like next week is Christ the King and after that is Advent already. And so like at the end of the church year, the church always reminds us, we're coming to the end of the year. Also, at some point, we're going to come to the end of our lives. And at some point, we're coming to that moment, that day, like the capital D, day, when either we're going to God or God's coming to us.

9:26 And he says, the son of justice arises. That's what Malachi says. The son of justice arises and that son brings the light. When that light shows up, do I want to be seen? In fact, John chapter 3, right? Jesus is talking to a man late at night. His name is Nicodemus. And in John 3, Jesus says these words. He says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that all those who believe in him might not perish but have eternal life. And then he goes on to say, right one verse after that, he says, and this is the verdict. Light came into the world, but people prefer darkness to light because their works were evil. They don't want to be seen. And this is us. Here's Jesus. Like, that's amazing. Light came into the world. Incredible. Who would not want to stand in the light? And Jesus says, no, there's a lot of us. There's a lot of us who don't want to, we want to be seen in the good light, we don't want to be seen in the light.

10:22 And I think that's one of the reasons why Jesus has such harsh words for hypocrites. Because we know what hypocrites are, right? The technical term hypocrite, the Greek word in the Bible, it means actor. It means pretender. To be a hypocrite, it means this. It means, I want you to believe something about me that I'm not willing to actually be. that I want you to believe that I have a virtue that I'm not actually willing to choose I'm not willing to be what I want you to I want to appear to you to be why? because I want to be seen in the good light I don't actually want to live in the light which is contrasted with I heard this man describe a friend of his and he was talking about how this man actually is a virtuous man he's not a hypocrite he actually is what he appears to be and he said like he said oh yeah and that guy the video matches the audio.

11:17 I was like, oh, that's good. Like what he actually, how he lives matches how he claims to live. Imagine if that was a description of any of us. Yeah, yeah, her video matches the audio. His video matches the audio. Why? They're not a hypocrite. We're not pretending. No, the same thing. At the same time, that's not perfection. There's a, I don't know, let me make this clarification. There's a difference between being a hypocrite and merely being human. hypocrite is someone i'm not even going to try i just want i want to appear to have a virtue i'm not willing to choose humanity is i'm choosing this and i fail to be human is i know i actually do want i do really truly believe this and i want to strive after it i just keep falling that's not being a hypocrite that's simply being human you're striving for this don't be afraid but that day's coming. The light's coming.

12:11 The day's coming when all of our hearts will be known. Sometimes that happens ahead of time. I have a friend named Jeff Cavins. Some of you know of Jeff. He's a Bible scholar and teacher. And at one point, he told me the story. Actually, he told me the story many times, but he said that he had a friend who was a Catholic speaker who had been invited to this parish, and it was a big news, kind of a big-name person, and the church was absolutely packed. So like it was shoulder to shoulder in the pews. They pulled out extra chairs, people standing only, and they're waiting to hear this man speak. Now, meanwhile, he's in the sacristy. And one of the person there that he knew, and he's just going off about the priest of the parish. And he's just saying, man, he's like, yeah, this priest, I don't even know what his problem is. Like he doesn't seem to love the Lord. He's just an empty shell of a human being. He just like is a train wreck of a, and at some point someone from the pews goes into the sacristy and is like, dude, your microphone is on. so all of this stuff that he had been saying about this priest everyone in the church heard it and then i was like i asked jeff like what did he do i was like he had to go out there and had to give his talk can you imagine having on inadvertently sharing what you really thought and then having go in front of people and then put your face back on that sense of like okay you know something you know that there's something in my heart i didn't want you to know is in my heart and then having to stand up in front of everyone.

13:31 And now they know. That's what that thing is in your heart. You know, here's something interesting. As many times as Jeff has told me that story, he's never ever actually said who it was. But I think it's like to his virtue. Like that's to his character. He's never like, and by the way, it was this guy. You know him. I like, he's never ever said that. Now someone said, that's probably because it was him. I said that was never, that would never. Not in a million years would that ever be Jeff Cavins. I know this for a fact because he knows microphone technology way too good. I'm glad you laughed at that. But that's the thing. There's stuff in our heart that we don't want other people to see, but sometimes they get a glimpse of what's actually in our heart. A couple months ago, I was down at Caribou, and I was sitting in the corner working on stuff, and this family of four came in. It was mom and dad, and they had a 20-year-old son, somebody in his 20s, and a little girl.

14:23 She might have been, I don't know, five, six, seven years old. And I noticed them because this girl was really, she clearly loved her older brother. She clearly loved her big brother. And she clearly loved her dad. And so here's the dad's interacting with the kids. And here's the mom. And at one point, I'm sitting there doing my work. I'm not nosy. I'm just doing my stuff. At some point, they're sitting in front of me. They're kind of facing each other in those comfy chairs, if you know, down in London Road, the caribou coffee. And here's the young man. He's standing, he's sitting there facing me. Here is the other chair, was the mom and the little girl on her lap. He's going to plan. And the man is facing them, and he's facing away from me. He's doing my stuff. And I wonder if I look up, and I could just see his phone.

15:05 And as his 20-year-old son's there, as his little girl's there, as his wife is right there, he's interacting with them, talking with them, and he's looking at very inappropriate things the entire time. And I was just thinking, like, this is fascinating. if he would flip his phone around he would be incredible he'd be humiliated if he flipped his phone around he'd be ashamed if he flipped the phone around they would see what was true about their father's heart they would see what was true about her husband's heart but they didn't because that's what we do we just step I want to be seen in a good light I don't want to actually live in the light now I'm sure I'm sure that that speaker in so many ways is actually a noble person I'm sure I hope that that dad is in so many ways and actually a good dad.

15:57 I'm sure those good parts are true, but the darkness is also true. That we have things that we do want people to see, but there's also things in our hearts that we don't want someone to see. And yet here's the problem we have is we're still made for love, which means that at some point we have to bring it all to God. Not just the stuff we'd like to be seen in a good light. We have to bring all of it to God. And that means what? That means a lot of things. One is our prayer has to be honest. When we come before God, we can't say, God, I want you to see me in a good light. So I'm only going to say the things I think you want me to hear. I'm only going to show the parts of me that I think you want to see. In prayer, we have to start being honest. But secondly, I have to be willing to let go of what's not supposed to be there. Because we all have stuff. We all have stuff where like, I would never want someone to see this. I would never want someone to know this about my heart. So what I have to be willing to do is I have to be willing to let go what shouldn't be there. Another word for that is I need to be willing to repent.

16:51 I need to be able to bring it to Jesus and just ask for his forgiveness, ask for his mercy. Because why? Because the day of the Lord is coming and the day of the Lord is going to burn up. That's what Malachi says. He says the day is coming, blazing like an oven. It will burn up whatever's not supposed to be there. I know a lot of you are familiar with the story of Lord of the Rings. So the story of Lord of the Rings, here's brief synopsis. The ring of power is, it symbolizes the corruptive power of evil, right? The ring symbolizes the corruptive power of sin in the world. And so one character's name is Frodo. Frodo is in Tolkien's worldview. Tolkien was Catholic, and so here's the corrupted power of sin. One of the Christ figures in Lord of the Rings is Frodo. He's the ring bearer, right? He's carrying the, aka sin of the world, to Mount Doom to get to destroy it. So his whole mission is to take this symbol of evil, the sign of evil, the cause of evil in the world, and throw it into the destructive powers of this volcano. That's the mission.

17:44 That's what essentially God wants, is the ring to be destroyed. But if you know this, at the end, there's this other character. His name's Gollum. And he's been captivated. He's been enslaved by the ring. And because he won't let go of it, the fire that was meant to destroy the ring and set him free, he couldn't let go of it. So the fire that destroyed the ring actually ended up destroying him.

18:08 So this is what Malachi is talking about. The day of the Lord is coming. And if I'm unwilling to let go of the stuff that is enslaving me, then what was meant to free me will actually end up destroying me. So that day, some of you know this already, that day, the day of the Lord, then another word for it, another term for it is called the last judgment. I don't know if you've ever heard of the last judgment. So there's two judgments we receive. One is what's called the particular, this is a little theology class right now. One is called the particular judgment. One's called the last judgment. So the particular judgment is we get judged at the moment we die. Another way to say it is, the moment we die, we get what we've chosen. If we've chosen God, we get God. If we've chosen not God, we get not God. So that particular judgment is, you get what we've chosen. Now, I think this is amazing, that before Jesus, everyone who chose not God, got not God. You got hell.

19:01 But before Jesus, no one could actually choose God, because Jesus is the one who opens up the way to the Father. Jesus is the only way to the Father. Now, because of what Jesus has done for us, If you want God, through Jesus, you get God. Incredible, amazing. But in that moment of death, particular judgment, I get what I've chosen. If I want hell, I get hell. If I want heaven, because of Jesus, I get heaven. So what's the last judgment? The last judgment isn't like a retrial. Just keep this in mind. It's not like an appeal, like, I had a bad lawyer the first time. It's not that. You still get what you've chosen. The last judgment means this. The whole story has been written. Like, the whole story is over. All of history in the created world is finally done. And here's what the Catechism says about that. It says, in that moment, when the story's over, we will see, we will know the consequences of each one of our choices to their furthest end.

19:56 So every sin we've ever committed, we'll know all of the consequences that had for generations. But also every act of grace, every act of virtue, even every attempt at doing the right thing we will know the furthest consequences for generations. Even your unseen and unknown attempts to do what God wants will be known to the furthest extent. But it also says this. It says, when the story's over, in the presence of Christ, this is the catechism, in the presence of Christ, who is truth itself, the truth of each one of our relationships with God will be laid bare.

20:35 So in the presence of Jesus, who is truth itself, the truth of each man's relationship with God will be laid bare. You'll be fully known. That's what scripture says. In that day, we will be fully known even as we, we will fully know even as we are fully known. What that means is that you'll be fully known by God. You already are, but you'll be fully known by yourself. Imagine, imagine that day. Actually, imagine fully known. Also, you'll be fully known by everyone else. What I mean by saying is that, is that on that day, you will know everything about me. on that day you will know every one of my sins on that day you will know every one of my every weakness in me you'll know every evil proclivity I have you'll know every act of grace every virtue of mine and I'll know yours you'll know everything about the person sitting next to you you'll know everything about the person sitting behind you in front of you you will know everything about them now you might be like shoot I do not want that day that is not exciting I understand that, but it is very good and it's also incredibly necessary.

21:39 I think we're afraid of that because why? Because we think, oh, I could get really proud. You know, that's my life. I did well. Or I could get really full of shame. I'll tell you this. On that day, there will be no pride. There'll be no shame. Here's what I mean. There's no pride because all of the good you've ever done, which is amazing, we will know how much good in us actually came from other people. we'll know how many times we thought it was oh it's me being virtuous when it was actually someone else being patient we'll know how many times it's like oh it was me really really generous when it was actually no all of the other actions of someone else who is self-sacrificial that shaped your heart and made it possible for you and I to do the good I mean we will know in that day how much God cared for us we will know right now we don't know how often God's grace helps us out of so many jams how many so many issues out of so many tragedies that day we will know to the fullest extent all of the moments where God's grace protected and preserved our lives.

22:37 And so in that day, there's no pride. It's just gonna be gratitude. Stepping into the light, realize, oh my gosh, God, I thought you were good. I now realize how truly good you are. No pride, but also no shame. On that day, all of your weaknesses will be known. All of your wounds will be known. All of your embarrassments you'll be in, all your sins. All the things we don't want people to know, all things we don't want people to see, All the things we want to be seen in a good light will now be seen in the light. But also here's the good news. At that moment, you'll be in heaven. Which means all those weaknesses, all those wounds, all those sins will have been submitted and surrendered to Jesus. This is the great news about this. Once even our weaknesses are surrendered, once even our sins are surrendered, they're no longer signs of weakness. They're no longer signs of shame. They become a testimony. They become a sign of God's power. You realize even your sins, even the thing that is enslaving you, even the thing that is literally killing you, once you give it to Jesus, it no longer becomes a sign of death, it no longer becomes a sign of slavery, it becomes a sign of God's goodness.

23:38 So much so that for all eternity, if you've surrendered your weakness, your embarrassments, your sins to God, for all eternity, they will declare, they will actually point to his glory and point to his goodness. One of my favorite books of all time is a book called The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. And the idea behind The Great Divorce is, Lewis wakes up and he's in this thing called the Grey Town. The Grey Town is either purgatory or hell. If someone chooses to go to heaven, they can go to heaven and the Grey Town will be purgatory. It's not very good theology, but it's a good story. The idea is some people, they go to the plains of heaven. On the plains of heaven, they're met by saints or met by angels who try to convince them to choose heaven. meanwhile they're just ghosts they're just shells of human beings and even all these saints and angels are saying just come to heaven god loves you he wants to bring you to joy not one of them says yes they all have a reason to go back to hell except for one person he's a ghost who has a little red lizard on his shoulder and this little red lizard is a sign of lust in this man's life this lust that has enslaved this man.

24:43 And so as this angel comes to him, this angel is just beautiful and powerful and massive, huge, on fire. And the angel's saying, just let me kill the lizard. Like, let me kill the lizard and you come to heaven. If you kill the lizard, you'd be set free. And the guy's like, well, I don't know. And the lizard's talking to his ear like, hey, just let's just go back. Let's go back. I promise I'll be good. Like, sometimes I go too far and give you really, really bad dreams. I'll only give you good dreams in the future. And this man is just dying. and he's begging to the angel. He says, why don't you just rip it off me before I could say no? And the angel says, you have to choose. You have to choose to let me kill it, but may I kill it? And finally, as this ghost of a man is broken down, he cries out for God's help. He says, yes, he says, God, help me, please just kill it. And he prays, God, help me, God, help me. The angel reaches out with his fiery hand, grabs this lizard from this man's shoulder, rips it off his shoulder.

25:36 The man falls down like he's just dead. The angel breaks the back of this lizard, throws it to the ground. And Lewis is watching this whole thing and he thinks, okay, that man, that ghost is dead. He fell to the ground. That lizard is dead. But he notices as the man hits the ground, something begins to change. That what was ghost-like all of a sudden becomes flesh-like. What was weak all of a sudden begins growing and becomes powerful. And at some point this man is transformed and he stands up and he's almost as large as this blazing angel. This man of beauty, this man of strength, this man of health, this man full of life. Meanwhile, he said, I looked down at the lizard. I thought it was dead, but it kept moving and then began changing. And as it was moving, as it was changing, this small, red, gross lizard began growing into a horse, into a stallion. When it stood up, it was one of the most powerful, beautiful, majestic stallions this man has ever seen.

26:32 and he says the man and the horse walked up to each other and breathed into each other's nostrils and he clapped the horse on the neck and he jumped on its back and took off to heaven. And the whole idea behind this, that Lewis is saying, is that even our wounds, even our weaknesses, even the things we don't want anyone to see, if we give them to Jesus, he can so fully transform them that for eternity, what enslaved us here will give God glory there.

26:56 And the great news is this. That can happen now. the great news is that we can start doing that right here right now and it's necessary why? because I can only be loved if I'm known I can only be admired if I only let people see me in a good light but I need to be known if I'm going to be loved and I need to be fully known if I'm going to be fully loved and this is the last thing as I said we can start this now heaven is love God is love not admiration not being seen in a good light but being known and being loved.

27:38 And we can start literally right now. We're in prayer right now. Right now, your prayer can be as honest as you need it to be. Say, God, this is my heart. This is what's in my heart. So let yourself actually come before the Lord as you are. But also there's this thing we have called confession. I think confession is incredible. Why? Because that is the time we go into this place go into this sacrament and we say, this is, I know what I want to be true about me, but here's what's actually true about me. I know what I want people to see, but here's what's actually there. And confession is a place that we surrender the wounds, we surrender the weaknesses, we surrender the embarrassment, we surrender the sins, and we let Jesus transform us now.

28:18 So, would you rather? Would you rather be admired or loved? Would you rather be seen in a good light or would you rather have something more? Something better? To be seen as you are. To be known as you are.

28:42 And to be loved as you are.