The Exiles Series
A Father Mike Schmitz Homily Series (May 2020)
“The Christian experiences and lives a paradox. He possesses joy in sorrow, fulfillment in exile, light in darkness, peace in turmoil, consolation in dryness, contentment in pain and hope in desolation.”
Exiles Part 1
Why Go Back
When placed into exile, what drives someone to want to get out. And does that individual actually want to get out. Father Mike will dive into the concept of exile, and encourage us to answer the question, Why?
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of Catholics did not attend church services virtually when they had the option to, and when physical services started up again, they may not have returned to the church. It speaks the question to the question above. Why do we go to Church? Why are we Catholic? What is the purpose of it all? When you can definitely answer these questions, things will become clear on what your priorities are.
Exiles Part 2
Restoration
Building off the first part of this series, the second installment gets at the restorative drive that we need to look for after a time of exile. There is an important distinguishing factor between physical suffering and restorative suffering. When we think of exile, or any time of suffering, we oftentimes lose sight of the purpose of suffering. How do we take suffering and make it good? It is an extremely difficult challenge to take upon ourselves, but we have to try to move in that direction. Reflect on your suffering, and identify how you can renew yourself through that suffering. What is God calling you to do?
Exiles Part 3
The First Gift
In the final installment of the Exiles series, Father Mike takes us through what he calls the first gift of the Holy Spirit, which is the understanding of what it is to be loved by the Father. How often do you reflect on God’s love for you? When you think about all the times we sin, when we deny Him like Peter denied Christ in the Passion, how can God still love us. This may be a point of struggle for some, because they may not believe in the power of God’s mercy and love for his people. Time and time again in the Bible, sin was rampant, but God continued to keep his arms open and allow for His people to return to Him. Will we choose to seek forgiveness, so we can pull ourselves out of exile?
The Prayer of Jesus. (John 17: 1-26, NABRE)
When Jesus had said this, he raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that he may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began.
“I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are. When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely. I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.
“I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.”
The Gifts of the Holy Spirit
How well do you know the gifts of the Holy Spirit? No worries, if not. Please watch the below video from Dynamic Catholic to learn more.