Offering Up Your Inconveniences
The Fr. Mike Schmitz Catholic Podcast
Ascension
4.9 • 7.1K Ratings
🗓️ 12 March 2020
⏱️ 6 minutes
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Summary
A great way to make this Lent even better spiritually is to offer up not only something you chose, but also to offer up your inconveniences. Give God those moments when you’re stuck in traffic, or when someone says something bitter to you, or when you have to run an errand you just don’t want to run. Offer up those inconveniences that you didn’t choose, and God will make you stronger in them.
Intentionally receive these moments, and let them provide the opportunity to die to self. The Lenten commitment we chose is an active mortification, but these inconveniences you didn’t ask for are passive mortifications. They’re powerful because we have no control over them, and yet we can have control over what we do with those moments. Accepting these passive mortifications is a way for us to grow in freedom, because through them we learn to accept and live graciously in the moments that would otherwise have control over us.
In the words of St. Paul:
“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Colossians 1:24).
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So there's the penances that you choose and there's the penances that choose you |
| 0:14.0 | Now I'm gonna spot the mic shmitz and this is a sense of resistance during any season of penance any season of fasting any season of mortification |
| 0:21.8 | Typically we we choose our thing right so here's Lent and you we were called to prayer fasting almost giving |
| 0:28.7 | Such a good thing as way of what like the end goal of the whole thing is to become like Jesus the end goal of the entire thing is to have a heart like |
| 0:36.6 | Christ to live in this world as |
| 0:39.2 | The image of Jesus in this world is to open our hearts up to loving God more opening our our lives up to loving each other more |
| 0:47.3 | There's a video we talk about discipline or generous that it's good to be disciplined |
| 0:51.1 | It's even more important to be disciplined in the act of generosity or in the act of in the way of love |
| 0:57.4 | But one of the things that has to happen every time we do penance is I say no to my own will and I say yes to God's will |
| 1:03.9 | I mean that's that's ultimately what's what's really going on? |
| 1:06.2 | That's the generosity part like I'm saying no to me that discipline part and yes to God's will |
| 1:10.8 | Yes to God's heart yes to God's God God himself and that's the that's the generosity part of the love part of the whole thing |
| 1:16.6 | So we pick a thing right? |
| 1:18.1 | So I'm gonna give up this for lunch or I'm gonna give up that for the other thing or you know on Fridays |
| 1:22.3 | I don't do this great super good awesome keep on doing that |
| 1:25.7 | Those are what you might call active mortification so a little little glossary moment a |
| 1:30.7 | Definition moment a a mortification comes from |
| 1:34.5 | Mortification now and if you've ever heard that word if someone's mortified that means like I'm dying here right so because more to |
| 1:40.7 | mortification comes from the Latin route or you know Spanish where though right? |
| 1:44.9 | Morrier is to die so if someone is worth though they are dead so |
| 1:49.0 | mortification is a death in fact. It's not just any death. It's the death to self |
| 1:53.9 | So again someone is I'm mortified meaning so embarrassed that I wish it was dead or I feel like a good guy |
... |
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