It wasn’t that long ago, perhaps two weeks before Resurrection Day 2024 that I saw a Catholic Mass by Father Mike Schmitz. My family has been watching him religiously since the beginning of Covid. Of all the Catholic Priests we’ve had an opportunity to listen to, Father Mike has put on full display, time and time again, his undying love for Jesus. I had an opportunity to meet him not that long ago and I told him that I believe him to be the only born-again Catholic Priest I’ve ever met or heard sermon. A smile cracked on his face, and he said, “I’ve never been told that before, but I agree”. Of course, I’m paraphrasing here but the point is, he’s a man of deep faith and love from Christ Jesus. His intimate relationship with Jesus is worn on his sleeve. Something not necessarily noticeable in modern day Catholic churches. I’ll never forget the Catholic Mass from Christmas 2023, which could have been equated to a fluff piece in Vanity Affair. The priest spent thirty minutes relating Christmas decorations to our Messiah. Father Mike, however, always spends a great deal of time preparing his sermons. It’s obvious he is led by the Holy Spirit and has no issue preaching on what I imagine is the edge of what’s allowed for Catholic priests to preach about.
A couple of Sundays before he was talking about how nursing homes should become the new convents. He was referencing a story by another priest, Father Walter, but the point is that we should be working to unite suffering, the suffering of pain whether bed ridden or the suffering of being alone, with the loneliness and pain of Jesus Christ on the cross. He went on to say that, by leading those in pain or those that are alone to the unity of the cross that we as followers of Christ enter the scene, to disciple alongside of Jesus. Through this we get to participate in the salvation of the world. How beautiful and impactful is that?
I didn’t give it much attention at the time. Shortly thereafter I began writing a piece on the American churches and in my own indignation, I spent two weeks coming up with a plan on how to shake the body. Seventeen pages later I had a proud and prideful smile on my face. Needless to say, you won’t find that article posted anywhere; in my filing cabinet it will stay. I don’t believe the purpose was for me to publish that article; it was for my own education. It merely solidified what God was guiding me to do. You see in writing it, I had spent hours of research, the fruit of which pointed me to the mission field. By the time I had finished writing the article my mind was only on one thing; loneliness. His Spirit in me was transported into the Spirit of the people alone in nursing homes all around us. This wasn’t a vision or a dream, it was a sense of emptiness in my soul comparable to a loved one lost. It wasn’t long before the feeling and accompanying emotion passed away.
As I prepared myself for a new work week, following my typical routine of 4:30AM readings, prayer and worship I showered, took my son to school and headed towards my office. Something was different this Monday however, I saw a life care facility by my office that I’d never seen before, or certainly never paid any attention to. I cracked a smile, had a moment of astonishment and made my way to work. The following day the life care facility still stood; it hadn’t gone anywhere. The only difference was my pull to walk through the doors, a pull that I shoved down and out of my body. If you’ve ever had a call from God, you know that pushing it down and out is harder than it seems. Nevertheless, I did my best to ignore the call. As Wednesday rolled around I passed the facility, I started laughing out loud, knowing full well that until I walk through those doors my soul would be incongruent. After praying Thursday morning and driving by the life care facility on my way to lunch, I decided to walk through the front doors and invited a close friend of mine to join me.
We walked in together not knowing what to expect or how we’d be received but asked the simple question, “Would you mind if we came to read the Bible to your residents?” The lady at the front desk asked, “what church are you with?” I cracked a smile, not because the question was funny, but because I get asked that question a lot and my answer varies. My answer wasn’t veiled, it was clear, “I’m not affiliated with a church, I’m just a Christian man who was called to read the Bible to your residents.” With silent acknowledgement I believe she understood I was guided there. Within a couple of minutes, we’d received a tour of the activity room where we’d be reading and had our first reading scheduled for the following Friday.
We didn’t have a plan other than to start by reading the book of John. We showed up, brought in our box of Bibles and began handing them out to the eight or so residents that showed up. Two hours later we had read the first half of the book of John. We couldn’t believe it. Almost every resident in attendance was on the edge of their seat. What we didn’t realize was we’d blown right through the scheduled bingo hour, but no one seemed to care. We were pelted by questions from a man with Cerebral Palsy, a blind woman and a paralytic. After leaving this first reading my friend Jon and I were full of peace and joy. His Spirit in us was ignited on fire and we spent the next 90 minutes recounting the experience with one another. We both decided that we couldn’t wait until next Friday to read to them again.
Christ is dynamic weaving through space and time, presenting opportunity at every turn. He is the creator of all things after all. Are we listening?
John 10:27-28.
27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.28I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.
We may end up in situations asking ourselves why am I here or what is the purpose in this? This is exactly how I felt when walking through the threshold of the life care facility. Being guided there was of His doing, not mine. Reading the Bible, spreading the gospel isn’t something I’d inherently do with my time. As children of Christ, we are to obey, even when we don’t necessarily understand. He will reveal to us His divine purpose as each second of His divine clock ticks by keeping His will alive and our will at bay. If you are confused by a situation, pray for revelation, remove the framework of time, it is a human construct and lean into His comfort.
As Jon and I went into the weekend and the following week others heard about the ministry we had started and wanted to come alongside us. We now read four deep and a month later the group has grown to 20 participants including staff and residents. The last twenty minutes is reserved for questions, and we often stay afterward to answer personal questions or offer prayer or free Bibles. We hear about how the wickedness of this world has afflicted those in attendance and answer questions about prayer, faith and salvation. We’ve started praying with the residents and it was through prayer that His revelation hit me. I finally understood why He guided me to this life care facility. He called me there to pray, fervent prayers of love, compassion and healing. Specifically, I was called to pray for a woman we will call Faith. She is blind and has had a wicked past filled with trauma, enough to blind anyone. However, I was hit with extreme fear and froze; two days later I was in the ER with heart palpitations and on the third day everything became clear.
The heart palpitations seemed to have been caused by a new multivitamin I was taking. While in the hospital I had the longest emotional release I’ve had since Christ pulled me from the pit and broke my earthly chains. For hours I sat in silent prayer and worship as tears rolled down my face, revealing my weakness for every passerby. Volunteers, nurses and doctors stopping by often to check on me, too afraid to ask why I was crying. It wasn’t until later that I understood the tears. Fear. Fear of a failing heart, fear of leaving my family, fear of prayers of healing.
Later that afternoon I checked myself out of the hospital. Exhausted emotionally and physically I rested my stinging eyes on the couch and went to bed at 8:00PM. As I was drifting off, I felt a tiny hand rest on my back. My son had crawled into bed with me and laid his hands on me in silent prayer, healing my broken heart. I melted in that moment, thanking Christ for all he has done for my family. Through Him we are evenly yoked and rightly ordered. Praise Jesus. All throughout the gospels we are called ‘children of God’ (John 1:12-13) and are called to have ‘faith like little children’ (Matthew 18:3, Mark 10:14-15, Luke 18:16-17). God works through opportunity, was I listening?
When I woke the next morning, the concern had moved from my heart to my back. In full spasm I was unable to stand up straight, something I’ve been dealing with since my early twenties when an unfortunate motorcycle accident compacted the L4 and L5 vertebrae putting pressure on a nerve. The body’s response is to engage the muscle to protect the spine and nerve. When this happens, it becomes a two-week adventure to chiropractors, prednisone and muscle relaxers. As I prepared to shower, I rummaged around the medicine cabinet to find the extra prednisone pack and laid it out on the bathroom counter.
As the water began hitting my back, I closed my eyes and asked God to reveal to me why this was happening. Before I even finished the prayer it was obvious. He had been giving me an opportunity to remove the fear I found myself trapped in, specifically the fear around prayer for healing. Not even 12 hours before, my son who is nine and is as innocent as a dove, laid hands on me in faith and prayer to heal my heart. Now He, Christ, was giving me an opportunity to believe to have faith like that of a child, like my child did. Without further hesitation, I placed my hand on my back and began to pray the most fervent prayer, releasing my soul of any attachment to this world, laying everything at the foot of His cross. I prayed for the darkness to leave me, that inflammation has no authority over me that my back would be healed. I prayed this and similar prayers several times, I lost count. I was listening and obeying. I gave Him thanks, gave Him the glory and released my will to Him.
By the time I left the shower I was standing upright, by the end of the day all the pain and inflammation was gone. My back was no longer in spasm. What used to be a two-week prison was removed by Him through faith in prayer. He speaks through opportunity. Are you listening? He was equipping me to release the fear I had around praying for healing. I was called to pray for a blind woman and disobeyed Him because of my fear. Delayed obedience is disobedience, but He gave me opportunity to believe. As I write this, it’s Thursday May 2nd, 2024 one day before we will read to the life care facility. The difference this time? I will pray for healing for the blind. I’m listening Lord. Your will be done.
