Father Mark Nolte - July 26

St. Philip Catholic Church: Today's parable, we've been hearing these parables the last several weeks. Jesus speaks to us in parables because he wants us to get it. He kind of dummies it down for us. I need I don't know about you, I need things dummy down a little bit to help me understand that he most of his parables are around the kingdom of heaven. He's trying to show us what the kingdom of heaven is like and what it's like to discover it. And how do you know if you really discovered the kingdom of heaven? Here's one way you'll know you've discovered the kingdom of heaven is you discover Jesus Christ. Jesus is real to you. The way you'll know that you've you're starting to get there, you're starting to enter into the kingdom, is the kingdom will become the most valuable thing in your life. Can I say that in my life? Can I say that the kingdom of God, Jesus, my faith. is the most valuable thing in my life. Where are you with that right now? One way you know what's most valuable for you is where do you spend your money? Where do you spend most of your time, your energy? That's how you'll know what's most valuable to you. These parable, these stories he shares today of these merchants, this merchant that's finds this treasure hidden in the field. He discovers this hidden treasure buried in the field, and it says he goes off in joy to sell all he has just so he can acquire that treasure. You see, he discovered the kingdom of heaven. When you discover Jesus, when you come to know Jesus and the joy that comes with that. Nothing else in this world matters. When I was living in the world, had a career as an optometrist, making a lot of money, living the dream as they say. I don't know if it's a dream, it's a nightmare sometime, but you know, are you living the dream? I hate that. What does that mean? To me, living the dream is knowing him and following him. That's living the dream. But I remember g you know, I always went to church, Catholic my whole life, large Catholic family. But I got to a point in my life where church was not enough. I couldn't figure out there was something in my life that was missing. Anybody ever feel that? Like something's missing in my life. I'm going to church, I'm doing my rosaries, I'm checking all the boxes, or I'm doing all I'm a good Catholic boy, I'm doing everything I'm supposed to do. But something's missing. You ever had that feeling? Raise your hand. Something is missing in my life. How many of y'all want more out of your Christian faith? How many of y'all want more? I want more. Just a few of you want more. The rest of you are happy. Everybody everybody else is cool. Just Father Martin, just leave us alone. We're c we're perfectly fine. I want more. That's the Christian faith is never boring because there's always more because of who we serve. So what was missing from me I didn't know it at the time. It was what was missing is I hadn't found the hidden treasure. And I did and even if you told me what it was, I wouldn't have known what it was until I discovered it. And I got involved in the charismatic renewal, Catholic charismatic renewal through my parents, particularly my mom. My mom was so full of joy. She had they had ten kids. I don't know how she was so joyful without pulling Without pulling her hair out. I just saw what the Holy Spirit did to that woman. And w and I I was in college. I was looking at her. I saw the joy. Now my dad was a daily communicate. But as my dad says, you know, I'm sorry, I'm not one of those hand raisers. That's a fine, you know, you don't have to be a hand raiser. That's an inside joke for charismatics. Thank you, Jesus. but I started going to these charismatic renewals where thousands of Catholics, a bunch of priests on the altar, I mean on the stage doing mass, sixty, eighty priests up there just full of joy, and I was just sitting there like, Mom, Dad, is this Catholic? I've never seen happy Catholics in my life. They usually look like they're really bored at Mass and they don't want to be there. No, this is Catholic. Wow. I want this. I thought they were a little weird, but you know, I wanted that. And that's what God wants for you. He created you for joy. He created you for freedom. And the byproduct of freedom is joy. That's why these little children, they come up, they're smiling, they're ready to go to the next task. And a lot of us have lost that joy. Over time, we got life's beating us up a little bit. We've kind of lost that joy. And so going to this these conferences and these charismatic gatherings, it took me a while to kind of warm up to it because it was a little bit much for me, the happiness ahead. I'm I'm just being honest. It was a little bit too much. But after a while I said, you know, I want this. And I started giving my life to To Lord more and more. You know, for me, looking back now, what was missing was I didn't know Jesus Christ. I went to church. Jesus was somebody of the past that we happened to pray to. That's kind of how I looked at it. Some of you might be here today, that's kind of how you look at Jesus. Yeah, he was this guy, long hair, beard, kind of hippie guy, did some cool things. But he was he wasn't real to me. I didn't know I could have a relationship with him. And then I went into God called me to the priesthood. And then He called me into religious life. And in religious life, they taught us how to journal and listen to God's voice. So even went deeper. And I the more and more I came to know him, I realized all the things that I valued in the world the money, the success, the pleasures, the good old times, right? It meant nothing to me anymore. Some of you know what I'm talking about. When you meet Jesus, you encounter him, he becomes real to you. He's the most valued thing for you in your life. He changes everything. Jesus and his spirit changes everything. It takes everything I valued in my past life and it turned it on its head. When I was in religious life, people say, Well, don't you miss the money and all the you know. all the things of the world that you had, I was dating, I was doing I I was doing everything that supposed to be the American dream, right? And I was empty inside. I was depressed. I drive home on the end of the weekends, I won't tell you where I was, but I drive home at the end of the night and depressed. I'm thinking, okay, I'm having a good time, but I'm still empty. And thanks to my parents, especially my mother, she introducing me To the Holy Spirit in the charismatic renewal. And there's where I discovered the hidden treasure Jesus. And from that point on, that's where I received my vocation to the priesthood. I went into religious life and took a vow of poverty. It's one of the most freeing things I ever did. People are like, Well, don't you miss all the th all the toys and all the things you've never been happier in my life. Living off the grid. It was great. I don't have all the distractions. What's missing in your life? Some of you here today, you're hearing this message and you're going, I can relate to that. There's something missing for me. Just going to church is not enough. Just checking off boxes is not enough. I wanna know what this hidden treasure that Father Mark's talking about. How many of y'all wanna know more about that hidden treasure? Raise your hand. I want to know that joy. I want to know that freedom that these children have. So, whatever it is that's missing for you, just tell the Lord. He already knows. Lord, I want Jesus, I want more. I want more of you. Just going to church on Sunday or whenever I go, it's not enough. I want to have a relationship with you. I want to know you. I don't want to just know about you. I want to know you. Reveal yourself to me. Try that prayer. That's a dangerous prayer. Because he will reveal himself to you in some way. And when you encounter him, he's gonna change your life. I remember when I came back from that first charismatic conference, I got my friends that was I run around with, they all said, Uh-oh, Noty's got religious on us. Not he has become this religious freak now. Not he has become a Jesus freak. And I said, Yeah, and I'm proud of it. Get over it. I'm a Jesus freak. Any got any Jesus freaks in here? I hope you all raise your hand to that. He's the most valuable thing to me in my life. But I have a long ways to go. I still have a lot of things I'm working on, just like all of us. So, how do you acquire this treasure, this joy, this intimacy with Christ? We see it in the gospel today. It says he went off and sold everything. Remember the rich young man? He says, Okay, Lord, I've done everything. I've checked all the boxes as a Jew. I'm a good Jew. I've done everything. But I'm still empty, what do I need to do? And Jesus says, Go and sell all that you have and give it to the poor and come follow me. Give your life to me. And it says he went off sad because he realized he had many possessions. You see, if you want the more, if I want more, I gotta give him more. If I give Jesus a little thimble, he's gonna give you a little thimble. If I give him a five gallon bucket, he's gonna give me a five gallon bucket of himself. If you want more of him, you gotta give more. He's going to ask you to let go of some things. But when you fall in love with Jesus, it's it's it makes it easy to let go. Maybe he's gonna he's asking me to let he may not be asking you to sell everything, or he might. Or he what he is doing, he's asking you if you want this kingdom I want to give you, you've got to let go of some things your anger, your pride, your unforgiveness, your resentments. Your addictions, things like that. And it it's not gonna happen like that. It's it's a process. You see, God wants to give you everything because you're his children. He loves you. He wants to give you everything. But for me to receive everything from Him, I've got to let go of some things. So maybe a good question we can ask ourselves today is, Lord, what is that for me? What is it you're asking me to let go of? Maybe it's less screen time, scrolling on my phone, TV time. I was on my YouTube last night, I was looking at some things, and I just felt like the Lord's like, Turn it off. Turn it off. And I just turned it off and just sat there in the quiet. And it's just like, this is so nice. Quiet. So whatever it is you want, that joy, ask for it. It's a gift. And then ask the Lord, Lord, what is it you're asking me to let go of? What is it you're asking me to give to you so that I can experience more of you and more of your joy?