“With courage…there is freedom from a future full of fear.”
Fr. Mike Schmitz opened our weekend with a keynote focused on having the courage to put our trust in Christ. Drawing from the second book of Kings and the Gospel of Mark, Fr. Mike highlighted the stories of those who risked everything on the possibility that the Lord would show up.
Fr. Mike admitted, “Love anything and your heart will be broken.” Love does not come without pain. The courage to trust does not come without risk. The childless couple, in 2 Kings 4, was blessed with a son only to have him die in childhood. Because of this, the mother, angry with the prophet Elisha, questions why she was blessed with a child in the first place. Elisha brings the boy back to life. The Gospel of Mark describes the demonic man, the hemorrhaging woman, and the Roman Centurion whose daughter had died, all receiving blessings and healing through Christ. The catch is that having experienced pain once, their choice to trust the Lord and receive His blessings involves the risk that they might experience pain again. Trusting in Christ feels risky, because we know pain. The message of this weekend is Jesus’ promise to be with us in our pain – to be our REFUGE.
Will we choose to love, even with the pain? Will we have the courage to have faith?
You can hear Fr. Mike’s entire talk on the Friday Night livestream.
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