uh this Sunday is the last day of the Olympics and um I I love the Olympics I wish that I had every channel that you possibly could have to watch all the all the games um but America did what America always does really really well um I was just you know we know this because you can almost always put money on America because the greatest medal winners are almost always from America number one you guys all know who the number one greatest uh Olympian Olympic athlete of all time is we all know his name he's very his big white wingspan Michael Phelps yeah exactly Michael Phelps so Michael philps has won 28 medals 23 of them were gold medals in the Olympics and and he even said he I saw an article or an interview he had when he said it is the greatest feeling in the world like he said to stand on that this is the feeling that I dreamt of as a kid like always I was a swimmer as well and track I didn't make the Olympics spoiler um but like he said standing on the top of the Olympic Podium having just one year event and hearing the national anthem play and in that whatever that space is just he said the greatest feeling in the entire world which I can imagine is the greatest feeling in the entire world the interesting thing you might know this as well about Michael Phelps though is this person who has won more Olympic medals and more Olympic gold medals than anyone in history also has said that the day after and the week after and even sometimes the months after having that greatest feeling in the world that that that doing the the thing that he you spent your whole life doing were some of the wor worst moments in his entire life in fact um he said that I think I think he said that after every one of the Olympics that he had won gold medals at set world records at he fell into some kind of depressive State he said after after the London Olympics he said was the worst he went back to his room and uh he had won two Silvers and I think four Golds at the London Olympics and he went back to his room and he didn't eat or sleep for 4 days he couldn't and he said I I just have this thought like I didn't want to be in this sport anymore he said actually I didn't want to be alive he actually seriously considered suicide now Michael Phelps in that not only met our Lord but he also became vulnerable and told people about what he was going through and got a ton of help and and now he's he's healthy because he this is for anyone who's struggling in that way he actually again he asked for help he didn't think he could be the kind of person who could ask for help but in that moment again he didn't just want not want to be in the sport he didn't want to be alive anymore and I just think about how Michael Phelps experience and so many people's experience mirrors Elijah's experience in the first reading today from First Kings you have Elijah and what happened right before this scene is Elijah has had the greatest moment of his life so Elijah was the prophet of God and he had done incredible things like just remarkable miraculous things he had spoken on behalf of the Lord but also had done Miracles which is kind of a strange thing it's it's it's very rare but right before this scene what Elijah had done he was on the top of Mount Carmel and there were 450 prophets of Baal right in just Elijah one prophet of the Lord God against 450 prophets of Baal and all the people are gathered there and Elijah says how long are you going to straddle the issue like basically if you want to belong to Baal just belong to him if you want to belong to the Lord that belong to him and they couldn't decide and so he throws down and has this challenge against the prophets and he challenges them he says okay here's the deal we'll build an all you build an altar I'll build an altar you pray all you want and if B answers then he wins and if the Lord God answers my prayer then the Lord God wins and just to summarize the whole thing uh the prophets they pray and pray and pray nothing happens no one's listening there is no God named Bal and then Elijah builds this Altar and douses it with with water it's just this incredible like just deluges it with water and he just utters this simple prayer to the Lord God who incinerates the entire Altar and then Elijah goes on and he basically he kills all the prophets of Bal like so so this is this is Elijah's best victory and then all the people say and this is the biggest thing all the people say well we we belong to the Lord they say the Lord is God they they they're all in for Yahweh amazing if you want a good day as a prophet it's the day when everyone says we're on the side of the Lord God this is his biggest win and then the king takes out a hit on him and so Elijah has to run off into the desert and that's where we find him today what what happens after the biggest victory of his life he lies down and he's basically says I just I I'm no better than my father I might as well just die here in a similar sense of Michael Phelps here the biggest day of his life biggest accomplishment of his life and now what is there left and this is one of the things that happens to so many of us right after the big victory sometimes the big defeat is the thing we have to wrestle through we don't typically prepare what do I do after the victory what do I do after I win what if I what do I do after I've just done the best thing I'll ever do think about that what do I do the day after the week after I've done the best thing the most important thing I'll ever do because we can have that sense of like well there's nothing left like what more is there like all of life is in the rearview mirror now so why even go forward I got what I wanted now what about that I got what I wanted now what I know you know this Brady back when he was 27 years old uh he had already won four Super Bowl trophies there's an interview back in 2005 that's when he was 27 um you want to know do the calculations uh the interviewer asked him a question he said he said uh Tom what's your life like now like how happy are you and Tom Brady responded this way he said he said there's times when I'm not the person I want to be he says why do I have three Super Bowl rings I got it wrong he had why do I have three Super Bowl rings and there's still something greater I think there's still something greater out there for me I mean he said maybe a lot of people would say hey man this is what it is he said I reached my goal my dream my life I mean I think God it's got to be more than this I mean this can't be what it's all cracked up to be I mean I've done it I'm 27 what else is there for me and the interviewer looks at him and says well what's the answer and Tom Brady just quietly says I wish I knew I wish I knew I got everything I wanted and I'm still not happy in fact that's what Jim Carrey actor comman right he he once said that he once said he said I wish that everyone would get rich and do everything they ever dreamed of so that everyone can find out that it's not the answer so here's the question what is the answer like what is what what do we do what what is I someone asked me this question like a year or two years ago and it just has stuck with me they they asked me in terms of like Ministry they asked me in terms of what we want to do on campus it's a question of like what's the answer and the question they asked was they said by the mik what does in your world in your work and your life what does a win look like and i' I've spent a couple years now praying with that question what does a win look like and I just I think that's the question we can ask today what does a win look like so for an athlete what does a win look like a win looks like getting to the top of your career and and winning the victory for a business person maybe it means making all these big Investments for for an Entertainer for a teacher like what does a win look like especially especially when there can be a n maybe you have one maybe you reached maybe maybe a win would be like recognition I mean we see this a lot maybe a win is people recognize that you're actually really good at something and so we I don't know if you've seen this but then it becomes for some people a battle to say re stay relevant I I I don't know if you've seen this but I've seen this with like online influencer type people who may have like started out normal and then what they're doing online seems to be more and more Reckless and more more erratic just to try to get more likes or to try to get more views or more followers you ask the question well will that make you happy it did it make you happy at first would it make you happy now what does a win look like I was think even for like a parent I mean moms and dads I think about all moms and dads do for their kids think all the things that moms and dads sacrific for their children and then they raise their children and their children grow up and then they just leave like okay wait what what do you do now like for someone who like I just did it I poured my whole life out for this person or for these people and then they just go now hopefully that relationship matures and evolves but sometimes it doesn't sometimes they just take everything that you've given them and they walk away so for parents like what does a wind look like remember hearing a pastor uh he he said he and his wife they they sat down and they actually said as they started having kids they said what do what kind of kids do what kind of what do what do we want to get out of uh this whole process of being parents and one of the things they said is they said we want to raise children who love coming home and spending time with us as adults that was just one of one of their goals that was what a win looked like for the two of them who want to raise children who love coming home and spending time with us as adults I don't know if that's a good win or a bad win but that was their win that was their goal I think about this for myself what does win look like and I think about I on campus a wind looks like this wind looks like students who encounter Jesus in a way that transformed with their lives it looks like it looks like um the students while here learn what it is to become Disciples of Jesus that what I mean is they learn how to how to pray in season out of season they learn how to pray when they feel it and when they don't they learn how to listen to God's voice they learn how to live as a Christian they learn how to disciple others let me what I mean by that is they they learn how to walk alongside others and and the a win I think for this ministry is that when they leave they become the kind of people who again can pray in any environment that that they're willing to share their love for Jesus and the Catholic church with their families that they're leving in the world no matter where they are and that they bring Christ with them that's a win that's the win I think I maybe little another one for this like for the online stuff for me what what's a win I think I think a wi looks like doing my best to share what I've been praying about and wrestling about and hope it help some people and I think you know again regardless of how many people watch how many people listen if there are people who can say that helped me that's a win like when someone randomly meet them and they say hey because of whatever I've done I've learned that I can trust God okay that's a win when someone says what you said about this gave me the courage to let Jesus heal me in confession like that's a win I got I actually got a message from someone the other day that said that some of the stuff we've done up here on campus transformed the way they saw God and saw themselves and saw sex and they're now in the process of detransitioning as they're actually Allowing God to love them as they are and they're learning how to love themselves as they actually were created to be here's what I know also I know that someday maybe sooner maybe later people will cease to call someday maybe sooner maybe later people will stop caring what I have to say about anything and on that day I think a wind looks like saying God thank you for the opportunity just saying God thank you for the opportunity to talk about you to so many people here it is think you can have it back and that's what a win is for Elijah like if we if we keep going keep following his story again this man who in his had his best day of his life but now it's all over he says nothing I have nothing left to do again I might as well just be here and die God says What God Says okay Elijah get up and eat why because if you don't you're not going to have strength for the journey because for Elijah there's two things left so Elijah he gets up he eats and then he Journeys for 40 days and 40 nights to Mount Horeb and on Mount horb this is the very famous scene right of Elijah in this moment there scene where Elijah goes on the mountain and he's listening to for the voice of God and there's a whirlwind and there's a you earthquake and there's a fire and it says God was not in the fire but then there's a still Small Voice in that moment Elijah hid his face in the Clift of a rock why because after all this after all this fighting after all this battling after all this profiting you know prophesying after all this thinking that this is what a win is Elijah encountered the true and living God in a way he never imagined and realized can nothing compares to this I thought that all my fighting all my prophesying all my working I thought that was the goal that was the win but nothing compares to this Nothing Compares not not fighting for God not talking about God but God that was the win you might have the story about St Thomas aquinus at at one point at you know this is in the 1200s here's St Thomas aquinus who was the most prolific writer he right now probably is considered to be the Theologian of Christianity for the last 2,000 years no one more brilliant more genius no one gave more in the in the area of the intellectual life to the church other than St Thomas aquinus and apparently he's in prayer one I think it's December and he's praying and he's before our Lord and at one point God spoke to him and God asked him the question he said you have written well of me Thomas what reward will you receive from all your labor he ask the question what's a what Hey Thomas you've done well you've fought well you've spoken well you've written well of me what's a win and St Thomas who not only had an incredible mind but incredible heart said these simple words he said Lord I would not accept any other compensation without you yourself the answer what what's a win Only You Lord and this is what Elijah gets Elijah gets him for all of us every one of us this is what a win looks like to get Jesus and then is the last thing actually no it's not the last thing yet um I more Sports One More sport thing guys okay I don't know we're on the sports role Olympics you guys uh so years ago there was a young man his name is Kyle Kyle was a student here he played for the hockey team and Kyle was in rcia his senior year as he playing for the hockey team and we got we're UMD was in the Frozen 4 made it to the finals championship game and that night we had more school spirit here at UMD than I've ever experienced my entire life and because why in double overtime the championship game double overtime Kyle himself his name is Kyle Schmidt Kyle scored the winning goal and the Bulldogs UMD Bulldogs won the National Championship so I mean the town was going nuts the campus was going crazy and I'm like I know that guy what the heck this is awesome and and so the next day I called him I'm like Kyle congratulations and he's like yeah you know it's a team effort all those kind of things people normally say and I said but yeah but dude this is a really really big deal I mean this is this is what kids like who play hockey this is what they're dreaming of every night they're out on the pond like double overtime open net go you lived it and he said yeah I know it was a big deal but then he said this he said but nothing is going to compare to the first time I get to receive Jesus in the Eucharist after I become Cath Catholic that same sense like Thomas aquanus like that that was a big deal I won went to play pro after that for a little bit but nothing will compare to Jesus himself now it's been a bunch of years now and I talked to Kyle just a couple months ago and he said oh yeah um I sometimes tell that story to people and they say are you kidding he said no actually that scoring that goal is not even in the top 10 anymore for my life of like great great things to have done it was a big deal but the wi was him this is actually the last thing Elijah was given two tasks one was to go to Horeb and encounter the Lord the other was to anoint two kings and anoint the next Prophet Elisha I think sometimes when you think that you the best days are behind you like the biggest win it's already been done the most important thing you could have done has already been accomplished think of Elijah he wasn't done why because God had to send him to Elisha to hand on the Legacy here is this incredible Prophet Elijah one of the greatest prophets who ever lived and then he said God said now Elisha hand on the Baton like pass it on be able to extend that Legacy and that that's what those business people extend the Legacy maybe your best days are behind you but pass on the Baton maybe parents you say like okay I just give everything for my children okay consider that baton past as they become parents whatever the work is I think so often so many of us live for what we get but for Elijah the win was a legacy and the legacy is what you get to leave behind that's the win you might find yourself in a in a season right now where your best day the best accomplishment you've ever had is in the past but that doesn't mean you're done to have a new sense of what it what is a win it could be just you Lord or it could be Legacy to no longer live for what you can get but to live for what you get to leave behind [Music]