2/8/26 Wasted Potential

Welcome to Sunday Homilies with me. I hope today's homily inspires and motivates you, and I also hope that it leaves you hungry for the one who gave you. If you want to get this and other Sunday Mass resources sent straight to your inbox, sign up at Ascension Press dot com slash Sunday or by texting. You can also follow or subscribe on your podcast app for weekly notifications. God bless. The Lord be with you. And with your spirit. Chapter five verses thirteen through sixteen.

Jesus said to his disciples, You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket. It is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house.

Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds, and glorify your heavenly Father. The gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

So a little while ago, I was able to have a conversation with a man named Daryl Woods Sr. It was for a podcast called Called. Um and uh Darrell Woods his story is is remarkable. He um is from Detroit and uh Not a good place not a good part of Detroit. He From his fr literally from his mother's womb, he had a tragedy in his life. Uh when he was still in his mother's womb, his father died. And his mom, who had three older he had three older older older siblings,

She just went into a tailspin. Like she just, I'm kind of, in his words, she kind of lost it. And she took to drugs, got hooked in heroin, started living on the streets. And so Darryl went with his brothers, uh, went to live with his grandma.

And and there, there in his grandma, at grandma's house, uh there were 11 kids that were coming and going. And so he was just kind of one of those younger kids who just did his best. He said his grandma loved him, grandpa loved him. Um, but at one point at 12 years old, he just wanted to be with his mom. And so he at 12 years old, he ran away from his grandparents' house to go downtown Detroit, basically to be with his mom. And uh she

And the neighborhood kind of welcomed him as best as they could. In fact, there was this man he called uh Daryl called him Superfly, Superfly someone, um, who was kind of like a a drug king in that area. And he said, this guy, if I would go to school every day after school, he'd give me twenty five, fifty bucks just for going to school. He wanted to keep me in school. He said at one point though, I just was like, you know what?

If I'm I've had all this money, I am going to gamble. And so Superfly once pulled up when he says he sees Daryl gambling on the on the corner at twelve, thirteen, fourteen, and he says, That's it, you're cut off. I don't I don't I'm not giving you money so you can gamble, I'll give you money so you have a you can so you don't have to have a life of crime. So he cuts cut off at 14 years old, he begins becoming a drug dealer.

At fourteen he's also shot, uh and has to go to the hospital, almost dies, but doesn't die. At 15, he purchased a home with the money he was making dealing drugs in the corner. At 15, he also got the girl he was seeing pregnant. At 16, he became a dad. His son was born. At seventeen, his daughter was born in And at eighteen years old he was arrested and at nineteen years old he was convicted and given life without possibility of parole. What had what had happened was uh

He had sentenced for life. He had he had he had gone with uh his cousin to go buy drugs for his cousin. into this house and some guys followed him to this house. He didn't know what these guys were. They started arguing with the other drug dealers and so these guys behind him, he didn't know, pulled out a gun and shot some people. He and his cousin ran away, but Even though they didn't know the guy, they were found guilty of aiding and abetting this murder. And

He spent the next 29 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. I mean, it's obviously Daryl's not innocent, right? He did a lot of bad stuff, but he also wasn't guilty. He wasn't guilty of that, right? He wasn't guilty of the crime that he was in jail for. And regardless, you think about this, all of those years, I mean 29 years from the time he was 18, 19 years old for the next 29 years, just wasted.

Like all the all the all the all the chances he was given. Even the the the drug dealer on the corner who wanted to pay him to go to school. That chance wasted. His grandparents who would have raised him in a place safe, far away from the world of drugs, the world of violent crime, wasted.

And if you look at Daryl Woods, you might think like, man, that was so much wasted potential. Yeah, I've just been re I've been reflecting on the on the tragedy of wasted potential. Because that's what it is. I mean that wasted potential is is just it's just a tragedy. It's in all of our lives, right? Um no quick thing. When we think potential, I think sometimes we think um something oh, you could have had this potential. Like you could you c like um

If I had been given a chance when I was a kid to to live in a a city where they had gymnastics, I had the potential to become an Olympic gymnast. Well, no, I did I didn't have that. I could have had that chance. That's not really potential. That's like potential potential. Real potential is, no, you had the chance. I think real potential is, no, it actually was yours.

You it it's it's when you did have it in you. It's when you did have that chance. It's when you had what you needed and you just didn't use it. I think that's what wasted potential is. You had all that you needed and you just didn't use it.

I think that's one of the working on the college campus. I think I think it's one of the awesome things and working with junior high, middle schoolers, high schoolers. I think it's one of the awesome things about youth is that is that uh to be young means to have potential.

Like it me in fact, to be young means to have a certain kind of potential that no one else in the world has. People who are not young have no it's in the most incredible resource. Warren Buffett, right? Warren Buffett is a investment guy. He is probably, I think they estimate worth roughly$150 billion. 150 billion dollars. And yet my guess is this: my guess. Is that if you asked any one of our students, None of them would want to trade places with Warren Buffett.

Because even though he's worth$150 billion, he's also 95 years old. And so imagine Warren Buffett, if he could trade a place with any one of our students, regardless of whether situation or their circumstance, regardless of how much money or they have or don't have, he might take it unless he's at peace with his life and he's very content and ready to die. But none of us would ever, ever

Trade places with Warren Buffett. Why? Because we know the value. We know that that youth has such potential that it's so valuable. And here's the crazy thing you have it. To our students, you have this. Sidebar. People my age, old people, and people older than me, um, we have a We have potential as well. It's just a different kind of potential. So if you're like, oh man, my young potential is gone, like yeah, maybe it is. But you have other potential. The po point is this.

Every one of us has been given some degree of potential and the tragedy is every one of us is guilty of wasting our potential. And something I did have, and I just didn't use it.

As Christians, this Christians, as followers of Christ, this is so critically important to us. Why? Because I think sometimes, even if we know who Jesus is, even if we like, no, no, I I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, created heaven and earth. We we could say all the creed. I think so many Christians. We walk around as if one day God might choose us. I think we walk around as as if maybe maybe one day we might be good enough for God to claim us.

I think sometimes even as Christians, we walk around with this notion of, well, someday I might be given a chance. And yet in the second reading today, Saint Paul writing to the Corinthians, what does he say? He says the first thing I preached to you in Corinth. Like I didn't I didn't preach sublimity of wisdom. I didn't preach this, you know, any philosophy. All I preached to you was Jesus Christ and him crucified. Basically what he's saying is.

I pointed to the cross and I said, this is the sign of God's love for you. That already, regardless of your life, regardless of your past, regardless, regardless of where you're living or how you're living, this is God's love for you right now. They basically pointed to the cross. Here's Jesus crucified and said, This is proof. that God has already made his choice for you. To realize this, this is the truth. That God became one of us. He made it possible to have a new life.

Christ lived on this earth for us. And died for us and made it possible for us to be forgiven, that that he poured out his Holy Spirit on us and made it possible for us to be adopted by the Father. That he basically, in giving that Holy Spirit, Jesus has made it possible for us to be a new creation. And this is the thing. This is all of this you already have.

Like this isn't all like you could have someday. This is no, if you're a follower of Christ, you already have all of these gifts. It's a gift of grace that nobody, nobody earns. And this, the crazy thing is this, Jesus has done all of this for you and for me. What's that mean? That means you and I have amazing potential. The question is Out of all that we've been given. Has it been wasted on us? Like has has has is the gift of God's grace just been wasted potential?

You can say, well I know I have the grace, but I just don't want to use it right now. Or I can say, well I I I know I I know I have access to the mass, but it's just kind of boring for me. We say, oh, I know I have access to the Father's heart. I can pray at any time, but I'm gonna pray later, different time. I know I have access to God's word.

But my phone is here and I'd rather not look at the Bible. I'd rather just share share my phone. We could even say like I I have access to God's mercy, but I don't know, I feel like I'm disqualified. Here's a crazy thing, wasted potential. All of these gifts you have and I have, and we just don't use them. And again, the disqualification thing. I think sometimes it's interesting to wonder this.

Do we realize that the things that we believe disqualify us are absolutely no surprise to God? Like, just pause on this for one second. The things that you and I will say, like, ah, yeah, that means I. I can't belong to the Lord. That's actually that doesn't shock him. That doesn't surprise him. That he knew your weakness when he chose you. That that God knew what your struggles were gonna be when he claimed you. Do you realize the truth that Jesus knew your sins when he picked up the cross?

He knew all of it. None of it is a surprise. That he did he did that so that you and I could be free. He did that so you and I could be forgiven. He did that so you and I could have new life.

And the crazy thing is this you're being here at this mass, you're praying right now, you're going to confession right now. One of the things that means is it's a declaration, it's a declaration. Basically, Every time you pray, every time you go to Mass, every time you go to confession, every time you even raise your eyes to the Lord, every time you open the Bible, what you're saying is, Jesus. I am not going to let what you did for me go to waste on me.

I don't want to have this wasted potential. Jesus, I am not going to let what you did for me go to waste on me.

And this actually is part of Daryl Woods' story that um his grandmother was very, very Christian, very devout. She would always bring him to church. And he said, well, that that meant, that meant Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, again on Sunday. It was it was a lot.

But he said when he was arrested in jail, he said, that's when I really prayed. He said, that's when I really read my Bible. And I said, I asked him, I said, is that looking for loopholes? He's like, well, yeah, but also I realized, wow, Lord Jesus, if I get convicted, you are all I have left. And I've wasted my life up to this point. I cannot waste my life from this point. And basically Daryl said, Jesus, I will not let what you did for me go to waste on me. And he just dove.

Even after jail, even when that loophole thing was done, when he's in prison and thinking I'm in prison for life, he just dove into scripture, dove into prayer, dove into the reality that, oh, Lord, you made it possible for me to have joy at all times. You made it possible for me to have peace. Even in the midst of prison when I didn't do what they told me that I did. I'm not gonna let what you did for me go to waste on me.

And this is our invitation to say, okay, God, no wasted potential. Not getting my life. Whatever you've done for me, no wasted potential.

So here you are, what you have, and what you are. Well you are because here's what what what does Jesus say in the gospel today? He says what you are. He says you are the salt of the earth. He says, you are the light of the world. Now again, highlight this. He's saying this is what you are. He doesn't say this is what you might have, this is what you might be. He says, No, you are the salt of the earth. This is your potential.

You are the light of the world. This is your potential. And I you know it's so fascinating. So many times I go back to Acts of the Apostles. And they actually apostles after Jesus has risen from the dead, you might have heard this before. Jesus has risen from the dead. He's lived with his apostles for 40 days. He's been teaching them. He's been instructing them. He's been, again, as a resurrected Christ.

shaping them and he brings them to Bethany. They're overlooking the city of Jerusalem. And the up there you can see everything. You can see the upper room, you can where the first uh Eucharist happened, you can see Golgotha, you can see the tomb, all these things. And the apostles ask Jesus a question. They say, Lord, we know who you are now, right? You're the one, you're the king to restore the kingdom. Are you going to restore the kingdom now?

And Jesus says two mysterious things. One is he says, I'm not telling. You're not going to know the day or season. You're not going to know the hour. Second thing he says is, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and then you will be my witnesses here in Jerusalem throughout Judea Samaria to the ends of the earth.

So in response to the apostles saying, okay, Lord, we know who you are. You're the king. Are you going to restore the kingdom? He looks at them and he says, No, you are. You're gonna receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, then you're gonna be my witnesses here locally throughout the region to the ends of the earth. And that's an echo of what he says today. You are the salt. You are the light. How are you gonna spend? How are you gonna spread the gospel? Be salt.

Be light. Basically Jesus is saying, Lord, how am I supposed to do this? Be who you are. So when Jesus says be salt, be light, what's that mean? Okay, well keep keep this in mind, ancient world, salt has at least four properties. Salt is valuable, right? In the ancient world, that's where we get the word salary from. People would be paid in salt. Someone's worth their salt, that gets paid.

It's value. Secondly, salt is a preservative. You don't have any refrigeration. You have some meat, you cover it with salt, it cures it, right? It keeps it. Thirdly, salt is antiseptic. So, you know, it can clean out a wound. You get some salt in your wound, it cleans it out. But the fourth property of salt is that salt.

And the one that Jesus focuses on today is salt gives flavor. If you ever just taste salt on its own, we sometimes do that. It doesn't taste like anything. In fact, it's pretty horrible. But if you have Think of something amazing. Think of a really good stick.

If it doesn't have salt, it is not a really good steak. No matter what, I don't care who you are. Like if that steak doesn't have salt on it, it it's missing something. But you put salt on it, it brings out all of the good properties of steak. Same thing. Here's a little pro tip.

If you like butter on your toast, sprinkle a little salt on the butter after you put the butter on the toast. It will make the, it'll pop. It'll be amazing. It'll be incredible. Same with peanut butter, put a little salt on there. Why? Because it brings out the goodness that's already there. When Jesus says, be salt, What he's saying is basically what Christians do. You live in such a way that The goodness around you is revealed.

Darrell Woods started in in prison. In prison. He started a number of ministries, worked for the NAACP in a number of ways, but also uh he started this ministry called Cared Strait. I'd heard of Scared Strait, right? Where you take some juveniles who are in at risk youth and and bring them into the prison and they and they just Prisoners just yell at him and tell him like here's how awful it is here and just surround him. And he said, Listen, I grew up on the street.

He's like, I wasn't scared of anything. He said all these kids that we brought in to the prison, they walk around with AK-47s. They walk around with AR-415s. Like they're not afraid of anything.

They're not lacking fear, he said they're lacking love. And so he said what we do is we bring him to prison and we just surround him with love. These are kids who have been scared their whole lives, they've never been loved. And so he started this thing called cared straight. This is this is Daryl saying I'm gonna be salt. I'm going to show them actually in this world that even can be deadly, in this world that can be brutal, in this world that can be cruel.

There's also such a thing as love and people who care about you. You can even find joy in prison. You can find joy in your life. Jesus also says be light. He sent them to be light. He says you are the light. What what's the light of the world? Basically, lights don't reveal themselves for themselves. think about a light bulb or a a candle or the sun even. You don't look at those things on their own.

Light reveals what's around it. So Jesus says, you are the light. What's he mean? Live in a way that people can see the truth. Live in a way that people can see reality. In two thousand three, uh Darrell had his he had been working to overturn his his case. In two thousand three, the judge that found him guilty found him innocent.

And you thought that I thought when he's telling me the story, I was like, oh my gosh, that was incredible. 2003. Wait, that's only a few years after you were arrested. turns out that someone else came in and said, No, no, no, you guys did the paperwork wrong

Gotta stay in jail. And I was like, bro, wow was that? Like that must have if you weren't mad at that point, you must have been furious at that moment. What'd you do? And he said, just praised God. Like what? He's like, well, we say God is good all the time. All the time, God is good, right? I'm like, yes. He says, we gotta mean it. I was like, that is incredible. Here is someone who could bring out the goodness in any situation. Here's someone

Who was living in such a way that people could see the truth? Why? Because salt makes life good, and light makes truth visible. That's why Jesus says: if you waste that, if you have wasted potential, if it's all loses its taste, if you if you have light a lamp and then hide it. It's a tragedy. Why? Have you noticed this? It's not like you became evil. Salt didn't become evil. It's not like the light now became destructive. It's just hidden. The salt just lost its taste.

But it's because it became ineffective. It became it became indistinguishable. And therefore it's wasted.

You and I have been filled with the Holy Spirit. We've been given God's access to g access to God's grace. And we've probably said, God, I don't want to let what you did for me go to waste on me. We have to take that next step and say, God, I don't want to let what you did for me end with me. If it ends with us.

We are salt that's lost its flavor. We are a light that is hidden. We are indistinguishable. We are ineffective. And that is a tragedy, because all of that wasted potential, if we say, It ends with me. This is the last thing. We also can declare, God, I will not let what you did for me end with me. Give me a mission.

And then we had what we do is we're gonna wait for our mission. What we do is then we're like, okay, God, um, I'm gonna get done with school. I'm gonna get done, I'm gonna get whatever the next milestone in my life is, I'm gonna wait for that and then I'll go on mission. As opposed to Jesus says, no, listen, you are the light of the world. You are the salt of the earth. You don't have to wait for this. Remember, you've been given this. I asked Daryl, the last Daryl story. I asked Daryl.

When did you start this whole cared straight thing where you started bringing in juveniles and the actually mayors and governors and other other people from law enforcement were sending you their people? And he said, um, I was about four out four years after I got arrested.

It's like, okay, so you were 23 when you started meeting these teenagers, these adolescents where they're at. You didn't wait, you didn't wait till you're like 30, you didn't wait till you're 35. He's like, no, I just figured I'd start right now. You don't have to wait for your mission. Darrell Woods Senior was light and salt in prison. As essentially a kid, You can start right where you're at. Why? Because you are the salt, and you are the light, and you have nothing to wait for.

Coolest thing at the end of our conversation, Daryl pulled out a badge. It was some credentials. I think he was waiting to the end of our conversation to okay. Hey, by the way, here look at this. He serves um as a vice chair of the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners as an oversight committee overseeing uh the prison system and or the police force. And I think, man, this is where you're at now. A free man. Overseeing law enforcement as a man who had been in prison for 29 years.

But it started with him saying, Okay, Lord, I'll start here. in really bad conditions. I will not let what you did for me go to waste on me. And then further, I will not let what you did for me end with me. And so his story isn't tragic. The story is not a tragedy. The story is what could have been wasted potential. is actually used for the glory of God.