Author Archives: Fr. Mike Schmitz

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“We Must Go Out”: A Podcast About Confirmation

By | April 25, 2013

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“When you get confirmed, what happened to the Apostles is the exact same thing that will happen to you . . . maybe minus the visible tongues of fire . . . I don’t know, I’m not making any guarantees. But the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit will actually be upon you. This is what happens in the Sacrament of Confirmation, that we receive these gifts. And these gifts are what? St. Paul writes about them in the book of Galatians – the fruits of the Spirit are: love, and joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. You receive the power to live a new life, not just for yourself but for other people.”

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D.I.Y. Religion: Do We Need the Catholic Church?

By | March 5, 2013

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You know religion comes from the word “religare” meaning “to bind” – something we may not like. But you know sin? The word sin comes from a German word “Sünde” that means “to sunder” . . . to tear apart . . . to be divided.

And I don’t know about you but I have a sundered heart. I have a divided heart. I have a heart with sin and so I need religion because I have division and I need to be bound back together. I need some binding of my own. And I think God’s people – we’ve been sundered – we need religion, we need religare – we need to be bound.

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My Side of the Confessional: What Is It Like for a Priest?

By | November 26, 2012

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I was once riding in a shuttle-bus with a number of older folks on the way from an airport. They noticed that I was a priest and started asking questions about it. “Do you do all of the priest stuff?” “Yep.” “Even the Confession thing?” “Yeah. All the time.”

One older lady gasped, “Well, I think that that would be the worst. It would be so depressing; hearing all about people’s sins.”

I told them that it was the exact opposite. There is almost no greater place to be than with someone when they are coming back to God . . .

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Why Should I Care?: The HHS Mandate and Religious Freedom

By | June 26, 2012

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What is the HHS Mandate and what does the Catholic Church have say about it? Is this big debate only about contraception? Find out the answers to those questions as well as what you can do about it as a teen. Fr. Mike Schmitz explains the mandate it in a way that’s thorough but easy to understand.

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LifeTeen.com Podcast

Lent: Finish Strong

By | April 2, 2012

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Editor’s Note: I never guessed 40 days could fly by so fast! But here we are in Holy Week and I’m not so sure my heart is prepared to fully enter into the Triduum – the most epic time of year for us as Catholics. What about you? Are you prepared? If you feel like you need a recap of this journey through the desert we just took, listen to Fr. Mike Schmitz’s homilies from the last couple weeks. If that sounds boring to you – you’ve never heard this holy man preach! Just press play . . . you Read more [...]

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