High Octane Brain: Father Mike Schmitz Breaks It Down For You

Last updated on: September 23, 2016 at 6:30 am by Cynthia Dagnal-Myron

High Octane Brain: Father Mike Schmitz Breaks It Down For You 2016-09-22T11:02:03-07:00 Cynthia Dagnal-Myron

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Babushka Dolls

Sometimes Catholicism reminds me of those Matryoshka dolls.

There’s layer upon layer of meaning behind every rule, rite and sacrament. And for those newly baptized who are not cradle Catholics, getting past that top layer can be daunting.

I chose Catholicism in part because it was so spiritually and intellectually challenging. I welcomed the rigor and the rituals. But sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed trying to listen to that “still, small voice” while grappling with the systematic spirituality of St. Ignatius and St. Teresa’s interior “castle.”

Enter Father Mike Schmitz of Ascension Presents, the young adult division of Ascension Press, whose full tilt talks on all things Catholic caught my eye—and blew my mind—a few days ago.

He’s a priest for the Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota and he’s probably not new to many of you. But he was a revelation to me, pun kind of intended. Though, I do have to admit that I was a little leery of this guy when I first noticed his videos in the little sidebar on YouTube.

He looked like he’d been chosen by a casting director to play the part of “cool young priest.” Turns out he was an actor as a child, which explains why he’s so unnervingly natural in front of a camera. And he admits, in one of the videos below, that a few viewers felt he sounded more like one of those hyped up TV used car salesmen than a serious theologian.

The way he admits it is pure “Fr. Mike.” A playful “mea culpa” sob quickly erased by that thousand-watt grin. That’s his shtick and he’s stickin’ to it.

And once I got past that fresh freckled face and upbeat delivery I realized he was selling some very serious spirituality. That’s what made me binge watch almost all of his videos in one sitting, even though he’s meant for much younger viewers.

As a teacher, I specialized in what educators call “making the abstract, concrete” so that every one of my students could grasp even the most complex concepts. Fr. Schmitz goes me one better, breaking down concepts that take others hours to clarify, in say, five or six minutes.

And it’s not over-simplified, “shake and bake” stuff, either. Fr. Schmitz goes deep. Way deep. Before you know it, he’s hit you with the history, theology and psychology of it all. Maybe with a little quantum physics thrown in just to make sure you know he means business. So he’s not just repeating the Catechism, he’s showing you how to make it work in your everyday life.

But he also gives you something you can feel. I teared up more than a few times, as he unraveled mystery after mystery after mystery so masterfully. I also sent links to friends who’d asked me some pretty pithy questions during my journey to baptism. He is now officially my evangelism weapon of choice.

Did I agree with everything he said? Of course not. But he made me think things through—made me want to think things through. And I trusted him enough to keep watching, even when I didn’t buy what he was selling.

I’ve gotten permission from Ascension to post a few of those videos I binged on, so let me stop here and let “Fr. Mike” do his inimitable thing. I’ll start you off with the one that first proved there was a high octane brain behind that speed rap.

He calls it “The Value of Silence.” I call it, “Contemplative Prayer Made Simple” because he managed to explain the “what, why and how” of that practice more succinctly than all the books I’ve read thus far. And made me laugh, too. As usual.

Have yourself a mini binge, g’head:

Photo credit: CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=69402

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