Coping with Success with Fr. Mike Schmitz

guys thank you so much for being with us thank you especially to our missionaries of Joy who are watching live and are going to submit questions while I'm talking go ahead and just type your questions in and I'll let you interrupt our conversation uh joined today by father Mike schmidtz dude thank you so much I mean I'm kind of Blown Away with all that you have going on that you took a 2 and a half hour drive to come hang out here no no it's a 5- hour drive total don't worry about it I'm grateful I'm you well you took the the trip to be here I I had a much shorter trip than you did yeah you father father Mike texted me he's like my brother-in-law's School needs a speaker would you please come do like I you say yes to everything I've asked you to do ever so I couldn't say no so because he told me that you said that yeah and then when you asked about this I'm like well I have to say yes now I can't like just say no this is going to perpetuate forever which is okay I'm okay with that I'm happy also give me an excuse to get here is the happiest place on Earth yeah we are we are in the Schmid's we're in a corner a happy corner of the Schmidt's cabin there's a lake outside that window it's it's so beautiful um listen I I there's some stuff I want to dig into with you uh and really to to help people stay grounded and I want to find out how how you stay grounded um and how you stayed you and how youve protected the thing that makes father Mike father Mike cuz I've been watching your min for years years before um really many people knew you you know we were just speaking at youth conferences together and you're and you're the same guy and I praise God for that but um you've had two this is crazy it's crazy even say this you've had two number one podcasts not one for briefly yeah and also even briefly it's completely insane also not based off anything I'm reading the Bible I mean know I it's it's a big it's a big deal but but the the reality of course is that it's people have a hunger for the word and they have a hunger I just I am amazed by and I'm not trying to be like falsely modest about it yeah but there is something about the content right just being this is eternal when it comes to God's word and this is profound when it comes to the catechism and I think just people say if you can help me have access to something Eternal if you can help me have access to something profound then you know I think that's the key right that is so it's not like I have to be profound the word of already is the catechism already is it's just can you make it accessible for me and that's like amazing I got to be part of I got to tell you though I mean there's there's a lot of people that have tried to make the word of God accessible who have not had a number one podcast I mean like you you you're the the Patrick M Mahomes of of digital Ministry and not just in the Catholic world like you beat Joe Olstein that's a thanks which is the goal always the go you know ever since I was young ever since I was young you know Chris you know what I say I say ever since I was young boy it's been my goal I would say to the Lord I need two things Lord I need a nice smile and he gave me that and I need a good podcast and he gave me that that's my je inter that was perfect you look like him too but the uh the output um what people also don't see is that there's a lot of things that you do that no one even notices right like your total output's insane so there's there's two daily podcasts there's also a weekly podcast two weekly podcasts two weekly podcast uh you're a campus ministry priest you just drove two and a half hours to come here and hang out with with me um I how much coffee do you drink there's a lot this is just water yeah this is just water right now but on the way here there is always you know how many cups a day so yesterday was a good day um is a good day a lot or a little no a little so yesterday was kind of so you realize it's almost a problem right almost I think I just like the taste that's my issue I love the taste are you up to like four cups a day I I think so here's what happens eight cups a day is no no no that's crazy that's crazy talk um I would say that um you know so I don't how serious we want to get about this because I do I want to get serious about this because people want to know what what what's what's the juice behind a guy who's this successful at something there's one like a day like yesterday would be I had one full cup of coffee like just you maybe a little bit tallering this that was it but there are times when I'm here like it's summertime and I'm here and hanging out and they're making we're making breakfast and we're all hanging out and just and someone keeps making coffee and I'll keep going I'll just refill it and not because we have to get up if we just like it's here and you're you made more another pot well I remember my brother-in-law the one you haven't met yet he's going to be at the dinner um his name's Tanner and at one point he's like how much more coffee do you need I'm like oh I don't need anymore I just it's there you guys keep making it I'm going to keep filling this up so that could be that could be a problem okay so I was wondering like you you you're not I'm from New Jersey I talk so fast yeah I'm in vents I live in Colorado now but I'll be at a vents talking at a super high speed and if I'm in Missouri people like you you lost me 5 minutes ago but I've wondered is is the energy uh caffeine induced or just a natural I think that it is uh situationally induced okay so I mean genuinely speaking I think that there's an aspect where it's okay if this is a if this is something that it is really really important that you hear this and understand it like if you like it's really important to me for me to communicate get this I think it's the the circumstance that gets the the heart rate going because I can have coffee and be like hey okay but it's it's becomes like if there's a something to communicate yeah that's the thing and that's one of the things too like when it comes to speaking quickly um I know there are some people who say that I get lost they get lost in it but I can't tell you I have I have a few pet peeves one of my pet peeves is when someone is speaking so slowly that I'm predicting the next word driv out the sentence for them and I just think I just just keep ahead of me just just keep a little bit ahead of me so I have to keep guess so I have to work in fact I think there's been some studies about like the ideal optimal pace of how many words per minute that human brain can hit about 500 or 400 words a minute something like this so you're probably only at like 220 in your typical podcast so I just want to make you work for it I mean not because I want to punish anyone I want to understand yeah no is your brain moving fast all the time because again I wonder um are you a the guy who your sweet spot is just hey someone give me my lane and I'll preach in it or is is your brain always going to when I think of the amount of things you do are you constantly inventing the next thing that you could do so I know some people who are incredible like that you could just uh pull a name a thing out of a hat yeah and say talk about blah and they just would oh yeah and go I am constantly working on the next thing but I have to sit down and like I need to I need to write it out I need to think it out I need to think it through or what if I'm listening to something I'm sure the same way if I'm listening to something I'm like oh that's okay remember this write this story down your so your brain's never off always gone yeah which is a little bit maybe that's bad it could be it could be bad no I'm I'm I'm like that too it drives my wife crazy and I think if I didn't have a wife it would be on crack like it is for you that's what I'm saying it's like I wonder if I need more people to say like hey hey calm down for a minute just you don't have to think about it right now and yet uh I think that you know it's funny I think of like young influencers they just think success will just come to them I'll just hit record in a camera you know but you the amount of work I'm surprised to hear that because when I think of the amount of output my presumption would be oh the the guy just hits record and just starts going yeah no it's so but you but all your inventive energy is on is on is not on what to do but on what to say yeah yeah that's and you just keep in that zone that's a really good way to put it because I think there are some people who are incredibly creative and have a lot of vision like you do you have a lot of vision where it's like okay what's the next platform what's the next not just thing to say but what's the next way to get that out and how do you engage all the people who are part of to a fault I I can spend over half my energy whereas you're like hey I don't care if it looks sloppy and there's a fireplace behind me start talking and it's like well apparently that works that's it but but there is you know people will I I I would say that for a Sunday homy I'll spend anywhere between 9ine and 20 hours to get ready for that thank you and I think it's can I shake your hand on behalf of every Catholic oh yeah who is just so tired of poorly thought out homilies well that's the thing is like if I if I have the sense am I'm in the mass and I have the sense that you're figuring this out as you go oh come on like we all know father if you're Mother Teresa go ahead and do that off top of your head and I'm I'm enamored but anybody else like please think first and so one of the things we'll do is I'll I'll do so 9 to 20 hours on your Sunday hom suay hom yeah and so then uh we'll do serieses yeah U of like homy series and part of that is not only because I think that if this is a a topic or a thing that's worth communicating then it's worth really really knowing like it's not just okay here's a a 10 minute or 20 minute homy on this topic but it's like no we're going to actually dive deeply into this over the next 3 to six weeks but also I I have the sense that if I'm able to get up in front of the congregation and say for the next four weeks we're going to talk about this that I'm inviting them along with you that's cool and that they would be able to say okay you have an idea of where you want us to go you've thought this through so I'm going to I'm going to trust you that you're taking us somewhere not just kind of like had a had a super prare serieses so then I'm thinking that's just that's just your homy that's half your week and you have all the other output how many hours a week are you working that's a good question um most most of them I think I think most of them I think that uh which is not a bad thing I think that there's an aspect where there's I'm in a place where there's freedom to do that yeah there there's there's a blessing in celibacy not not not that you should work yourself to the Bone and it's not that that's identity is the mission you know obviously that's not the case but at the same time there's like well if this is the opportunity right now and this is the season it's been kind of the season for the last number of years um so okay then let's do our best and not just kind of so this happen me and don't complain about it I feel bad for myself when I'm working too hard sometimes look at my wounds just do ago two two and a half years ago it was um I was going into a weekend so there was no school yeah and uh and I when it was going through the weekend and the my whatever the plan was fell through I was going to go fill in the parish like oh you don't we don't need you but it was kind of too late to just put out there's anyone need any help this weekend yeah and then I was going to come here but no one was here like all my family was in Parts Unknown so I thought well I'll just stay in theth now before this occasionally I would on a Saturday go down to a coffee shop and like I'm scrambling to work like what is it you know Lord I'm still working on this I've working on this all week but I still don't know exactly what you want me to say you stress out about this stuff too I Tears like G almost every week really o over the homy over like what do you want God what do you want me to say the amount of output no like God what do you want me to say for the homy like what is it that wow in front of me there's going to be students like what is it that they need um so if you go to a duth coffee shop you will find father Mike in tears tears right over his Bible and I be I be looking around all these people on Saturday morning and they're reading books they're reading the newspaper doing the passw and I'd have this jealousy of oh man it'd be so that'd be nice to have a Saturday where you could just like back so this weekend yeah all of a sudden wait I don't I don't have a mass and I don't have anything to do I'm going to go down I'm going to go to the coffee shop and I'm going to do what I am jealous of you know so that weekend I got to relax I had a full Saturday had a Sunday a master just whatever students are in town come on over and uh by the end of that Sunday night I remember having this real clear thought of God this was a blessing this was a gift yeah but I like I want to go back to work yeah because there's a there's a gift with also H you know being entrusted with something it's yeah and that's imagine for as as a dad well that I I was going to say that that for you is fatherhood that's like there's the there's the um virile power the life-giving power you experience from yourself and and that's it's not not addictive in a negative way it's like I'm fulfilling I'm a fish in water this is what I do and you got you got an expression of fatherhood there it's beautiful um what what you doing for with that amount of output though for selfcare yeah you work out a lot well a lot more than I'm able to as a Layman i w out Le once a day I'll say okay okay how how long 1 Hour 1 hour once a day once a day and then now cross training kind of stuff uh CrossFit CrossFit yeah so I I really like that this episode was sponsor sponsored by CrossFit father father father Mike happily endorses cross not go ahead Sor no it's great um because I used to do a lot of endurance stuff okay and um had some injuries and maybe it was 5 years ago I remember thinking wow I was lifting up we have a little we have our our Chapel is a two-car garage that we've converted into a daily mass chapel and you're fundraising to build a chapel he's fundraising to build a chap where where do they go for that honestly Bulldog catholic.org Bulldog catholic.org support father Mike if you love him and He blesses you go ahead great and so uh I was lifting up the podium you know just a little because we have to shift it pull it out to stand behind it and then put it back remember picking it up to put it back I was like oh this is heavy and I thought oh my gosh I've not been this week since I was 15 years old oh my gosh and so then I'm like I need to start working out I need to start lifting weights yeah yeah and so then my sister uh that you met and brother-in-law and my brother who's in the military they've been doing CrossFit stuff since for 15 years now and so I was like a fine I'll bite the bullet and I did it and love it it's awesome awesome yeah oh yeah so so you got you got a little bit of coffee you got a little bit of rest time a little bit obviously is the yep and your family I I love seeing you in your natural habitat like as soon as you walk in and your brother-in-law is there and your sisters there and there's like a deeper level of of relaxed father mic just brings it right out you how often are you talking to your family to keep you grounded talking talking or in communication so we we'll we'll text all the time so the family group text and and uh and calling each other that's been a big thing I wish it was more not very good um it's my fault like they they'll Reach Out they'll they'll call and like oh shoot I can't answer right now you that kind of thing which is bad what that confession right now but um but uh in the summer time and break times is if I have a chance to go anywhere I'll come here and so um or and during the winter or during the school year my so three of my sisters moved back to my hometown yeah and so up until you know last uh my mom passed away this last February I'm sorry and so uh and so I just come back here and I get to see my mom and dad my three sisters and brothers in-law and the nieces and nephews which is really great now I get get to come back see my dad and beautiful yeah okay so I want to talk about the the the extraordinary amount of success when you hit that number one podcast I know you're tributed to the Lord and you know you just started reading his word and all a sudden everybody's tuning in like people don't know that you had a lot of podcasts that no one listened to for a very long time um were you shocked and stunned when you saw like you're looking at Apple podcast and like this isn't just number one in religion this is number one podcast yeah on the planet what was your emotional gut response to that I I I think this is honest because I'm looking back I remember thinking that's cool that was about it because because that yeah at that point I think we I was only maybe 60 episodes ahead and I'm like oh wow it's doing really really well on January 1st 2 third whatever I have 300 more of these to make and so it's kind of that sense of like oh okay people are list oh people are listening to this okay that's cool um I guess I got to keep doing this you know so so the first feeling was burden well I think it was first feeling was like oh cool neat and then was like oh shoot so maybe the second feeling of okay my first my first thought was praise God like I I can't believe there's this many good people yeah yeah like you're looking at the news I wouldn't have thought that because there's some people who are who are jumping from barely interested to deeper Catholic and they're and they're using this as their they're stepping I want to read the Bible in a year really get into this see what it's got to offer but then there's a lot of people who are so devout that they'll listen to Leviticus every day for a month and I'm thinking I I just didn't know there were that many good people in this world and it was really uplifting my second thought was you're you got the number one podcast which is going to put you in the top 10 of the devil's hit list and and the evil one wants you to fall so bad right cuz it would well first cuz he hates you he hates all of us right he'd wants you to wear the uh that you know just like he would turn all the success into these soiled Rags that you have to carry around the rest of your life but then he wants to hurt and scandalize millions of people yeah right so so you're you're you're on The Hit List um how is your how have you experienced that you know have you experienced a pressure of like dude I I got to up my prayer game right or have you just kind of just stayed busy and like it's nothing's really Chang in that front I would say maybe the second more along those lines there just there's it's always seemed there's always to be a like it's the the stakes have always been high now they're higher but you've always felt the stakes High she been priesthood yeah yeah I think so I mean even just when I first came to the Lord it was a matter of I my encounter with my first encounter with with Jesus that just trans changed my life was I first encountered my own sin it was this this awareness of my own sin like oh my goodness I need a savior and I need to go to confession I need prayer and so like I think it was I would say maybe and I don't want to overstate it but I think my whole life has been marked by oh you're we're walking this thin wire like we're walking this tight rope of of Grace and at any moment eternity is hanging in the balance I mean and that's always been kind of this the sense and so now yeah the sakes are higher and I I would say that I I I don't want to ever be responsible for anyone's uh turning away from the Lord but that's always been kind of the case it's always been I kind I kind of I think I've always felt that that um praise God I know maybe that's why the Lord picked you for what you're doing maybe I don't I mean and I I got to say this to everybody who's watching this you matter so infinitely to God like we think well father Schmid's matters or or Pope Francis matters no no no like from the Eternal point of view like the the entire universe will fade away Stars will go out you'll still be around yeah like the the devil wants you to be separated from God forever and that's like his big win yeah um so there there's a there's there's a lot on the line and then there's the impact onine I love thinking about how the the the second judgment has to happen like you're immediately judged then at the end of time cuz you don't even see the ripple effect of your life for good or ill till it's all over till all of human and then you see this big Ripple going out right um what what's your what's your prayer life like not not not just to keep it close to the Lord but to keep you safe frankly how much do you pray that is so interesting May let's go back to if you don't mind the the second judgment for the final judgment that is uh I think for a lot of people like you mentioned at the end of time the whole story will have been told right and so we will know the consequences of catechism talks about this we'll know the consequences of our actions to the fullest extent so as you said both our good actions that radiated throughout history and also our sins that radiated throughout history and just they radiate it's like it's like a yeah it's like a like a something H in a still Lake and just we'll know the full we'll know the full story um and also will be fully known so that sense of of all the ways I mean and sometimes people have this have this tendency or temptation to either uh be like I do not look forward to that like that sense of like this is going to be a time of great shame or they be like oh that'd be a great time of great pride all the good you could see all the good we did and yet at the same time it'll be a time of Truth which means I think humility so there won't be any room for shame because this yep these are all the things this is all the truth this is the truth about me and here's how God worked his grace through that also there's no room for Pride because yeah that's I did that and people were helped but I also know the full extent to which I was helped so that that full truth of oh man I I walked in continual need of God's grace and it was there continually so there's again there's there I I I reflect on the final judgment a lot you you do because there's like again no room for shame because of the fact that uh just we recognize the need for grace and no room for Pride because of the fact that we needed Grace I love that you reflect on the final judgment a lot yeah I think of the the Capuchin who would work with a skull and it wasn't a plastic one because back then they didn't have plastic it was like a skull on their desk to remind them I got my uh Jesus prayer beads little skulls on them just thinking of thinking of the end and the priorities staying in the line wow so so how much how much do you pray every day um so we have uh every morning I'll get up about 4:00 or so and then work out and then we have a holy hour with you work out by at 4 uh we start working out at 4:55 so I got to get ready and okay and then come back and uh that's a tough time day to work out it is I well I know I get puky if I work get over with so that's good actually no I to work out like with having eaten something I'm like this is feel so weird um come back shower whatever get some work done and then we meet with our Focus missionaries and staff and whatever students we want to will want to join us we have a holy hour from about 7:50 or so until about 9:00 and uh and so that's the one hour holy hour and then we have adoration all day in our little garage so all the students they sign up for a 30 minute slot and come over it's awesome and so we have that time of a holy hour then Mass every day obviously um but the one thing I've noticed is that and of course prayer throughout the day you have liturgy the hours and whatnot but the one thing I've noticed is when it comes to intimacy with Jesus that just is basic like if I if I don't have the holy hour in Mass um things are really really wrong but if I for that sense of intimacy with the Lord what also has to happen is the last 30 minutes of the day have to be back in the chapel um because I because then here confession is this is like all confession um cuz a lot of that time in prayer and reflection in the morning is like look at the reading you know praying with engaging with things I'm kind of a uh working them out talking with the Lord working them out talking with the Lord but in the at night it's just go in there no distractions we're not working on anything like here's an idea like that that's not where we're here we're just here to be with him and those last 30 minutes of the day are I know that's the that's the metric like if they're not there like okay we're sustaining you start tanking and we're just like yep we're getting by we're yep you're a Christian and you're doing the thing but if I have those and it's like oh Jesus and I are deep the relationship is deepening and and again it's it's become over the last I don't know maybe five seven years that's become the sign of are are you doing okay or are you just doing okay you know what I mean yeah so you're holy hour in the morning your mass you're holy half hour at the end of the day and that's the key one when you talk are you just talking talking to the Lord about what's on your heart if someone's listening thinking like yeah I I can listen to the Bible in a year but how do I talk to Jesus like father Mike so interesting because a lot of my prayers are the prayer the church has asked me to pray so I pray the mass because the church has asked me to pray the mass and obviously I love it pray the Liturgy of the Hours five times a day because the church has asked me to pray the lury five times a day so that's that's we're doing this um we do that in a unique way with our our Stu our missionaries in the morning so we'll have a half hour of just silence um and I'll tell you about that in a second but the second half hour 20 minutes minutes is we pray the Liturgy thats together beautiful but if you you pray morning prayer if you ever so so we'll do this where at the end of each Psalm or Canticle we stop and I invite if you if there's a word or phrase just share that out loud from the from the because also just go through it keep going through you know and so then everyone's saying like oh you know Mercy or God is with us or enter into your Sanctuary Lord wow and and so everyone gets to share out loud a little bit teach them to just listen to the Lord speak they or El just out one other and uh and then after the uh the reading for in in the morning prayer I'll sign up and read the gospel for that day's Mass yeah and everyone sits down and then I is there anyone volunteer to uh share what have you been praying about that first half of our time together like that silent time and this for three reasons one reason I say is this is not to inspire anyone this is not to teach anyone so there's no pressure yeah but it it's a reminder to all of us that in those 30 minutes of silence we're not just hanging out we're not just sitting there kind of like just waiting you know it's we're be actively praying talking with the Lord listening to his voice secondly is because sometimes if you were to say you know I was praying the sorrow for Mysteries this morning and I really just reflected on you know the crowning with thorns is that is there was no need for that that was just cruelty like oh wow and that helps me you know just maybe you're not supposed to be inspiring but that kind of inspires it helps me and the third reason is because I believe that healthy vulnerability breeds healthy community and so if we're in this room and we're praying together reg on a regular basis and I say this this was my prayer this morning well then hopefully in a an appropriate way I kind of open to my heart and so you know I look for three volunteers and if anyone else wants to say anything they can and then we go back to the inter or pray the you know Canticle and then the intercessions and conclude and everything so that's that time I think it's trying to teach each other how to pray who's your um who's your community with who's your vulnerability with like who who's holding you accountable if you're not doing that kind of thing where you're confessing to your brother priests and and does your success make you does it make it a little harder to find people to just be normal with right um I would say I have a priest fraternity um little group of six of us in our dases aw um and uh we get together once a month once every six weeks somewhere in there yeah um we we'll come together for a holy hour we'll have lunch we'll and we'll check in and uh and it's kind of according to a certain like what's going on in your life what's happening one of the things that's really really helpful is you mentioned so you know it could be really easy to feel isolated y uh especially I mean you go to seek or go to some other kind of big conference where there's a bunch of priests and like oh Father Mike you're the guy to talk about this and oh I just walking into a room of priests sometimes I just feel so um uncomfortable in the sense that like what are they thinking are they like everyone's wanted to talk to him but he's not he's no big deal I'm like I know I'm no big deal but it's potentially isolating right it's potentially uh just feeling like um yeah just feeling uncomfortable uh but I love couple years ago uh in our priest fraternity one of the guys was like Hey I was listening to one of your talks in the way here I was like oh and he's like no it's great it was he's like I just we're all so proud of you we're all just so grateful that no yeah you know I went to I was in wherever and they were like oh you're from duth you know father Mike schmidtz and and some of them are like no he knows me um but but they're like yeah we're so proud of you and so that is like to be last week we had our priest conference just the local dasis and Priests and uh to feel like oh no I belong with these guys and and there's no I I've never gotten any sense of resentment or jealousy from my brother priests in this dasis they're that's awesome they that's which is yeah it it because I'm the kind of person that would hurt me more than anything I think I think that that's why I'm as I said if I go to a conference and the priests are kind of standoffish it it really hurts yeah but I haven't EXP experienced that a lot I most guys who just are like hey buddy praying for you you know kind you're saying like hey I know there's you're under some attack or whatever or hey my parishioners really love what you're doing so keep it up you help me out and that again I just tell you that's maybe the most well something that really hurts is when there there's that division or I feel like uh a priest will look at me and say you're not one of us and so when it happens that they're like no you are and we're proud of you and you're helping us out that and it's not like one of us because we're overlooking the good things you've done you're you're one of us and we're so proud of you like that that's my my my dearest friends like any degree of success will will bring that out of people right I've heard the crabs you don't have to put a lid on on a bunch of crabs tear they'll tear each other down as soon as they start reaching the top you know um but yeah I'll never forget one time I got off the stage and Pat lenion you know like I've always looked up to Pat and I have no problem saying he's one of my best friends I look up to him I get off the stage he's beaming he's like I'm so proud of you you just spoke way better than I could it's like I just like I like looking at your gifts as if I accomplished them it's like this is a true brother yeah you know there's no weirdness there's no jealousy um but but I think one of the reasons is it's tough for people to to play a balance that Balancing Act is because our impact in Ministry is tied to who we are yeah you know and I've heard people say like we don't need more Catholic rock stars it's like dude shut up you know me like like we've always had Catholic if you want to call it Rock I don't consider myself you would never consider yourself that but we always had itinerant preachers who try to be as effective as possible well for the Lord and the message is always tied to the messenger be imitators of me as I am of Christ St Paul said uh and I I know one of the re this might not make you comfortable but one of the reasons people listen to you is not just because of what you're saying it's because of how God is communicated through who you are uh there's an an inner Vitality that that people want so they want to hang out with it they then it's so much better for them to to hit play on that instead of something stupid like I hope so yeah yeah like I I want the energy and life that that comes out of that guy just to be on my on my car radio instead of something different you know it's too it's interesting too because there's not just as many but there's also people who will say like oh you're so annoying or you know like you know the way the commentary like geez thanks you know you know you know the comment I get sometimes you smile too much for me I smile you actually had the time to find our contact thing on our on real life catholic.com and tell me I smile too much like are you serious yeah I I some I got an email yesterday I think from a guy who had said um when I came across your stuff I was you're so annoying and it just was serly bothered by you thanks for letting me know and uh but then it was like but I started listening and realized oh there's some things that could help me well that's good that's great news but who I I got this from a student was it last year one of our students he was just graduating no he's in grad grad school now um he's like oh yeah father Mike when I first met you I couldn't stand you I was like thanks bro like and and he just like no that's all he wanted to say I'm like what so I just like okay thanks man well I've always liked you just so you know and then a week later he was like oh someone who was listening said that was mean of me to say and I was like well because it was he said but I meant like but now I'm we're friends I thought that was just assumed thank well you're not very emotionally intelligent but I love you anyway hey if you guys want to M Joy if you want to comment any any questions at all we will we'll on and uh Rihanna thank you so much for saying you both you inspire everything I everything y all do inspires me hey I love you you guys Inspire us um when it comes to that thing about you that inspires people right I I know that the so there's the big things the devil wants to really bring you down and you have safeguards in place you have accountability you have your family hang out with you have your your two hours two and a half hours of praying a day and a little bit of selfcare right but then there's the the smaller battles which I think are no less significant that the the devil wants to erode the thing that is in you that draws people to God through you and and that might have come naturally throughout your life but there comes times where that's under attack because the devil hates that part of you like I I I just think of um if I have a charism it's joy for instance right and and I think people are drawn to that and it was under attack but then it made me realize oh wait I I didn't realize that was a thing yeah now I got to be intentional about protecting the thing protecting the charism and I have this inner Nemesis that wants to eat that away you know it's like here's the Chris that doesn't come out when I'm in front of a camera and and I think I think it's maybe it's like anxious Chris you know got this energy Joy Chris and then like Chris that's like freaking out of everything uh I don't know if you thought about this before but who's who's the who's the the Nemesis that you're that you fight who's the the father Mike that no one wants to see that's crazy I haven't thought of that that's a great that's a really profound question I don't know I I don't know off hand yeah yeah uh wow I don't know well because part part of it is maybe this maybe it's lack of self- knowledge um because because the question of what is it that that is so here's what I always have thought what what attacks that inner Vitality the most well one of the things I've always thought is here is a a gift my Bishop had had shared this with me I was really moved by it um he said something along the lines of was really funny he's from Green Bay we accept him it's okay he's from Wisconsin but it's fine um but he had said when when the catechism started coming out he said man I'm listening I'm like oh shoot you have he's like yeah yeah I have have to I have to ask you a question he said how the hell do you know all that stuff I was like Bishop I've never heard you talk like this and um but I was like oh thank you I don't know how to respond um I was like I don't know I just here it is and and then this the acknowledgement of I'm like Bishop I know I'm not even the smartest priest in our dases like there's priests in our dases who are so I mean just so intelligent not just in the world cuz they are in the world um and I even said named a couple of them are like well you know father so and so and father so they're way smarter than me and he said yeah I mean maybe he said but he said but your gift is you have the ability to help it make sense and and to make it so it's understandable for people I was like oh I really appreciate that because that's been something that I I've tried it to do my whole life so um ever since I I encountered CS Lewis I just have been so grateful for his ability to take complex ideas and make them so not only accessible but compelling and so that's that's always been my goal so every since listen to so that's a that's a gift take take complex things make them accessible but also attractive because you have a life about you as you talk about them I can and that signals to people hey this isn't boring yeah like this is what you're you're made for like let's get excited about it right that that so it's compelling right that it's it's it's accessible and compelling so maybe that's maybe that's part of it yeah um father Leo for p ling hug who was just aing hug he is a guy he's great yeah he's amazing and he was like Mike yeah I can't do an impression of him but Mike this is your brand like what he's like no no no that's fine you have a brand get over it I like I don't I'm not comfortable with that term father no no he's like he's like you say hard things you say them with a smile I like well that's not a bad brand okay that's a good brand I was like that's all right and you and you have to defend that smile I have to yeah it will always be under attack have to explain it and and keep it going man cuz we because sometimes people I think sometimes people take like your joy they can take it for uh being shallow yeah yeah like they can take the take the uh you're like I'm just I'm excited to be here I'm excited to be alive for like you haven't lived life like you haven't been through the ringer you haven't experienced there the presumption that you've never suffered yeah yeah because you CU cuz that's why you're smiling yep and because the Lord tells us the only way to have real Joy is to never have suffered mhm and exactly and and so I think that there's there's that's the danger of being misunderstood but that's part of you know the ly of humility is just like that sense of like yeah I'm going to be misunderstood just accept it but uh you can't let that stop us so well dude I just want to thank thank you so much for just being who you are and and and I love Ian I just thanks for letting me dig into these questions about I'm going to on the drive back of me yeah what is my what's my Nemesis I don't know but really I I'm so inspired by just your integrity as a human being um you the way you live your life protects the thing that people love about you ab and uh I I just want you to know like I'm praying for you and my people who are watching are praying for you because you want more than inspiration from the Lord but also wants your good and and I'm proud of you man we're all proud of you cheering you on dude you know you know Philip ner I think he had this prayer every morning he would pray where he would say watch out for Philip today Lord because if you give him the chance he will betray you and I just that that I carry that with me like all the time I just have that knowledge all the time so you know I like say Lewis never had anything but a mercenary heart being willing to give it to the highest bidder and so I just that knowledge of just like okay we're all weak yeah so I just God help me and I want I want to encourage you too missionaries of joy and everybody who's watching uh I love how St TZ said the great saints were like Eagle soaring but I'm just a little bird but I have an eagle's heart she said you know but uh and I she probably describe you that way it probably does you know it's like here's a great missionary and and reaching so many people more people than uh than anybody's reached through digital Ministry or almost anybody you know faon Sheen's got us all beat yeah uh but um she look at you and say that and yet she didn't say well so therefore I'm not important yeah her her little way was to claim that like no no no there's an equal importance here you know so if if you you're watching you're like well I want to make a difference for the Lord but I don't have a podcast I'm doing this that the other thing or or maybe I tried the podcast thing it hasn't worked whatever so I don't matter no no no no no no you're so infinitely important but you actually could you say something to that person who's thinking that ab and what is this his camera just say right to that camera no I I I'm really grateful thanks Chris for this opportunity because there will regularly people will if I meet them they'll say something like hey thank you for the videos you make or for whatever the thing is I play them in my uh I I teach class you know at the Catholic church or I teach relig just said U or I play for my kids or whatever the thing is and a lot of times that's what they say and I'm like oh shoot I apologize and they're like no no no thank you but my the the response of my heart is thank you because the reality is your students your children your the ones in your class they would never hear that video or come into contact with whatever it is you thought was valuable that I had made if it wasn't for you you're that bridge and also you have the harder job because we recognize that I say this again and again is that uh the gospel yes sometimes people get a chance to proclaim the gospel through a podcast through a microphone through the stage but if we're really going to spread the gospel it will happen through family and friendship that's how it's going to happen and so here you are in the doing the hard work of relationship I get to sit in my room and S sit in front of a camera and go record stop blah blah blah you know you have to do the hard work of being a relationship with people who are hard to love sometimes who don't want you to love them sometimes who want to run away and you have to chase them down you're the ones you're the ones going after the lost sheep again and again and again and so just please be encouraged by the fact that you might not have a podcast you might not have whatever the thing is but you do have a heart and with that heart like uh was it St uh oh K Bano I still have my heart that I can always love and that's what you're doing so thank you because um without you this message Chris's message Mine The Gospel it would not be able to reach the people that are reaches because of you and so that's got chills you make the difference they M you matter if everybody was in full-time Ministry no one would hear the gospel yeah that's it you know and and there's there's an incredible I love think of our lady her praise of God was my soul magnifies the Lord like she was aware of the beauty she had to bring of God within her specifically yeah so what ever that is for you guard it defend it rejoice in it it's not proud and learn to rejoice it in others you can see it yourself you can look at someone else and say I'm so proud of you yeah and and encourage that beauty I I think of the Saints as stained glass windows you know like this might be heretical but I I maybe it is maybe it's not but I like literally heaven will be more beautiful because of the light of God shining through these people then it would be had he not created these Saints and it was just him that sounds rical cuz how could you add to the beauty of God and yet he lets us he lets us yeah I I just I'm I'm struck I so I said this there was been a mass last last weekend um just you know how sometimes this for the missionaries of joy and everyone sometimes it can feel like prayer is a burden sometimes it can feel like Mass going to mass is a burden even though I know this is great I know this is good for me it can sometimes feel like a burden but if we paused and reflected on why we have to quote unquote have to go to mass yeah is because because for whatever reason it matters to God whether we show up or not like it matters to God if you are at mass and you worship him or if you choose like I'm not going to go to mass I'm not going to worship him like how crazy is that that here's the god of the universe who has everything he needs nothing but it matters to him whether or not we say that prayer take that time show up for Mk isn't that crazy and so that burden is yeah that's a burden and sometimes I need to choose this instead of all those other things but how what but it's a it's a burden that comes from the honor that God is bestowing upon us by saying it matters to me that you pray and it matters to me that you worship matters to me that you share the gospel praise God incredible I think that's essential thing that comes out through all your preaching you matter to God that's it yeah yeah yeah I hope so yeah guys thank you so much for watching be sure to like subscribe share this with everybody you know be an evangelist and if you're not a missionary a joy yet jump in off the sidelines go to real life catholic.com and become a monthly supporter that's what makes all this happen see you next time and thank you so much abut I just love you love you too

Channel: Chris Stefanick

Views: 99,070

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Id: TYE6Qs873xU

Length: 42min 57sec (2577 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 07 2023