Podcast Summary

Podcast: Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz
Host: Ascension
Episode: 8/17/25 Ordinary People
Date: August 16, 2025
Main Theme:
How division enters our lives and our hearts—not often through dramatic villains, but through ordinary people making ordinary choices. Fr. Mike reflects on Christ’s challenging words about division and what it means for Catholics today, emphasizing the transformative power of grace for “ordinary people.”

Episode Overview

Fr. Mike Schmitz unpacks Jesus' startling teaching in Luke 12:49-53, where Christ warns He has come not to bring peace, but division—even within families. Anchored by examples from culture, history, and personal experience, Fr. Mike challenges listeners to face the painful reality of division, especially in a post-Christian era. Yet, he underscores hope: ordinary people, even those divided or far from faith, can become saints.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Division Is Not About Villains—It's About Ordinary People

• Introduction via Breaking Bad’s Walter White

  • Fr. Mike uses Walter White as a modern example:

    "Walter White starts out as someone who...he’s a likable character...an ordinary person becomes a villain, and it’s just one choice after the next choice after the next choice that changes him." [03:45]

  • The point: In our real lives, “we’re not surrounded by villains. We’re surrounded by ordinary people.” [05:23]

• Jesus Warns of Division

  • Jesus’ words are not about abstract or obvious enemies:

    "This is so painful because this is not only Jesus dividing clans or countries or cultures. We experience this division over Jesus when it comes to families and the pain of that..." [07:14]

2. Division in Families and the Post-Christian Context

• Fr. Mike reflects on how division over faith happens in families and why it’s especially confusing or painful.
• Culture Shift:
  • Growing up, Fr. Mike thought division over Jesus was "strange" because culture was more Christian. Now, he notes:

    "Right now we're living in a, what they call a post Christian culture, a post Christian worldview." [11:06]

  • Hypocrisy or lukewarm faith was easier in a “Christian culture,” but not so today.

3. Being Catholic Means Taking a Stand—And Risking Misunderstanding

• Fr. Mike highlights how the Catholic faith is “neither right nor left” on issues such as immigration, same-sex marriage, and abortion:

  • Immigration:

    "Our Catholic perspective is...no to open borders...but yes to the dignity of every person who's in need..." [13:22]

  • Same-sex marriage:

    "We have to say no to...same sex marriage. At the same time...yes to the dignity and value of every single person who identifies as LGBT." [14:10]

  • Abortion:

    "Every follower of Jesus has to say no to the killing of an unborn child...at the same time...yes to the mother...and yes to every person who has made that choice." [15:15]

• Insight: To follow Jesus is to risk being misunderstood, judged—even vilified—by other ordinary people, not “villains.” [16:12]

4. Personal Story: Struggling with Church Teaching

• Fr. Mike shares his own struggles as a young Catholic missionary:

  "I hated the Catholic Church as a Catholic missionary, going to daily Mass...because there were some teachings...that stand directly against our culture." [16:43]

• He recalls being a “false prophet,” teaching personal opinions rather than Church doctrine, out of embarrassment or lack of understanding.

5. Ordinary People Are Capable of Good—and Evil

• Historical Example: Ordinary Men

  • Fr. Mike shares the story of Reserve Police Battalion 101 during WWII, who, when asked—not ordered—to kill Jews, most consented.

    "Out of over 500 men, like a dozen said no. The rest of them killed innocent Jewish men and Jewish women and Jewish children...They were just ordinary men. In fact, that's the name of the book. The book is called Ordinary Men." [21:30]

  • He dispels the myth that “exceptional evil is done by the exceptionally evil”—it is done by the ordinary.

• Warning Against Self-Righteousness

  "Which party, which political party has the capacity to do exactly that? ...the answer is yours, whichever party you belong to." [24:05]

  • He echoes St. Paul:

    "'Whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall.'" [24:50]

  • Memorable quote (Alexander Solzhenitsyn):

    "The dividing line between good and evil passes directly through the human heart." [25:22]

6. Hope: Ordinary People Can Become Saints

• Walter White’s Lesson:

  • “He was just an ordinary man who made a series of choices and became a bad man. ... But he didn’t have to.” [26:15]

• Personal Conversion Stories:

  • Fr. Mike tells of an “ordinary man” who had left the Church, lived a broken life, but returned to regular confession and prayer in his late 80s.

    "He will die as a saint. … We are not surrounded by heroes or villains… We’re surrounded by ordinary people just like ourselves." [29:09]

• Final Message:

  "Your story is not over yet and my story is not over yet. And God can still do great things in your life and in my life, because both villains and heroes are made from the same stuff. Both sinners and saints are made from the same stuff. They’re made from ordinary." [30:10]

Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• "We’re not divided against villains. I’m divided against ordinary people." – Fr. Mike Schmitz [05:35]
• "To say yes to Jesus is to risk even some people saying that you're the villain." [12:17]
• "The myth is that exceptional evil is done by the exceptionally evil. It's not, it's done by ordinary people." [22:38]
• “The dividing line between good and evil passes directly through the human heart.” – Alexander Solzhenitsyn, quoted by Fr. Mike [25:22]
• "Your story is not over yet and my story is not over yet. And God can still do great things..." [30:10]

Key Segments & Timestamps

| Time | Segment | |-----------|--------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:02 | Gospel reading: Luke 12:49-53 and original setup | | 03:45 | Illustration: Walter White and “evil from ordinary” | | 05:23 | Ordinary people as the source of division | | 07:14 | Division as a family/friend reality, not just cultural | | 11:06 | Shift from Christian to post-Christian society | | 13:22 | Issues: Immigration, marriage, abortion—Catholic stance | | 16:43 | Fr. Mike’s personal struggle with Catholic teachings | | 21:30 | WWII Battalion 101: “Ordinary Men” and evil choices | | 24:05 | Political division—“it could be your party” | | 25:22 | Solzhenitsyn’s “line through the heart” | | 26:15 | Walter White: It’s not about circumstance, but choice | | 29:09 | Redemption stories: Ordinary person’s late-life return | | 30:10 | Closing: Ordinary people, hope, and God’s transforming work |

Tone & Style

Fr. Mike sustains an empathetic, challenging, and pastorally honest tone. He draws from cultural references and historical anecdotes, aiming not to induce guilt but to awaken reflection, humility, and hope.

Takeaway

Division is real, painful, and personal, especially in a post-Christian world—and it runs through the hearts of ordinary people, not obvious villains. But in God’s hands, ordinary people—no matter how far fallen or divided—can still become saints. The story isn’t over for you, or those you love.