“The Importance of Love” — The Bible in a Year with Fr. Mike Schmitz

Podcast: The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Host: Ascension
Episode: Day 337: The Importance of Love (2025)
Date: December 3, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode centers on the essential role of love in Christian life, as revealed through key passages from Acts 16 and 1 Corinthians 13–14. Fr. Mike explores the spiritual gifts and the primacy of love, reflects on the missionary journeys and hardships of Paul, Timothy, and Silas, and offers insights into orderly worship and the function of spiritual charisms in building up the Church. The tone is reflective, energizing, and pastorally warm.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Acts 16: Timothy Joins Paul, Persecution, and Perseverance

• Timothy’s introduction: Timothy, son of a Jewish believer and a Greek father, is chosen by Paul as a companion. Paul circumcises Timothy to avoid scandal among Jews they seek to evangelize.
  • Insight: Paul’s action exemplifies self-sacrifice and adaptation for the good of others — “There are some things that are worth doing for the sake of others, not because in and of themselves, they are what you need to do, but because of others, for others.” (18:25)
• Mission in Macedonia: Paul receives a vision, leading to the mission in Macedonia; Lydia, a seller of purple goods, and her household are converted and baptized.
• Confrontation with evil: Paul frees a slave girl from a spirit of divination; as a result, he and Silas are beaten and imprisoned.
  • Fr. Mike’s comment: “We tend to think at times that Satan is not real... It is very real. Satan is very real. He’s not a literary figure. He is a spiritual figure, a real figure.” (20:35)
• Worship in adversity: Paul and Silas, despite imprisonment, pray and sing hymns at midnight. An earthquake opens the prison doors, leading to the jailer’s conversion and the baptism of his household.
• Public vindication: Paul demands public acknowledgment of their innocence, highlighting their Roman citizenship and the injustice suffered.

2. 1 Corinthians 13–14: The Primacy of Love & Spiritual Gifts

• The love passage: Paul’s iconic teaching on love (agape) — love is patient, kind, not jealous, arrogant, or rude. Love surpasses all spiritual gifts.
  • Quote: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal... So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (32:40–34:15)
• Spiritual gifts explained: The charisms or gifts of the Spirit (prophecy, healing, tongues, discernment, etc.) build up the Church, but do not guarantee personal holiness.
  • Fr. Mike: “Those gifts are not sanctifying gifts… They don’t make a person holy.” (38:07)
  • Purpose: These gifts are always for others—the building up of the Body (“The presence of the gift and the exercise of the gifts themselves doesn’t mean that this person is super holy... They’re given to the individual for the sake of the church.” (40:00))
• Love as the greatest gift: Love alone endures and perfects all other gifts.
  • Insight: In heaven, faith and hope will pass away, but love endures—making it essential above all.
• Orderly worship and tongues: Paul provides instruction for the use of spiritual gifts within worship, stressing intelligibility and order.
  • Fr. Mike recaps: “When you’re together...if some people are going to speak in tongues, make sure there’s an interpreter...people are going to jump into your—Mass, essentially—wherever you’re praying, and they’re going to be confused. They’re going to think you guys are crazy.” (45:21)
  • All things should serve the community: “But all things should be done decently and in order.” (1 Cor 14:40; 47:35)

3. Proverbs 28:13–15: Mercy and Hardness of Heart

• Proverbs reinforce the episode’s message: Mercy comes from confession and forsaking sin; hardness of heart leads to calamity—echoing the need for humility and love.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On adapting for others’ sake:
  • “There are some things that are worth doing for the sake of others... You’re doing that. So that was just incredible. I just loved it. It’s a small thing, but it’s a big thing, you know what I mean?” (18:25)
• On the nature of love:
  • “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful, it is not arrogant or rude... Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” (32:55–33:40)
• On the spiritual gifts:
  • “Those gifts...they don’t make a person holy. So a person can have the gift of healing and not become holy…they’re given to the individual for the sake of the church.” (38:07, 40:00)
• On the endurance of love:
  • “Even in heaven, you won’t need faith, you won’t need hope in heaven because you’ll have your heart’s desire, but you will need love. And so that’s why it’s the greatest.” (41:12)
• On worship in adversity:
  • “At midnight, [Paul and Silas] are still praying and singing hymns to God. And the prisoners are listening to them. And what happens? God releases them…” (22:54)
• On the ordering of worship:
  • “In church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others than 10,000 words in a tongue.” (1 Cor 14:19; 47:15)
  • “All things should be done decently and in order.” (1 Cor 14:40; 47:35)

Important Timestamps

• [00:04–04:55] — Readings from Acts 16, 1 Corinthians 13–14, Proverbs 28:13–15
• [13:13] — Paul and Silas beaten and imprisoned; worship in adversity
• [18:25] — Fr. Mike on Timothy’s circumcision as an act of love for others
• [20:35] — Discussion on the reality of evil and Satan
• [22:54] — Paul and Silas praying in prison; miraculous release
• [32:40–34:15] — Reading and reflection on 1 Corinthians 13; the paramount importance of love
• [38:07–41:12] — Fr. Mike discusses spiritual gifts vs. holiness; love as the only enduring virtue
• [45:21–47:35] — Order in spiritual worship and community; use of tongues and prophecy

Closing Prayer and Blessing

Fr. Mike invites the Holy Spirit to pour out spiritual gifts upon listeners, especially the gifts of faith, hope, and—above all—love. He affirms his prayers for the community and asks listeners to pray for him in return.

“Father...send your Spirit of faith, of hope, and of love upon every person listening to these words in Jesus' name.” (48:00)

Takeaways

• Love is the foundation and fulfillment of all Christian life and gifts.
• Spiritual gifts are real and meant for the building up of the Church, not personal glory.
• Facing adversity with prayer and worship can lead to transformation—for oneself and others.
• Christian worship and the exercise of spiritual gifts should promote clarity, order, and communal growth.

This rich, scripturally-rooted episode leaves listeners with an exhortation to pursue love above all other spiritual ambitions and to let every gift serve the flourishing of God’s people.