Podcast Summary: The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)

Episode: Day 352: Summary of The Battle of Prayer (2025)

Date: December 18, 2025
Host: Fr. Mike Schmitz
Coverage: Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraphs 2752–2758

Episode Overview

This episode marks “Nugget Day” in the Catechism in a Year journey, as Fr. Mike Schmitz provides a passionate and practical summary of the Catechism's teaching on “The Battle of Prayer.” He recaps the main lessons of this section, emphasizing that prayer is a constant spiritual struggle that requires humility, trust, and perseverance. Highlighting his own experiences and using a vivid swimming analogy, Fr. Mike reflects on the real-life challenges and temptations Christians face in their prayer life, offering encouragement and actionable advice.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Essential Struggle in Prayer (00:55–04:30)

• Prayer as Battle: Prayer “presupposes an effort, a fight against ourselves and the wiles of the tempter.” (Catechism 2752)
• The spiritual battle of prayer mirrors the battle to live according to the Spirit of Christ.
• Our daily life and our prayer habits are intrinsically linked: “We pray as we live, because we live as we pray.”

Quote:

“We get so easily distracted… even when we have our priorities straight, we have such concupiscence, such weakened wills and darkening of the intellect that at any given moment we can just be blown off course. We have to fight to stay on course.” — Fr. Mike (04:30)

2. The Swimming Analogy: Engaging with Grace (04:31–08:30)

• Fr. Mike reminisces about his early struggles trying to replicate the prayer lives of the saints.
  • Saints described time in prayer as “hours would feel like minutes,” but his own experience was “minutes felt like hours.”
• Dispels the myth that good prayer is always easy or comforting—often, it's quite the opposite.
• Swimming Pool Analogy:
  • Prayer is like swimming in a pool of grace; you need to interact with the water (grace).
  • Sometimes it’s gentle and restful, like floating. Other times, it’s hard work—doing “laps.”
• You cannot “wait until you’re holy” before beginning to pray; God “just wants your heart.”

Quote:

“Maybe it’s a little bit more like swimming. If there’s no water, right, if there’s no grace, there’d be no swimming. At the same time, I have to interact with the grace… sometimes you do rest… but you have to engage with the water. Sometimes it’s relaxing. Sometimes we’re doing laps. But you’re engaged.” — Fr. Mike (06:50)

3. Common Obstacles and False Notions (08:31–11:00)

• Erroneous Conceptions: The battle of prayer includes confronting false ideas about prayer, various philosophies, and our own failures.
• Three critical attitudes are vital:
  • Humility: Approaching God as the needy, not as the “boss.”
  • Trust: Returning to God, even through difficulties.
  • Perseverance: Continuing despite distractions and dry spells.
• God meets us in weakness; you do not have to “have it all together” before you pray.
  • Analogy: “It’s like saying, I’m going to wait until I’m not sick anymore to go to the doctor… we go to the doctor when we’re sick.”

4. The Need for Filial Trust (11:01–13:00)

• Perseverance and trust are repeatedly emphasized.
• Filial trust—the trust of a child for their father—is essential.
• Without trust, even God’s gifts might be received with suspicion or cynicism.
• Encourages listeners not to live in fear, expecting the “other shoe to drop,” but to trust in God’s goodness.

Quote:

“If I don’t have this gift, and I pray that every one of us has the gifts of trust of the Father. If I don’t have trust, I will even accept God’s gifts with suspicion… That goes directly against how He reveals Himself.” — Fr. Mike (11:40)

5. The Model Prayer of Jesus: Honesty and Surrender (13:01–15:00)

• Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane is presented as the ultimate model:
  1. Address God intimately as Father (“Abba”).
  2. Be honest about desires and struggles (“let this cup pass from me”).
  3. Surrender to God’s will (“yet not my will, but your will be done”).
• This honesty and surrender constitutes true trust.

Quote:

“If our prayer could look like that—where we remind ourselves who we’re talking to, we are talking to our Dad in heaven, and then where we’re honest… and then we have this trustful surrender—not my will, but your will be done. If we pray like that… we will be more and more like the Son of God.” — Fr. Mike (14:20)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On spiritual weakness:

  “You do not have to wait until everything is in order. You don’t have to wait until you’re holy to start praying. Because actually, it doesn’t work that way. And secondly, because God just wants your heart.” (08:00)

• On perseverance:

  “If I don’t have trust, I will even accept God’s gifts with suspicion… waiting for the other shoe to drop. Sometimes as Christians, when we don’t trust the Lord, that's how we are. But if we have trust, then we can even receive our crosses, even our suffering.” (12:10)

• On praying like Jesus:

  “He wants us to pray like He prays. So good, you guys!” (14:55)

Important Timestamps

• 00:55 — Introduction and summary of “The Battle of Prayer”
• 04:31 — Swimming pool analogy for prayer
• 08:31 — Obstacles in prayer: distractions, dryness, misconceptions
• 11:01 — Perseverance and filial trust
• 13:01 — Jesus in Gethsemane: the model of honest prayer and surrender

Episode Takeaways

• Prayer is not passive, nor always easy—it’s an ongoing spiritual battle requiring active engagement.
• Distractions, dryness, and discouragement are normal, not indications of failure.
• Approaching God with humility, trust, and perseverance is crucial.
• Like Jesus, we should pray as honest children before the Father, openly expressing our hopes and fears but always surrendering to His will.

Fr. Mike concludes with a word of encouragement and prayer for the listeners, promising to pray for them and requesting prayers in return.