← The Fr. Mike Schmitz Catholic Podcast
The Fr. Mike Schmitz Catholic Podcast
Fr. Mike Schmitz Reacts to Iconic Christmas Movie Scenes
00:23:48
Merry Christmas from Fr. Mike Schmitz and all of us here at Ascension! While we celebrate the birth of Christ, the true reason for this season, we also reflect on the many blessings and joys with the ones we love! Come celebrate with us as Fr. Mike reacts to Christmas movies and shares how each movie reveals a deeply Christian message to all of us!
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And there's something about this where we realize the goodness of life. Christmas edition. You guys got the Christmas coat ready to go? Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and this is Ascension Presents. They said, hey, Father Mike, we know you're not a Grinch. So would you want to do some reacts to some Christmas scenes? 100% I do. Who doesn't love Christmas? I don't know who you are, but I'm not one of you. Some of these are things I've seen. Some of these are things I haven't seen. I think. So this is the Grinch. Remember, his heart is two sizes too small. What happens after he warms up to. Well.
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It came without ribbons, came with a boat. Came without tags.
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No tags. Sorry, sorry.
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It came without packages, boxes, or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled till his puzzler was sore.
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His puzzler. That's such a good wording. Thank you, Dr. Seuss.
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Then the Grinch thought. Thought of something he hadn't before. Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.
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Ridiculous. How. How crazy is it that you just get emotional hearing this?
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Maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more.
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Okay, that's hilarious. In the original, just goes big. He's having a heart attack. I forgot this. Jim Carrey. Classic Jim Carrey. Oh, that's me. Okay, so I. You guys, this is crazy. I. First of all, Jim Carrey playing the Grinch. I heard that his eyes hurt so much because of those contact lenses that were yellow. And just like so, every time I see it, I think how much constant pain this man must have been in to portray this character. Secondly, I think with all this prosthetics, all this makeup, how can he still emote? Well, one, cause he's Jim Carrey and he, like, is big. Um, but also, just there's something so beautiful, powerful. Number three. Here's the core of this whole thing. What is it that his heart has moved? That goes from being two sizes too small to. To grows how many sizes that day? What is that? That's an image of conversion, right? That's an image of I'm giving a new heart. You know, Scripture says that God says, I will. I'll take your stony heart and replace it with a natural heart. I'll take your stony heart and in some ways replace it with my heart. That's the goal of Christianity, is hearts are meant to be like Jesus. I can't make my heart be like Jesus. It's only his grace that transforms my ordinary, stony, broken, small heart to be like Christ's Pierced heart that loves those who are unlovely. His pierced heart and broken heart that loves enemies. His pierced heart, broken heart that loves those who might say, repellent to us naturally. But to love like Jesus loves to have a heart like Jesus has is. That's the process of conversion. I remember hearing it said this Dr. Michael Barber, in a book on salvation, he once said like this. He said, salvation is being saved from being unchristlike. Means salvation is having the heart of Jesus. And so here, Grinch gets a new heart two sizes too big. It's pretty great. Makes me get teary and I'm leaking. Okay, this is a scene from Elf. Buddy the elf. What's your favorite color? This is the scene where Buddy decorates the mall. Are they in a mall?
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What's this?
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What's this?
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This is more pole.
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No, it's not.
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Yes, it is.
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No, it's not.
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Yes, it is. No, it is. No, it isn't. Yes, it is. No, it isn't. Yes, it is. No, it's not. Where's the snow? Why are you smiling like. I just like to smile.
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Smile is my favorite.
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Make work your favorite. That's your favorite. Okay.
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Okay. Work your favorite. Fine, fun show.
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It's time for the announcement.
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Okay, people, tomorrow, Santa. I know him. Gosh, people, here is Buddy Elf, who has just this childlike wonder, right? That sense of. I mean, every person he engages with, he takes them seriously in the sense of, like, there's. There's no room for real sarcasm. There's no room for cynicism or skepticism. There's just this acceptance of people as they are accepting what they're saying as they say it, accepting how they presented themselves as they are presenting themselves. And there's something, you know, here's the boss who's, you know, cranky, but he's like, oh, that's just. This is great song is my favorite. His new favorite. Okay, walks away. And then there's Joey. Josie. Joey. What's your name? What's your name? Zoe Deschanel.
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Are you enjoying the view? You are very good at decorating that tree. Why are you messing with me? Did Krumpa put you up to this? I'm not messing with you. It's just nice to meet another human who shares my affinity for elf culture. I'm just trying to get through the holiday.
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Get through.
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Christmas is the greatest day in the whole wide world.
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How many of us. That's how we live our lives. I'm just trying to get through this thing. Even if that thing is a great Thing, you know, I don't know. Think back to Thanksgiving. Just trying to get through Thanksgiving now. It could have been your Thanksgiving might have been something that was devastating. It might have been something that like. No, actually this was really, really difficult. So I'm just trying to get through this without losing my mind. But think about like how often we're just trying to get through the day. Trying to get through this workday. Like wait a second. I mean. And it could be again, please keep this in mind. I understand. Here I am wearing a bunch of free coat with a thing and this is deep though. You could be in a place of incredible crisis and tragedy and suffering where it's like, yeah, I'm trying to get through this. But what happens when that's like just our status quo, like our average is. I'm just trying to get through this as opposed to I'm living life. I'm not just trying to get through this. I'm here, I'm in this moment. I'm engaged with this moment. I don't. There's something there and I think something worth worth praying about. Especially if you're maybe someone who's like, yeah, I find myself just often trying to get through the next thing. Pray about it. Talk to God about that. Here we go. Talk to what's her name? Josie. Joey, Jojo. Let's go to. Okay now, Kevin in Home Alone. Kevin in the original Home Alone. Here's what I heard. I've heard that the grandfather character is like a Christ character. And they, they point out that he's Christ character for a couple reasons. One is the first time you see him, he's salting the earth. And like okay, there's some. Although the Lord doesn't salt. Anyways, then when you see him again, see his wounds in his hands. There, there's a, there's a bandage in this, in this scene. And you see that there's a wound on his, the back of his hand and on the front of his hand which is kind of remarkable as if his hand was fully pierced. You also he have. Well, let's, let's watch the scene. Let's roll the tape. Kevin's in the Catholic church or Anglican maybe, but looks Catholic.
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Merry Christmas.
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Sit down. Old man Marley seems like a nice guy.
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That's my granddaughter up there, the little red haired girl.
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Is it possible that this is also Charlie Brown? Cuz Charlie Brown was in love with a little red hair girl. Remember that? Maybe. Is it possible that Kevin is actually Charlie Brown and that's going to be his future wife. I don't know.
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She's about your age.
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You know her? Mary, Joseph, Catherine, Dirt.
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You live next to me, don't you? You can say hello when you see me. You don't have to be afraid.
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If there's a through line for Home Alone, it's, you don't have to be afraid. He's afraid of the downstairs basement. He's afraid of the man across the street. And what does he say? I'm not afraid anymore. At one point, and here is. Here is this messenger, maybe a Christ figure who knows, telling him, you. You don't have to be afraid. I heard that in the Bible the phrase do not be afraid or be not afraid is used 366 times. I think this is relatively accurate. One for each day of the year and an extra one for whenever you need it.
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Been a good boy this year?
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I think so.
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You swear to it?
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No. Okay. Here's where Kevin goes to confession.
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Well, this is the place to be if you're feeling bad about yourself.
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Pause on that one. Here's the place to be if you're feeling bad about yourself. That. What a line. How often do we find ourselves disqualifying ourselves from entering into God's presence? Because, like, no, actually, I can't go into God's presence because I've messed up, because I've fallen, because I've failed, because I've sinned. And here's this line from the Christ figure here. I'm just claiming that. Who says this is the place to be if you're feeling bad about yourself? Another way to say it is, here's the. This is the place to be if you failed. This is the place you belong. If you don't belong. Right. This is the place to be when you need God's mercy more than anything. For our next one. This is from Christmas vacation, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Let's see. So what happens in family vacation? I think Clark is counting on the bonus from his boss in order to build a pool. Is that how it goes? Or take his family on vacation. I think it's to build a pool. And now this is the scene where he gets the check. I think he gets the check from his business, his company, that he's very faithful to and counting on this big bonus. And he opens the check and. Or opens the letter and. Hey.
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Oh.
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Oh.
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Clark, what's wrong?
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It is not the amount I thought it would be.
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It's bigger than you expected?
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Not bigger than he expected.
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Smaller.
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He's crying. He's weeping.
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What is it?
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What's wrong? Clark?
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It's a one year membership in the Jelly of the Month club.
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Oh, that's what it is. It's not even money, Clark.
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That's the gift that keeps on giving the whole year.
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Cousin Eddie. Brother Eddie something. Eddie. That it is, Edward.
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Edward. That it is indeed.
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I always say expectations are a killer of joy. There's that sense of once you set your heart on something and say this is how it's going to be and then it's not that way. It can just crush your hopes and dreams. Now, expectation is different than hope. I would even say expectation is different than anticipation. Here's what I mean. Anticipation is I can't wait for Christmas. I'm excited for that day. I don't necessarily have any expectation that it's going to be this, this and this. I just anticipate. I'm looking forward to this, this good thing. I don't know how it's going to be. Just looking forward to being good. Hope is much different. Hope is I'm not counting in any outcomes as Christian hope. I'm not counting in any trusting any outcomes. The circumstances don't have to be such and such a way in order for me to like rejoice in them. Christian hope is I'm trusting in a person in the future, regardless of my circumstances, regardless of how things turn out, I trust in God. Right? That's Christian hope. Now expectation is, okay, things are going to be just like this. And if they're not just like this, then my expectation or quote unquote, hope, hopes are dashed. So I think one of the ways we escape from that is realizing, okay, I have no control over outcomes. I have influence over them. But just because I expect something to be a certain way does not mean it's going to be a certain way. I can anticipate it and look forward to a thing and say, I don't have no idea what it's going to be like. I just can't wait to be with my family. Whatever that looks like. I can't wait to go to mass and just praise the Lord for the birth of his son. I don't know how that looks like. They might even not sing my favorite songs. Or it can be even bigger. That sense of Christian hope, God, whatever the circumstances, whatever the outcomes, whatever it's actually like, I get you and that's all I want. Okay, this next one is Rudolph. Whenever I think of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, I think of two things. One is I remember the days when you had to watch it. There was one night, one night a year, you had to watch Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. And now how we're different. Now we can watch it online, on camera, on air. Secondly, one of those years, my sisters got into trouble and they said they did something they didn't do. I think they said they washed the dishes when they didn't actually wash the dishes. And so no one got to watch Rudolph because they lied to my mom. Tragedy in the Schmidt's household when they couldn't watch Rudolph. So which one is this? What scene is this from Rudolph?
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No one likes a skinny Santa. I've got some bad news, folks.
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No Santa. Bad news.
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Christmas is going to be canceled.
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What? No masks.
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There's nothing I can do. This weather.
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Rudolph.
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Rudolph. Please, Would you tone it down a bit? I mean, that nose of yours.
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That lovely, beautiful, wonderful nose.
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That beautiful, wonderful nose.
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Almost got it right.
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Rudolph, Christmas is not off. And you're going to lead my team.
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I am?
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Yes, sir. You and that wonderful nose of yours. My nose, sir? From what I see now, that'll cut through the murkiest storm they can dish up. What I'm trying to say is, Rudolph, with your nose so bright, won't you guide my sleigh tonight? It will be an honor, sir.
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Then how the reindeer loved him as they shouted out with glee, Rudolph the red nosed reindeer. You'll go down to history like Columbus, as I always said. So I recently heard the original story of Rudolph Red Nosed Reindeer was where this. I'm going to get it wrong. But someone was picked on and they wrote the song story for the catalog. Was it JCPenney's or Sears Roebuck catalog? And anyways, that's what I got, which is no more information than you I had before I started talking. So, yeah, Rudolph the Redness Reindeer. Love it. How about this? Here's the lesson. Sometimes the thing that makes us different is what helps the rest of the people. The body of Christ is one, and the hand cannot say to the foot, I don't need you. The eye cannot say to the foot, I do not need you. We all need each other, including really bright noses. Anyways, okay, what are we gonna do? Ah, you guys are gonna be doing this to me. Christmas Carol. So here it is. Cratch at dinner. Oh. Crash at dinner. Scene.
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Pastry cook. Scene. Sh.
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Oh, yeah. Yeah. Spirit, Spirit. Tell me, Tiny Tim, what happens to Tiny Tim?
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Vacant seat in the poor chimney corner and a CRO without an owner.
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A crutch without an owner, you say, I see a Vacant seat and an empty corner and a crutch without an owner. Is that what he says?
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To Mr. Scrooge, the founder of our feasting.
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Golly. Okay, so to Mr. Scrooge, founder of the feast. There is something about that that's just like. It shows Bob Cratchit's heart where he's like. He's. He's not treated well at work, obviously. And at the same time here, he kind of like the buddy of the elf in that sense of looking for the good. Here's the reality. Reality is, yes, he's not a good man, doesn't employ us very well, but he's the one who gave me the money so we could have a goose Christmas. Goose, man. Again, not that it makes it okay, but just here's this man's heart.
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God bless us.
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God bless us, everyone.
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God bless us, everyone. Merry Christmas. Kind spirit say Tiny Tim will be spared. If these shadows remain unaltered by the future. The child will die. Die, no. Spit? No. What then? If he is to die, he had.
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Better do it and reduce the surplus population.
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The surplus population.
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Do I know this story or what?
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Wow.
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It's pretty good. Ah, man, there's so many things. I mean, obviously these are iconic, legendary, classic stories because. For a reason. Because there's. There are so many lines, there's so many beats that are so important. For example, that sense of, yeah, if I don't know you, oftentimes it's hard for me to care about you. But you have this. You have like, all the people who are hungry, all the people who are starving, all the people who are go without, who don't have someone to be with. Okay, I can be indifferent to them. But then there's, oh, I know that person. Their suffering becomes personal to you because you're either finally able or willing to see them. Okay, where are we going here? George Bailey's hectic day. Oh, you know what's happened? What's happened is here's George Bailey. George Bailey grew up in Bedford Falls. George Bailey wanted to get out of town. George Bailey couldn't get out of town. He could have, but he embrace responsibility. And so he always had to take care of other people. He's always thinking about other people. And if this. If you want to say, here's. Here's the greatest movie ever made, possibly, or greatest Christmas movie ever made, maybe probably not the greatest movie ever made. I mean, there's great stories out there, but this one has a place in my heart for sure. Opening scene. We don't have it here. The opening scene where it's just. It's just prayers. It's just they. These prayers going up to the Lord. At one point, there's the line, what, is he sick? No, worse. He's discouraged. It's, like, so incredible. And then we see why George is discouraged. Not because just this season in his life where he's having a very, very bad day. Horrible, no good, very bad day, but also because he's had this whole life that's been, I want to be somewhere else, and I can't be. Here's George. Gosh, thanks a lot for doing this to me. This is George. He goes into Martini's Bar and he has. He's pre. Prays. He has to pray. Apparently, Jimmy Stewart, you know, this is his first movie back from the war. And they said that Frank Capra had said something along the lines of that. That for this scene, he just. They just. I don't know if they had many takes because it was just this really rare, honest prayer of desperation.
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Glad you come. How about, we got everything? God. Dear Father in heaven, I'm not a praying man, but if you're up there and you can hear me, show me the way. I'm at the end of my rope, right? Show me the way. Oh, God.
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There's something about this. I mean, obviously, that sometimes we treat God like a lifeline. We treat him like that. He's break glass in case of emergency kind of a situation. And here he says, I'm not a praying man. You know this. But that prayer is heard, and all of our prayers are heard. In fact, what happens right after this is George. George Bailey, you know, my wife takes care of your kids. And he punches them out, and he's like, oh, some answer to a prayer. And then Clarence the angel shows up and says, no, I'm the answer to your prayer. And there's something about this that's. That's so good. What do we do? We pray. Like, okay, God, next thing that happens might be, you know, someone punches us in the face. And, like, that's the answer to my prayer. God's answer to my prayer. No, no, the answer to your prayer is, here's this angel who's going to show you your life. And so now George has been running away because he saw what would happen if he didn't live. Now, here's an interesting thing. Here's a very important thing. Number one, God exists. You exist. You exist because of God, and you exist on purpose. If God didn't want you to exist, you Wouldn't be around. You're not an accident. You are not an accident. Your life is not an accident. And so here, this movie, It's Wonderful life is highlighting this reality, this truth that no, actually you're here on purpose. And there's something about that that's just so, so necessary for us to understand. And here's the point of movie It's a wonderful Life in many ways. George goes back to the bridge where he jumped off to try to save Clarence. Looking for Clarence.
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Clarence. Clarence. Help me. Clarence. Get me back. Get me back. I don't care what happens to me. Get me back to my wife and kids.
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I want to live again. I want to live again.
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Please, please. I want to live again. I want to live again. I want to live again.
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Praise, praise God.
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Let me live again.
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Knew it. Here he is praying, Let me live again. I know that this season there are so many people watching this, paying attention to this, who this may be your first Christmas without someone you love or, you know, maybe they're sick, they got old or they ended their life. There's something about this where we realize the goodness of life, the value of life. And we've talked about this before. When it comes to those who take their own lives, we always pray for them. We always pray for them because as St. Augustine once said. I believe he said we don't know what happened between the bridge and the water. Even if someone has passed away, even if someone is dead, no matter how what the circumstances situation, we know that God can do miracles. God can make a way. And so we always pray for the those we've. We've lost and also pray for each other because your life still means something. Let's go. Last one, Charlie Brown.
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I can tell you what Christmas is all about.
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Let's just. One second. Can we highlight the goodness of casting in some ways Linus's voice? I don't know, it's just. They did a good job. It's a good voice. Here's what Christmas is all about. Luke, chapter one.
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Lights, please.
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Sorry. Luke chapter two.
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And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them. And the angel said unto them, fear not, for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a saviour, Jesus Christ, the Lord. Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying glory to God in the highest.
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There you go, Charlie brown. That's what Christmas is all about.
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That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie brown.
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There you go, you guys. That's what Christmas is all about. For all of us here at ascension presents, My name is father Mike. A teary father Mike. Ridiculous. God bless.