Fr. Mike’s Tips for Praying as a Busy Person

Summary

Podcast Summary: Fr. Mike’s Tips for Praying as a Busy Person

Podcast Information:

• Title: The Fr. Mike Schmitz Catholic Podcast
• Host/Author: Ascension
• Description: Faith, pop culture, and headline reflections from Fr. Mike Schmitz.
• Episode: Fr. Mike’s Tips for Praying as a Busy Person
• Release Date: July 17, 2025

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Introduction

In the episode titled "Fr. Mike’s Tips for Praying as a Busy Person," Fr. Mike Schmitz addresses the common struggle of maintaining a prayer life amidst the demands of a hectic schedule. Released on July 17, 2025, this episode offers practical advice and spiritual insights for individuals seeking to deepen their relationship with God despite their busy lives.

The Challenge of Prayer for the Busy Individual

Fr. Mike begins by acknowledging the universal difficulty of prioritizing prayer. He states, “there’s nothing we all know we need to do but we don’t do it is pray” (00:15). He empathizes with listeners who find it challenging to fit prayer into their daily routines due to various commitments.

Honesty About Busyness and Prioritization

Be Honest About Your Schedule

Fr. Mike emphasizes the importance of honesty regarding one's schedule and commitments. “Be honest about how busy you are, which is legit” (00:30). He draws parallels to everyday priorities, such as skipping meals or reducing sleep to accommodate other activities, highlighting that prayer often takes a backseat in similar fashion.

Prioritize What Truly Matters

He elaborates, “We make time for the things that we truly believe are important” (01:00), encouraging listeners to recognize that if prayer is a genuine priority, they will find ways to incorporate it into their lives, just as they do with other essential activities.

Assessing the Present Season of Life

Live in the Present, Not the Past or Future

Fr. Mike advises against comparing the current phase of life to past or future expectations. “Don’t look to what you want it to be. Don’t look back to what it used to be or ahead to what it might be” (02:10). Instead, he urges listeners to focus on their current circumstances and identify realistic ways to integrate prayer into their daily routine.

Tailoring Prayer to Current Life Circumstances

He suggests asking oneself, “What is one way you can pray so that you actually grow closer to Jesus in this season of your life?” (02:50). This approach ensures that prayer practices are relevant and manageable, fostering spiritual growth even amid a busy schedule.

Practical Strategies for Incorporating Prayer

Fr. Mike outlines a three-step plan to help busy individuals integrate prayer into their lives:

1. When to Pray

   • Set a Specific Time: Fr. Mike underscores the necessity of scheduling prayer rather than leaving it to chance. “When am I actually going to pray?” (03:30) he asks, prompting listeners to commit to a specific time each day.

2. Where to Pray

   • Create a Prayer Space: He shares practical examples, such as allocating a quiet corner or even a small closet for prayer. “Where am I going to pray? The third thing is how am I going to pray” (04:10). Fr. Mike illustrates this with a story about a priest who established a discreet prayer space to avoid disturbing his family, thereby maintaining his prayer routine.

3. How to Pray

   • Choose Meaningful Prayer Practices: Fr. Mike encourages selecting a prayer method that resonates personally and fosters a deeper connection with God. “What is the prayer that you get the sense, if I consistently do this, I’m going to get closer and closer to Jesus” (04:50). Whether it’s using prayer cards, the rosary, or reading scripture, the key is consistency and intentionality.

Pro Tips: Ceiling and Floor Approach

Establishing Prayer Boundaries

Fr. Mike introduces the concept of having a "ceiling" and a "floor" for prayer activities:

• Ceiling: Represents the ideal scenario. “This is my best day... this is my ceiling. This is the max. This is the ideal” (05:30). On days when time permits, one might engage in prolonged prayer sessions, such as 15 to 60 minutes.

• Floor: Defines the minimum commitment to ensure a consistent connection with God, even on the busiest days. “What's my floor? What's that thing that even on my worst day... as long as I do this, we've still connected” (05:50). This ensures that prayer remains a non-negotiable part of daily life, providing stability and continuity.

Conclusion

Fr. Mike wraps up by reinforcing the importance of integrating prayer into daily routines, regardless of how busy life becomes. “We can't be so busy that we neglect to do the most important thing... getting to know God Himself” (06:20). His practical advice aims to empower listeners to maintain a meaningful prayer life by being honest about their schedules, prioritizing prayer, and establishing structured yet flexible prayer routines.

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Notable Quotes:

• “We make time for the things that we truly believe are important.” (00:45)
• “Don’t look to what you want it to be. Don’t look back to what it used to be or ahead to what it might be.” (02:10)
• “What is one way you can pray so that you actually grow closer to Jesus in this season of your life?” (02:50)
• “When am I actually going to pray?” (03:30)
• “What is the prayer that you get the sense, if I consistently do this, I’m going to get closer and closer to Jesus.” (04:50)
• “This is my best day... this is my ceiling. This is the max. This is the ideal.” (05:30)
• “What's my floor? ... as long as I do this, we've still connected.” (05:50)
• “We can't be so busy that we neglect to do the most important thing... getting to know God Himself.” (06:20)

Timestamp Reference Guide

• 00:00 – Introduction to the episode
• 00:15 – Acknowledging the need for prayer
• 00:30 – Honesty about busyness
• 01:00 – Prioritizing what truly matters
• 02:10 – Focusing on the present season
• 02:50 – Tailoring prayer to current circumstances
• 03:30 – Planning when to pray
• 04:10 – Creating a prayer space
• 04:50 – Choosing how to pray
• 05:30 – Establishing a prayer ceiling
• 05:50 – Defining a prayer floor
• 06:20 – Final encouragement and conclusion

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This episode serves as a valuable resource for anyone struggling to maintain a regular prayer life amidst a busy schedule. Fr. Mike Schmitz offers actionable steps and spiritual wisdom, encouraging listeners to integrate prayer into their daily routines thoughtfully and consistently.

Transcript

[A]

When class is in session and students are here and I get to stay in Duluth prayer regular, I have a set time every single day. Absolutely, I'm there. But when I'm out of town, it's hard to find time to pray. Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and this is Ascension Presents. If there's anything we all know we all need to do but we don't do is pray. How do you pray if you're a busy person? I say, number one, let's just first of all, be honest. Be honest about how busy you are, which is legit. But also, we almost always make time for what we think is most important. This is just what we do. Now, you might be someone who's like, no, I regularly skip meals, even though I know that's important because I get so caught up in other things. Or, yeah, you know, my sleep keeps decreasing because I get so wrapped up in my work, even though I know it's really important. Yep, I get it. In those cases, work is more important than food. In my mind at least. In those cases, my activities, whatever I was doing was more important than getting to bed on time. And in our case, when we struggle to pray, we're busy. We know that it is easy to prioritize other things more than taking time to spend time with God. We make time for the things that we truly believe are important. That's the first thing. Let's just be honest about that. How do I actually make it a part of my life if I'm so busy? Well, number one is look at your life. A lot of our students will say, well, back when I was in college, I had all this time. I'd make a holy hour every single day. But now I'm working from these hours to these hours, and it's really intense. And I don't know if I can make it in for a whole, whole hour, but I used to be able to do that. Okay, great. Don't look back to what it used to be. How is it now? Or they'd say, like, well, I just, you know, someday it'll be different. Someday I'll be able to slow down. Okay. Okay. Don't look ahead to what it might be. Or they might say things like, I just really want it to be different. Don't look to what you want it to be. Don't look back to what it used to be or ahead to what it might be or what you might want it to be. Look at your life right now as it is in this season of your life. What is a way that you can pray so that you actually grow closer to Jesus? Not a past season, not a future season, not an other season, but in this season of your life, what is one way you can pray that'll actually get you closer to Jesus? And the idea behind this is if I don't plan it, I won't be able to do it. So I have a plan. And I was just talking to a student the other day about this because it's summer right now and he has this summer job that he said, I work every morning from 6am to 12:30 is when I go to bed at night. He said, when am I going to pray? Okay, well say that's a busy day, you got a busy life. What's your plan? Because if you just say, well, hopefully I'll pray today, you're probably not going to pray today. So what's your plan? Meaning when am I going to pray, where am I going to pray and how am I going to pray? So when am I going to pray? Every one of us needs to say, okay, this is the time. And not just this is the time on my best day or not, this is the time if I get to bed at, you know, abnormally early hour. But when are you actually going to pray? Number two, where that place could be the kitchen table. As long as there's not a family surrounding you, that place could be, you know, that the next to your bed. As long as it's not disruptive. I have a buddy who, he had a little prayer space down in their living room, which basically meant he had like a recliner. And he would sit in there and he said every morning he would get up and he would get up super early because his plan was, okay, this is the time I'm going to get up, I have a bunch of kids, I have to get up before them. But he said that as he walked down the hallway at like 5:15 in the morning so he could pray. Just walking down the hallway would wake up one of his kids and like, dad, are you awake? And he's like, okay, I guess I'm not going to pray. I'm going to be with my child. So what he did was he created a prayer space in their closet. It wasn't like this massive walk in closet, it was a small space where he could kneel down and pray in the closet where it wouldn't wake up his kids. And I thought it was interesting. So the plan is, when am I going to pray? Where am I going to pray? The third thing is how am I going to pray? What I mean by that is, what is one way that, you know, hey, if I do this consistently, I actually get closer to the Lord. Now I remember, you know, seeing folks in parishes when I was assigned to parish, and they would. They'd pray in the church and they'd have their stack of holy cards. And this goes through the holy cards. Praying the holy cards, confession. I was a little judgy about that. And I was like, are you kidding me? Just praying holy cards one prayer after the other? What do I know? Maybe that was actually really significant. I know people who pray litanies one after the other, and they're actually deep and deeply meaningful. No, people who pray the chaplet or rosary one after the other, and they're deeply impactful and deeply meaningful. So I need to correct myself before I wreck myself. That prayer could bring a person closer to the Lord. So what is the prayer that you get the sense, if I consistently do this, if I consistently pray like this, I'm going to get closer and closer to Jesus. I know him better and better. Not like every day, I'm like, wow, I know him so much more. But just, if I do this consistently, it'll actually help me know him and become like him more and more. That could be the prayer cards, it could be a chaplet, it could be the rosary, it could be reading scripture, whatever it is, just choose. That's how I'm going to pray. And to be able to say, okay, my plan is when, where, and how. Here's the last thing, a little pro tip. I like this idea. I like the idea of having a ceiling. Like, this is my best day. On my best day, when I have all the time I wanted to pray, whether that be 15 minutes or 60 minutes, like, that's my best day. This is my ceiling. This is the max. This is the ideal. Also have a floor, meaning, okay, on my worst day, even if everything goes wrong, even if I'm just, like, tearing my hair out because things are just too chaotic and there's no time whatsoever, what's my floor? What's my minimum? That if at least I pray this way, I've checked in with the Lord, I spent some time with them, and we're still connected. So have a ceiling. Have that ideal. Like, this is my. This is my dream plan of when and where and how. But also decide for yourself, what's my floor? What's that? That thing that even on my worst day, even on my busiest day, as long as I do this, we're still connected. Because I know we're all so busy, but you and I, we. We can't be so busy that we neglect to do the most important thing any of us could spend our lives doing, which is getting to know God himself, spending time with him, and by his grace, becoming like him. Anyways, we're almost here. Ascension presents. My name's Father Mike. God bless. Hi.

[B]

Hi.

[A]

My name is Father Mike Schmitz, and this is Ascension presents.

[B]

Maybe.

[A]

Should I do it like that? Maybe I should do it like that.

[B]

My name is Father Mike Schmitz, and this is Ascension presents.

[A]

I should slow it down.

[B]

Hi. My name is Father Mike Schmitz. This is Ascension presents.