AI Summary
5 min read"Come, Holy Spirit. Teach me how to pray." That single line, which Fr. Mike Schmitz says he has watched students utter before leading prayer, captures the central argument of this homily. The episode is built around a counterintuitive claim: the two things required for faith to grow are not more answers, more assurance, or more confidence in oneself. They are trial and prayer.
The homily begins with a familiar desire. Many people who take their faith seriously pray, "Lord, increase my faith." And underneath that prayer, Fr. Mike suggests, is often a hidden assumption: "If I had more answers, I'd have more faith. If I had more information, I'd have more faith. If I had more assurance, then my faith would grow." The problem is that this logic treats faith as something that follows from certainty. The homily argues the opposite. Faith grows precisely when certainty is absent.
Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.
Read Full Summary →Free • No credit card required
Never miss an episode of Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz
Get every new episode summarized in your inbox — free, ~5 minutes to read.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
What you'll learn
- 1 (00:01) **Opening & Gospel Reading** - Fr. Mike introduces the homily and reads Matthew 13:24-43 (the parables of the weeds, mustard seed, and yeast).
- 2 (03:08) **The Desire for More Faith & The Role of Trial** - Fr. Mike identifies the common prayer for increased faith and argues that it requires two things: trial and prayer.
- 3 (05:11) **Why We Need Trial** - Fr. Mike explains that trial, not comfort, is the environment where faith is tested and proven.
- 4 (06:59) **The Catechism on Tribulation & Petitionary Prayer** - Fr. Mike cites the Catechism's teaching that filial trust is proven in tribulation, especially in the gap between a prayer request and God's response.
- 5 (08:08) **The Ordinary Trial of Finding Time to Pray** - Fr. Mike shifts to the common, mundane difficulty of carving out time for prayer.
- 6 (09:49) **Dryness and Distraction in Prayer** - Fr. Mike addresses the experience of feeling nothing during prayer and why staying in that emptiness is itself an exercise of faith.
- 7 (10:53) **Prayer is a Posture, Not a Procedure** - Fr. Mike distinguishes between helpful prayer methods (ACTS, Rosary, Lectio Divina) and the heart of prayer itself.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Guests on this episode
Show Notes
Homily from the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Faith grows through trial and prayer.
We all want a greater faith...and we all want a purified love. But how does our faith grow and how does our love get purified? Through trial and prayer. But we do not know how to pray as we ought. Prayer is more a posture than it is a procedure. And the posture is trust.
Mass Readings from July 19, 2026: Wisdom 12:13, 16-19 Psalm 86:5-6, 9-10, 15-16Romans 8:26-27Matthew 13:24-43
More from this podcast
Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz →