Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz
Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz

Episode 202606018: 8/23/26 Who Do You Say?

August 22, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In a 1990s diner in a rough part of town, a waitress named Rosalind heard a coworker scream "Jesus Christ" in anger across the crowded room. Instead of being offended, she shouted back, "I love him. I love him so much. Say his name as much as you want." The other waitresses never took the Lord's name in vain again. That moment — what Fr. Mike Schmitz calls a "Caesarea Philippi" — is the kind of situation every person will face: a moment when a vague, comfortable opinion about Jesus is no longer enough, and you must answer for yourself who he really is.

The problem with having too many opinions

Fr. Mike opens with an unusual confession for someone who records content for the internet: he thinks we have too many opinions. We feel pressure to have a take on everything — the O.J. Simpson trial, politics, theology — and to share those takes publicly. But most of the time, we simply do not know enough to have a meaningful opinion. The real danger is not having an opinion at all; it is having a wrong opinion that shrinks Jesus down to something manageable.

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (00:01) **Opening & Gospel Reading (Matthew 16:13-20)** - Fr. Mike introduces the homily and reads the Gospel where Jesus asks his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" and Simon Peter declares, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
  • 2 (01:44) **The Problem of Too Many Opinions** - Fr. Mike reflects on the cultural pressure to have and share an opinion on everything, even when we lack sufficient knowledge.
  • 3 (03:45) **The Concept of "Your Caesarea Philippi"** - Fr. Mike introduces the central metaphor: every person will face decisive moments when they must answer for themselves who Jesus is.
  • 4 (04:27) **Mother Miriam's Diner Story: A Real-World Caesarea Philippi** - Fr. Mike tells a story of a nun (then Rosalind) who worked in a rough diner and was faced with a moment to confess her love for Jesus.
  • 5 (07:07) **The Danger of Shrinking Jesus** - Fr. Mike analyzes the crowd's answers in the Gospel, noting they are not rejections but reductions of who Jesus is.
  • 6 (07:46) **The Rise of "Moralistic Therapeutic Theism"** - Fr. Mike introduces sociologist Christian Smith's research on the actual faith of American adolescents, which reveals a widespread distorted view of God.
  • 7 (10:36) **How the Distortion Spread** - Fr. Mike explores how this diluted faith was handed down, revealing that parents passed on their own distorted version of God, not the full revelation.

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Guests on this episode

Fr. Mike Schmitz

Show Notes

Homily from the Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

He gets to reveal Himself to me long before I get to have an opinion of Him.

Every one of us will have our own Caesarea Philippi, our place where we must answer the question, "Who do you say that Jesus is?" Who will we say? Will we point to a Jesus who is merely our own particular version of Christ? Or will we actually know the true Jesus?

Mass Readings from August 23, 2026:Isaiah 22:19-23 Psalm 138:1-2, 2-3, 6, 8Romans 11:33-36

Matthew 16:13-20

Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz

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