As a Catholic and long-time comic book collector, this sermon stirred my soul. "Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love."

POPE BENEDICT XVI: “Human pride and egoism always create divisions, build walls of indifference, hate and violence. The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, makes hearts capable of understanding the languages of all - the language of love; for, the Holy Spirit is Love.”

Superman is my favorite superhero of all time because he wants to use his powers to help others. But more and more I find myself relating to Spider-Man who does the right thing but is never rewarded for it. No matter how hard his life gets, he still cares and helps others. Daredevil is also a great example (and he’s Catholic!) of fighting evil even after he loses everything. In S3, they even refer to the book of Job. I could talk about superheroes for hours, and with good reason-I’m actually on a path that will have me writing for Marvel and DC. But I’ll spare you. Just know that superheroes are great examples to live by. In a way, they’re fictional saints. How many conversations have you had about what you’d do with powers? Would you help people? I think I wouldn’t have, but thankfully, I learned that with great power, comes great responsibility.

This is so great and so beautiful that I watched 3 times and share with a friend that loves superheroes. Please pray for him, he’s on his way to comeback home in the Catholic Church.

This is a wonderful talk; I don't know why but the analogy of Steve Rogers and the Holy Spirit being like the serum that made the good in him greater, nearly made me cry as I felt how the Holy Spirit has made even a wretched person like me, a better person.

This is both the coolest and heaviest analogy ever. This is beautifully done!

Rarely do I ever see a video I wish I could like a thousand times. Excellently done. The Holy Spirit inspired this!

I absolutely love this talk, Father, having grown up with comic books and the fascination with super heroes! Once I desired the magic or science to become a super hero so life couldn’t hurt me now I yearn for the Holy Spirit to dwell in me forever.

Thank you Fr Mike 🌟 In Baptism through the power of the Holy Spirit we become children of God and are sealed as Christ's own forever🌻

I don’t follow super heroes but you explained it so well that I feel I know them! Oh how I Strive to be a person who is allowing the Holy Spirit to work through me. When I think I’m not doing well, I think about where God has brought me in the last couple of years. For him to do that for me, is nothing short of a miracle. Still a long way to go but I know he’s with me.

Thank Father Mike Schmitz! I love❤ how you explain everything because it gives us all such a better understanding of God! Thank you for being you! And thank you for choosing to follow God and spreading the message of the gospel! I appreciate you so very much! Keep doing what you are doing! May God bless you and your family! And may God bless all the work of your hands! I will continue to share your videos! 😁

We are huge DC and Marvel fans in our house, and this presentation was amazing! EVERY superhero example in this was perfect! The Shazam and the Capt. America ones blew me away!

this hyped me up so much. i started RCIA classes last week and I already long to be baptized but now im even more excited 😤

Love the analogy. I come from a comic book, scifi fantasy family of super nerds: bought the t-shirt, have the collectibles, went to the convention, did the art, saw the movies, read the books. I always have said I am most like Steve Rogers. It has even been speculated that Steve was Catholic. There are quite a few Marvel characters that were. I like the movie Steve Rogers because he was so humble, so wanting to serve the greater good and had a strong moral center even if following that path was hard and people would not understand. That was the movie version, I liked. While I enjoy the Marvel Universe, I have come to realize that many in the entertainment industry do not share my Catholic values and even work in direct opposition to my most sacred beliefs. I am not sure that now and in the future that the products of Marvel and Disney will be in line with my beliefs. It has given me pause, and I have had to put away childish things to do the right thing; I hope Steve and creator Stan Lee would understand and appreciate that sometimes humble but heroic characters have to make sacrifices and go it alone for the sake of what is right. I still love Disney, Marvel and DC, and what they used to mean to me, but now I look for entertainment that reflects my beliefs and inspires my faith, and I don't give quarter to things that work in opposition to my faith. Let's create a fun, exciting, inspiring, creative culture that reflects the best of our faith; I know there are great Christian writers, artists and actors out there that could make that happen. Peace be with you :)

Fun and interesting talk, Fr Mike. Thanks for trying to make our faith relevant and understandable to us. God Bless. Claire.

Fr Mike, Thanks for another great vlogg. I love how u get so excited about our religion and bringing us new ways to get closer to our Heavenly Father and Mother. God Bless you 🙏 ❤

Gods joy radiates from you face as you introduce us video of Holy Spirit.

Captain America has always been my favorite superhero, so it was awesome to hear such an analogy with him. Amazing video as always. God bless you!

God bless you Fr. Mike. Great analogy using Superheroes. My favorite is Superman. Love the way you explain it in such a way that is so understandable.

Captain America is now my favorite superhero. Love you fr Mike!

Men today more than ever need to believe they can be heroes and be humans! Thank you Father Mike!

THANK YOU for reposting this. I wouldn’t have seen it otherwise. Coolest video ever!

Thank you Father Mike. Enjoyed this presentation. I love to have information I can share with others to share the Catholic faith. Superman was my favorite super hero.

It's amazing how God works through these podcasts. Thank you. God bless.

I played this episode for my kids and they made a great reference with Green Lantern being alot like how you used Captain America. Green Lantern is chosen to use the ring that gets its power from the will. They said God chooses us to do his will it becomes part of us like the green lantern suit does and we become warrior or protectors of the faith (instead of Ora). I was impressed they thought of that.

Extra ordinarily good Dear Rev Fr. Mike Schmitz. In all of your talks Reflect the presence of Holy Spirit . So you become so endearing to me

Jesus Christ is my Super HERO!!!

Once again, Thank you, Father...Your efforts are taking hold

John Cena+ John hamm+ Henry Cavill= this dude

you know Fr. Mike everything about YOU that's special, came from the Holy Spirit ❤️‍🔥@8:30

Wow, just wow. Such a beautiful analogy. The super Hero fan in me had a series of goosebumps and to conclude it all in Steve Rogers. Wow !! Kudos ❤️❤️❤️ loved itttttttt

God bless you Father Mike

You must’ve truly enjoyed making this. Yes, you were a lot younger, but as I’ve said in the past, and we’ll say again, I find the man of integrity, a high moral code, and a true passion and love of the Lord, along with maturity a much better you.

I remember a priest named Fr. Chad say in his Pentecost homily that the Radioactive Spider coming down to bite Miles Morales and giving him his spider-powers in Spider-Verse is like the Holy Spirit coming down on the apostles to give them grace. Being a big Spider-man fan, I really liked the analogy! Also I would advise looking into Daredevil, a superhero who is actually Catholic in-universe!

This is an awesome analogy! Thank you so much!

Thank you Father Mike

Thank you, Fr. Mike-I needed to hear this at this time

Thank you father Mike , now the prayer to the Holy Spirit make sense to me .i love shepherd like you.

Thank you for this video. My parents baptized me when I was a baby and I really did not understand the actual meaning of that until today.

I love this 🥰 what a wonderful explanation of this gift 🙏✝️🕊️ thanks for sharing this special video.

Beautifully done!!

This was perfectly explained, thank you. My intention is to share it with my Confirmation class at my parish, I am a volunteer w Faith Formation & also Youth Ministry. I love this man, and happy he didn’t talk a million miles a minute this time 🙏😘

Teaches you how to apply the knowledge in your practical life

I always feel as if the Holy Spirit is with me and protecting me and has saved my life more times than I can count. I feel as if there is a white light surrounding me when I call upon the Holy Spirit to protect and help me

The Ten Minute Bible Hour channel did a video about Captain America being the Avenger most like a Christian. Steve did nothing to deserve the serum, but he stepped forward when called, and after receiving the serum he didn't squander the abilities he received, but used them to the best of his capabilities.

Beautiful analogy and great videography! Especially considering that Fr Mike was almost cast as Batman in a major film.

Love how he referenced the late Mitch Hedberg!

Come Holy Spirit and renew the face of the Earth.

Thank you, Fr. Mike. God bless you.

Mitch Hedberg joke from the start! Another great video.

Man I loved this video!!!

Dear Father Mike! Thanks a lot for everything and don't forget to rest! You're not a superhero ! 🤗

This was a "Marvel"-ous discussion, thanks father Mike.

Well expressed. Thanks 🙏 We need more of this in the world

Good explanation and GREAT art. This looks like it would be good for teens. It did not seem 9min long but shorter. Keep them coming! :)

Superb! I wish there was a lighter version of this for kids...🥰

Thank you for this video, Father Mike! I really enjoyed the artwork and analogy between superheroes and the Catholic faith. I LOVE Captain America! He's one of my favorites! Other than that, keep up the good work, Father! I love Ascension Presents!

WOW. Awesome. Thank you Father Mike. God Bless.

God bless you Father Mike!

Thank you. Praise God.

Not a perfect soldier but a good man 🥲

Three baptisms in the bible. 1. Water 2. Eternal life receiving the Holy Spirit and Light The third we can't do. Jesus and Holy Spirit do. 3. Baptism of the Holy Spirit. This means activation of your Gifts, which ever ones you have.. Know your Gifts and use then.

Greetings Father Mike, Thanks for the Simple Distinguishing Aspects between "Humans" & "Super Heroes" in every aspects of Life. Special Prayers : My Prayers for Yourself Father Mike for Resisting the Temptations of Secular Entertainment in all possible aspects. With regards with Prayers for Everyone, RanjithJoseph (R.J)

great. I loved that you made a rescue from memory videos. definitely now, I'm elevated. from Valinhos, SP Brazil

I didn’t know Luther said that about baptism. I attend a non-denominational church. We believe that the Holy Spirit lives inside of us. Baptism should be done when the person agrees to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

WoW.. God bless you Fr. Mike.

Thank you

Thank you for this analogy, Father Mike!

Loved it when it first came out and love it still! Thanks so much!!!

🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 god sent me here!

That "every picture of you is when you were younger" joke is from a Minnesota guy, Mitch Hedberg (RIP). Another silly, but profound Mitch joke is "an escalator can never be broken. it is only temporarily stairs. sorry for the convenience."

For Baptism (or conversion) this may work. But for Inspirational, of what kind of superhero to BE like, I'd like to say Superman.

I love this ❤ Thank you Father Mike. God bless

Amazing grace indeed!

Thanks

We talked about this at our credo tonight

Just saw this video........thanks for your presentation. Love to make some comments....firstly I find these two verses very interesting that are describing Jesus words in the same situation but in two accounts - Matthew and Luke. Mathew 12 :28 KJ - "But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you." Luke 11:20 KJ - "But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you." Here we see in Lukes account that the Holy Spirit that Matthew describes, is also described as Gods finger. This perfectly fits in with the Hebrew scriptures that describes Gods fingers in action accomplishing his will and works and in creation - Ex 31:18, Ex 8:19, Deut 9:10, Ps 8:3 Yes, the magic practicing priests in Ex 8:18-19 were forced to admit that that the plagues on Egypt were an exhibition of Yahweh's superior power acknowledging "it is the finger of God!" Therefore, it looks to me the Bible is simply saying (and interpreting itself) that the Holy spirit is Gods fingers or his power in action, that he uses and gives to others to use or be strengthened by, as he sees fit. It is not independent of him any more than our fingers are not independent of us on our hands. He allowed Jesus in the above verses to use his holy spirit to cast out demons. Then also to help and comfort the minds and hearts of his disciples up to now (as a side point If Jesus was God, he would not need the help of another person to do this, but he needs Gods Holy spirit - yes Gods spirit, yes his force or finger as Luke 11:20 says he used in order to do what he did and is still doing from heaven for his disciples) But here is a question ...... Q/ Did the ancient Israelites, the 1st Century Christians and writers and followers of Christ believed that the holy spirit was a person? 1/ Clearly Luke didn't think so as he referred to Gods Holy spirit as Gods finger and not to a person separate from God. Much like a craftsman’s hands cannot function independent of his mind and body; likewise, God’s holy spirit operates only as he directs it which is what Luke described as well as other Bible writers. 2/ It was first in the fourth century C.E. when some theologians claimed that the holy spirit was a person who was somehow equal to God. The Encyclopedia Britannica states: “The definition that the Holy Spirit was a distinct divine Person . . . came at the Council of Constantinople in ad 381.” So, this was over 250 years after the last of the apostles had died. Yes, this idea was not taught in the Scriptures or by the early followers of Christ. It came much later. 3/ Even the new Catholic Encyclopedia explains (and Catholics believe the Trinity) : “The Old Testament clearly does not envisage God’s spirit as a person neither in the strictly philosophical sense, nor in the Semitic sense. God’s spirit is simply God’s power. If it is sometimes represented as being distinct from God, it is because the breath of Yahweh acts exteriorly.” The same source adds: “The majority of New Testament texts reveal God’s spirit as something, not someone; this is especially seen in the parallelism between the spirit and the power of God.” Yes the ancient Israelites (Gods people) never ever thought of Gods spirit as a person. There are no verses that give any indication of this. 4/ The Bible compares the holy spirit to water. When promising future blessings for his people, God said: “I shall pour out water upon the thirsty one, and trickling streams upon the dry place. I shall pour out my spirit upon your seed, and my blessing upon your descendants.”​-Isaiah 44:3. 5/ Is the Holy spirit ever described or called God? In Theological Investigations, Karl Rahner, S.J., admits: “Θεός [God] is still never used of the Spirit,” and: “ὁ θεός [literally, the God] is never used in the New Testament to speak of the πνεῦμα ἅγιον [holy spirit].”-(Baltimore, Md.; 1961), translated from German, Vol. I, pp. 138, 143. 6/ Interestingly John the Baptizer said that Jesus would baptize with holy spirit, even as John had been baptizing with water. Hence, in the same way that water is not a person, holy spirit is not a person. What John foretold was fulfilled when, following the death and resurrection of Jesus, holy spirit was poured out on his followers gathered in Jerusalem. The Bible says: “They all became filled with holy spirit.” Were they “filled” with a person? No, but they were filled with God’s active force - Matt 3:11, Acts 2:4, Acts 2:17 7/ Nowhere in the Bible is the holy spirit mentioned with God and Christ as being equal to them. For instance, on the occasion of Jesus’ baptism, Mark 1:10 shows that the holy spirit came down upon Jesus “like a dove,” not in a human form or as a person. The holy spirit was not some person coming upon Jesus but was God’s power his active force. That power from God enabled Jesus to heal the sick and resurrect the dead. As Luke 5:17 says “And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them". Later, at Pentecost, the apostles also were given the power from God to heal the sick and raise the dead. Did that make them part of a triune godhead? No, they were simply given power from God, through Christ, to do what humans ordinarily could not do. 8/ After Jesus was resurrected, Stephen had a vision of heaven and “caught sight of God’s glory and of Jesus standing at God’s right hand.” So only two separate persons were in evidence in heaven: (1) God and (2) the resurrected Jesus Christ. No holy spirit is mentioned in this vision because it was not any third person of a Trinity. The holy spirit, being God’s active power, would proceed from God but not as a separate being. That is why Stephen saw only two persons, not three. - Acts 7:55 9/ Is the Holy spirit personified that gives it qualities like a person in a figurative way? Yes of course. The Bible also personifies wisdom, death, and sin. For example, wisdom is said to have works and children, and sin is depicted as seducing, killing, and working out covetousness. 10/ Similarly, when the apostle John quoted Jesus, he personified the holy spirit as a helper (greek - paraclete) that would give evidence, guide, speak, hear, declare, glorify, and receive. as it emanates from God himself. He used masculine personal pronouns such as “he” or “him” when referring to that “helper.” However, he did so because the Greek word for helper (pa·raʹkle·tos) is a masculine noun and requires a masculine pronoun according to the rules of Greek grammar. When John referred to the holy spirit using the neuter noun pneuʹma, he used the genderless pronoun "it" which he would never do if it was a person - John 16:​7-​15, John 14:16, 17. Proverbs 1:​20; Romans 5:​17, 21, Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:​35; Romans 7:​8, 11. Have a lovely day😊

Great reflection to superheroes!

Hi Fr.Mike!!! Love Ascension channel!!❣️

Word.

What a neat analogy. I've often wondered about the holy spirit!

I really love this analogy!

Fantastic analogy!

I am Catholic and I saw Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart and I am without a Friend! My CATHOLIC EZGHIABER 🦁⛪️🏍🌍🎸!

Thanks for the crash course in super heroes. I am not really into that so it was interesting. LOL

So cool! This will resonate with my 8th graders. Thank you!

Loreto Publications has a wonderful book about this topic called "True Devotion to the Holy Spirit"

Thank you A great analogy!

Love this!

I love the Holy Spirit

Batman is my favorite superhero but JESUS is the best hero of all

indwelling Holy Spirit is proof of salvation at the time of the end -Ephesians 1:14 no one who sins has eternal life abiding in them -1 John 3:15

Good introductory teaching tool for high schoolers and I learned about a bunch of super heroes I’ve never been interested in (67 year old great grandmother here) But it begs the follow up question. Baptism plants the seed of greatness, even Pelosi and Biden were baptized, obviously they take their Catholicism off and on as the polls demand. How do we grow in faith to be fully manifested saints like Mother Teresa and John Paul the Great?? Too many cradle Catholics (even the more pious) assume the mantle of Catholic baptism is their ticket to heaven (eventually and hopefully for the pious who still believe in purgatory). The post Vatican 2 pew warmers think God is all merciful and loving and EVERYONE will go to heaven (if it exists) and I’ve even talked to a priest who believes this… I am a revert who has studied salvation/conversion from different Protestant angles and was drawn back to Mother Church by the Real Presence of My Lord in the Eucharist. It appears to me that Catholic catechesis fell apart after Vatican 2. My First Holy Communion was during Pope St John XXIII’s papacy and included the Baltimore Catechism. Now attempting to teach 7/8 graders, I find they have no foundation and less than 25% attend Sunday Mass. So I pray, A LOT and look for teaching videos like these, short enough to hold their microwave length attention spans but deep enough to water that seed planted at Baptism. Thank you for your KZfaq ministry!!!

Superman is a better analogy. Without the sun shining on him, he is just as mortal as any other human, with all the flaws.

Age is just a number. Baptism brings so many questions to me. No doubt about getting baptized. Question how do people get baptized by holy spirit?

I know when a priest references a Mitch Hedberg joke to start a video, it's going to be a good video.

It doesn't feel fair that "younger Fr Mike" looks exactly the same as "current Fr Mike".

Woohoo!!! 💯

This Video is so cool.

Father I have a close friend who believes that when Catholics receive Baptism as infants that they have not received baptism as Peter states that baptism should be administered as an adult in acts 2; That without receiving baptism as an adult through total immersion in water infants have only been sprinkled with water and not been truly baptized because they did not state as an adult that they receive Jesus Christ as their savior that they repent and then that they are baptized if you could address this in one of your future talks I would Sincerely appreciate it thank you for all that you do