Fr. Mike Schmitz and Michael Iskander on "House of David", Catholic Faith, and More
The Fr. Mike Schmitz Catholic Podcast
Ascension
4.9 • 7.7K Ratings
🗓️ 26 March 2026
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Fr. Mike Schmitz sits down with Michael Iskander, best known for his role as King David in House of David, for a powerful conversation on faith, vocation, and the journey toward God.
They reflect on David as a flawed man after God’s own heart, exploring what it means to live faithfully, trust God’s mercy, and simply do the “next right thing.”
Michael also shares his journey to Catholicism, including his experience growing up in Egypt amid persecution and the moments that led him to a deeper relationship with God.
Michael also shares his “five stones” for spiritual battle, which serve as a practical and powerful roadmap for staying grounded in the spiritual life:
The Rosary
The Eucharist
Sacred Scripture
Fasting
Monthly Confession
Don’t miss this inspiring conversation and be sure to check out Season 2 of House of David, streaming March 27 on Prime Video.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Coming up in today's episode, David is one of my favorite characters in the entire Bible. |
| 0:05.2 | Why him? The guy that committed murder and committed adultery and like tons of other things. |
| 0:10.5 | Speaking of Bible in a year, by the way, the first place I went to when I got the rope, |
| 0:16.2 | I went to your Bible in a year and I went to First Samuel and that's what I, that's what I listened to. |
| 0:22.1 | We all know like Saul killed his thousands. David has tens of thousands. Like this guy had so |
| 0:26.4 | much blood on his hands, you know. So why, why him? It really puts in a perspective how far God |
| 0:33.7 | can reach, no matter how far away we may go, he's got that reach that can just bring you |
| 0:40.0 | out of anything. We are all called to be David. And we're all called to go up against the giant, |
| 0:48.5 | the spiritual giant, and up against ourselves, against the flesh. And these are the stones |
| 0:53.9 | that we battle that with. |
| 0:56.1 | Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and this is Ascent to present. |
| 0:58.5 | Today, I have the opportunity to have a conversation. |
| 1:00.7 | And the conversation is with a man named Michael Ascander. |
| 1:03.6 | He's a 24-year-old actor who is best known for starring as King David in the Amazon Prime |
| 1:09.4 | series House of David. |
| 1:11.1 | Michael and I got a chance to meet in person for about three and a half seconds. |
| 1:16.2 | Yeah. |
| 1:16.2 | Maybe a month ago or so. |
| 1:18.0 | And I wish we had more time in person. |
| 1:20.5 | But it's great to have you here now on Ascentra Presents virtually. |
| 1:25.9 | Yeah. |
| 1:26.6 | Father, it's so great to be here. It's so great to be chatting with you. And I'm so glad we got to meet even for that three and a half seconds. I was stoked to meet you. I was like, but here's the thing. When I was like, oh, this is Michael. I'm like, hey, me too. And we had just this interaction. And I'm like, oh, |
... |
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