The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 1: To Know and Love God (2026)

Episode Date: January 1, 2026

Welcome to Day 1 of The Catechism in a Year! Today, we begin our journey with Fr. Mike through the Catechism from the very beginning: the Prologue. The Catechism tackles some big questions right out of the gate. Why did God make us? How can we know him? How do we help others understand him as well? Fr. Mike invites us to discover God’s plan for us and accept the challenge he has placed before us. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1-10. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name's Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in scripture, and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a Year is brought to you by Ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the entire Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity and God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is day one. You guys, welcome. This is a few reminders before we get started.

I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the Foundations of Faith Approach, but you can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It's going to be, you know, word for word. We're good there. You can download your own catechism into your reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y. And lastly, you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily notifications. That seems like something that, I don't know,

It's worth saying. So I'll say it today. So today we'll be reading on day one. Gosh, you guys, here we go. There is this thing called the prologue at the very beginning of the catechism. It's 25 paragraphs long. Paragraphs aren't like massively long, but they're just, you know, kind of bullet points. Well, you'll get the gist if you don't have the catechism in front of you.

Essentially, the prologue is 25 paragraphs long. And it basically, it's kind of like syllabus day. I feel like today is like syllabus day, today and tomorrow. So today we're reading paragraphs 1 through 10. and then tomorrow we'll read the remaining paragraphs. But it kind of like gives a lay of the land. But it's not just syllabus day. Syllabus Day is, okay, here's what you'll be reading.

And here's how this is all going to be very boring. My goodness, you guys, the prologue is among the most beautiful stuff written. I just am blown away by this because what we're going to talk about today is we're going to talk about, okay, what is God's planned for human beings? I mean, that's where they start. The whole, the very first paragraph in the entire catechism begins by saying, like, here is the massive revelation of God to humanity. And it's just so good.

The first three paragraphs are just, here's the story of salvation. Here is who God is. Here is who you are. And here is God's plan for us. And then it goes on to say, okay, so since we know that in those first three paragraphs, what do we do with it?

And that we call that catechises. So we're talking about catechesis, which is handing on the faith or teaching the faith. And so we'll be talking about that. catechesis is an education and faith of children, young people, old people, talk all about that. And then, basically, in the last couple paragraphs of today in the prolog, the church then says, okay, so because of all this and based off of people who are really, really smart and really holy for the last 2,000 years, what we said about doing is we said about writing a new catechism.

And that's where we are right now. So that's what we're going to hear about today. So let's say a prayer and just dive in to today. Oh my gosh. Father in heaven, we give you praise. and thanks. You've made us. You've made us for yourself. And we are restless. Our hearts are restless until they rest in you. God, what is your plan for us? What is your plan for us, generally speaking? What's your plan for us personally this day? Lord God, we just open our hearts to you today and open our minds to you. God, remove any sense of intimidation, remove any any sense of fear, remove any sense of even resistance to what it is that you've revealed in your scriptures and through the teachings of your church for these last 2,000 years, open our hearts

and our minds today as we begin this journey so that, again, without fear, without resistance, without any hesitation, we can just launch ourselves into your arms today. What is it that you want for us? What is it you want from us? And what is it that? you can do in us this day if we just open our minds and open our hearts to you. Lord, reveal the answer to this. Reveal yourself to us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Okay. So one thing to keep in mind, again, just a little note is there's a document called Kedekesi Trudendi that was written in 1979. And the first paragraphs will reference that document quite a few times. So just kind of, that's the,

that's what you're going to get. Here we go. Beginning of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the prologue paragraphs 1 through 10. Prologue, Jesus said, Father, this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. St. Paul writing to Timothy said, God our Savior desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. and St. Peter, preaching on Pentecost in Acts of the Apostles, said, There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved than the name of Jesus. The Life of Man, to Know and Love God. God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, and a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life.

For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draw, close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all men scattered and divided by sin into the unity of his family, the church. To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his son as Redeemer and Savior. In his son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children, and thus heirs of his blessed life. So that this call should resound throughout the world, Christ sent forth the apostles he had chosen, commissioning them to proclaim the gospel, saying, go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age. Strengthened by this mission, the apostles went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it. Those who, with God's help, have welcomed Christ's call and freely responded to it, are urged on by love of Christ to proclaim the good news everywhere in the world. This treasure received from the apostles has been faithfully guarded by their successors. All Christ's faithful are called to hand it on from generation to generation by professing the by living it in fraternal sharing, and by celebrating it in liturgy and prayer.

Handing on the faith, Catechesis. Quite early on, the name Catechesis was given to the totality of the church's efforts to make disciples, to help men believe that Jesus is the Son of God so that believing they might have life in his name, and to educate and instruct them in this life, thus building up the body of Christ. Kedekesi Tredendi wrote, Catechesis is an education in the faith of children, young people, and adults, which includes especially the teaching of Christian doctrine imparted, generally speaking, in an organic and systematic way, with a view to initiating hearers into the fullness of Christian life.

While not being formally identified with them, catechesis is built on a certain number of elements of the church's pastoral mission which have a catechetical aspect that prepare for catechesis or spring from it. They are, the initial proclamation of the gospel, or missionary preaching to arouse faith, examination of the reasons for belief, experience of Christian living, celebration of the sacraments, integration into the ecclesial community

and apostolic and missionary witness. Ketekezi Trondendi also wrote, Catechesis is intimately bound up with the whole of the church's life, not only her geographical expansion and numerical increase, but even more, her inner growth and correspondence with God's plan

depend essentially on catechesis. Periods of renewal in the church are also intense moments of catechesis. In the great era of the fathers of the church, saintly bishops devoted an important part of their ministry to catechesis, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, and St. John Chrysostom, St. Ambrose and St. Augustine, and many other fathers wrote catechetical works that remain models for us. Katekezi Trondi also wrote,

The Ministry of Catechesis draws ever-fresh energy from the councils. The Council of Trent is a noteworthy example of this. it gave catechises priority in its constitutions and decrees. It lies at the origin of the Roman catechism, which is also known by the name of that council and which is a work of the first rank as a summary of Christian teaching. The Council of Trent initiated a remarkable organization of the church's catechesis, thanks to the work of holy bishops and theologians,

such as St. Peter Cinesius, St. Charles Borromeo, St. Theribius of Mangroveho, or St. Robert Bellarmine, it occasion the publication of numerous catechisms. It is therefore no surprise that catechesis in the church has again attracted attention in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, which Pope Paul VI considered the great catechism of modern times. The General Catechetical Directory in 1971, the sessions of the Synod of bishops devoted to evangelization in 1974, and catechesis in 1977, the apostolic exhortations, Evangelionti, in 1979, attest to this. The extraordinary Synod of Bishops in 1985 asked that a catechism or compendium of all Catholic doctrine regarding both faith and morals be composed. The Holy Father, Pope Jean-Paul II, made the synod's wish his own, acknowledging that this desire wholly corresponds to a real need of the universal church and of the particular churches. He set in motion everything needed to carry out the Synod Father's wish.

Okay. So that is 10 paragraphs. And you probably caught on as we were reading. There's that sense of like if we're going to quote from scripture, I'm just going to mention that or if we're going to quote from, you know, catechese Jordendi. We're going to mention that kind of thing. But oh my goodness, you guys, here is this, the structure and the flow of these first 10 paragraphs. Those first three, so good. God infinitely perfect and blessed in himself and a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share his own blessed life. And from that, he says for this reason that every time and in every place, God, draws close to man, which is incredible. And just this declaration of such goodness, not only this, but goes on to say that he calls us to seek him. You know, you know this. We know that every time we seek the Lord is actually a response. It's a response to his initiation, right? His initial offer of grace, but goes on to say, so, you know, that we're called to share in his blessed life, that next paragraph says, so that this call should resound throughout the world, Christ sent forth the apostles he had chosen and says, okay, so that's what happened, right? So here's Jesus who enacted, you know, the salvation of the world, but so that the world

could be saved, because not just those 12 people, not just those initial disciples, but so that salvation could go to the world, Christ sent forth the apostles. And they did that, and they went forward. And then paragraph three says, those who with God's help have welcomed Christ's call and freely responded to it, right? So if you've said yes to Jesus, are urged on by love of Christ to proclaim the good news everywhere in the world. In just, in three paragraphs, here is the catechism that says, okay, here is God's plan. Here's how we fulfilled that plan in Jesus. And by

sending us the Holy Spirit, here's how that plan was, you know, carried out throughout time by the commissioning of the apostles and then their successors. But even now, here we are. Goes on to say, it says, all Christ's faithful are called to hand it on from generation to generation by professing the faith by living in it in fraternal sharing and by celebrating it in liturgy and prayer. And this is something I just want to highlight for all of us. The reason why, you know, maybe you went through the Bible in a year, last year or the year before, the reason why you're going through the catechism, I think, is not just because you want to have head knowledge of who God is and head knowledge of who we are as belonging to the Lord. But I think it's because you recognize, just

like I do, you recognize, okay, I need, I need to also be converted. I need heart transformation. I don't just need more information. I need transformation. Because why? Because the Lord is sending you out. And this is the key. The Lord is sending you out. It's made very, very clear in that third paragraph here, all Christ's faithful are called to hand it on from generation to generation.

Not just priests, not just bishops, not just missionaries, not just nuns, not just, you know, the super religious people. But everyone who is a disciple of Jesus is called to pass on the faith. And so what is that called? what's handing on the faith called. That's called catechesis. And that's what you find in the catechism. And that is so, so powerful. And I love how the catechism spells out. How do we do this? How do we hand it on from generation to generation? Well, one is by professing the faith. One is actually by sharing with words. Secondly, by living it in fraternal sharing. And then third and fourthly, by celebrating it in liturgy and in prayer, you might have noticed that the catechism is made up of

four pillars. And those four pillars are the creed itself, you know, that what we believe, then it's how we live, the moral life. Then it's how we celebrate the liturgy, how we worship, and then how we pray. And there it is right there. In the very third paragraph, it talks about how we panned on the faith is not just by saying out loud, but also by living it, also by worshiping, also by praying, which is so good. And then from paragraphs four to paragraph 10, it talks about, okay, based off these first three things, right, this initial truth, about how good God is and that he just made us to know him to share his very life and we have to pass that on to other people paragraphs 4 through 10 then go on to say so here's why we made this

book here's why we made the catechism because God is so good that we cannot keep this hidden God is so good that as an updated message for modern times for modern minds for modern eyes and hearts and ears for modern people we have this new catechism because it's so important so important to make disciples and so important to equip those disciples with the true teaching. And I love this because it says in paragraph 6, it says, while not being formally identified with them, catechises is built on certain number of elements of the church's pastoral mission, which have catechetical aspect, which is they either prepare for catechises or they spring from it. And it lists a couple things here, and I just think this is cool.

It says, one, the initial proclamation of the gospel or missionary preaching to arouse faith. And yeah, we need catechises. to have any kind of, you know, apostolic preaching or missionary preaching. Secondly, the examination of the reasons for belief, especially there's so often, you know, I remember I went to college expressly studying theology because St. Peter in the New Testament, he says, always be ready to offer a reason for your hope. Be able to be ready to defend your faith, essentially. So that's reasons for belief.

Then the next one, though, is experience of Christian living, which is so important because, again, this is not just about information, about transformation. How do we live? It goes on to say, the celebration of the sacraments. Next one is integration into the ecclesial community, like through baptism, through Holy Communion, through confirmation, and apostolic and missionary witness. How are we living and how are we going out into the world with the gospel? So here we are, concluding day one. As a takeaway, that question that we asked at the very beginning of the day is the question we

continue to ask, what is God's plan for human beings? What is God's plan, not just for humanity in general? what's God's plan for you and for me? And that plan, that plan is to know him and to share intimately in his life. And by that knowledge, we're moved by love of God to share, to share that, to share him with everyone we meet and whatever way we can. That's, that's the call. That's the challenge. That's the invitation that we're starting on this first day of the Catechism in a year. You guys, this is going to be a long journey, but I know. No, I know that you can make it.

I know that we all can. So stick with it. Keep pressing play. Oh, man. Keep praying for me. I'll be praying for you. My name's Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow.

God bless.