The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 10: The Apostolic Tradition (2026)

Episode Date: January 10, 2026

The Gospel was handed on in two ways — orally and in writing. Both Scripture and Tradition are sources of Divine Revelation. Fr. Mike describes how the first apostles left bishops as their successors, passing down to them their teaching authority, and this apostolic succession is preserved until the end of time. The passing on of the Faith isn’t something reserved for bishops but something we are all called to participate in. Through the Holy Spirit, God’s Word is present and active in the Church today. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 74-79. 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 is 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 Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity in God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. It is day 10 today, and we're reading paragraphs 74 to paragraph 79. That is how God has transmitted to us. Divine Revelation through apostolic tradition, continued in apostolic succession, through apostolic preaching, and come down to us today. And once again, you guys, I am so grateful. I don't know

if I've expressed clearly enough how grateful I am that we're walking this journey together. This through the catechism, as I kind of mentioned, I think a couple times now. It's a little bit like, okay, this is different, right? I mean, I'm sure you got that, that reality. Like, this is not the same thing as reading the Bible. In fact, today we're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about how scripture and tradition go hand in hand for the next couple days. But just, FYI, I'm using the Ascension Edition of the Catechism. It includes the Foundations of Faith approach. You can also follow along in that Ascension Catechism, but any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church will be great. To download your own catechism in your reading plan,

visit ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y. You can also follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily notifications. Also, again, just a quick thank you to all those who have supported the production of this podcast with prayers through your financial gifts. Truly, we couldn't do this without you. Okay, so back to day 10, I don't know if you've gotten this so far, but it's like, okay, we're kind of taking baby steps. That's what it feels like, I think. You know, when we jumped into the Bible, if you went with us, you're part of that

community that walked through the Bible, you know, the first couple days, there are the stories we know the best, right? There's Adam and Eve and there's Noah and there's Abraham that call. And there's something about, and then we jumped into Job. there's something about here, you know, these first steps, these initial steps that are kind of like, okay, I'm in, I'm a new territory. This is a different flow. It's a different feel. But here's the crazy thing. This is the same God, the same spirit, the same community. I just want to emphasize that and just remind us all that here we are journeying together because we want to know the Lord

better. You know, sometimes this is about information. I just want to learn more. Ultimately, though, the goal is transformation. It's not just about knowledge. It's about conversion. And so it's sometimes, sometimes it's like, wow, that was profound and deep and amazing. And sometimes it's what? I know that we've gotten that experience. You know, so today on day 10, we're reading paragraphs 74 to 79. It's article two, the beginning of article two here in chapter two of section one, Revelation. And we're going to be talking about the transmission of divine revelation, a couple things to highlight before we launch. in today. One is we're going to be talking about what's the transmission of divine revelation? Well, it's tradition. It's tradition or tradition means to hand on. And so how have we received revelation?

How have we received sacred scripture even? We've received it because it's been handed on, tradition. And so it's been handed on in two ways, orally and in writing. So tradition, or we even say this, divine revelation has been handed on in two ways, orally and in writing. We're familiar with the in writing part because here we are. We've all experienced it. We've gone through the Bible at least once. We hear the Bible on a regular basis. That's the in writing part. But also the divine revelation has been handed over to us, handed on to us, orally by the apostles preaching. So we're going to talk about apostolic tradition today and the next couple days because that's how divine revelation has come to us. It's again, the Bible didn't just drop out of the sky. It was created in time,

right? Just like Jesus. Here is Christianity. Here is the word made flesh and dwelt among us. This is the great mystery of Christianity. If anyone is a Christian and they try to remove Christ from history or try to remove divine revelation from history, try to remove the fact that the Bible was handed to us in time by certain individuals in a certain particular place, in a certain particular time, because they had encountered the fullness of revelation, which is who is Jesus. Okay, so we're talking about tradition. We're talking about the apostolic succession. We're also going to refer to in the next number of days, a document called Dei Verbum, Dei Verbum, the Word of God.

So this is very important for us. During the Second Vatican Council, there was one, well, there are many documents that came out of this. One of the most important, I think, is the dogmatic constitution on divine revelation, aka in Latin Dei Verbum. It's a dogmatic constitution on divine revelation, meaning its weight is almost as weighty as you can get, right? What we're saying is it's like what's required to believe about revelation for all

the faithful. And so today there's going to be a bunch of times where I'll say something like Dave Airboom States or as it was written in Dave Verbum. That's that document that came out in the 60s and the Second Vatican Council. It is powerful. It's so good, you guys, it is so good that you can actually read through it yourself and it wouldn't bog you down. Like it would be one of those things where there might be some challenging sections, but ultimately it's really, it's accessible. It's so accessible. And so let's pray.

As we launch into today, paragraphs 74 through 79, again, it's relatively short, but we're just going to be exposed to, here is the way in which God has revealed himself. Here's the way in which divine revelation has come to us and has come to us through the apostolic tradition. Let's pray, Father in heaven, we give you thanks and praise as we begin this day. We just ask you to please be with us, open our minds and open our hearts, so that we can receive what you want to hand on to us, what has been handed down from the very beginning. that you, Lord Jesus, that you had revealed yourself into your fullness to the apostles. And they have handed that on to us. That you gave them your Holy Spirit to enlighten and enliven their faith. And they've handed that on to us.

Help us to receive that today. Help us to receive what's been handed on so that we can not just know about this, not just know about you, but that we can live it and we can love you. We make this prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Spirit. As I said, it's Daytime. We're reading paragraphs 74 through 79. Article 2, the Transmission of Divine Revelation. St. Paul's literature to Timothy states, God desires all men to be

saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth that is of Christ Jesus. Christ must be proclaimed to all nations and individuals so that this revelation may reach the ends of the earth. The Everbam states, God graciously arranged that the things he had once revealed for the salvation of all peoples should remain in their entirety throughout the ages and be transmitted to all generations. The apostolic tradition. Dave Erbom further states, Christ the Lord, in whom the entire revelation of the Most High God is summed up, commanded the apostles to preach the gospel, which had been promised beforehand by the prophets, and which he fulfilled in his own person and promulgated with his own lips. In preaching the gospel, they were to communicate the gifts of God to all men.

this gospel was to be the source of all saving truth and moral discipline. In the apostolic preaching, in keeping with the Lord's command, the gospel was handed on in two ways. Orally, the Everbem further states, by the apostles who handed on, by the spoken word of their preaching, by the example they gave, by the institutions that they established,

what they themselves had received, whether from the lips of Christ, from his way of life and his works, or whether they had learned it at the prompting of the Holy Spirit. In writing, Dave Abram states, by those apostles and other men associated with the apostles who, under the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit, committed the message of salvation to writing.

Continued in apostolic succession, Dave Abram states, In order that the full and living gospel might always be preserved in the church, the apostles left bishops as their successors. They gave them their own position of teaching authority Indeed, the apostolic preaching, which is expressed in a special way in the inspired books, was to be preserved in a continuous line of succession until the end of time. This living transmission, accomplished in the Holy Spirit, is called tradition,

since it is distinct from sacred scripture, though closely connected to it. Through tradition, the church, inner doctrine, life, and worship, perpetuates and transmits to every generation all that she herself is, all that she believes. The sayings of the Holy Fathers are a witness to the life-giving presence of this tradition, showing how its riches are poured out in the practice and life of the church in her belief and her prayer. The father's self-communication made through his word in the Holy Spirit remains present and active in the church.

Dave Abram states, God, who spoke in the past, continues to converse with the spouse of his beloved son and the Holy Spirit through whom the living voice of the gospel brings out in the church and through her in the world leads believers to the full truth and makes the word of Christ dwell in them in all its richness. Okay, so we're going to focus on a couple things. One of the things, again, this is all about tradition. Tradition means handing on. So remember, Jesus is the fullness. God has no fuller revelation to give, no more revelation to give. Jesus is the fullness of the of the revelation. So how did that come to us? That's the big question. How did that revelation come to us? Well, remember, it's coming from God's love. So the first quote, I love this quote from 1st Timothy

2, verse 4, that God desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. You know, there are some people who actually believe that God doesn't want every human being to be saved. And that's, that is not, that goes against what we believe as Catholic Christians. We know that God wants every human being to be saved. We have proof of that here in the tradition of 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse four. So how did this knowledge, how did this truth that that Jesus revealed in himself, in his deeds and in his words, how did that come to us? And the crazy thing is that came through apostolic preaching, came through the preaching of the apostles. And it highlights the fact that this is handed on in two ways, orally and in writing. Again, as I mentioned at the beginning of

this, we're familiar with the in writing part. That's the Bible. And sometimes we first, forget the orally part, but you recognize that this is just as important. In fact, we recognize that we wouldn't even have the Bible if it weren't for the oral teaching of the apostles, right? So we recognize that that we need both scripture and tradition as that source of divine revelation for us. In fact, you know, in I mentioned First Timothy, two that where he says God desires all men to be saved. Later on, St. Paul wrote another letter to Timothy. It's called the second letter to Timothy, and it's in chapter 2, verse 2 that St. Paul writes, he says, what you've heard from me before many witnesses, go on and entrust to other faithful men

who will be able to teach others also. I kind of paraphrase that a little bit. So let me just read the text. What you have heard from me before many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. That what's implied there is Paul, who is entrusted orally the teaching divine revelation to Timothy and saying, okay, now you do that as well. That implies and it kind of reveals, in fact, three generations of that handing on. Again, tradition is not a bad word. Tradition simply means to hand on. And it's so, so important that we get this because we wouldn't have sacred scripture without sacred tradition. In fact, I'm not sure if you caught this, but in paragraph 78, it talks about the sayings of the holy fathers. So it says, the sayings of the holy fathers are a witness to the life-giving

presence of this tradition. So what is that? What do you mean Holy Fathers? Well, that's, essentially is a reference to the patristic fathers, right? So it's the early church fathers, they call them. And so those are people who like St. Clement, St. Ignatius, St. I Arnais, Tertullian, origin. These are all people, individuals who are known as the early church fathers. And they've talked about this recognition, the reality, I mean, of apostolic succession. In fact, Pope Clement, right from the year 80, that's 80, in his letter to the Corinthians, he highlights this, this apostolic succession, that this is expected, that this is normal. In fact, it's the way, it is the way, that's important, the way that the fullness of God's

revelation in Jesus Christ has been handed on to us. Here's what he says. This is Pope Clement in the year 80. This is not a late invention. This is something that happened from the very beginning. He wrote, through countryside, and city, the apostles preached, and they appointed their earliest converts, testing them by the spirit to be bishops and deacons of future believers. Nor was this a novelty, for bishops and deacons

had been written about a long time earlier. Our apostles knew through our Lord Jesus, that there would be strife for the office of bishop, for this reason, therefore, having received perfect foreknowledge, they appointed those who had already been mentioned and afterwards added the further provision that if they should die, other approved men should succeed to their ministry. What he's describing here, Clement in the year 80, writing to the Corinthians, what he's describing there is he's describing apostolic succession, this sense that reality, that, you know, when Judas died and they replaced him with Matthias, that wasn't just we replaced one, so we have 12. That's with the death of every one of the apostles, there is the next bishop, essentially,

who is called, who is ordained, and who is entrusted with that same authority that those original apostles had had. And that's just, this is incredible. It's just remarkable. And again, why is this, why is this the point? Well, not only because there is a structure, not only because there is, like, the body of Christ is visible in the world, but, like, what's the goal of this? And I love this. It's so cool. In paragraph 79, it talks about how, God who spoke in the past continues to converse with the spouse of his beloved son, which means God, yes, has revealed himself fully in Jesus Christ, but he continues to speak with us.

He continues to speak to us even today. And yes, you and I can pick up the Bible and we can read the Word of God and we can hear God speaking to us. God continues to converse with his church that with the spouse of his beloved son going on and the Holy Spirit, through whom the living voice of the gospel rings out in the church and through her in the world,

leads believers to the full truth and makes the Word of Christ dwell in them in all its richness. And that's the goal, right? That God wants to communicate to us, the full truth. You know, there are many of us who have partial truth, right? Many of us have a sliver of the truth. But Jesus Christ has revealed to his church, and the church has revealed to us the full truth. Why? So that the Word of Christ can dwell in us in all its richness.

I just think this is such a gift. It's just incredible. And so one of the things I want to do is I want to be able to receive that baton, right? So if tradition is like a relay race and they're handing on the baton, the racers that have come before us are handing on divine revelation, handing on scripture, they're handing on tradition. They're handing on all of the goodness, the richness that God has given to his people. I want to take that baton and I want to run with it. I want you to run with it too, so we can hand it on to the next generation. And that's just, that's what's been entrusted to us.

It's what's been entrusted to the apostles. It's what's been entrusted to the bishops. And here we are. Here we are as the body of Christ, as the bride of Christ. Here we are as the church being invited to live in the fullness of Jesus Christ and all his richness in that relationship. It's a high call. It's a high challenge.

And so my invitation, take that baton and run with it to be able to hand it on. I'm going to take that baton. I want to run with it and hand it on as well. And because of that, I know I'm not strong enough, so I ask, please pray for me. I am praying for you. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.