The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 100: God’s Word and Spirit (2024)

Episode Date: April 9, 2024

Together with Fr. Mike, we unpack the joint mission of God’s Word and the Spirit in the Old and New Testaments. Fr. Mike emphasizes the Spirit’s role in creation, the theophanies, and the Law. We conclude today’s reflection with an examination of the prefiguration of the Church in the exile of the people of God in the Old Testament. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 702-710. 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 pure 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. This is day 100. Congratulations, everybody.

We're reading paragraphs 702 to 710 as always. I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the Foundations of Faith approach. You can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I don't know if you follow along. Hopefully you do, because that would add a lot of layers to this. You can also download your own Catechism in a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash CIY And you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast to have to receive daily updates and daily notifications Man, I remember that on day 100 of the Bible in a year

I had said something along the lines of you know What if you haven't yet committed if you have you not yet clicked follow or subscribe or whatever that is not dead by day 100 I question your commitment. Um, there was a guy who was mad at me about that, but, uh, I'm just joking around. I know you're committed for crying out loud. You're here on day 100. It's amazing. And also thank you so much not only for being part of this catechism near journey. I know it is a task. It's sometimes difficult to press play,

but thank you so much for being with us and thank you so much for being part of this community. Thank you so much for being with us, and thank you so much for being part of this community. Thank you so much for all those who have supported the production of this podcast by your prayers, by press and play, by your financial gifts. We couldn't do it without you. It's so good. Today, or yesterday, we talked about the Holy Spirit.

Duh, I mean, last couple days, we've been talking about the Holy Spirit. Yesterday was the symbols of the Holy Spirit, of water, anointing, fire, all those images. Today, we're gonna talk about God's Spirit and Word in the time of the promises. So we're going back to creation, we're going back to the Old Testament, we're going back to how God revealed himself in those memorable things called theophanies, where the manifestations of God that reveals himself to us.

And here's how he reveals the Holy Spirit. So this is one of the things is we have all of these hints of the reality, the power, the working of the Holy Spirit from the very beginning all the way to now and yet it very says in the very first paragraph here 702 it says from the beginning until the fullness of time the joint mission of the Father's Word and Spirit remains hidden but it is at work and that's that's kind of the premise's Word and Spirit remains hidden, but it is at work. And that's kind of the premise that we're gonna be talking about for today, is that the joint mission of the Word and the Spirit,

joint mission of the second person of the Trinity and the third person of the Trinity, that mission remains hidden, but it is at work, because God's Spirit prepares for the time of the Messiah. Now, one of the things that might help get your mind wrapped around for today is if you can remember the ways in which the Lord God spoke

to the people of Israel in creation, the way that the Lord God spoke to the people of Israel through scriptures, the way that the Lord God spoke to the people of Israel through the prophets. So this is gonna be really important. And all those works that led the people of God from Abraham all the way to Christ and then beyond, of course.

But we're going to end today in paragraph 709 and 710 in recognizing that the kingdom that Jesus Christ has established is already and not yet. We talked about that a couple days ago. That kingdom that is established according to the work of the Holy Spirit would belong, of course, to the poor according to the Spirit. And it highlights in paragraph 710 some of the history. Some of the history is, okay, here's God who has given the law, and we recognize the law doesn't have the power to change hearts.

We need the Holy Spirit as well. And there is so much infidelity to the covenant. There's so much infidelity to the law in the Old Covenant. So much so that it says here in paragraph 710, the people of God had to suffer this purification of exile and in God's plan the exile already stands in the shadow of the cross. Remember the exile, remember the Babylonian exile. When we're going through the Bible how all the way up to the exile the temptation was idolatry, the temptation was to turn away from the Lord God and be like every other nation. And then here are the people of Israel

and they find themselves exiled in Babylon and they're given instruction. And the instruction is don't rebel against Babylon, don't be rebels in this foreign land, but also don't capitulate, don't assimilate into the life of Babylon, but live as strangers in a strange land, essentially. That's a phrase from the New Testament,

but that live in exile, recognize that yes, you're living among a foreign people. You're living among people who don't believe what you believe. So you don't have to fight against them, but also don't be like them. Be distinct, be unique. And when they came back from exile,

there was so much less idolatry. And we recognize this. in God's plan, the exile stands in the shadow of the cross. And it says this last sentence of today's reading, the remnant of the poor that returns from the exile is one of the most transparent prefigurations of the church. Because that's us. That's us right now.

We are not called to simply like rebel, take up arms against our culture. Not at all We're also not called to be assimilated into our culture to just be like everyone else We're called to be unique as scripture says to be strangers in a strange land to be in the world But not of the world So that's what we're talking about today how God revealed his Holy Spirit the mission of the word from the very very beginning But in a hidden way, even though the entire time the Word and the Spirit has been active. That's what we're talking about today.

So let's just ask the Word of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit to be with us. Father in heaven, we praise you and we thank you. Thank you so much for bringing us to this moment. Thank you for bringing us to this day. Thank you for giving us the breath of life. And thank you for giving us this supernatural breath of life, your Holy Spirit in our lungs, in our bodies, in our souls. Thank you for bringing us to new life.

Thank you for restoring us to your likeness. Lord God, we ask that you please send your Holy Spirit right now into the wounds of our minds, heal our memories, into the wounds of our hearts, heal our memories, into the wounds of our hearts, heal our broken or calloused hearts. Send your Holy Spirit to us right now so that we can be your image and likeness in this world.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. As I said, it is Day 100. Woohoo! Reading paragraphs 702 to 710. God's Spirit and Word in the Time of the Promises

From the beginning until the fullness of time, the joint mission of the Father's Word and Spirit remains hidden, but it is at work. God's Spirit prepares for the time of the Messiah. Neither is fully revealed, but both are already promised, to be watched for and welcomed at their manifestation. So for this reason, when the Church reads the Old Testament, she searches there for what the Spirit, who has spoken through the prophets, wants to tell us about Christ. By prophets, the faith of the Church here understands all whom the Holy Spirit inspired

in living proclamation and in the composition of the sacred books, both of the Church here understands all whom the Holy Spirit inspired in living proclamation and in the composition of the sacred books, both of the Old and the New Testaments. Jewish tradition distinguishes first the Law, the five first books or Pentateuch, then the Prophets, our historical and prophetic books, and finally the Writings, especially the Wisdom Literature, in particular the Psalms. In Creation The word of God and His breath are at the origin of the being and life of every creature. As the Byzantine liturgy prays, it belongs to the Holy Spirit to rule, sanctify, and

animate creation. For He is God, consubstantial with the Father and the Son. Power over life pertains to the Spirit, for being God, He preserves creation in the Father through the Son. Saint Irenaeus wrote, God fashioned man with his own hands, that is, the Son and the Holy Spirit,

and impressed his own form on the flesh he had fashioned in such a way that even what was visible might bear the divine form. The Spirit of the Promise. Disfigured by sin and death, man remains in the image of God, in the image of the Son, but is deprived of the glory of God, of his likeness. The promise made to Abraham inaugurates the economy of salvation, at the culmination of which the Son Himself will assume that image

and restore it in the Father's likeness by giving it again its glory, the Spirit who is the Giver of life. Against all human hope, God promises descendants to Abraham as the fruit of faith and of the power of the Holy Spirit. In Abraham's progeny, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. This progeny will be Christ Himself, in whom the outpouring of the Holy Spirit will gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. God commits Himself by His own solemn oath to giving His beloved Son and the promised

Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it. In Theophanies and the Law Theophanies, manifestations of God, light up the way of the promise, from the patriarchs to Moses and from Joshua to the visions that inaugurated the missions of the great prophets. Christian tradition has always recognized that God's Word allowed Himself to be seen and heard in these Theophanies, in which the cloud of the Holy Spirit both revealed Him and concealed Him in its shadow. This divine pedagogy appears especially in the gift of the Law.

God gave the Law as a pedagogue to lead His people towards Christ. But the Law's powerlessness to save man deprived of the divine likeness, along with the growing awareness of sin that it imparts, inkindles a desire for the Holy Spirit. The lamentations of the Psalms bear witness to this. In the Kingdom and the Exile The law, the sign of God's promise and covenant, ought to have governed the hearts and institutions of that people to whom Abraham's faith gave birth. The Lord said in the book of Exodus, If you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you

shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. But after David, Israel gave in to the temptation of becoming a kingdom like other nations. The kingdom, however, the object of the promise made to David, would be the work of the Holy Spirit. It would belong to the poor according to the Spirit. The forgetting of the law and the infidelity to the covenant end in death. It is the exile, apparently the failure of the promises, which is in fact the mysterious fidelity of the Savior God and the beginning of a promised restoration. But, according to the Spirit, the people of God had to suffer this purification. In God's plan, the exile already stands in the shadow of the cross, and the remnant

of the poor that returns from the exile is one of the most transparent prefigurations of the Church. turns from the exile is one of the most transparent prefigurations of the Church. Alright so there we have it, day 100, paragraphs 702 to 710. I don't know if you noticed, but these paragraphs are chock full of incredible nuggets here. So first, from the very beginning, we recognize, we're reminded of the fact that from the very beginning until the fullness of time, the joint mission of the Father's Word and Spirit is hidden but is at work. So God's Spirit is preparing the working the entire time. In fact, we will say that everything that is written in the Old Testament and New Testament is prophetic. So at the end of, or the middle I guess of paragraph 702 says this, it says for this reason, when the church reads the Old Testament

she searches there for what the Spirit quote-un, who has spoken to the prophets, wants to tell us about Christ. Now, in the smaller script, if you have one of the catechisms in front of you, you can see this where the church makes the distinction here. It says, by, quote unquote, prophets, the faith of the church here understands, what do we mean by that? Well, it understands all whom the Holy Spirit inspired in living proclamation and in the composition

of the sacred books, both of the Old and New Testaments. So we would consider like Matthew, he would be in fact prophetic, right? He would be a prophet because he's writing the Gospel of Matthew. We would consider Baruch to be a prophet because he's writing the Book of Baruch. We consider Isaiah, duh, of course,

one of the great prophets. He actually has the prophetic literature. This is a distinction between how the church will sometimes use the term prophet, whereas in the Jewish tradition, it distinguishes these three kinds of writings, right? The first five books of Moses or the Pentateuch, then the prophets, which is capital P prophets, which we would say are the historical and prophetic books. And then finally, the writings like wisdom literature psalms that kind of thing You know proverbs those would be the law the prophets and the writings

But we would say as Catholics that all of it we acknowledge that of course We would still talk about the law the prophets and the wisdom literature But we'd also say that all of it is prophetic because those people who wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit are prophets. Does that make sense? Hopefully that makes sense. So, moving on, in paragraph 703 and 704 we recognize once again that God as a Trinity is completely present and active in the beginning of creation.

And so, I love how St. Irenaeus in paragraph 704 describes it He says God fashioned man with his own hands that is the Son and the Holy Spirit And it just you know, it's kind of like I use this example before this analogy I'm not sure if I ever used it here in the catechism the other day When I mentioned that the Holy Spirit is the consoler There's I think it was two days ago where he's the advocate right the Advocatus that he's the periclite and he's the other periclite Right. He's the other advocate. He's the other consoler Jesus being the first periclite Jesus being the first consoler and someone at one point used the image of like those are the two arms of the Father You know, here's the arm of the Son. Here's the arm of the Holy Spirit who embrace us, right?

There's the one consoler the Son and then the another consoler another advocate is the Holy Spirit That's the father's arms embracing us No, that image is is lacking a little bit because we could think like oh So it's the father and the son and the Holy Spirit merely appendages to the father Well, no, that would not be good Trinitarian theology. But if st. Irenaeus is going to use this image with Being the hands of the Father being the Son and the Holy Spirit, then I'm okay with that. Like I think, wow, my little image of the two consolers, the Son and the Holy Spirit

being the arms of the Father embracing you, I'm in good company with St. Irenaeus. But I love this. Okay, Irenaeus, the whole quote says this, God fashioned man with his own hands, that is, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and impressed his own form on the flesh he had fashioned in such a way that even what was visible might bear the divine form. So here we are, made in God's image and likeness. Now here is a big statement, a statement that we typically, well I say we, I mean me, I overlook, but it's written here and it's very, very clear in the next paragraph.

Paragraph 705 talks about the image and likeness of God now I will almost always say here are all human beings made in God's image and likeness because that's you know from the very beginning Book of Genesis described human beings being made in God's image and likeness There is a distinction that has been made though and this distinction is in paragraph 705, it says this, disfigured by sin and death, man remains in the image of God, in the image of the Son, but is deprived of the glory of God or of his likeness. And this is very, very important.

I think it was St. Irenaeus himself in the second century who talked about this and St. Irenaeus had said something very much along these same lines Where he ultimately would say that after the fall man lost his likeness to God yet retained the image of God So the likeness would be that glory of God likeness would be that a robe of sanctity I think that he would use which implies like the holiness and righteousness that the Holy Spirit had bestowed on Adam. But we lost that. And so it's really remarkable because it goes on, paragraph goes on to say, the promise made to Abraham inaugurates the economy of salvation, right? Then it begins that process of salvation, although from the very beginning, God promised to save us. At the

culmination of which the son himself will assume that image, right? He takes on our human nature and restore it in the Father's likeness by giving it again His glory, the Spirit who is the Giver of life. And so there's this recognition that we once were baptized, where once again we are clothed in the glory of God, once again we are clothed in His image and His likeness. So we don't lose the image of God. Once again, we are clothed in his image and his likeness. So we don't lose the image of God. But if we want to use that particular way, the technical term, the likeness, that would be that robe of sanctity, right? That would be that, that, that righteousness. Remember we talked about Adam and Eve. Originally they had this thing called original unity.

They had original justice, original holiness. Um, and that was lost, that was broken. Now, does that make sense? I don't wanna get lost in this rabbit trail, but at the same time, it is kind of an important point that if we really wanna be particular in our theological distinctions, you can do more research on what is it to say we're made in God's image and likeness,

and what is it to say we lost that likeness in the fall and God restores it in the Holy Spirit That's a big important question. We're moving on from that one though because we're getting to paragraph 706 against all human hope God promises descendants to Abraham as the fruit of faith and of the power of the Holy Spirit And this is again This is the working of the Holy Spirit that works in is, again, this is the working of the Holy Spirit that works in the midst of a place of despair,

in a place where there is no hope and gives hope. We're gonna move on. We recognize that in paragraphs 707, 708, there are the theophanies, right, the manifestations of God that in the old covenant, you have God who reveals himself in many ways visibly to people and that's always done through the work of the Word and the work of the Holy Spirit.

It says here, Christian tradition has always recognized that God's Word allowed himself to be seen and heard in these theophanies in which the cloud of the Holy Spirit both revealed him and concealed him in its shadow. And the pedagogy, right, God teaching us appears in the gift of the law that the law is that teacher. It's meant to lead us, lead the people of Israel

toward Christ and yet at the same time, that law is powerful in its ability to teach but it's powerless in its ability to save because we're deprived of that likeness, right? We're deprived of that robe of sanctity. We're deprived of the power that we need to do the right thing. And so the Holy Spirit and the law work to what?

Enkindle a desire for the Holy Spirit, for that power to follow the Lord. Hopefully that makes sense. Hopefully it's not like too like word sality right now. The last little note I want to make as we close, I apologize for the length of today, but you know, sometimes it gets so good. I just want to highlight that maybe the church right now that exists right now is best foreshadowed by the people of God who came back from exile.

Maybe the people of God in exile in Babylon, but those people of God who came back from exile to try to live in Jerusalem. We recognize that it says here, the forgetting of the law, this is paragraph 710, the forgetting of the law and the infidelity to the covenant end in death. That's what happens, you know, they were unfaithful,

the people of Israel were unfaithful, it ended in death. It is the exile, and I love this next word, apparently the failure of the promises. were unfaithful. It ended in death. It is the exile, and I love this next word, apparently the failure of the promises. It looks like failure, which is in fact the mysterious fidelity of the Savior God and the beginning of a promised restoration, but according to the Spirit. The people of God had to suffer this purification, and if that isn't an image for our life, your life and my life, how many times times we find ourselves in a place where there's the apparent failure of the promises, but that actually is the fidelity of God. That

actually is the beginning of a promised restoration, but a restoration in a way that we could not have imagined and did not expect. Maybe a restoration we would not have asked for, but this is God's plan. And in God's plan it says here, the exile already stands in the shadow of the cross and the remnant of the poor that returns from the exile is one of the most Transparent prefigurations of the church and that's us right now Church living in a way in exile and also in a way of return. So we just have to realize like they did in exile We're not called the rebel against government. We're not called the rebel against the culture in that way. We're also not called to be assimilated into the culture.

We're called to stand differently, to live differently, to be unique in the midst of foreign land, to be strangers and sojourners. And so that takes strength. That takes the Holy Spirit. And so I'm praying that the Holy Spirit is in you and the Holy Spirit's in me. I'm praying, let's pray for each other that we can live in this way, that we're unique, that we're not just like every other people, that we're not just like every other person, that we live as Christians, filled with God's Holy Spirit and led by God's Holy Spirit. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.