The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 101: Expecting the Messiah (2026)

Episode Date: April 11, 2026

Fr. Mike continues to explore the joint mission of the Word and Spirit in the Old and New Testaments. Together, we unpack how the Holy Spirit has been moving the prophets, particularly the prophet Isaiah. We learn how the characteristics of the Messiah are revealed, above all, in the “Servant Songs.” We also examine the Holy Spirit’s role in John the Baptist recognizing Christ as Messiah, even from within the womb. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 711-720. 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 101. You know what yesterday was?

Day 100. We're reading paragraphs 711 to 7. Just remind you because, you know, you accomplished that. It's amazing. As always, 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. You can also download your own catechism into your reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y, and you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications.

As I said, it is day 101. Congratulations once again. You know, yesterday we talked about how God's spirit and the Word of God, so the Jesus Christ, you know, the second verse of the Trinity, and the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit of God, Spirit, how they worked from the beginning of time all through creation and in the promises of God, in the theophanies that remember God's manifestations of himself. And also, you know, through the law, through the scriptures in the kingdom and the exile. Now today we're going to talk about this. We're going to talk about we're taking the next steps. And so keep this

in mind as we go through these next days. We have today in 7-11 through like 7-16, those paragraphs, the expectation of the Messiah and his spirit. So we have a, of like say the prophet Isaiah who talks about the suffering servant, where he talks about the coming Messiah that will be there, the shoot that shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, that here is the Holy Spirit who is moving the prophets, particularly the prophet Isaiah, to announce the Messiah's coming. And then also how the Holy Spirit kind of highlights and reveals to whom the Messiah will come to those who are poor. We talked about that a little bit yesterday when it came to the exile, And those poor, you know, paragraph 710 ends with saying that 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. And so today we have the people of the poor, those who are humble and meek, those who rely solely on their God's mysterious plans, who await justice, not of men, but of the Messiah. Those are the ones Jesus Christ is coming for, the Messiah is coming for. Also, we're going to take a turn between paragraphs 716 and 717. where it's kind of a new mini section, the Spirit of Christ in the fullness of time. And so we'll start today with John the Baptist. And so we have Isaiah back in the day, right, Old Testament,

the expectation of the Messiah and his spirit. And then also, how did the Holy Spirit prepare the people of God in the moment? How did the Holy Spirit move John the Baptist to prepare the people for Jesus' arrival? And then tomorrow we're talk about how the Holy Spirit moved upon Mary. And then we'll talk about how the Holy Spirit moved upon Mary. Spirit moved in the sun in Jesus Christ himself. And so and then we're going to talk that and then we're going to talk about Pentecost and the Holy Spirit being God's gift to his church now. And so just to kind of have that one of those, you know, one of the things that's a struggle at times when it comes to

the catechism in a year versus the Bible in a year is sometimes in the catechism, it's tough to see, okay, where am I? Where did we go? Where are we coming from? Where are we? Where are we going? but these couple days, just to kind of keep this in mind, is the catechism is unfolding. Here is how the Holy Spirit has worked over time. And so again, yesterday all the way back to the beginning of creation and those theophanies, those manifestations of God and the kingdom even in exile today, looking at the prophets and John the Baptist, the final prophet. Tomorrow, Mary, the next day, Jesus, the church, Pentecost.

So we're kind of following along the path. So as we, you and I, here's a segue way. I are walking on the path ourselves. Let's just take a moment and call upon that same Holy Spirit to come to be with us now. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, Father in heaven, we ask you to please send your Holy Spirit upon us. In the name of Jesus, we ask you to send your Holy Spirit of truth, your Holy Spirit of prophecy, your Holy Spirit, that speaks words of wisdom and Holy Spirit that speaks words of conviction and consolation. Send that Holy Spirit, your Holy Spirit, into our hearts, into our minds, so that we can not only see how you have moved through the prophets

and see how you moved in the life of John the Baptist, but so we can also see how you are continuing to move in our lives. Lord, let us never be deaf. Let us never be numb to your voice and to your workings. Help us to always say yes to your will this day and every day of our lives. 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's Day 101. We're reading paragraphs 711 to 720. Expectation of the Messiah and his spirit. Behold, I am doing a new thing. Two prophetic lines were to develop, one leading to the expectation of the Messiah, the other pointing to the announcement of a new spirit. They converge in the small remnant, the people of the poor, who await in hope the consolation of Israel and the redemption of Jerusalem. We have seen earlier

how Jesus fulfills the prophecies concerning himself, we limit ourselves here to those in which the relationship of the Messiah and his spirit appears more clearly. The characteristics of the awaited Messiah begin to appear in the book of Emmanuel. Isaiah said this when he saw his glory speaking of Christ, especially in the first two verses of Isaiah 11. There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots, and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. The Messiah's characteristics are revealed above all in the servant songs. These songs proclaim the meaning of Jesus' passion and show how he will pour out the Holy Spirit to give life to the

many, not as an outsider, but by embracing our form as a slave. Taking our death upon himself, he can communicate to us his own spirit of life. This is why, Christ inaugurates the proclamation of the good news by making his own the following passage from Isaiah. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me, to bring good tidings to the afflicted. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. The prophetic texts that directly concern the sending of the Holy Spirit are oracles, by which God speaks to the heart of his people in the language of the promise with accents of love and fidelity.

St. Peter will proclaim their fulfillment on the morning of Pentecost. According to these promises, at the end time, the Lord's Spirit will renew the hearts of men engraving a new law in them. He will gather and reconcile the scattered and divided peoples. He will transform the first creation, and God will dwell there with men in peace. The people of the poor, those who humble and and meek rely solely on their God's mysterious plans who await the justice not of men, but of the Messiah, are in the end the great achievement of the Holy Spirit's hidden mission during the time of the promises that prepare for Christ's coming. It is this quality of heart, purified and enlightened by the Spirit, which is expressed in the Psalms. In these poor,

the Spirit is making ready a people prepared for the Lord. The Spirit of Christ in the fullness of time. John precursor, prophet, and Baptist. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. John was filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb by Christ himself, whom the Virgin Mary had just conceived by the Holy Spirit. Mary's visitation to Elizabeth thus became a visit from God to his people. John is Elijah who is to come. The fire of the Spirit dwells in him and makes him the forerunner of the coming Lord.

In John, the precursor, the Holy Spirit completes the work of making ready a people prepared for the Lord. John the Baptist is more than a prophet. In him, the Holy Spirit concludes his speaking through the prophets. John completes the cycle of prophets begun by Elijah. He proclaims the imminence of the consolation of Israel. He is the voice of the consoler who is coming. As the Spirit of Truth will also do, John came to bear witness to the light. In John's sight, the Spirit thus brings to completion the careful search of the prophets and fulfills the longing of the angels. As John said, He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

And I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God. Behold, the Lamb of God. Finally, with John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit begins the restoration to man of the divine likeness, prefiguring what he would achieve with and in Christ. John's baptism was for repentance. Baptism in water and the spirit will be a new birth. Okay, so there we have it, paragraphs 711 to 720. And just this is so important.

We recognize here is the way in which the Holy Spirit has continued to move from the very beginning, right? Because here is the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that are always operative. They're always active. In fact, we recognize that there's never been a time when the Father acted and the son didn't act when the son acted and the Holy Spirit didn't act. And so all the way back to the beginning of creation, here is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit present and active. And here we have today in paragraphs 711 and following the ways in which the Holy Spirit has been moving the prophets. In particular, we highlighted the prophet Isaiah. You have Isaiah chapter 11. This prophecy concerning Jesus

Christ, there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse. And if you ever go to Mass during Advent, you recognize that. Yeah, these are the readings we hear. again and again, in fact, all through Advent, one of the books that we read more than maybe any other book is the book of the prophet Isaiah, who prophesies so much about the coming Messiah. And in paragraph 713, it highlights the fact that the Messiah's characteristics, you know, what is the Messiah going to be like, are revealed above all in the servant songs? And this is so critical, the ways in which Isaiah prophesies these characteristics. In Isaiah chapter 42, he says, here's my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one,

with whom I am pleased. Upon him, I have put my spirit. He shall bring forth justice to the nations. Again, here's the Holy Spirit that prophesied by Isaiah is going to come upon Jesus. Goes on to describe Jesus. What are his characteristics? He will not cry out, nor shout, nor make his voice heard in the street. A bruised reed, he will not break. In a dimly burning wick, he will not quench. He will faithfully bring forth justice. And it's just so, so powerful. These are the characteristics of the Lord. He goes on to say, say that before birth the Lord called me from my mother's womb he gave me my name this is chapter 49 in his quiver he hid me he made me a sharpened arrow and he said to me you are my servant and you

israel I show my glory again just so powerful and so beautiful in fact one of the most beautiful and it's just it's painful it's painful is when you get to Isaiah chapter 50 not only does it say here it says the Lord has given me a well-trained tongue that I might know how to answer the weary a word that will waken them. But also he goes on to say, I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who tore out my beard, my face I did not hide from insults and spitting. The Lord God is my help. Therefore, I am not disgraced. Therefore, I have sent my face like Flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame. It goes on, but we recognize this truth, this powerful, it's beautiful. These Messiah's characteristics prophesied and revealed to us by the Holy Spirit and the book of the prophet Isaiah.

It's so good. Also, not only a revelation of these characteristics of the Messiah, but also in paragraph 716, what are the characteristics of the people of the Lord? Well, the people of the poor describes this, those who are humble and meek, those who rely solely on their God's mysterious plans, those who await the justice, not of men, but of the Messiah, that in the end, those are the great achievements of the Holy Spirit's hidden mission during the time of the promises. And there's something interesting and so powerful about that phrase, the time of the promises, because we recognize that for so long, people of God waited in the time of the promise. You know, yes, God showed up and God delivered them at so many times and God was with them the whole time. But oftentimes, there were promises

that were made. And they just had to trust in those promises. And this is part of like living in the already but not yet. You know, yes, here is Christ's kingdom that is established. And yet it's not established in glory. And so that's part of the promise. The part of the promise is, but one day every tear will be dried up. One day every wounded heart will be mended. One day every tongue will profess and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. That day isn't here yet. And so we also, even though, We're living in the time of the kingdom. We're also living in a new kind of time of the promise as well, where we can learn from those older brothers and sisters who were the people of the promise. The people who waited so long. Last thing here is John, who was precursor, prophet and Baptist. And we just recognized that John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. When, when Blessed Virgin Mary, with Jesus, our Lord, in her womb, newly conceived. I mean, this is a couple, day old, maybe a couple of a week old human being in Mary's womb who approaches Elizabeth, and John is in Elizabeth's womb, and the Holy Spirit is communicated in some miraculous, incredible way from the womb of the Virgin Mary

in Jesus Christ himself through the womb of Elizabeth to John the Baptist. And that's one of the reasons why, I mean, there are many reasons just to get a little tangent here. There's many reasons why abortion is an evil very clearly. But for a Christian, there's no possible way that a Christian ever could read the Gospels and come to a conclusion that what is in the womb is not a human being, is not a person. Because days, maybe a week or two, after the conception of Jesus, he is fully God and fully man. So much so that John the Baptist recognized in the womb as well. recognizes his divine presence and leaps for joy. There's something about that. I don't know. I just,

it's never made any sense to me why anyone could be a professing Christian and still say it's okay to take the life of an unborn human being. Anyways, we have the recognition that here is Jesus, who communicates his Holy Spirit from the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the womb of Elizabeth to John the Baptist. It's remarkable. He is the precursor. He is the prophet, the final prophet, and he is, the Baptist. So I know it's a long day, another long day today. It seems like maybe sometimes, but we just get to explore more and more the ways in which the Holy Spirit has been active and operative, not only from the beginning of creation through Pentecost to now, but also in those moments, in the prophets, in John the Baptist, tomorrow, in the Virgin Mary, in Jesus, and as I said,

in Pentecost and in the church, it's just so good to be able to recognize that the Holy Spirit has and the Holy Spirit is present to you right now. The Holy Spirit is with you right now. If we call upon the Holy Spirit in Jesus' name, the Lord gives us the Spirit. In fact, remember what Jesus said. If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to anyone who asks? So just ask for the Holy Spirit. Once again, in the renewal of our hearts and rule of our minds, renewal of our lives. Come Holy Spirit in Jesus' name. I am praying for you. Please, please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow.

God bless.