The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 102: The Holy Spirit’s Mission (2026)

Episode Date: April 12, 2026

The working of the Holy Spirit in and through Mary and the Son is a pivotal part of God's plan of salvation. The Catechism today reveals to us how the Holy Spirit prepared Mary to fulfill the Father's plan and manifest the Son to humanity. We also learn how the Holy Spirit and the Son work together in a joint mission. Finally, Fr. Mike highlights how Mary's humility is essential to her role as the "masterwork of the mission of the Son and the Spirit in the fullness of time." Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 721-730. 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 shared 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 families. We journey together toward our heavenly home. This is Day 102. We're reading paragraphs 721 to 7. 7.30. 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. I'm also, well, you also could download

your Gaticism in your reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash CIY, and you can also click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. As I said, it's day 102. We're reading paragraphs 721 to 730. Two of the things here to keep in mind is paragraph 721 to 726 is all about our lady. So remember, we've been following the Holy Spirit, the working of the Holy Spirit in the economy of salvation. And so we're going to talk about in like, I don't know, six paragraphs, the working of the Holy Spirit with regard to the blessed Virgin Mary. And then we're going to talk about Jesus. So there are four paragraphs on Christ. What I mean by that is we're going to show how, or the Catechism is going to dive into how does the Holy Spirit interact with

our lady? And then how do Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, the Word of God, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? How did the Son and the Holy Spirit? I don't want to say. they team up. Back in the day, there was a thing called World's Finest Comics, and that was when Batman and Superman teamed up. This is not the same. It's better. It's the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit in the fullness of time is contained in this. This is paragraph 727. The entire mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit in the fullness of time is contained in this, that the son is the one anointed by the Father's Spirit since his incarnation. Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. And everything, this is crazy, because this is setting us up for the rest of the section of the Creed,

Everything in the second chapter of the creed is to be read in this light. In what light? In the light of the fact that Christ's whole work is in fact a joint mission of the sun and the Holy Spirit. I don't know if you've ever thought about that. But this is that it's kind of a critical paragraph here that we're going to hear today. That Christ's whole work is in fact a joint mission of the sun and the Holy Spirit. Now, you might think, well, wait, we covered that already because we kind of did. What the catechism is doing right now is kind of underscoring, highlighting, and bolding that

that Christ's whole work, everything he's doing is a joint mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit. And goes on to say, here we shall mention only what has to do with Jesus as promise of the Holy Spirit and the gift of Him by the glorified God. Because there's other ways in which, of course, the Son and the Spirit have worked together. Because, you know, when you have an eternal God, there's many, many ways in which they have interacted with this world. They've redeemed this, what has to do with Jesus' promise of the Holy Spirit and the gift of the Holy Spirit. the glorified Lord. As I said, that's the four last paragraphs we're talking about today. The first six are about Mary and how the Holy Spirit prepared a dwelling place for his son. Then we also talk about

the Holy Spirit prepared Mary herself by His grace. That is the feast of the Immaculate Conception or the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The Holy Spirit, ahead of time, prepared Mary from the moment of her conception. We're also going to talk about how the Holy Spirit fulfills God's plan of loving goodness in Mary. We're also going to talk about how the Holy Spirit manifests in Mary, the son of the Father, bringing him to the world. We're also going to talk about how, finally, through Mary, the Holy Spirit brings to human beings the object of God's merciful love into communion with Christ. Then this is incredible that God, the Holy Spirit, through Mary, brings human beings

into communion with Christ. And so the Holy Spirit prepares a dwelling place in Mary. The Holy Spirit prepares Mary. Holy Spirit fulfills God's plan through Mary. And Holy Spirit manifests the Son through Mary. and the Holy Spirit through Mary brings us into communion with Jesus. So it's a little bit exciting to recognize as we're getting further and further into this teaching of here's how the Holy Spirit has been working.

And you remember we went back a couple days ago, how the Holy Spirit's been working in creation, how the Holy Spirit revealed the Lord through the prophets, how the Holy Spirit has done all of these things. And now we're coming to this moment, this massive moment where here is the Holy Spirit in time. preparing the Blessed Virgin Mary and bringing our Lord, you're manifesting the Son to the world. And through Mary, the Holy Spirit brings us into communion with Jesus Christ, which is just remarkable. So as we begin today, let's say a prayer and ask that same Holy Spirit that prepared Mary, the whole same Holy Spirit that is teamed up with the Son of God, that same Holy Spirit to be with us right now. As we pray, Father in heaven, in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ,

ask you to please hear our prayer, receive our prayer, and send your Holy Spirit upon our lives into our lives right now. Send your Holy Spirit to illumine our minds that we can see clearly. Send your Holy Spirit to inflame our hearts that we can love in truth and we can love in spirit, that we can worship you in truth, that we can worship you in spirit. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. As I said, it's Day 102. We're reading paragraphs 721 to 730. Rejoice, you who are full of grace. Mary, the all-holy, ever-v virgin mother of God, is the masterwork of the mission of the Son and

the Spirit in the fullness of time. For the first time in the plan of salvation, and because His Spirit had prepared her, the Father found the dwelling place where his son and his spirit could dwell among men. In this sense, the Church's tradition has often read the most beautiful texts on wisdom in relation to Mary. Mary is acclaimed and represented in the liturgy as, the seat of wisdom. In her, the wonders of God that the Spirit was to fulfill in Christ and the church began to be manifested. The Holy Spirit prepared Mary by his grace. It was fitting that the mother of him

in whom the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily should herself be full of grace. She was, by sheer grace, conceived without sin as the most humble of creatures, the most capable of welcoming the inexpressible gift of the Almighty. It was quite correct for the angel Gabriel to greet her as the daughter of Zion. Rejoice. It is the Thanksgiving of the whole people of God and thus of the church, which Mary in her canticle lifts up to the Father in the Holy Spirit while carrying within her the Eternal Son. In Mary, the Holy Spirit fulfills the plan of the Father's loving goodness. Through the Holy Spirit, the Virgin conceives and gives birth to the Son of God. By the Holy Spirit's power and her faith, her virginity became uniquely fruitful. In Mary, the Holy Spirit manner

The Son of the Father now become the Son of the Virgin. She is the burning bush of the definitive theophony. Filled with the Holy Spirit, she makes the word visible in the humility of his flesh. It is to the poor and the first representatives of the Gentiles that she makes him known. Finally, through Mary, the Holy Spirit begins to bring men the objects of God's merciful love into communion with Christ. And the humble are always the first to accept him. Shepherds, Magi, Simeon and Anna, the bride and great. groom at Cana and the first disciples. At the end of this mission of the Spirit, Mary became

the woman, the New Eve, mother of the living, the mother of the whole Christ. As such, she was present with the Twelve who, with one accord, devoted themselves to prayer at the dawn of the end time which the Spirit was to inaugurate on the morning of Pentecost with the manifestation of the Church. Christ Jesus. The entire mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit in the fullness of time is contained in this, that the Son is the one anointed by the Father's Spirit since his incarnation. Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. Everything in the second chapter of the Creed is to be read in this light. Christ's whole work is in fact a joint mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Here, we shall mention only what has to do with Jesus' promise of the Holy Spirit and the gift of Him

by the glorified Lord. Jesus does not reveal the Holy Spirit fully until he himself has been glorified through his death and resurrection. Nevertheless, little by little, he alludes to him even in his teaching of the multitudes, as when he reveals that his own flesh will be food for the life of the world. He also alludes to the Spirit in speaking to Nicodemus, to the Samaritan woman, and to those who take part in the Feast of Tabernacles. To his disciples, he speaks openly of the Spirit in connection with prayer, and with the witness they will have to bear. Only when the hour has arrived for his glorification, does Jesus promise the coming of the Holy Spirit, since his death and resurrection will fulfill the promise made to the fathers. The Spirit of Truth, the other paraclete,

will be given by the Father in answer to Jesus' prayer. He will be sent by the Father in Jesus' name, and Jesus will send him from the Father's side, since He comes from the Father. The Holy Spirit will come, and we shall know Him. He will be with us forever. He will remain with us. The Spirit will teach us everything, remind us of all. that Christ said to us and bear witness to him. The Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth and will glorify Christ. He will prove the world wrong about sin, righteousness, and judgment. At last, Jesus' hour arrives. He commends his spirit into the Father's hands at the very moment when by his death he conquers death, so that, raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, he might immediately

give the Holy Spirit by breathing on his disciples. From this hour onward, the mission of Christ, and the Spirit becomes the mission of the church, as the Father has sent me. Even so, I send you. Okay, there we have it, paragraphs 721 to 730. Again, here is this remarkable way in which we've talked about this for the last couple days, how the Holy Spirit was preparing the prophets, right? Here's Isaiah writing about Jesus. Here's how the Holy Spirit prepared John as the precursor, the prophet, the Baptist, all of that. And yet here is also Mary, the spouse. of the Holy Spirit and the ways in which the Holy Spirit interacted with humanity in the person of Mary. And this is remarkable because this is what God is revealing. One of the things that is so powerful

is paragraph 722. It talks about this. It says the Holy Spirit prepared Mary by his grace. Now we believe that Mary was conceived without original sin. We talked about this before. We'll talk about it again, that by the merits of her sons, life, death, and resurrection. Mary was preserved from all the state of original sin. So here's paragraph 722. It goes on to say, it was fitting that the mother of him in whom the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily should herself be full of grace. Remember we talked about this how Mary is the new Eve? Remember the old Eve without sin, the old Adam without sin, the angel of light, Lucifer, speaks words to her, the woman without sin that caused her to disbelieve and disobey. She hands on the disbelief and disobedience to the man who handed on to the whole world.

In the new covenant, Jesus, as St. Paul says, is the new Adam. And yet we also have an angel announcing. We also have a woman. And that since the new Adam, Jesus is without sin. And since the first Adam and first Eve without sin, it is fitting that Mary, the new Eve, would also be without sin. And I love how paragraph 722 says that. He even uses that term. Now, is it necessary that Mary would be without sin?

I don't think so. I don't know. But the church says it is fitting. It makes sense. goes on to say, she was by sheer grace. This is so important because sometimes people think that we're elevating Mary to a place that is beyond needing God. That's not true.

It's the exact opposite. It is saying this that Mary, by sheer grace, by the complete gift of God, was conceived without sin as the most humble of creatures. Now, to realize this, grace is the mercy that we don't deserve, right? Grace is the love we don't deserve. Grace is a gift that we never deserve. And here's the catechism, making it absolutely clear that Mary had done nothing. I mean, obviously, before she even existed, she did nothing to merit her existence,

nor to merit God's particular favor here. She was, by sheer grace, conceived without sin as the most humble of creatures, the most capable of welcoming the inexpressible gift of the Almighty. And it's just remarkable that we realize the more grace God gives to a person, the more humble that they're called to be. Why? Because remember, humility is not thinking less of oneself. It's not like, oh, I'm no good.

I'm super bad or nah, shucks, you know, I'm nothing. Humility is thinking of oneself less. This is, I think, what Pastor Rick Warren had said once. Humility is thinking of oneself less. So it's not being preoccupied with one's own virtue, one's own beauty, one's own gifts, one's own self. It is this recognition of everything in my life has been given to me. everything in my life is a gift.

You know, the proud person has no one to thank. Really, the proud person, they are self-sufficient. But the humble person, the humble person is humble, and they're always thanking, they're always rejoicing, they're always giving glory to God because they realize everything I have comes from the Lord. So here's Mary, who's more capable than anyone to welcome the gift, the inexpressible gift of God, the inexpressible gift of Christ in her womb, or even Jesus in this world. Why? Because as the most humble, she's also, maybe, you'd say, the most grateful, the most thankful.

Then the catechism in these last four paragraphs for today, 727 to 730, talking about Jesus and the Spirit. So as the Holy Spirit prepared Mary and worked through Mary in all these ways, this massive and so important reality that the entire mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit is contained in this, that the Son is the one anointed by the Father's Spirit since its incarnation, that Christ's whole work is in fact a joint mission of the Son and the Spirit. And so we can see this all the way through the Gospels that Christ's whole mission, the entire work he did is a joint mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit. And we go through here in paragraph 728 and 729 and 730 about all the ways in which here's Jesus giving hints, hints of the Holy Spirit's work and then fully revealing the fact that the Holy Spirit is now promised to the disciples, is promised to the church. And then in paragraph 730, when Jesus' hour arrives

and he commends his spirit into the Father's hands at the very moment when by his death he conquers death so that raised from the dead by the glory of the Father he might immediately give the Holy Spirit by breathing on the disciples.

Now keep this in mind, right? All throughout the Gospels, you have these hints of the Holy Spirit. At the end of the Gospels, you have the promise of the Holy Spirit and then at the very end you have the giving of the Holy Spirit. So you have these hints,

you have these promises, and then you have the giving of the Holy Spirit. And in the last sentence, it's incredible, the last sentence in paragraph 730 that we've read today is just this shift moment. And it's incredible moment. We're going to talk about it more tomorrow and then in the next couple days. But it says from this hour onward, the mission of Christ and the spirit becomes the mission of the church. And this is really huge. So huge.

We have the hints of the Holy Spirit, the promise of the Holy Spirit, the giving of the Holy Spirit. And now the mission of Jesus and the Spirit become the mission of the church. that God shares with us now. He is now entrusted to us in the power of the Holy Spirit, his mission. So we look back and think, oh my goodness, Lord, Jesus, while you were on this earth, your mission was to redeem the world.

Your mission was to glorify the Father. Your mission was all these things to bring all the scattered people of Israel and the scattered people of the world, all the Gentiles, that's us, most of us, into one. Now that mission, to reconcile us to God, that mission now is the mission of the church.

We're going to talk about that for a number of days from now on. Like, what is it? You know, so often people will discount the church. Like, well, did Jesus say it or does the church say it? You know, was that in the Bible or was that just something the church teaches? And yet we realize that with Pentecost, Jesus Christ has shared his entire mission in the Holy Spirit's entire mission with his church. And that's why right now we get to be part of it.

You and I are part of that mission, which is just absolutely. Phenomenal. To be part of this mission, we need the Holy Spirit's help because without it, without him, we can do nothing, without Jesus, without being tapped into Christ, we can do nothing. So we need to pray. I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.