The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 105: Christ’s Church and its Mission (2024)

Episode Date: April 14, 2024

The Church has no other light than Christ's, and the Holy Spirit is the source of all its holiness. We believe that the Church is "holy," "catholic," "one," and "apostolic." Fr. Mike explains that Jesus has promised to guide the Church in the truth. Members of the Church are called and uniquely belong to the Lord. We also learn that the word 'church' has three inseparable meanings: the liturgical assembly, the local community, and the universal community of believers. The Church draws her life from the body of Christ and so becomes Christ's body. Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 748-752. 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. This is day 105. Congratulations, you made it to this day.

We're reading paragraphs 748 to 752. As always, the Bible, nope, I'm reading the Catechism. 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, which you might have already discovered by now. You can also download your free Catechism in a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com

And you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. Also, just a quick thank you to all those who have supported the production of this podcast with your prayers your financial gifts. It's incredible. Thank you so much. We could not do this without you. But of course also, thank you so much for your prayers, your financial gifts. It's incredible. Thank you so much. We could not do this without you, but of course also thank you so much for your prayers overall. It's just a gift. As I said, today's paragraph 748 to 752 was only five short paragraphs, but we're reading a new section, our new article, article nine. I believe in the Holy Catholic Church. One of the things you're going to hear in paragraphs 748 and 749 is the fact that we, what we established the last couple of days. Remember, the church has been establishing here in the catechism that the mission of Christ

and the mission of the Holy Spirit are the same mission, that they are, their mission is inseparable. And one of the things we're gonna establish here is that all of the church's connections to the Lord are absolutely inseparable from the mission of Christ and the mission of the Holy Spirit. In fact, paragraph 748 will say that the starting point, the starting point for understanding the church is Christ Jesus. In fact, right in the middle of that paragraph, it says by choosing this

starting point, we're going to read a quote from the Second Vatican Council on the dogmatic constitution of the church. That's going to be the starting point. And the catechism says, by choosing this starting point, the council demonstrates that's gonna be the starting point. And the catechism says, by choosing this starting point, the council demonstrates that the article of faith about the church depends entirely on the articles concerning Christ Jesus. So everything that goes on to say, the church has no other light than Christ's.

And that's just remarkable. Of course, I mean, for all of us, we'd say, duh. And yet at the same time, the cateacism is meant to reveal and meant to teach, meant to remind us of things that maybe we didn't know. And maybe we did know. And so, yeah, the church has no light other than Christ. And that's paragraph 7 48, establishing Jesus is the, everything we believe about the church definitely, definitely flows from what we believe about Christ.

Jesus now paragraph 7 49, it will say that the article concerning the church also depends entirely on the article concerning the church also depends entirely on the article about the Holy Spirit and so this is just well it makes sense right? We've been talking about how the mission of Christ and the mission of the Spirit are inseparable, they're united and of course because of that we've been saying for the last couple days like even yesterday when we talked about the Holy Spirit and the Church where we said the mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit is brought to completion in the Church and so the Church is essentially a sacrament of that joint mission between the Son and the Spirit. So it's remarkable. Now paragraphs 750, 751 and 752 will talk about

basically kind of some words and the words we're going to talk about in 750 are uttering the fact that we believe that the church is holy catholic one and apostolic those are the four marks of the church the church is holy the church is catholic churches one and apostolic we're going to those come from the nysene creed and we're going to die more deeply into that at some point but we also say in paragraph 751 what's the origin of the word church? And it comes from the Latin ecclesia, which means the called out ones or to call out of. But also there's the word kyrka, right? The German kyrka, which means what belongs to the Lord.

So here are these words that we use, again, ecclesia in the Latin and ekkalen, which is the Greek, to call out of, but also the word church, which is the calling together and means what belongs to the Lord. Lastly, again, this is kind of almost like a vocabulary lesson today. Lastly, in paragraph 752, we recognize, so what does that word church mean when we say that in our Christian usage of the word church?

And there are three levels essentially. There's the liturgical assembly when we come together for mass in the liturgy. There's also the local community, which is the diocese made up of parishes. And then there's the whole universal community of believers. And so these three levels, whenever we use the term church,

we're talking about those three levels. So that's what we're highlighting today on day 105 as we read paragraph 748 to 752. And then of course, we're going to launch for the next few days into a deeper and deeper dive into understanding. So what is the church and what is the church's role in our lives? But today we have these first five paragraphs. And so let's just call upon the Lord and ask for His Holy Spirit to come upon us and to

enlighten our minds and enliven our hearts. Father in heaven, in the name of your son Jesus Christ we pray we ask you to please, no matter where we're at right now, send your Holy Spirit wherever we are right now Lord if we are a place of discouragement we ask you to please meet us in our discouragement. If we're in a place of confusion we ask you to please meet us in that place of confusion. If we're in a place of joy and a place of deep peace, please meet us. Meet us in your joy. Meet us in your peace.

We know that we can trust you. We love you and we dedicate our lives to you. Thank you for giving us the gift of your holy Catholic, apostolic, and one church. We thank you and we praise your name in Jesus name, in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy spirit. Amen. Once again, it's day 105. We are reading paragraphs 748 to 752.

Article 9. I believe in the Holy Catholic Church. Christ is the light of humanity, and it is, accordingly, the heartfelt desire of this sacred council, being gathered together in the Holy Spirit, that by proclaiming his gospel to every creature, it may bring to all men that light of Christ which shines out visibly from the Church." These words open the Second Vatican Council's dogmatic constitution on the Church. By choosing this starting point, the Council demonstrates that the article of faith about

the Church depends entirely on the articles concerning Christ Jesus. The Church has no other light than Christ's. According to a favorite image of the church fathers, the church is like the moon, all its light reflected from the sun. The article concerning the church also depends entirely on the article about the Holy Spirit, which immediately precedes it, stating,

"'Indeed, having shown that the Spirit is the source and giver of all holiness, we now confess that it is He who has endowed the Church with holiness. The Church is, in a phrase used by the Fathers, the place where the Spirit flourishes. To believe that the Church is holy and Catholic, and that She is one and apostolic, as the Nicene Creed adds, is inseparable from belief in God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In the Apostles' Creed, we profess one holy Church, Kratio Ecclesiam, and not to believe

in the Church, so as not to confuse God with His works, and to attribute clearly to God's goodness all the gifts He has bestowed on His Church. Paragraph 1. The Church in God's Plan. Names and Images of the Church. The word church, Latin ecclesia, from the Greek ekkalein, to call out of, means a convocation or an assembly. It designates the assemblies of the people usually for a religious purpose. Ecclesia is used frequently in the Greek Old Testament for the assembly of the chosen people

before God, above all for their assembly of the chosen people before God, above all for their assembly on Mount Sinai where Israel received the Law and was established by God as His holy people. By calling itself Church, the first community of Christian believers recognized itself as heir to that assembly. In the Church, God is calling together His people from all the ends of the earth. The equivalent Greek term Kyriak, from which the English word church and the German Kirche are derived, means what belongs to the Lord. In Christian usage, the word church designates the liturgical assembly, but also the local community or the whole universal community of believers. These three meanings are inseparable. The church

is the people of God that gathers in the whole world. She exists in local communities and is made real as a liturgical, above all, a Eucharistic assembly. She draws her life from the Word and the Body of Christ, and so herself becomes Christ's Body. Okay, there we are. Again, those five paragraphs are so good. And again, the first two, highlighting the fact that what we're going to state about the Church Okay, so there we are. Again those five paragraphs are so good. And again, the first two highlighting the fact that what we're going to state about the church have everything to do. They all completely flow from Jesus and they flow from the Holy Spirit.

Of course, which in so many ways also is directly connected to the Father. And so obviously, what we state about, well, maybe it's not so obvious, what we state about the church has everything to do with what we have stated about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, particularly the mission of the Son and the Spirit, which is carried out even now in our day and age in this life, in this world through the church. So we highlighted that, and it is, of course, the presence of the Holy Spirit, the working of the Holy Spirit that makes the church holy. And in fact, that's article, again, 740,

or paragraph 749 that says the Holy Spirit is the source and giver of all holiness. And so we now confess that it is he who has endowed the church with holiness. But last sentence of paragraph 749 says, the church is in a phrase used by the fathers, the place where the spirit flourishes. And that's the whole goal, right?

Sometimes that's not our experience. Sometimes our experiences is, is, is that, um, the humaneness, the humanity of the church has maybe gotten in the way of the divinity of the church. Now, obviously it does not, the humanity of the church or the, when I say humanity, basically, I mean, the brokenness, which maybe is, uh, is giving the humanity a bad rap, because here is God's divinity that has come to sanctify our humanity, right? God's divinity has come to make holy where we live and how we live. And so I guess I shouldn't just say that the humanity always equals the broken part of the church.

And yet at the same time the broken part doesn't come from God. And so we recognize that where human beings have shown up, you know, there can be hurt feelings, there can be the reality that the divine nature of the church can be obfuscated, right? It can be obscured. And so we recognize that it isn't always our experience. And so as we continue to move forward and talk about the church, you know, when we talk about the mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit, when we talk about the mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit, when we talk about the identity of the father, son and Holy Spirit, it's all good. Right.

There's no, there's no darkness. There's no shadow of change. There's no brokenness. There's no evil. And yet when we talk about the church, we recognize that yes, while the Holy Spirit is the soul of the church and we, yes, while Jesus has promised to guide the church into all truth, we also recognize that as human beings who are broken, there is going to be shadow, there is going to be darkness, there is going to be history that is shady, that is evil in fact.

Human beings in the name of Jesus doing evil things, which of course dates all the way back to the beginning of the Bible. Here are people in the name of God doing things that God does not endorse that the god in fact condemns and yet at the same time paragraph 750 To believe that the church is holy and catholic and that she is one and apostolic is inseparable from belief in god The father son and holy spirit and in fact the paragraph 750 is very important because it highlights the fact that we're not believing In the church, right? So we believe in God, we believe in God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We don't believe in the church in the same way because we don't confuse God with his works.

The church is God's work, right? And of course, in many ways, the church is the body of Christ as well and the temple of the Holy Spirit. We already established that many, many times, but we don't believe in the church in the same way that we believe in God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And so that's just really important for us to not forget, to not lose sight of. The church is God's work. And so we recognize that, uh, yeah, we attribute to God all the gifts he's

bestowed on the church. So that's an important thing. Now, last couple things is last couple notes are the fact that we have names and images of the church and in paragraph 751 to 752 We have names and then later on as in it 753 and following we're gonna have the images That's tomorrow symbols of the church But today we have that again that word in Latin Ecclesia and Greek ecca lane to call out of Which means you know people who are called out right people called together the convocation or assembly

And so we sometimes will hear that people will make the point. And it's true that church means like assembly, those who are gathered, those who are called out, the called out ones are members of the church, which is completely true. But also there's this incredible other term that the Greek term Kyriak, that's what we get the word church and obviously the German word Kirke, if you know anything Kirke if you know anything about German. And that is a unique term which means what belongs to the Lord. And that's one of the things that we are trying to emphasize again and again is that the church belongs to the Lord, though members of the church are those who belong to the Lord,

those who have been called out, right? They've been called together, they've been called out, and they belong to the Lord in a unique way, in a powerful way, in a very real way. And that's you. That if you're baptized, if you've been brought into the people of God, brought into the family of God, if you've been made into a temple of the Holy Spirit, then you're part of the church. You're part of what belongs to the Lord. In fact, we recognize that when we consecrate something, right? When we bless something, we're giving it a new purpose.

We're giving it a new end. We are setting it aside for the Lord. And so therefore we would say that the church and all those who belong in the church, everything that belongs to the church is what belongs to the Lord. Now, last, last little point here. I already made this before in the introduction, but in paragraph 752, it's important for us to understand that in Christian usage, this term church designates three kind of levels or three realities, three meanings, but those three meanings are inseparable. So first church designates,

here is the liturgical assembly. So people gathered particularly for the Euchar, for the celebration of the mass. Secondly, there is the diocese, which is the local community. And thirdly, the whole universal community of believers. And so this is gonna be important just for us to understand, like, what are we talking about? We're talking, when we are talking about the church

and what we're gonna be talking about is all three of those levels, but they're always all connected. So remember the Eucharistic assembly, so that liturgy right there of the mass essentially, that's the most pronounced way. The local community, that is the diocese made up of individual parishes. And then also we have the universal church, the universal belonging of the believers throughout the whole world.

And the church exists in those three areas that she's made real in those three ways. I'm on this world and which is remarkable. And so as it is last words here in paragraph seven 52, she draws her life from the word and the body of Christ. And so herself becomes Christ's body. And that's the, that's what the church means. So that might've been what you already knew. Also might've been something that's kind of like, Oh, I did not understand or not fully I would not have been able to fully articulate

What has been articulated in these first five paragraphs in the article in this section on the church? And so that's where we're at now You know tomorrow as I said, we're gonna go more deeply into what are some of the symbols of the church? And these are gonna be things that will we'll say it tomorrow but you can pray with sometimes we can pray with these symbols because I don't know if you have, if we ever taken the time to pray about the church or even pray with those images of the church that the church has used by itself,

that scripture has used about the church that God has revealed to us. And that's important because you're part of this. This is, this is part of your life. You're in this. And so that means you are what belongs to the Lord. And as a member of that body of Christ, it's worth meditating deeply on, so what am I part of? And how is this body that has authority over me, that has authority in my life, how is it going to continue to feed me?

How is it going to continue to lead me? And how is it going to continue to guide me so that I can then in turn um serve this church? How can I in turn live in this church? How can I in turn help others be led and be fed and be guided? And that's what we're going to be talking about in the days to come. So anyways I'm so grateful. Day 105, well done you guys. What a gift to be able to just enter into this reflection and this teaching as we begin talking about the church. Today, day 105, I am praying for you. Please pray for me.

My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.