The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 116: The Church Is Holy

Episode Date: April 26, 2023

Fr. Mike examines the next characteristic of the Church, the Church is holy, and he emphasizes two important ideas. The first is that the Church is unfailingly holy only because of God’s gracious gift to us. The second is that each and every one of the activities of the Church are for two purposes: the sanctification of men in Christ and the glorification of God. We conclude with a reminder from St. Therese on the importance of charity, that love of God is the “vocation which includes all others.” Today’s readings from the Catechism are paragraphs 823-829. 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 the Year is brought to you by Ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church discovering our identity and God's family. As we journey together to order heavenly home this is day 116, we are reading paragraphs 823 to 829.

As always, I'm using the Ascension Edition of the Catechism, which includes the foundations of faith approach. You can follow along, of course, with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. You can also download your own Catechism in a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash the IY. And lastly, you can click follow or subscribe and your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. Today, day 116, we're reading about

the fact that the church is holy. Yesterday, we talked about oneness. And today, before that too, yesterday was also the wounds to unity, but the call we have just strive for unity. Today, the second mark of the church, remember the four marks of the church, one, holy, Catholic, apostolic, these are these four marks of the church. Today, four marks of the church, one, holy, Catholic, apostolic, these are these four marks of the church today. The church is holy. And tomorrow the church is Catholic. But today we have to recognize, you know, at me, maybe even said this yesterday, many, many times, we'll point out the fact that yep, the church is broken, church is made up of sinners. And so there is, you know, there's sin at the same time. One of the clear marks of the church is the fact that the church is

holy. The Holy Spirit is the soul of the church, and because of that, because the church comes from the Trinity, the heart of the Trinity, because Jesus Christ himself founded the church. The church is holy. In fact, paragraph 8-23 will kick us off today. And it says this, the church is held as a matter of faith to be unfailingly holy. And that's really important, that's a bold statement, but at the same time, it is 100% a true statement. Why? It goes on to say, this is because Christ, the Son of God,

who with the Father and the Spirit is held as a lone holy. Remember God is the only one who's holy, truly holy. Because Jesus, Himself, loved the church as his bride, giving himself up for her so as to sanctify her. He joined her to himself as his body and endowed her with the gift of the Holy Spirit for the God. And there you go. If there's any reason why, we would say the church is holy, it's that. It is because of God's gracious gift. That's it. 100%. Now, going on to say that United with Christ, the church is sanctified by Jesus. And through Jesus, she becomes sanctifying, right? So we're sanctified by the action of Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, but

also through Jesus and with Jesus, we're meant to actually bring that holiness to the world. So that's what we're going to talk about again in 824. You know, I love, there's this long quote here. There's two long quotes actually. The one long quote is from St. Teresa of the Sioux. The second long quote is from Pope Paul VI. The first long quote from St. Teresa is about how love is the soul of the holiness to which we are all called. It says the word charity, but I'm just translating it to love. So charity is the soul or love is the soul of the holiness to which all are called. That love governs shapes and perfects all the means of sanctification. We're gonna hear about that today

And just in fact if you have your Catechism with you, you note that in this quote, there's italics There are all caps. I mean it is kind of intense and then we have the other quote by Pope Paul the sixth Where he writes that the Church is holy even though having sinners intermits, because she knows no other life, but the life of grace. So we realize that if we live her life, the life of the Church, then we become sanctified. We're talking to talk about that today, but that's the whole goal, to become sanctified and to actually participate with the Lord and through the Lord in sanctifying the world. Let's pray.

Father in heaven. Thank you. Thank you for being the source of holiness. Thank you for being you, Lord God. We praise you and we give you thanks that you are the only Thrice Holy God. You're the only one who is holy, holy, holy Lord. So we lift up your name and we praise you this day. We thank you for the gift of your church. We thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit. We thank you that you have never, ever given up on us. And that you've declared you never, ever will give up on us. We ask you to please help us to not give up on you, help us to not stop choosing you. Lord God, we ask you to please send your Holy Spirit in the every area of challenge in

our lives so that we can face every challenge with your strength. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. Amen. It is day 116. We're reading paragraphs 823 to 829. The Church is holy. The Church is held as a matter of faith to be unfailingly holy. This is because Christ, the Son of God, who with the Father and the Spirit is hailed as a lone holy, loved the

Church as his bride, giving himself up for her so as to sanctify her. He joined her to himself as his body and endowed her with the gift of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God. The church then is the holy people of God, and her members are called saints. United with Christ, the church is sanctified by Him. Through Him and with Him, she becomes sanctifying. All the activities of the church are directed as toward their end to the sanctification of men in Christ and the glorification of God.

It is in the church that the fullness of the means of salvation has been deposited. It is in her that by the grace of God we acquire holiness. The church on earth is endowed already with the sanctity that is real, though imperfect. In our members, perfect holiness is something yet to be acquired. Strengthened by so many and such great means of salvation, all the faithful, whatever their condition or state, though each in his own way, are called by the Lord to that perfection of sanctity by which the Father Himself is perfect. Charity is the soul of the holiness to which all are called. It governs, shapes, and perfects all the means of sanctification. As St. Therese of Lisu stated,

If the church was a body composed of different members, it couldn't lack the noblest of all. It must have a heart, and a heart burning with love. And I realized that this love alone was the true motive force which enabled the other members of the Church to act. If it ceased to function, the apostles would forget to preach the gospel. The martyrs would refuse to shed their blood. Love, in fact, is the vocation which includes all others. It's a universe of its own, comprising all time and space. It's eternal. Christ, holy, innocent, and undefiled, knew nothing of sin but came only to expiate the sins of the people.

The Church, however, clasping sinners to her bosom at once holy and always in need of purification follows constantly the path of penance and renewal. All members of the Church, including her ministers, must acknowledge that they are sinners. In everyone, the weeds of sin will still be mixed with the good wheat of the gospel until the end of time. Hence, the church gathers sinners already caught up in Christ's salvation, but still on the way to holiness. As Pope Paul VI stated, The church is therefore holy, though having sinners in her midst, because she herself has no other life but the life of grace.

If they live her life, her members are sanctified. If they move away from her life, they fall into sins and disorders that prevent the radiation of her sanctity. This is why she suffers and does penance for those offenses of which she has the power to free her children through the blood of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit. By canonizing some of the faithful, that is, by solemnly proclaiming that they practiced heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God's grace. The church recognizes the power of the spirit of holiness within her and sustains the hope of believers by proposing the saints to them as models and

intercessors. The saints have always been the source and origin of renewal in the most difficult moments in the Church's history. Indeed, holiness is the hidden source and infallible measure of her apostolic activity and missionary zeal. But while in the most blessed Virgin, the Church has already reached that perfection whereby she exists without spot or wrinkle. The faithful still strive to conquer sin and increase in holiness.

And so they turn their eyes to Mary. In her, the church is already the all holy. Okay, day 116, paragraph 823-829. Incredible. You know, let's go back to the very beginning, 823. We've met, noted this at the very beginning, but as a matter of faith, the church is unfailingly holy. Why?

Not because of herself, not because of us. The church is holy because of God. God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, are alone holy. And here's Jesus, the Son of God, with the Father and the Spirit, loved the church as his bride. Remember this Ephesians chapter 5. He loved the church and poured himself up for her, gave himself up for her, to as to us present her to himself without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.

That's the gift here. That's the goal here. That's the heart of what we're talking about here. The point is God is the one who makes the church holy, paragraph 824. Highlights this, that I love this first line, united with Christ. The church is sanctified by him. Through him and with him, she becomes sanctifying. If you ever wonder, what is the heart? What does the church do? What are all the activities of the church? All the work of the church? What are they oriented towards? Well, it says here in paragraph 824, it says, all the activities of the church,

all of them, everything we do, everything we exist, everything we are, everything we accomplish, they're directed as toward their end to two goals, the sanctification of men in Christ and the glorification of God. Think about that, the sanctification of human beings in Christ, the salvation of the world and and the glorification of God. You've never wondered, like, what's the point of the mass? And jumping over to, you know, I know in a few weeks we'll talk about, the liturgy, we'll talk about the sacraments. If you ever wonder what the point of the mass is, well, you know the point of the mass. The point of the mass is stated in the middle of every single mass, where the priest turns the people and he says, pray, my brothers and sisters, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God,

the Almighty Father, and all the people respond. May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands. For the praise and glory of His name, for our good and the good of all His Holy Church, that's the point, the two points. For the praise and glory of His name, of the Father's name, that all the God may be glorifiedified and for the salvation of the world. This is the entire point. Why does the Church exist? Well, first of all, to sanctify her members. That Jesus Christ may present Himself to Himself, His bride, and also that through the Church, the Father will be glorified, and the world will be sanctified. It's amazing. Now 825 highlights this. The Church on Earth is endowed already with a sanctity that is real.

And there's a real holiness the Church has, though it's imperfect. And I love this. It's the call to keep on going, and the call to keep on going, and to continually and constantly repent, to continue and constantly recognize that, okay, I am a sinner. In fact, paragraph 827 says this so clearly, all members of the church, including our ministers, must acknowledge that they are sinners. Because why?

Because the church, in the beginning of 827, the church clasping sinners to our bosom at once, holy, and always in need of purification, follows constantly the path of penance and renewal, that recognition of, you know, remember the gospel story, where there's the master of the field, any plants wheat, and in the course of the night, the enemy plants weeds. And the harvesters, when the weeds and the wheat grow together, the harvesters say, should we take out the weeds, and the master of the field says, no, or else you, you've pulled the weeds, you'll pull up the wheat too. Let them grow together. And at the end, yes, they'll be separated. But we're not at the end yet. And so we have to recognize that there is great wheat that the Lord

God himself has planted. And the enemy, remember the causes of division, it's sin. The enemy has planted weeds that we find in our own hearts even the weeds of sin. And so we just ask the Lord to continue to purify us because the heart is the heart. If we say it like that, the heart is the heart. In paragraph 826, this extended quote, as I mentioned, from St. Teresa of Lissue, saying that the love is the soul of holiness. Now, if you know anything about St. Teresa, in her book, Story of a Soul, which is basically her spiritual autobiography, she talks about how she was trying to discern

her vocation, trying to discern her call. And even though she was a religious sister already, she was like, but where do I fit in the body of Christ? And so she wanted to do everything, right? She wanted to serve in any way possible, a missionary, as a priest, all these ways, but those ways were not open. And so she's like, well, how do I discern this? How do I figure this out? And so as she continued to pray, she realized what she shared with us today. If the church was a body composed of different members, it couldn't lack the noblest of

all. It must have a heart and a heart burning with love. This is the key. You know, so often we can look at the different roles in the church and say, this is, this role is really important. This role is less important. This role is glorious. This role is not glorious.

And yet, St. Teresa, she discovered it, the core. Remember what St. Paul says. St. Paul talks about, if I can speak in words of men, tongues of men and angels, but don't have love, then I'm nothing. If I can heal and do miracles, but don't have love, then I'm nothing. If I can heal, do miracles, but don't have love, I'm nothing. If I can do all these things, raise the dead, even I imagine he could say, but don't have love, I am nothing. And so here's Terez, who recognizes what I want to be, that if you're looking at members of the church, not just a hand or a face or a voice or feet, I want to be the heart and heart burning with love. Because without

the heart, again, this is the key and this is where every one of us is called to live. You know, because so many of us, we can we can do checkbox Christianity, checkbox Christianity. We can do this where we're just like, I'm doing the things, I'm pressing play every day. When that's great that you're doing this and we need to continue to press play. But the heart of this is love. St. Tariots continues, and I realized that this love alone was the true mode of force which enabled the other members of the Church to act. If it ceased to function, if the heart stopped working, if we stopped loving, the apostles

would forget to preach the gospel. You know that sometimes happens. That sometimes happens for people like me, for priests, for bishops, for deacons, for all these people who maybe even their job is to preach the gospel. But if we forget the love of Jesus, if we forget that we're called to be the heart, just forget. It's not even a matter of rejecting the call. It's just you forget, you forget to preach Jesus. We forget

to preach the gospel because we've lost that first love. The martyrs, she goes on to say, the martyrs would refuse to shed their blood. There's other things to live for. Yet if the heart of Jesus is inside of us, the love of God in our heart, martyrs will continue to exist. And in fact, saints will continue to exist. She ends this. She says, love in fact is the vocation which includes all others. It is the universe of its own comprising all time and space its eternal. Love in fact is the vocation which includes all others. You know, paragraph 828 says that the Saints have always been the source and origin of renewal in the most difficult moments in the Church of history. Saints aren't saints because they did tough things or because they did great things.

Saints are saints because they loved. This is the measure. They loved and did what God asked of them. They had heroic virtue. And they lived in that spirit, the Holy Spirit of holiness. You know, at the end, we'll be judged. We know this already. We're going to talk about that soon. But if you want to say it simply, St. John of the Cross once said it like this, he said, in the twilight of life, we will be judged on love alone. There's a lot packed into that

because love isn't just an emotion, it's not just a feeling, it's not just an affection. Love has to be effective, right? It has to move us to do the works of love, to love God with everything we have and to love our neighbor as ourself. But in the twilight of our lives, we will be judged on love alone. And that's why it's so powerful that the church has to become holy. Well, it is holy by the Holy Spirit. The source being the Trinity and our founder being Jesus.

But the church, we have to continue to choose to be holy. You and I get to choose to say yes to the Lord, say yes to his grace, to say yes to his Holy Spirit, and to say yes to love, to be love, to be the heart. Ha, the church is one and the church is holy. So be holy. In the twilight of our lives, we will be judged on love alone. And I know that I don't love like I should.

So please pray for me. I'm praying for you. My name is Father Micah, I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.