The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 120: The Apostolic Church

Episode Date: April 30, 2023

The fourth mark of the Catholic Church is her "apostolic" nature. Fr. Mike explains the three ways the Church is apostolic and discusses how this characteristic shapes the unique structure and Tradition of the Catholic Church. He also encourages us to pray for our local bishops, who continue to shepherd us in the Faith today as the Apostles' successors. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 857-862. 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 in God's family as we journey together to our heavenly home. It is day 120 reading paragraphs, 857 to 862. 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 in your reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y. You can also click followers, subscribe, and your podcast app for daily notifications and updates. Also, just, you know, it's day 120. Thank you so

much to all those who have supported the production of this podcast with your prayers. Thank you for, oh man, all the financial gifts that have kept this podcast going. We could not do this without you. You know, today we're launching into the fourth mark of the church, the first three. The church is one, holy and Catholic. We talked about that last couple days. Today, the fourth mark is the church's apostolic and there's a couple reasons. We'll like that.

The couple reasons why the church is apostolic. No, there's one reason why the church is apostolic. It's because she's founded on the apostles. paragraph 857 highlights, she's apostolic for that one reason, founded on the apostles. But she is apostolic in three ways and she wasn't remains built on the foundation of the apostles, but she is epistolic in three ways. And she was and remains built on the foundation of the apostles. That's a big deal.

The help of the Holy Spirit, the church keeps and hands on the teaching of the apostles essentially. And thirdly, she continues to be taught sanctified and guided by the apostles in the person of their successors, right? The bishops, the College of Bishops, assisted by the priests, united with the successor of Peter, aka the Pope. So we're gonna talk about that today, as well as the fact that the apostles received their mission from Jesus. And they also have this sacred duty then, of course,

because Jesus Christ has entrusted to them, not only his mission, he's also entrusted to them his spirit. So basically when Jesus says, he who hears you, hears me, those who accept you, accept me, those who reject you, reject me. So we're Jesus says, he who hears you hears me, those who accept you, accept me, those who reject you reject me. So we're talking about that today. That's that's the core from paragraph 857 to 862 in order to get it. Just highlight in order to highlight

our hearts. No, I don't just repair our hearts. Just receive this gift of the word, this gift of this good word that the church is not only one holy Catholic, but also apostolic. I'll just ask our Father to give us His grace. So we pray, Father, in heaven. Thank you so much. Thank you for bringing us to this day. Thank you for bringing us to day 120. We thank you for continuing to guide the Church that you built on the foundation stones of the apostles. Thank you for giving us their successors. Thank you for continuing to sanctify your church. Thank you for continuing to guide your church. Thank you for continuing to guard your church. We ask you to please those who are our bishops right now. We ask you to protect them. We ask you to inspire

them. We ask you to purify their hearts so that they can be and then after your own heart, so that they can lead well, they can shepherd well, they can govern well. Lord God, we pray this to in this moment for any shepherd in your church who stands in particular need of your grace, who stands in particular need of your help in this moment. And I want to just give it gives all a chance to, even to name our own bishop, to name our local bishop. Just, we pray for him now. Pray for your bishop right now in this moment. We just lift him up before you, Father. I pray for my bishop, Daniel.

Pray that you continue to guide and guard, to lead him so that he can guide and guard and lead all of us. Make them all great fathers. We ask you this, Father, in the name of your Son, 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 is day 120 rooting paragraphs, 857-862. The Church is Apostolic.

The Church is Apostolic because she is founded on the Apostles in three ways. First, she was and remains built on the foundation of the apostles, the witnesses chosen and sent on mission by Christ Himself. Second, with the help of the Spirit dwelling in her, the church keeps and hands on the teaching the good deposit, the salutary words she has heard from the apostles. Third, she continues to be taught, sanctified and guided by the apostles until Christ's return through their successors in pastoral office, the College of Bishops, assisted by priests in union with the successor of Peter, the church's supreme

pastor. As the Roman Missile states, for you eternal shepherd, do not desert your flock, but through the blessed apostles watch over it and protect it always so that it may be governed by those who have appointed shepherds to lead it in the name of your son. The Apostles Mission Jesus is the Father's Emissary. From the beginning of his ministry, he called to him those whom he desired, and he appointed twelve whom he also named apostles to be with him and to be sent out to preach. From then on, they would also be his emissaries in Greek Apostoloise. In them, Christ continues his own mission, as the Father has sent me, even so I send you. The Apostles' ministry is the continuation of his mission.

Jesus said to the Twelve, He who receives you receives me. Jesus unites them to the mission he received from the Father. Receives me. that they were called by God as ministers of a new covenant, servants of God, ambassadors for Christ, servants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. In the office of the apostles, there is one aspect that cannot be transmitted, to be the chosen witnesses of the Lord's resurrection, and so the foundation stones of the church. But their office has a permanent aspect. Christ promised to remain with them always. The divine mission entrusted by Jesus to them will continue to the end of time since the

gospel they handed on is the lasting source of all life for the church. Therefore, the apostles took care to appoint successors. The bishops, successors of the apostles. In order that the mission entrusted to them might be continued after their death, the apostles consigned by Will and Testament as it were to their immediate collaborators the duty of completing and consolidating the work they had begun, urging them to tend to the whole flock in which the Holy Spirit had appointed them to shepherd the Church of God. They accordingly designated such men and then made the ruling that likewise on their death

other proven men should take over their ministry. Just as the office, which the Lord confided to Peter alone as first of the apostles, destined to be transmitted to his successors as a permanent one, so also endures the office, which the apostles received, of shepherding the church, a charge destined to be exercised without interruption by the sacred order of bishops. Hence, the church teaches that the bishops have by divine institution taken the place of the apostles as pastors of the church, in such wise that whoever listens to them is listening to Christ, and whoever despises them,

despises Christ, and him who sent Christ. Okay, so there we are, the church is apostolic. I love, it's just so beautiful, I think it is, so powerful and beautiful and good, right? All the good things. The way in which the church is founded on the apostles, let's go back to paragraph 857. I kind of did this in the introduction, but it's worth going back. So the church is apostolic because she's founded on the apostles in three ways. It's not just that, I mean, this is one of the things we need to pay attention to. The church is spiritual, obviously, right? There is a spiritual reality that makes up the church.

That's unseen. But there's also a visible reality to the church as well. It's one of the reasons why we talk about the church being the universal sacrament of salvation. There is a spiritual reality. There is an invisible reality. But there's also a very, very visible reality, just like for all of us as human beings, right?

There's an invisible reality that makes up what a human being is, our soul. But there's also a tangible and visible reality of what makes us up our body in a similar way. The church, yes, of course, is gonna be invisible in many ways, is gonna be spiritual in many ways. That's real. But the Church also is visible.

The Church also is tangible. The Church has a structure. And so this is one of the things that we're recognizing in being one holy and Catholic, but also apostolic meaning that the call of the twelve men that Jesus gathered around him is not just historical, it's not just a thing of the past, but Jesus continues to, in their successors, give them that same authority, that same commission, that same being sent forth as emissaries. And so again, we go to this paragraph 857,

Churches Apostolic because she's founded on the apostles in three ways. Well, one, she was and remains built on the foundation of the apostles. The witness chosen and sent a mission by Christ himself. So yes, she was built on the foundation of the apostles. This is historical reality. Those first double apostles, Matthias replaced Judas at his death. And then as time went on, other men were chosen and then ordained to carry on the work of the previous bishop. Secondly, with the help of the spirit dwelling in her, the church keeps and hands on the teaching, the good deposit, the salutary words she's heard from the apostles.

So this is, again, as I said, not just a thing of the past, but with the help of the Holy Spirit, the church continues to hand on the teaching. This is so good. And then third, she also continues to be taught, sanctified, and guided by the apostles until Christ's return through their successors in pastoral office, right? The College of Bishops, he says to my priest,

you knew with the successor of Peter, that there's this reality that the church continues to be apostolic. It wasn't just a thing of the past that those 12 apostles then subtract Judas Admothias. It wasn't just a thing of the past that those 12 apostles then subtract Judas Admothias, it wasn't just them. It was the fact that the church continues to have this apostolic connection. This is so so important You know, we've been talking the last couple days What are the differences between Catholics and non-Catholic Christians? What are the differences between Catholics and

non-Catholic Christians. What are the differences between Catholics and non-Christian religions? Okay, this is kind of sensitive, but let's dive in. Sometimes I'll have people ask, like, you know, Father, you keep saying there's so much good in non-Catholic Christian churches. Yep, absolutely. There is, there's holiness there, that there is good teaching in many places.

Yep, there is, that there are good people. Of course, that God's grace is there. Yes, we're acknowledging all of those things. And sometimes the question is then, why be Catholic? Why join the Catholic Church? Well, there's many, many reasons. One of the reasons is this remains the Apostolic Church that there is an unbroken line of succession all the way back to Jesus. And that Jesus commissioned those apostles to go forth and those apostles were able to hand on their commissioning, they were able to hand on their ordination to all those who came after them.

And for all non-Catholic Christian denominations, they don't have that. There is actually a break in that apostolic ordination, there's a break in that apostolic succession. And again, and that's not meant to be a dig at anybody. It's just meant to be a pointing out, this is one of the reasons that we recognize, even historically, the Catholic Church is the one apostolic church that remains.

Now, I do want to clarify that the Orthodox church is also apostolic in the sense that they have valid ordinations, so they are the other long of the Church that continues to breathe. However, the Orthodox Church does not recognize the jurisdiction of the Pope, and so the Catholic Church is uniquely apostolic because only the Catholic Church recognizes and maintains the primacy and universal jurisdiction of the Pope. Hope that makes sense. So now back to apostolic succession. Why is that important? Well, paragraphs 858 to 860 highlights how it why that's important because 858 says,

Jesus is the father's emissary, right? Jesus kept saying, the sun kept saying, I'm coming on this mission of the father. The father has sent me here. And then what happens is then he sends others. He sends those apostles. And in Jesus' inmate Pergraph E 59, unites them those apostles to the mission he received from the Father. Remember, it says that the apostles can do nothing apart from Jesus. Of course, none of us can do anything apart from Jesus. It was on to say, from whom they received both the mandate for their mission and the power to carry it out. Again, Jesus said, go, and we also gave them the Holy Spirit. I mean, think about Acts chapter 2.

Here they are. Jesus had promised the power, the dynamite power of the Holy Spirit will come upon you. And you will be my witnesses. So important. paragraph 860 highlights, something that is vital to pay attention to. In the office of the apostles, there was one aspect that cannot be transmitted. What is that? Well, it's to be chosen witnesses of the Lord's resurrection, and so the foundation stones of the church, if you remember in the book of Revelation, John sees heaven descending from the heavens, essentially. He sees the new city Jerusalem, and is built on

the foundation stones of the twelve apostles, and that's just those twelve. But goes on to say, their office has a permanent aspect. Because Christ promised to remain with them always, and so the divine mission entrusted by Jesus to them will continue to the end of time, since the gospel they handed on is the lasting source of all life for the church. That's why they appointed successors, and that's who the bishops are, ultimately, are the successors of those apostles? paragraph 862 highlights this.

Just as the office, which the Lord confided to Peter alone, as first the apostles, right, the Pope, is destined to be transmitted to his successors, so also endures the office, which the apostles received of shepherding the church. A charge destined to be exercised without interruption by the sacred order of bishops. And so we just, we highlight this, we love this. In fact, we are called to love this. Why? Because as it says in this last sentence of paragraph 862, whoever listens to them is listening to Christ and over despises them, despises Christ and him who sent Christ. And that's from Lumingencium in Second

Vatican Council. But it's also this recognition of the truth. We talked about this when it came to the church itself that if we love the church, we love Christ's bride. If we love the church, we love the body of Christ. And same kind of thing when it comes to those whom Jesus sent, he who receives you receives me Jesus's own words. And he says, Matthew's gospel.

And he says, in Luke's gospel, he who receives you receives me. That means own words, and he says, Matthew's gospel, and he says, in Luke's gospel, he who receives me, that means if we reject those, he sent, and we're rejecting him. Does that make sense? Of course it does. It does make sense? Of course it does. Well, it might, but also might be a challenging teaching.

I hope that all of us can recognize that in this, the Lord is calling us to fall more and more in love with them. This isn't just a point of data. This is a point where maybe God's asking for our hearts to be more open. Maybe it's a part of our faith that God's asking us to even just rejoice in. I mean, there's the gift of the apostolic nature

of the church is literally that. It is literally a gift. Now tomorrow, we're gonna go on. We have a little kind of semi-nugget day tomorrow when we have the in-breefe at the end of this section. We're also gonna look at the fact that since the church is apostolic, she has an apostolate. And what is that apostolate?

Well, we're gonna talk about that tomorrow and we're gonna talk about some nuggets as well. You guys would a gift to be able to highlight the fact that here's the church that is one holy, Catholic and apostolic and to know what those words mean now. Hopefully when you hear that when you say those words in the creed, you're like, oh yeah, I know what it means to say the church is one. I know what it means to say the church is is holy.

It is Catholic and is Apostolic. Hmm. What a gift. Oh my God. Okay. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow.

God bless.