The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 121: The Apostolate

Episode Date: May 1, 2023

For the Church to remain truly apostolic, she must exercise the apostolate, which is the mission “to spread the Kingdom of Christ over all the earth.” Today’s readings remind us that all members of the Church are “sent out” on a mission to proclaim the Good News. Most importantly, Fr. Mike emphasizes that charity, drawn from our unity with Christ, is the “soul” of the whole apostolate that leads us to bear fruit. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 863-870. 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, and 365 days will read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity in God's family is we journey together toward our Heavenly Home. It is day 121. We are reading paragraphs 863 to 870. It is nugget today as well as three additional paragraphs before the nuggets.

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 a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y. And lastly, you can click follow or subscribe on your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. As I said, it is day 121,

we're reading paragraphs 863, 864 and 865. Those are the last paragraphs of this section, one holy Catholic apostolic. And then we have a couple nuggets, I don't know, to we'll say five. We'll call them five, five nuggets we had from paragraph 866 to 870. One of the things we've been talking about

is how these four marks of the church, one holy Catholic and apostolic. Yesterday we talked about very, very clearly, and hopefully clearly, how the church must be apostolic, right? Based off of the mission that Jesus entrusted to the apostles, and also based off the promise that Jesus entrusted to the apostles that he who hears you and receives you,

receives me and hears me. That's so important. Now, today, as we hit these last three paragraphs before the nuggets, we're talking about the apostolate. And the apostolate is, I love this first line of 863. The whole church is apostolic, in that she remains through the successors of St. Peter and the other apostles in communion of faith and life with her origin, and that she is sent out into the whole world. Remember that the word apostoloi means those

were sent or emissary, right? Those were sent out. So for the church to truly remain apostolic, is not just to say that, yes, we have a succession of bishops and popes from the apostles, but it's also to say that the church exercises that being sent out in the Apostleate, and what we're going to hear about today is, I love this, that Jesus has to be at the center of this. In fact, not only does Jesus and the Holy Spirit and the glory of the Father have to be at the center of every missionary activity of the Church, as we're being sent out into the world. But even at the very heart of every single Christian,

we have to have love, especially coming from the Eucharist, as the very soul of the whole Apostle. That's a quote from paragraph 864. It says, charity, drawn from the Eucharists above all, is always as it were, the soul of the whole apostolate. And so we're going to talk about that a little bit today. One thing I wanted to highlight is there is in the midst of paragraph 865, a fun phrase, and the whole sentence is this.

It says, the kingdom has come in the person of Christ and grows mysteriously in the hearts of those incorporated into him, yet which makes sense, the kingdom has come Jesus announced, repent for the kingdom of heaven as a hand, as he himself is the heart of that. And also that kingdom grows mysteriously in our hearts. But the end of this sentence is this. Again, it goes mysteriously in the hearts of those incorporated into him until it's full as catalogical manifestation.

That's the line that I thought, man, when people hear that line, they're gonna say, what? That the kingdom of Christ has come in the person of Christ and grows mysteriously in the hearts of those incorporated into him until it's full aschatological manifestation. What does that mean? That means that there's a beginning. The kingdom of Christ has come in the person of Jesus. It continues to grow in the hearts of all the faithful, all those who follow after Jesus, and it will continue to grow until it's full, aschatological manifestation. Aschatological means the end times, right? At the very end of all things, that is when it will be complete.

It'll be full of the whole and that manifestation will be revealed. I hope that makes sense. And I hope I didn't just beat a dead horse there. You're like, yeah, I know it. Aschatological manifestation means Father, move on. Okay. So we're moving on. Let's say a prayer and just lift up our hearts and our minds of the father knowing it's not the point to just simply hear about the Lord. Not just

point just hear about his church, but to belong to the Lord and to serve as apostles. I mean, to be truly be sent out by Jesus and to know that love has to be at the heart of our life. Love has to be the soul of our Apostle it as well, so we pray, Father in heaven. We first thank you for pouring love into our hearts and your Holy Spirit. We thank you for revealing the depth of your love in Jesus Christ. We ask you to continue to pour that love into our hearts for all the times, Lord God, that we have wasted the love you've given to us. For all the times that we have been numb or indifferent to your gifts, we ask that you please wake us up. Help us to acknowledge the fact that you are present, you are God, you are good, that you love us, and give us that love so that we can be, emissaries of love, that we can be,

apostles of love to your world. God, there are so many people in this world who do not know how much you love them. Help us to be united to the Apostle of the whole church, and to do our small part or our large part to just bring your love to whatever tiny corner of the world we happen to find ourselves. Help us to love the people around us well today. Help them to know that in our loving them, they are reminded of your unstoppable and unfailing love for each one of them. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen, in the name of the Father, in of the Son, in of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Here we are, day 121, paragraph 863-870. The Apostle it.

The whole church is apostolic, and that she remains through the successors of St. Peter and the other apostles in communion of faith and life with her origin, and in that she is sent out into the whole world. All members of the church share in this mission, though in that she is sent out into the whole world. All members of the church share in this mission, though in various ways. The Christian vocation is of its nature, a vocation to the Apostleate as well. Indeed, we call in Apostleate every activity of the mystical body that aims to spread the kingdom of Christ over all the earth. Christ, sent

by the Father, is the source of the church's whole apostolate, thus the fruitfulness of a apostolate for ordained ministers as well as for laypeople clearly depends on their vital union with Christ. In keeping with their vocations, the demands of the times and the various gifts of the Holy Spirit, the apostolate assumes the most varied forms. But charity, drawn from the Eucharist above all, is always as it were, the soul of the whole Apostle. The Church is ultimately one, holy, Catholic and Apostolic in her deepest and ultimate identity, because it is in her that the Kingdom of Heaven, the reign of God, already exists, and will be fulfilled at the end of time. The Kingdom

has come in the person of Christ and grows mysteriously in the hearts of those incorporated into him until it's full aschatological manifestation. Then all those he has redeemed and made holy and blameless before him in love will be gathered together as the one people of God, the bride of the Lamb, the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. For as the book of Revelation states, the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on

them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. In brief, the church is one. She acknowledges one Lord, confesses one faith, is born of one baptism. Forms only one body is given life by the one spirit, for the sake of one hope at whose fulfillment all divisions will be overcome. The church is holy. The most holy God is her author. Christ, her bridegroom, gave himself up to make her holy. The spirit of holiness gives her life. Since she still includes sinners, she is the sinless one made up of sinners. Her holiness shines in the saints.

In Mary, she is already all holy. The church is Catholic. She proclaims the fullness of the faith. She bears in herself and administers the totality of the means of salvation. She is sent out to all peoples. She speaks to all men. She encompasses all times. She is missionary of her very nature. The Church is apostolic. She is built on a lasting foundation, the twelve apostles of the Lamb. She is indestructible. She is upheld infallibly in the truth. Christ governs her through Peter and the other apostles who are present in their successors, the Pope and the College of Bishops. As Lumingencium states,

The soul Church of Christ, which in the creed we profess to be one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic, subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him. Nevertheless, many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside its visible confines. Okay, so there we are. Beargrap's 863 to 870. Okay, so let's go back to the very beginning. I've been talking about apostolids and I didn't define apostolids. I probably should have done that. Good thing that Catechism reminded me that we need to define apostolids. So, Beargrap 863 highlights this. It says, we call an apostolate every activity of the mystical body that aims to spread

the kingdom of Christ all over all the earth. So everything that the mystical body, meaning whatever Christians they're doing, right, they're in order to spread the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of Christ over all the earth, that is an apostolate. Why going back to that word apostoloid, emissary, to be sent, to be sent out, that recognition that as we're sent into the world, both ordained, consecrated, and lay people to recognize that every action of the mystical body, every action of the Christian, that aims at spreading the kingdom of Christ over all the earth, that is an apostolate. And so one of the things that can include is your life and my life. We recognize that it's not just for the bishop, it's not just for the Pope, it's not just

for people who are in official church sanctioned, I guess we would say, like that, ministries, but every activity of the mystical body that aims to spread the kingdom of Christ over all the earth is an apostolate. And I love this, that line right before it says, the Christian vocation, the Christian call, right? The call of God to every Christian is of its nature, a vocation to the apostolate as well, that we're meant to be sent. That's it, that we've been set apart to be sent out.

And that is so, so important because no one is disqualified from this. I know I share the story in Bible in here about how my mom had always wanted to be a missionary. She always wanted to be on the good ship, hope, and she always wanted to be a medical missionary to the world. And never ended up doing that around the world. She did it. Well, she did it on little short trips, but her vocation, her call, was to care for the sick and the homeless that were her children, to care for those who were hungry, that were her children, to care for those who were hungry, that were her children, to care for those who couldn't care for themselves, that were her children. And then by extension, their friends by extension, you know, grandchildren, and it goes on from there,

but the recognition of every single one of us is called wherever we are planted, to say, how can I bring the kingdom of God here? And that's a good question. We can all ask, as we've been hearing this, that every single Christian, the very nature of being a Christian, is the nature of a call to an apostolate, to be sent out to spread the kingdom of Christ over all the earth.

So in your life, in my life, where's God calling me to simply bring his kingdom? So his kingdom has a little bit, shines a little bit more brightly in my world, in your world. It goes on to say in paragraph 864, oh, I love this, because why? Because sometimes we look at that and say, I got to do this now, I got to, I got to, you know, I don't know, brace myself and let's go out and do the apostolate. Well, listen, here's the quote, Christ sent by the Father is the source of the church's whole apostolate. Christ is the source. Everything.

Everything the church does, Jesus is who is sent by the Father, is the source of the church's whole apostolate. It goes on to say, thus the fruitfulness of apostolate for ordained ministers, as well as for lay people, depends on their vital union with Christ. Let's look at that phrase. Their vital union with Christ. I love this phrase. We recognize that if we want to bear fruit, then we have to be united with our source, the source of all life. Jesus, what did he say? He said, apart from me, you can do nothing.

And so the fruitfulness of every ministry, the fruitfulness of every apostolate, will ultimately depend on our vital union with Christ. And it says here, for our Day of Ministers, yep, that's the Pope, that's the Bishop, that's the priest, Deacons, but also for every lay person, clearly depends on our vital union with Christ. So you're spending time with God's Word in the Bible, you're spending time at Mass, you're spending time in Adoration, you're spending time here listening and learning about,

here's God's revelation to us as it is distilled and given to us in the summary of the catechism. This is all meant to like inflame that love. It's meant to inflame that vital union with Christ, which is so so important. Of course, love has to be at the heart of everything. That last sentence we already highlighted it, but it'll highlight it again. Last sentence in paragraph 864, charity or love drawn from the Eucharist above all is always as it were the soul of the whole apostolate. There is a book and I could probably do so

many book recommendations, but there's a book called the Soul of the Apostolate that is incredibly convicting. For someone like me, oh my gosh, it is so convicting. Because it reminds me and everyone who ever reads it, is that we can all fall into the traps of, you know, busy means holy. We can all fall into the trap of, we can doing a lot for the Lord and forget about the Lord. You know, that's one of the problems with people like me,

is we can talk so much about God that we forget to spend time with him, that we can teach about God so often that we forget that we're meant to love him and we're meant to experience his love for us. And so the soul of the Apostle at that book is such a painful and powerful, I say painful just because it's convicting, but powerful and good in the sense that it continually reminds all of us, anyone who reads it, that love, that vital union, that vital relationship with Jesus Christ has to be at the heart of everything that we do.

Okay, last little piece. Man, the in brief, the nuggets today. I don't know if you noticed. The first four nuggets are all about how the church is one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic. And I would invite you to go back and just, I think there's some of the best nuggets we've gotten so far. After almost a thousand paragraphs, these are some of the best nuggets we've got. Just for example, the first one, 866.

The church is one. What do we mean? Well, how about in one sentence, you say what we mean? She acknowledges one Lord, confesses one faith, is born of one baptism, forms only one body, is given life by the one spirit, for the sake of one hope, and whose fulfillment all divisions will be overcome. It's just so powerful and beautiful. And again, holy Catholic apostolic, the last paragraph, the last nugget, paragraph 870, is a great reminder, because we do experience divisions, right? And we do experience,

sometimes there can be tension between believers. But I keep mentioning the last few days, here's Catholics and there's non-Catholic Christians, and sometimes highlighting or even pointing out the fact that we experience division can be painful in and of itself. And that's okay because right, we went to work for unity. We're actually meant to pray that those divisions be overcome. That's what is supposed to happen. That's what God wants to happen. At the same time, the church does take pains to affirm that there is goodness. If you're a non-Catholic Christian, I do believe that the Lord is calling you to be Catholic. But that's not to say that in becoming Catholic, you have to say that, oh, the denomination

I was raised in or the church I was raised in was bad or didn't have holiness or didn't have goodness. No, not at all. In fact, was paragraph 870 say and says, the soul church of Christ, which in the creed we profess to be one holy Catholic and apostolic, subsists in the Catholic church. Yep, that's in so that's what we believe, which is governed by the successor of Peter, by the Bishop St. communion with him. That last sentence though is so, I think it's powerful.

It says, nevertheless, many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside its visible confines. So wherever you're coming from, the church is trying, the Catholic Church is trying to say, yeah, all those elements of holiness, those are real, all those elements of truth. Yeah, those are real as well. It's just the next invitation, which is, would you like to take the next step?

And would you like to take the next step, and like I said before, realize your full inheritance that God wants you to experience. He wants you to have. And also to the Catholics who are here and we're going through the categories in the first time, maybe you're going through the Bible, a second time or a first time right now,

a third time even. This is our inheritance. And I know so many people have written to me and said, for years I didn't realize. For years I was Catholic, I did not realize. The goodness that God has had for me. But now I'm slowly realizing this and that's such a gift because all of us, man, all of us need to grow.

All of us need to grow. So Lord, please help us to grow. At least we need to pray for each other. I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless. God bless.