The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 128: Unique Calls to Holiness (2026)

Episode Date: May 8, 2026

The Lord calls everyone to live a life of surrender, and we have been looking at the various ways God calls people to grow in holiness. Religious life includes the public profession of vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience; members of secular institutes dedicate themselves to living in the world and helping to sanctify it. We also learn that those in societies of apostolic life devote themselves to a particular apostolic purpose without religious vows. These calls to holiness are gifts to the Church and the world. Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 925-933. 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 and God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. It's a day 128. We're reading paragraphs 925 to 933. 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 Accentrum Press.com slash C-I-Y. If you did, if yours looks like mine, this is the last day of this page, which is awesome. It's great. Also, you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. Today is day 128. So yesterday we talked about the arametic life, right? Hermits, we talked about consecrated virgins and widows.

Today, we're talking about two more aspects. Actually, a couple different aspects. Religious life, secular institutes, and societies of apostates. and societies of apostolic life. So I guess that's three things. What are those things? That's a great question, Camper. Religious life is, as I understand this,

religious life are those communities. I mentioned them yesterday, like the Benedictans or like the Franciscans or like those people who are Carmelites. Like those religious communities, sometimes they're of men, sometimes they're of women, but they live the evangelical councils.

They have a fraternal life, kind of the brotherhood or sisterhood, led in common, and they give witness to the union of Christ and the church, kind of like yesterday, we talked about how consecrated virgins or anybody consecrated to the Lord gives witness to the union of Jesus and the church. We have secular institutes which are different. So those can include priests at times that they include consecrated people, but they are typically

lived in the world. So secular institutes are, I mean, gosh, there's, I think, man, 30 different secular institutes, 50 different secular institutes in the United States alone. And they're basically communities that are. dedicated to the evangelical councils, remember, poverty, chastity, obedience, but they also live those councils. They live their mission in the world. And so rather than living in a convent, rather than living in a monastery, even sometimes not even living in community, sometimes these people in secular institutes simply live intentionally, even if they don't live necessarily

in community. And then lastly, we have societies of apostolic life made up of people who don't necessarily take. Well, actually, they don't take, they don't make public religious vows, right? They don't, they don't make that profession of those evangelical councils in a public way. But they're dedicated, typically, to the service of the people around them. They're dedicated to the service of the church in a very specific way. Typically, these societies of apostolic life, they arise because the founder or the foundress had seen some kind of need in the world, or they saw some kind of need in the church, and then they created this society in order to address this need. So it could be a need for teaching.

And so they created this society of people who were dedicated to that mission. It could be a need for reaching out to the poor and serving the poorest of the poor. That could be a society of apostolic life. So it's typically, again, without vows, without public religious vows, although they are dedicated to the evangelical councils, but they don't make those again, you know, consecrated life. And lastly, we're going to conclude with why all this in the first place. consecration and mission. Basically, the whole mission of consecration, the whole reason for consecration is to proclaim the king, Jesus Christ, who is coming into the world. And so that's what we're praying for today. That's what we're learning about today. And that's what we're going to

pray for right now. Lord, let's call upon the Lord right now. Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. We thank you so much for this day. We thank you for the gift of your life. We thank you for the gift that you've placed a call on every one of our lives. That first call that you've placed on our lives is to belong to you, is to be yours, is to be holy, is to let you make us into the saint that you've created and redeemed us to be. Lord God, today, we do give you permission to make us into the saint that you've called us to be by, first of all, by receiving your love, we give you permission to love us today. We also give you permission, and we ask that you please lead us today. Help us to take the next step, whatever the next step

is that you want in our lives. And we ask, Lord, that you please bless all of those people committed to the apostolic life. All the societies of apostolic life, we ask you to please bless all those secular institutions, those people living in the world and serving in the world. We ask you to please bless all those in religious life. Please help them be faithful to their vows and help them to be united with you,

the object of their affection and the lover of their lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Once again, it is Day 128. we're reading paragraphs 925 to 933. Religious life.

Religious life was born in the East during the first centuries of Christianity. Lived within institutes canonically erected by the church, it is distinguished from other forms of consecrated life by its liturgical character, public profession of the evangelical councils, fraternal life led in common, and witness given to the union of Christ with the church. Religious life derives from the mystery of the church.

It is a gift she has received from her lord, a gift she offers as a stable way of life to the faithful called by God to profess the councils. Thus, the church can both show forth Christ and acknowledge herself to be the Savior's bride. Religious life in its various forms is called to signify the very charity of God in the language of our time. All religious, whether exempt or not, take their place among the collaborators of the diocesan bishop in his pastoral duty. From the outset of the work of evangelization, the missionary planting and expansion of the church require the presence of the religious life in all its forms. History witnesses to the outstanding service rendered by religious families

in the propagation of the faith and in the formation of new churches, from the ancient monastic institutions to the medieval orders, all the way to the more recent congregations. Secular Institutes A secular institute is an institute of consecrated life in which the Christian faithful, living in the world, strive for the perfection of charity and work for the sanctification of the world especially from within. By a life perfectly and entirely consecrated to such sanctification,

the members of these institutes share in the church's task of evangelization, in the world, and from within the world, where their presence acts as leaven in the world. Their witness of a Christian life aims to order temporal things according to God, and inform the world with the power of the gospel. They commit themselves to the evangelical councils by sacred bonds and observe among themselves the communion and fellowship appropriate to their particular secular way of life. Societies of Apostolic Life Alongside the different forms of consecrated life are

Societies of Apostolic Life, whose members without religious vows pursue the particular apostolic purpose of their society and lead a life as brothers or sisters in common, according to a particular manner of life, strive for the perfection of charity through the observance of the constitutions. Among these, there are societies

in which the members embrace the evangelical councils according to their constitutions. Consecration and mission, proclaiming the king who is coming. Already dedicated to him through baptism, the person who surrenders himself to the God he loves above all else, thereby consecrates himself more intimately to God's service and to the good of the church. By this state of life consecrated to God, the church manifests Christ and shows us how the Holy Spirit acts so wonderfully in her.

And so, the first mission of those who profess the evangelical councils is to live out their consecration. Moreover, since members of the institutes of consecrated life dedicate themselves through their consecration to the service of the church, they are obliged in a special manner to engage in missionary work in accord with the character of the institute. In the church, which is like the sacrament, the sign and instrument of God's own life, the consecrated life is seen as a special sign of the mystery of redemption. To follow and imitate Christ more nearly and to manifest more clearly his self-emptying is to be more deeply present to one's contemporaries in the heart of Christ. For those who are on this narrower path encouraged their brethren by their example,

and bear striking witness that the world cannot be transfigured and offered to God without the spirit of the beatitudes. Whether their witness is public, as in the religious state, or less public, or even secret, Christ's coming remains for all those consecrated, both the origin and rising sun of their life. As Lumen Gensium states, For the people of God has here no lasting city. And this state reveals more clearly to all believers the heavenly goods which are already present in this age,

witnessing to the new and eternal life which we have acquired through the redemptive work of Christ and preluding our future resurrection and the glory of the heavenly kingdom. Okay, so there we have it. The conclusion of the conclusion of these different calls we have, experience in the church these days, religious life, secular institutes, and societies of apostolic life. So hopefully we're getting a, this might seem a little confusing. But basically, these are different paths, different ways in which a person responds to the call of Jesus and is saying, I believe that

the Lord is calling me either to live in a life separated, right, in religious life. Typically, it's a life lived separately. It says paragraph 925, very clearly. It says they live within institutes It's canonically erected by the church. So there's a canonical character to them or legal character to them. It's distinguished from other forms of consecrated life by its liturgical character. And the thing I think of when it comes to that is I always think about the Benedictans, kind of some history with the Benedictans. And there's this depth of the liturgy, right?

The depth of this, the work of prayer, especially since the Benedictans, their kind of motto is aura at laborer, which is prayer and work. But the work of prayer, like the liturgy becomes a, the pivot, right? the touchstone of their entire lives and their entire day. So it's distinguished by its liturgical character, the public profession of the evangelical councils. Remember, some of these other things, some people involved in secular institutes or those who are involved in societies of apostolic life, they might not make a public profession of

the evangelical councils. Religious life has a fraternal life led in common, brothers or sisters, and gives witness to the union of Christ and the church. And so that's just a really important thing. Now, paragraph 927 highlights this, that all religious, they take their place among the collaborators of the diocesan bishop and his pastoral duty. So there's a connection of here, even if there's a religious community in an area, they're connected to their bishop in a particular way. Now, the last lines in paragraph 927 highlights that history, the 2000 year history of the church witnesses to the outstanding service rendered by religious families in the propagation of the faith and the formation of new churches. It's incredible.

Like the ancient monastic traditions, the way in which, as I mentioned the other day, I think that the Benedictans preserved Western culture, Western civilization, the ways in which these communities have engaged the world and sanctified the church is absolutely incredible as a response typically. Typically, these communities, whether religious life or secular institutes or apostolic societies, they typically are formed in response to a need that the founder or founders, as I mentioned before, saw a need and said, okay, we need to go here. We need to do this thing, whether that's education, service of the poor, medicine, all those things, as I mentioned, missionary work.

Now, secular institutes, the definition here in paragraph 928, it's an institute, right, of consecrated life in which the Christian faithful living in the world strive for the perfection of charity and work for the sanctification of the world, especially from within. So they are in the world. So as opposed to some religious communities that live in a convent or a monastery where they remove themselves from the world, again, for the sake of the world, where they do penance and they pray, those in secular institutes are those places where the Christian faithful strive perfection of charity and work for the sanctification of the world from within the world. So some of those communities leave the world for the world, the secular institutes enter into the world for the sake of the world.

And then lastly, as I mentioned before, societies of apostolic life, the definition. here, I think it's just worth just walking through it. They are those members. The members don't have religious vows, but they pursue the particular apostolic purpose of their society. The big thing I want to end today with is the last three paragraphs, in particular, the third to last paragraph, paragraph 931, which I think is just, it's remarkable, and it almost is like poetry. So here's this recognition that we're consecrated by the Lord, that you are consecrated by the Lord. And because you've been consecrated by the Lord, even if you're not a religious sister or brother, even if you're not in a society of apostolic life, you have been consecrated. So here's what it says, already

dedicated to him through baptism. The person who surrenders himself to the God he loves above all else, thereby consecrates himself more intimately to God's service and to the good of the church. By this state of life consecrated to God, the church manifests Christ and shows us how the Holy Spirit it acts so wonderfully in her. That can be applied to anybody. It can be applied to absolutely anybody. Of course, in the context here, in the catechism, is for those who are pursuing, you know, apostolic societies or secular institutes,

religious life, those consecrated virgins and widows we talked about yesterday, the hermits we talked about yesterday as well. But there's something so important about every one of us are called to surrender ourselves to the God we love above all else. It goes on to say, and so the first mission of those who profess the evangelical councils is to live out their consecration. Now, again, I keep applying this to us, to all of us. This in the context, of course, the catechism, is highlighting those in societies of apostolic

life, secular institutes, those in religious life, consecrated virgins and widows, those hermits, and says to them, the first mission of those who profess the evangelical councils is to live out their consecration. That's the first mission. It's not to go do something. it's simply to live out this vow of chastity, poverty, and obedience. So that's the first mission. It's kind of like we talked about a couple days ago about how the first way we experience

participation in Christ's kingly office is by ruling ourselves well. In this case, the first mission of those who profess the evangelical councils of poverty, chastity, obedience is simply to live out that consecration. Even if they do nothing in the world, the first mission is to do what they said they were going to do, to let their lives and hearts, their actions, their mind, their love be conformed to Jesus. Now, it says, moreover, going on, since members of the institutes of consecrated life dedicate themselves through their consecration to the service of the church, they are obliged in a special manner to engage in missionary work. And so it's that sense of like lead yourself first or let yourself be led

first. Let the Lord make you holy and then and then engage in that work of missionary. Now, not to say, wait until you're perfect and then you can start working. But it is to say the order, the hierarchy here is first of all, okay, Lord, I need to submit to you. I need to let you love me. I need to let you make me holy. And now as you're doing that, again, not when I'm done, when I'm holy now, when I'm all sanctified, when I'm all perfected. But in the midst of that, then we take those next steps and do the missionary work. And that is the call for everyone. who is a hermit. That's the call of everyone who is a consecrated virgin or widow. That's the call of everyone in religious life, secular institutes, and societies of epistolic life. And I would say this.

That is all of our calls as well. Does that make sense? I hope it makes sense to you. It makes sense to me. And if not, oh man, we'll show up tomorrow and we'll keep moving forward. In fact, tomorrow, guess what day it is? Well, I'll tell you, it's Nugget Day. Nugget Day tomorrow, day 129. But today is 128, and you concluded it. He completed it. And so let's pray for each other. Man, it's so important that we keep praying for each other as we keep walking through the catechism. I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.