The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 150: The Epiclesis (2026)

Episode Date: May 30, 2026

At the heart of the Liturgy of the Eucharist is the epiclesis, when the priest begs the Holy Spirit to come and transform the bread and wine into the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. The Catechism explains this mysterious reality, and Fr. Mike reiterates that the Mass is not a repetition of Christ’s once-and-for-all sacrifice, but a re-presentation and celebration of his eternal sacrifice on the Cross. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1104-1112. 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's 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 is Day 150. We are reading paragraphs 1104 to 1112.

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 the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The words are all in there. You can also download your own catechism and your reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash CIY. You can also click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. I know I have subscribed, so why don't you? Also, a little quick thank you to all those who have supported the production of this podcast with your prayers, with your financial gifts. Thank you so much. We could not do this without you. It is day 150. We were reading paragraphs, as I said, 1104 to 1112.

Yesterday we talked about how the Holy Spirit recalls the mystery of Christ, especially here in that proclamation, right? In the proclamation of the Word of God, the explanation of the Word of God that elicits faith to the Word of God, right? We give that consent, we give our amen and a commitment. I also talked about an an anemnesis yesterday, right, the remembrance.

Today we're talking about Epiclesis or Epictalysis. I've heard it both ways. But we recognize that the Holy Spirit not only recalls the mystery of Christ and tells that story and brings it to us, the Holy Spirit makes present the mystery of Christ. And this is absolutely of utmost importance. In fact, I love, love paragraph 1104 where it says the Christian liturgy not only recalls the events that saved us, but actualizes them, makes them present.

And that's the thing that that is of absolute importance for us to understand is that we're not redoing the sacrifice of Jesus. We are re-presenting to it. We're representing the sacrifice that once for all, but we are there. Why? Because the Holy Spirit makes present the mystery of Christ. So that's what we're talking about today, among some other things. So let's say a prayer as we launch into today. Father in heaven, we praise your name and we give you glory. We thank you so much for the gift of your son. We thank you for the gift of your love for us. We thank you for the love between you and the Son. That is the Holy Spirit

that has been poured out into our hearts. In this moment, Lord God, we ask you to come and make your saving work present in our lives now in the liturgy outside the liturgy in our lives lord god by the power of your holy spirit make present the reality of the son's life death and resurrection in everything that we do let every part of our lives be conformed to you let every part of our lives be touched and transformed by you we make this prayer in the mighty name of jesus christ our lord amen the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen It is day 150. We are reading paragraphs 11 of 4 to 1112.

The Holy Spirit makes present the mystery of Christ. Christian liturgy not only recalls the events that saved us, but actualizes them, makes them present. The paschal mystery of Christ is celebrated, not repeated. It is the celebrations that are repeated, and in each celebration, there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that makes the unique mystery present. The Epiclesis, invocation upon,

is the intercession in which the priest begs the Father to send the Holy Spirit, the sanctifier, so that the offerings may become the body and blood of Christ, and that the faithful, by receiving them, may themselves become a living offering to God. Together with the anamnesus, the Epiclesis, is at the heart of each sacramental celebration, most especially of the Eucharist. As St. John Damascene wrote, You ask how the bread becomes the body of Christ, and the wine the blood of Christ. I shall tell you, the Holy Spirit comes upon them and accomplishes

what surpasses every word and thought. Let it be enough for you to understand that it is by the Holy Spirit, just as it was of the Holy Virgin and by the Holy Spirit, that the Lord, through and in himself, took flesh. The Holy Spirit's transforming power in the liturgy hastens the coming of the kingdom and the consummation of the mystery of salvation. While we wait in hope, he causes us really to anticipate the fullness of communion with the Holy Trinity. Sent by the Father, who hears the Epicles of the Church,

the Spirit gives life to those who accept him and is even now the guarantee of their inheritance. The Communion of the Holy Spirit In every liturgical action, the Holy Spirit is sent in order to bring us into communion with Christ and so to form his body. The Holy Spirit is like the sap of the Father's vine which bears fruit on its branches. The most intimate cooperation of the Holy Spirit and the Church is achieved in the liturgy. The Spirit, who is the Spirit of Communion, abides indefectibly in the Church. the church. For this reason, the church is the great sacrament of divine communion which gathers God's scattered children together. Communion with the Holy Trinity and fraternal communion are inseparably the fruit

of the spirit in the liturgy. The Epiclesis is also a prayer for the full effect of the assembly's communion with the mystery of Christ. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit have to remain with us always and bear fruit beyond the Eucharistic celebration. The church therefore asks the Father to send the Holy Spirit to make the lives of the faithful a living sacrifice to God by their spiritual transformation into the image of Christ, by concern for the Church's unity, and by taking part in her mission through the witness and service of charity. In brief, in the liturgy of the Church, God the Father is blessed and adored as the source of all the blessings of creation and salvation, with which He has blessed us in his son, in order to give us

the spirit of filial adoption. Christ's work in the liturgy is sacramental, because his mystery of salvation is made present there by the power of his Holy Spirit, because his body, which is the church, is like a sacrament, sign and instrument in which the Holy Spirit dispenses the mystery of salvation, and because, through her liturgical actions, the Pilgrim Church already participates as by a foretaste in the heavenly liturgy. The mission of the Holy Spirit in the liturgy of the church is to prepare the assembly to encounter Christ, to recall and manifest Christ to the faith of the assembly, to make the saving work of Christ

present and active by his transforming power, and to make the gift of communion bear fruit in the church. All right, so there we are, paragraphs 1104 to 1112. Let's go back. This is, man, incredible. Christian liturgy, not only, recall the events that saved us. Remember, the paschal mystery, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, the ascension to the Father. it actualizes them. It makes them present. So when you and I approach the altar, when you and I approach the Mass, what is happening is not, and this is, this is so important. What has been lost when people

have walked away from the Mass is, yeah, you have times of prayer. Yes, you have times of like song. You have times of scripture being proclaimed. All of those things are good. They're very good. They're wonderful. I mean, throughout the scriptures, there's times when when God is praised through song. I mean, the whole book of the Psalms, our collection of songs that would be sung liturgically. incredible, great. But if we walk away from the Mass, right, if we walk away from the Eucharistic liturgy, we're walking away from this thing that happens, this gift that we've been given, that makes the very events that saved us present to us. When you and I go into Mass, I mean, regardless of whether it's maybe quiet or you might say boring or ordinary, or with organ and scola and incense

and all the, you know, the, we'll call them smells and bells, right, all that beauty and everything in between, right? What's happening at every mass is the saving events. The events of salvation are made present to us. We're present to them, as I said the other day, that heaven and earth touch, that time and eternity kiss. Like at every mass, we are presented to heaven. We're presented to the Lord himself or participating in those mysteries. And that's, again, that's the tragedy of when someone walks away from the mass. At the mass, the pascal mystery of Christ is celebrated, not repeated. Remember, so once for all sacrifices. Jesus, he died once for all. He rose from the dead once, right? So this is celebrated. It's not repeated. The celebrations are repeated. And in each celebration, there's an outpouring

of the Holy Spirit that makes the unique mystery present. I mean, anytime, again, let's highlight this, every time you and I go to Mass, it can, again, it can be just you and the priest. Or it could be World Youth Day, right? Where's a million people gather, more than a million people gathered to worship the outpouring of the Holy Spirit makes the unique mystery of the saving events of Jesus Christ present to us. And now highlighting the Apoclesis, right?

The Epiclesis is that moment in the Mass where the priest extends his hands over the gifts and prays for outpouring of the Holy Spirit to make these gifts a holy offering. So that's the Epiclesis or Epictalus. I've heard it both ways. Is the intercession by which the priest begs the Father to send the Holy Spirit,

the sanctifier so that the offerings may become the body and blood of Christ. So if you are familiar with the mass where they ring bells, and most masses, I think, have bells. The three times that bells would be wrong, maybe there's a fourth time. But the first time is when the priest extends his hands over the gifts, and that is the Epiclesis.

So that's what we're begging the Father to send the Holy Spirit upon the gifts. And this is key. I mean, go all the way back to St. John Damascene, who says this. He says, you know, you ask all the bread becomes the body of Christ and the wine, the blood of Christ? Well, tell you, the Holy Spirit comes upon them and accomplishes what surpasses every word and thought.

He even makes the connection, he says, it is very, very similar, maybe even the same action in some ways as when the Holy Spirit overshadowed the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Son of God became incarnate in her womb. So that's really, in so many ways, this is a similar action. And at least by analogy, if not in reality, is the Holy Spirit came upon the Blessed Virgin Mary. And God himself, the Word made flesh in her womb. Well, the Holy Spirit comes upon the bread and wine. And what happens is they are transformed into the body and blood, soul and divinity. of Jesus Christ, and that's so incredible. Now, last thing, our participation in this, our participation in the Eucharist is meant to change

us. This is this last paragraph. This is so important. It says, the church, therefore, ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit to make the lives of the faithful a living sacrifice to God by our spiritual transformation into the image of Christ. Right. So when we go to the Mass, we're not only offering up the great sacrifice of the Son to the Father

and the power of the Holy Spirit. We're also asking the Father to send the Holy Spirit to make our our human. lives a living sacrifice to God. And that's, and that's so important. Why? Because remember, those of us, if you're baptized, part of that baptismal priesthood, right, the kingdom priesthood. And remember, our great high priest is not only the high priest who offers the sacrifice, he is the sacrifice himself. Because of that, there's an element where, okay, wait, if I've been given a share in the priesthood of Jesus, that means in some mysterious way, I'm also invited to share in the self-offering of Jesus, right?

So Jesus is both the priest and the victim. Well, if you and I are sharing in his priesthood, that means we must also share in his victimhood. If Jesus is both priest and sacrifice, then we not only share in his priesthood, we share in the fact that we meant to offer our lives as a living sacrifice to God. And so not just at mass, but every moment of our lives.

And this is the moment right now. And this is the great thing. You're listening right now to be able to say, okay, God, it's true. You've incorporated me into the body of Christ. You've shared your priesthood with me, me personally, as a ministerial priest, all of us listening, baptized as baptismal priests, as kingdom priests. God, let this moment be a spiritual offering to you. Let this moment be a living, let my life in this moment be a living sacrifice.

If you're listening in your car, listening as you're brushing your teeth, listening as you go out for a run, Lord God, accept this moment as a sacrifice to you. It doesn't have to be a painful sacrifice. Maybe you like running. Maybe you like your commute. This moment, though, that's what's being offered, because your heart is what's being offered. Your whole body is what's being offered. Your self is what's being offered. And so because you and I, we have been incorporated into Christ as priest as victim, we get to say in this moment, Lord God, send your Holy Spirit to help me also be a living sacrifice to the praise of your glory. Does that make sense?

We can pray that right now, and I'm just so excited about this. Tomorrow we're taking the next step, Article 2, Pascal Mystery and the Church of Sacraments. but today I want you to know I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.