The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 173: Brothers and Sisters in Baptism

Episode Date: June 22, 2023

The Catechism shows us how Baptism unites the Church as a “People of God of the New Covenant” and goes so far as to say that “Baptism constitutes the foundation of communion among all Christians.” We all belong to Jesus, together. Fr. Mike highlights the fact that with the gift of unity in Baptism comes real responsibility. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1267-1274. 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.

How 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 in God's family. As we journey together toward our Heavenly Home, this is day 173, reading paragraphs 12, 67, and 12, 74, 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

any year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y. And you can also click follow or subscribe on your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications because today is day 173 we're in paragraph 1267 to 1274. As I said, we're in baptism. This is the last kind of article on baptism before we have a nugget day tomorrow yesterday. We talk about the grace of baptism. Like what does it actually do? It forgives our sins and makes us new. It brings us into relationship with the Lord. You get adopted as God's sons and daughters. It makes us into a new creature today. We recognize that we're incorporated into the body of Christ. We're made members of

the church. We're given a share in the priesthood of all believers. And also, because we're given a share in the priesthood of all believers, because we've been incorporated into the church. There is a sacramental bond of unity among all Christians and even those who are not Catholic Christians. So if anyone is baptized, there is this common bond. We have a common sonship, right? A common daughterhood, a common brotherhood and sisterhood in our baptism. Lastly, there is an indelible spiritual mark that is left on us, that is indelible and unarrasable. And we're going to talk about that today. As we launch into today, we just call upon our Father and we pray. Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory.

We thank you so much for the gift of your son, Jesus Christ, the gift of your Holy Spirit. You poured out on the face of this earth and you poured into our hearts. We ask you to please unite us even more perfectly to your church, united is even more perfectly to each other. Help us to see that we belong to each other, not only by virtue of our belonging to the human race, but even more particularly and even more powerfully that we belong to each other because of our fellowship, our friendship and even our brotherhood in the fact that you have made us into your sons and daughters. Help us to know that you are our father. Help us to live as if we are truly brothers and sisters. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ our Lord and the name of the Father,

and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. We are reading paragraphs 12-67-1274 on day 173. Incorporated into the Church, the Body of Christ. Baptism makes us members of the body of Christ. Therefore, we are members of one another. Baptism incorporates us into the Church. From the baptism of font is born the one people of God of the new covenant, which transcends all the natural or human limits of nations, cultures, races, and sexes. For by one spirit we were all baptized into one body. The baptized have become living stones to be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood.

By baptism they share in the priesthood of Christ in his prophetic and royal mission. They are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that they may declare the wonderful deeds of Him who called them out of darkness into his marvelous light. Baptism gives a share in the common priesthood of all believers. Having become a member of the church, the person baptized belongs no longer to himself, but to him who died and rose for us. From now on, he is called to be subject to others, to serve them in the communion of the church, and to obey and submit to the church's leaders, holding them in respect and affection. Just as baptism is the source of responsibilities and duties, the baptized person also enjoys

rights within the church, to receive the sacraments, to be nourished with the word of God, and to be sustained by the other spiritual helps of the church. Reborn as sons of God, the baptized must profess before men the faith they have received from God through the church, and participate in the apostolic and missionary activity of the people of God, the sacram Activity of the People of God, the Sacramento Bond of the Unity of Christians. Baptism constitutes the foundation of communion among all Christians, including those who are not yet in full communion with the Catholic Church. For men who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in some, though imperfect, communion with the

Catholic Church. Justified by faith in baptism, they are incorporated into Christ. They therefore have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers by the children of the Catholic Church. Baptism therefore constitutes the sacramental bond of unity existing among all who through it are reborn. An indelible spiritual mark. Incorporated into Christ by baptism, the person baptized is configured to Christ. Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark, character, of his belonging to Christ. No sin can erase this mark even if sin prevents baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation. Given once for all, baptism cannot be repeated. Incorporated into the church by baptism, the faithful have received the sacramental character

that conscrates them for Christian religious worship. The baptismal seal enables and commits Christians to serve God by a vital participation in the Holy Liturgy of the church and to exercise their baptismal priesthood by the witness of holy lives and practical charity. The Holy Spirit has marked us with the seal of the Lord, Dominicus' character, for the day of redemption. Baptism indeed is the seal of eternal life. The faithful Christian who has kept the seal until the end, remaining faithful to the

demands of his baptism, will be able to depart this life with the sign of faith, with his baptismal faith, in expectation of the blessed vision of God, the consummation of faith, and in the hope of resurrection. All right, there we are, paragraph 12, 67 to 12, 74. We are brought into the church by baptism. Again, we talked about some other incredible effects, right? Consequences, things that baptism does, it makes us new, it forgives us of our sins, it makes us into God's own sons and daughters. And today, it also we recognize this is not just an individual thing. In fact, following our Lord Jesus Christ is not an individual sport, it is a team sport, it is a team kind of a situation.

And so baptism makes us members of the body of Christ. It brings us into the church. And that's really important for us to understand. Because we recognize that go back to the Old Testament, whenever people were brought into a covenant relationship with God, that's what baptism does, right? Baptism brings us into our new relationship of the new covenant.

But when people in the Old Covenant, and the Hebrew Covenant, Jewish Covenant, were brought into that relationship with God, it was never a one-on-one thing. Yes, of course, it's personal, definitely. But there were, you say, here's a man whose circumcise on the eighth day, and he's brought into this unique relationship. He's part now of the people of God, and that's the key. He now has a particular relationship with God himself because he was brought into the

people of God. He's brought into the chosen people of God. And this is something incredibly similar. I mean, it's the fullness of all this stuff in the Old Testament, right? It's fulfilled in the new. Everything in the Old Covenant is now fulfilled in the new. And so in so many ways, we recognize that, yes, you as an individual, if you're baptized, you have now this individual personal relationship with God, the Father, Son, you as an individual, if you're baptized, you have now this individual

personal relationship with God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That is unique and infinite. It is also infinitely unique at the same time. That relationship is there because now you're a part of the body of Christ, the church. And this is so important for us to understand, it is personal, but not private. And this is so important for us to understand it is personal but not private. And this is so key just like sin, right? Sin is personal but it's not private because we're belong to each other. None of our sins are private. Our sins are in some ways even the hidden ones, even the secret ones. They are in a certain sense communal because we belong to each other.

As it says, for by one spirit, we're all baptized into one body. And that's incredible, but also it gives us a lot of, there's some responsibilities there. There's some duties. There is the fact that what we're called to do is, from now on, we're subject to others. From now on, we're called to serve others in the communion of the church,

and to obey and submit to the church's leaders. This is what it is to be part of the Christian faith. I mean, again, this isn't just a Catholic thing, although Catholics have maintained this and held on to this, but from the very, very beginning, we recognize that if you're going to be a believer, if you're going to hold to the teaching that the belief that Jesus Christ has truly died is truly risen and truly sits at the right hand of the Father. If you're going to believe in the faith of the apostles, it means that you would adhere to the apostles, right? It meant that from now on, your own life was not your own life.

That we are all called to be subject to each other, to serve others in communion of the church, and to obey and submit to the church's leaders. This is a massive expectation of every single believer from the very, very beginning. Now, at the same time, paragraph 1269 goes on to say that just as baptism is the source of responsibilities, the baptized person also enjoys rights within the church. Remember, if it's going to be a real relationship, there's going to be real responsibilities and real rights. And those real rights are, well, to receive the sacraments that every baptized Catholic has a right to receive the sacraments.

For example, we're gonna hear this later on. I think the sacrament of confession, I just came across something the other day that said, very clearly, that priests are obliged to hear anyone's confession. I thought that was just me. I thought that was just like, yeah, that's my open heart to hearing people's confessions. And like, oh, no, that's the expectation of the church that it has to be reasonable, of course. I mean, can't just be like, can't be unreasonable.

There we go. Why I think of an example, and I just use the word unreasonable. But the expectation of the church is, no, no, no. Priest, you are obliged to hear someone's confession anytime they ask within reason. Why? Because one of the rights of being a Catholic is to receive the sacraments, also to be nourished by the word of God, that you have a right as a Catholic Christian,

to be nourished by God's word and to be sustained with the other spiritual helps of the church. So all of those things are massively, massively important. We also have real duties. Paragraph 1270, this is so important for us to understand. As we're reborn as sons of God, sons and daughters of God, we must profess before men the faith we have received from God through the church. That's something interesting. And I can ask myself the question, and we can all ask ourselves the question, when was the last time that I professed before others, the faith I've received from God and the church? Even if it has it come up at all,

have there been any times in conversation where I normally would say something about the fact that I believe in Jesus Christ that I belong to the Catholic church, but I didn't say I held something back? Well, again, if I'm part of the church, if I've been made new by baptism, if I've been given the grace of the Holy Spirit that now I'm an adopted son or daughter of God, it says this reborn as sons of God, the baptized must profess before men, the faith they've

received from God through the church and goes on to say and participate in the apostolic and missionary activity of the people of God. I think some of the things that can happen, you know, is we can look around our culture, look around our world and say, what's happened when it comes to a loss of faith, a loss of morals, what happens when it comes to, what's happened in our culture when it comes to a loss of belief in God,

or even just that sense of love for Jesus. I love for the church. And part of the question we get to ask is not just what have the leaders done wrong, although that's always important. We always have to ask the question on every level. But of course, the only level that I can influence directly is my own level. And I have to look at my life and ask the question, okay, have I professed before others the faith I've received? If I participated in the Apostolic and missionary activity of the people of God, what have I done?

And if what I've done is abdicate, right? If what I've done is said, well, that's the professionals job. Then I guess for lack of a better phrase, I'm part of the problem. And I know that sometimes it's too much of a blanket statement, but I don't know. Sometimes the statements accurate. If I haven't done anything, then I'm a part of the problem. Now at the same time, this isn't just about condemning oneself, but it is about recognizing

I've been given a dignity. And so has, as the church says in 1271, every person has been baptized. Even if they're not baptized Catholic, if they are baptized with water in the trainatory and formula, I baptize you in the name of the Father and Son of Holy Spirit. And with the intention of doing the church does,

there are brothers and sisters. Even if it's an imperfect relationship, they are fully Christian. They have the right to be called Christians that says in paragraph 1271. So that's a question that comes up a lot is people ask, okay, so what if someone's baptized, but they're not baptized Catholic? We accept that baptism. The answer is yes, you're not rebaptized after that. There is a real baptism and that's really effective. It's really changed them into God's sons and daughters. And so we are truly brothers and sisters, even if we have an imperfect relationship with each other. Lastly, the indelible spiritual

mark. Once you're baptized, you're baptized forever and you belong to Christ. No sin can erase this mark. Even if this is crazy, even if sin does prevent a person from experiencing the fruits of salvation, meaning there is no sin that can undo our baptism. There's no sin that can make it so God the God who adopted us would abandon us. No sin could ever do that. But I abandoned us. No one could ever do that. But I can choose to not live in the Father's house. Right? There is the older son and the younger son. And the younger son has first inheritance, and he leaves. In the parable of the prodigal son, he comes back, praise God, amazing. But he didn't have to come back. He could have died feeding the pigs. You know the parable, I'm talking about, right? And if you would have died feeding the pigs. You know the parable I'm talking about, right?

And if you would have died feeding the pigs, he would have died as a son of the father. He went to ceased being a son to the father, but he would have died outside the father's house. The same is true for you and for me, that we will always be sons and daughters of our father. Always, always, always, no sin can erase that, no amount of saying, I don't want that anymore. Can erase that. It's an indelible spiritual mark at the same time. I have to choose to live in the Father's house or I'm choosing to live outside the Father's house. I have to choose to live in the Father's will or I'm choosing to live outside the Father's

will. There's this indelible spiritual mark that's been placed upon you and upon me if you've been baptized. And it is a gift, but it's also a gift that we have to use, right? It's a gift that God says, you belong in my family, you belong in my home, you belong in my house, it's your house too. We have to choose to live there. And so that's not always easy, professing our faith before others and participating in the Apostolic Missionary Activity of the Church is not always easy. And so what do we need?

We need grace. And we need prayers. That is why every single day I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My new Father Mike, I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless. you