The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 20: Stepping in Faith (2026)

Episode Date: January 20, 2026

As we dive into a new chapter today, we learn about how we are called to respond to God’s Revelation. In particular, we discover that Mary and Abraham are models of faith who show us how to be obedient by submitting our intellect and will to God. Fr. Mike assures us that even though God doesn’t usually give us the whole picture of our lives, he gives us just enough light to take the next step in faith. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 142-149. 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. 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.

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 will read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity in God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. It is day 20. We're reading paragraphs 142 to 149. You might have noticed this. We are in a new chapter. The chapter is The Response. And so last few days, we've been going through the Revelation. God revealed himself to us. He doesn't just want to reveal himself to us so we can be aware of him. He wants to reveal himself to us so we can respond to him. We can have a relationship with him. So that's what we're talking about for the next few days in this response. Just so you know, I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes foundations of faith approach, but you can follow along in any recent version of the Catholic Church. Also, you can download your own catechism in your reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash CIY. You can also click follow or subscribe your podcast app for daily notifications.

and also just a quick thank you. To everyone who's ever supported the production of this podcast, with your prayers, with your financial gifts, literally could not do it without you. So grateful. So again, it is day 20, reading paragraphs 142 to 149

in this new chapter on the response. Now, this is something that's just, I can't tell you how often I come back to these few, 142 to 149, that sounds like seven, give or take, seven paragraphs,

142 to 149, I can't tell you how many times I come back to this when I'm teaching our students. I can't tell you how many times I come back to this when it comes to like, so what is faith in its heart? Like, is faith just more than intellectual assent? Is faith something more than just a feeling like I trust? Is faith something more? And here in this section, we're going to hear what faith is. And I'm so, so excited to be able to share that with you. We're also going to be looking at some characters from the scriptures, characters from our family that God is assembled. The first person is going to be Abraham, Abraham, the father of our faith. We're also going to look at Mary. So just as Abraham is the father of all who believe, Mary most perfectly embodies the obedience

of faith. And so we're going to look at that as well. So as we launch into today, let's take a second and just ask the Lord to guide us, ask the Lord to help us and to bless this time together. Father in heaven, we know. We know that you have revealed yourself to us. And we know that you're calling us into a relationship with you. We know that you're calling us to respond to your revelation.

As you have revealed your heart, you're calling us to respond by trusting you. They're calling us to respond by doing your will. You're calling us to respond by placing our faith in you and everything you've done and everything you've promised. And we do that by conforming our will to yours. We can only do that by the power of your Holy Spirit. none of us can do that on our own, on our own strength, on our own goodness, on our own merits. We don't have any to offer. But only by your spirit, only by the power of your grace and your goodness.

So please, Lord God, send us your grace. Send us your Holy Spirit so that we can, we can respond as you're calling us to. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. As I said, it is day 20, reading paragraphs 142 to 149. Chapter 3, Man's Response to God

By his revelation, the invisible God, from the fullness of his love, addresses men as his friends, and moves among them in order to invite and receive them into his own company. The adequate response to this invitation is faith. By faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God. With his whole being, man gives his assent to God the revealer. Sacred Scripture calls this human response to God, the author of Revelation, The obedience of faith. Article 1, I believe. The obedience of faith.

To obey, from the Latin Ob adere, to hear or listen to, in faith, is to submit freely to the word that has been heard, because its truth is guaranteed by God, who is truth itself. Abraham is the model of such obedience offered us by Sacred Scripture. the Virgin Mary is its most perfect embodiment. Abraham, Father of all who believe. The letter to the Hebrews, in its great eulogy of the faith of Israel's ancestors, lays special emphasis on Abraham's faith. Hebrews states,

By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance, and he went out, not knowing where he was to go. By faith, he lived as a stranger and pilgrim in the promised land. By faith, Sarah was given to conceive the son of the promise. And by faith, Abraham offered his only son in sacrifice. Abraham thus fulfills the definition of faith in Hebrews 11, verse 1. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.

Because he was strong in his faith, Abraham became the father of all who believe. The Old Testament is rich in witnesses to this faith. The letter to the Hebrews proclaims its eulogy of the exemplary faith of the ancestors who received divine approval. Yet, God had foreseen something better for us, the grace of believing in his son Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of our faith. Mary, Blessed is she who believed.

The Virgin Mary most perfectly embodies the obedience of faith. By faith, Mary welcomes the tidings and promise brought by the angel Gabriel, believing that, with God, nothing will be impossible, and so giving her assent, saying, Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your word. Elizabeth greeted her, saying, Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord. It is for this faith that all generations have called Mary Blessed. Throughout her life and until her last ordeal, when Jesus, her son died on the cross,

Mary's faith never wavered. She never ceased to believe in the fulfillment of God's word. And so the church venerates in Mary the purest realization of faith. Okay, so those are paragraphs 142 to 149. I just, I cannot even begin. Paragraph 142 sums up what we've been reading for the last, I don't know, two weeks almost in the one paragraph that says, by his revelation, the invisible God from the fullness of his love, right? This sounds so familiar,

addresses men as his friends. Oh, gosh, so good. And moves among them. Remember, Jesus fulfills this in his words and deeds in order to invite and receive them into his own company. And then it highlights the adequate response to this invitation is faith. And that is, oh my gosh, so important. We can hear about God. You know, even want to say it like this is there's a difference between believing in God, and believing God. There's a massive difference between believing in God and believing God. Believing in God, yeah, I can believe that God exists. I can believe that maybe he's revealed himself.

I can believe all the articles of faith. But believing God does something else. It implies at least some kind of relationship. It implies in some ways some kind of action. And that's by the next paragraph in paragraph 143 says, by faith man completely submits his intellect and his will to God. With his whole being, man gives his assent to God the revealer. Now, this is so important.

I remember reading a book by Dr. Peter Craft back in the day where he was talking about levels of faith. He says, you know, the first level of faith is what you might call intellectual faith. Intellectual faith is, oh, no, I know that this is true. Like I give my assent to it, right? That, yeah, I acknowledge that God exists. That doesn't have to change anything in my life. In fact, in the letter of James, he writes, he says that you believe God is one.

You do well. But even the demons believe that and they tremble. So you believe, yeah, do you believe God exists? You may even go on to say, you believe that Jesus himself is God? I mean, think about this. How many times did Jesus come on the scene to do an exorcism? And the demon said, I know who you are. You're the holy one of God.

Now, they knew the truth. So in some ways they had, quote, unquote, faith or they believed. But that was an intellectual assent, right? That's an intellectual belief. that did nothing, did nothing to reorient their lives. So we know that saving faith is not merely faith, right? It's not merely just, oh, no, I say that Jesus is Lord. I acknowledge that God exists. That's good. But as James says, he says, even the demons believe that and they tremble. So that's not good, but not good enough. You have another level like emotional faith. And emotional faith would be

something like, I have a feeling of trust, which is not a bad thing either. That's a great thing. To have a feeling of trust is wonderful, but that's still limited. We have it in volitional faith, which is I submit my intellect, yes, and my will to God. And this is much more core to what we call saving faith. Here in paragraph 143, by faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God. That basically, God, do you have my whole being? What I know, what I think, and also what I choose. my intellect and my will, what I'm thinking and what I'm choosing.

I'm submitting that to you and to your will. And this is why it's so, so important. The next line, with his whole being, man gives his assent to God, the revealer. I don't think I can overstate the case that we would say, saving faith is not merely a matter of belief. Saving faith has to be lived out in my actions and in my choices. Remember how Jesus said, not all of you who say to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the ones who do

the will of my father in heaven. Again, I can acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord and still not be saved and still be lost. Why? Because that's not faith. Faith is when I do the will of the father in heaven. We submit our whole being, our intellect and our will to God the revealer. And I don't want to overemphasize or oversell this, but I don't think I possibly could because it's so vital. Then, going in paragraph 144, it says this, to obey, and it goes the Latin word, Ob Adire, right? To obey in faith is to submit freely to the word that has been heard. Why? Because its truth is guaranteed by God who is truth itself. I'm going to submit to the truth that has been heard. Now, this is the hard part. Well, there's many hard parts about faith, but here's part of the

hard part, is that the next examples that are given are Abraham, Sarah is in there as well, and Mary. And one thing we know, is that they were given a part of a word. Abraham, Sarah, and Mary were all given something, but not everything. What I mean by that is here is Abraham, who's just being called. He doesn't know who the Lord God is. There's no, there's no sacred scripture yet. There's no sacred tradition yet. This is simply God calling Abraham and his wife, Sarah, out of their homeland from their extended family, the roots where they are, to go to a new place because God had a promise. And he didn't tell them all that would happen. This is crazy, but this is life, right?

This is one of the reasons why it's called faith, that God gives us just enough light for the next step. And so, he says, by faith, he lived as a stranger and pilgrim in the promised land. And this is, there's a quote here from the letter to the Hebrews. It said this, by faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance. And there's in this next line. And he went out not knowing where he was to go. He only knew that he was to go, but he didn't know where he was to go. and that's bonkers, right? That is life. That is so much ourselves. And that's one of the reasons

why we are called to walk in faith. That's not the same thing as to walk in blind faith. It's only enough light to take the next step, typically. And Mary is used as an example in paragraphs 148 and 149. Think about her story. What happens? Here's the angel Gabriel who comes to Mary and he reveals a part of God's plan. That God is, hail full of grace, hail favored one. Blessed are you among women. Basically, here's the God's plan. You will conceive and bear a son. And Mary has her clarifying question, how can I do this? I have no relations with a man. The power of the most high will come upon you. The Holy Spirit will overshadow you. The child to be born will be called Holy, the son of God. And Mary says, behold, as we heard just now, behold, I'm the handmaid of the Lord. I don't know if you

ever realize this. But the angel Gabriel did not give Mary the whole plan. He only gave her the plan of the next step, which is the power of the most high will overshadow you as the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will conceive in your womb and bear a sun. And that sun will be great, right? The son will be the most high son of the most high God. This is going to be the Messiah. But that's all she got. She got no more news, no more information. And so to walk in faith, again, isn't to be blind, but it's also not to have telescopic vision, right? It's not to be blind in the sense I have any idea where to go, but it's also not to have a clearer map. Abraham left, not knowing where he was to go. Mary said yes, not knowing where

that was to lead. Sarah received that son, Isaac. They did all of this in faith. Again, not just in their heads, not just intellectual knowledge, but completely submitting their intellect and their will. with our whole being, we give assent to God the revealer. Because God, in order for us to have a response, God has to reveal. That's why it's not blind faith. In order to have a response, God has to reveal. The problem, the difficulty, my frustration is that he doesn't reveal the entire thing. So because of that, I need him for this step and I need him for the next step.

And then I need him for the step after that. And that is so, so important. And that's one of the reasons why we are reminded of people. like Abraham, our father in faith. We're reminded of people like Mary, who is the most perfectly embodies the obedience of faith because we're being called to walk in the same way that they were called to walk.

And so, man, we're not alone. We can't be alone because we can't do it alone. We need prayers. And that's why I am praying. I am truly praying for you on this day 20. Please pray for me. My name's Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow.

God bless.