The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 228: Blessings, Sacramentals and Popular Piety (2025)

Episode Date: August 16, 2025

Sacramentals are sacred signs that resemble the sacraments. Blessings of people, places, and objects are foremost among the various sacramentals found in the life of the Church. Among these blessings are those of exorcism, in both its simple and solemn form. Fr. Mike notes that sacramentals and the many forms of popular piety, such as the Rosary, are noble expressions of faith that prepare us to participate in the Liturgy but can never replace the Liturgy. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1667-1679. 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.

I'm my name's Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Categism Ineer 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 Ineer 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 228. we are reading paragraphs 1667 to 1679 lots of paragraphs as always i'm using the ascension edition of the catechism which includes a 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 in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications today is day 228 as i mentioned yesterday maybe a couple times i was just very excited about the fact that we came to the end of the seven sacraments. And today we're talking about these last little articles at the very end, other liturgical celebrations. One of the things that I think I've heard people say that was lost with the Second Vatican Council was the rule of sacramentals or the place that devotionals have in the life of the ordinary Christian, of the ordinary Catholic. And yet here is this mini section that's reserved exclusively to talk about sacramentals. That's reserved exclusively to

talk about popular piety. So we're going to talk about that today. In fact, it's kind of a lot of paragraphs. It's paragraph 1667 to 1676 is the actual like meat and potatoes of the whole deal. And then the last three paragraphs 1677 to 1679 are nuggets. That's right. We're going through an entire article today. So without anything further, let us call upon the Lord and place ourselves in his presence as we pray, Father in heaven. We give you praise and glory. We think, Thank you. We thank you for the gifts that you have bestowed on us in your church, not only the great gifts of your sacraments, but the gifts of the sacramentals, the gifts not only that are just are rooted in necessity, your scripture, your word, the magisterium, your teaching, the creed in the sacraments, but also these these extra gifts, this gravy, right? This frosting, these spices that make life so good, that make following you. give it such vibrancy, it has additional devotions that you give to us as means of reaching us in new ways and in different ways.

Lord God, help us be open, especially if we're closed to the idea of devotionals, or the idea of sacramentals, help us to see them in their proper light, help us to embrace the ones you're calling us to embrace and to honor and respect the ones that you're calling us to simply honor and respect. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen, it's day 228.

We are reading paragraphs 1667 to 1679. Chapter 4. Other liturgical celebrations. Article 1, Sacramentals. Holy Mother Church has, moreover, instituted sacramentals. These are sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments. They signify effect. particularly of a spiritual nature, which are obtained through the intercession of the church.

By them, men are disposed to receive the chief effects of the sacraments, and various occasions in life are rendered holy. The characteristics of sacramentals. Sacramentals are instituted for the sanctification of certain ministries of the church, certain states of life, a great variety of circumstances in Christian life, and the use of many things helpful to man. In accordance with bishop's pastoral decisions, they can also respond to the needs, culture, and special history of the Christian people of a particular region or time. They always include a prayer, often accompanied by a specific sign, such as the laying out of hands, the sign of the cross, or the sprinkling of holy water, which recalls baptism.

Sacramentals derive from the baptismal priesthood. Every baptized person is called to be a blessing and to bless. Hence, lay people may preside at certain blessings. The moral blessing concerns ecclesial and sacramental life, the more is its administration reserved to the ordained ministry, bishops, priests, or deacons. Sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the church's prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it. For well-disposed members of the faithful, the liturgy of the sacraments and sacramentals sanctifies almost every event of their lives with the divine grace which flows from the pascal mystery of the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ. From this source,

all sacraments and sacramentals draw their power. There is scarcely any proper use of material things which cannot be thus directed toward the sanctification of men and the praise of God. Various forms of sacramentals. Among sacramentals, blessings of persons, meals, objects, and places come first. Every blessing praises God and praise for his gifts. In Christ, Christians are blessed by God the Father with every spiritual blessing. This is why the church imparts blessings by invoking the name of Jesus, usually while making the holy sign of the cross of Christ. Certain blessings have a lasting importance because they consecrate persons to God,

or reserve objects and places for liturgical use. Among those blessings which are intended for persons, not to be confused with sacramental ordination, are the blessing of the abbot or abbess of a monastery, the consecration of virgins and widows, the right of a religious profession and the blessing of certain ministries of the church, readers, acolytes, catechists, etc. The dedication or blessing of a church or an altar,

the blessing of holy oils, vessels, investments, bells, etc., can be mentioned as examples of blessings that concern objects. When the church asks publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be protected against the power of the evil one and withdrawn from his dominion, it is called exorcism. Jesus performed exorcisms, and from him the Church has received the power and office of exercising. In a simple form, exorcism is performed at the celebration of baptism. The solemn exorcism, called a major exorcism, can be performed only by a priest, and with the

permission of the bishop. The priest must proceed with prudence, strictly observing the rules established by the church. Exorcism is directed at the expulsion of demons, or to the liberation from demonic possession through the spiritual authority which Jesus entrusted to his church. Illness, especially psychological illness, is a very different matter. Treating this is the concern of medical science. Therefore, before an exorcism is performed, it is important to ascertain that one is dealing with the presence of the evil one and not an illness. Popular piety Besides sacramental liturgy and sacramentals, catechesis must take into account the forms of piety and popular devotions among the faithful.

The religious sense of the Christian people has always found expression in various forms of piety surrounding the church's sacramental life, such as the veneration of relics, visits to sanctuaries, pilgrimages, processions, the stations of the cross, religious dances, the rosary, medals, etc. These expressions of piety extend the liturgical life of the church, but do not replace it. They should be so drawn up that they harmonize with the liturgical seasons, accord with the sacred liturgy, are in some way derived from it and lead the people to it, since, in fact, the liturgy by its very nature is far superior to any of them. Pastoral discernment is needed to sustain and support popular piety,

and if necessary, to purify and correct the religious sense which underlies these devotions so that the faithful may advance in knowledge of the mystery of Christ. Their exercise is subject to the care and judgment of the bishop, and to the general norms of the church. At its core, the piety of the people is a storehouse of values that offers answers of Christian wisdom to the great questions of life. The Catholic wisdom of the people is capable of fashioning a vital synthesis. It creatively combines the divine and the human,

Christ and Mary, spirit and body, communion and institution, person and community, faith and homeland, intelligence and emotion. This wisdom is a Christian humanism, that radically affirms the dignity of every person as a child of God, establishes a basic fraternity,

teaches people to encounter nature and understand work, provides reasons for joy and humor, even in the midst of a very hard life. For the people, this wisdom is also a principle of discernment and an evangelical instinct through which they spontaneously sense when the gospel is served in the church, and when it is emptied of its content and stifled by other interests. In brief,

Sacramentals are sacred science instituted by the church. They prepare men to receive the fruit of the sacraments and sanctify different circumstances of life. Among the sacramentals, blessings occupy an important place. They include both praise of God for his works and gifts and the church's intercession for men, that they may be able to use God's gifts according to the spirit of the gospel. In addition to the liturgy,

Christian life is nourished by various forms of popular piety rooted in the different cultures, while carefully clarifying them in the light of faith, the church fosters the forms of popular piety that express an evangelical instinct and a human wisdom that enrich Christian life. Okay, as I said, that is Article 1 on these other, other liturgical celebrations, and that is sacramentals. So we have in, my man, okay, let's let's, let's good, let's drill down. What do we need to know about sacramentals? First, we know that sacraments are sacred signs instituted by Christ that give grace. Okay, sacramentals are instituted by the church. So keep that, it's a distinction that's important to make. So the church has instituted

sacramentals. What are they? There's sacred signs, just like sacraments are, and they bear resemblance to the sacraments. Okay, got that so far. So church has established sacramentals, sacred signs, they bear resemblance to the sacraments. They signify effects, particularly spiritual effects, which are obtained through the intercession of the church. Okay, so they signify those effects that are obtained to the mission intercession of the church, and by them, we are disposed to receive the chief effect of sacraments themselves, the various occasions of life rendered holy. So that last line is very, I mean, they're all very important, but keep this in mind for all of us as we move forward. They dispose us to receive the chief effects of the sacraments.

Remember we talked about every one of the sacraments had, these are the effects of this sacrament. This is the effect of this sacrament. Remember those five effects of the sacrament of confirmation? I apparently can't stop talking about me, even though we left confirmation weeks ago. You can't stop talking about those five effects of confirmation, but every one of the sacraments has these effects. Now, sacramentals, they're meant to dispose us to receive those chief effects of the sacraments. And also, beyond that, moments in our lives, various occasions in life are rendered holy. So we're going to keep that in mind as we talk about sacramentals. they're meant to dispose us to receive and enter into those effects of the sacraments.

And also, they sanctify moments in our lives. So think about some of the examples they give in paragraph 1668. Some examples they give are laying out of hands, the sign of the cross, the sprinkling of holy water. I mean, think about every time you walk into the church or walk out of the church, you walk by a holy water font. Typically, you'll dip your hands into the holy water and make the sign of the cross. What's that?

That's a sacramental and recalls baptism. And it's a sacramental that's meant to dispose you to what you're about to do. When you're walking into the church in some ways you can think it like this, that it's meant to dispose you to, I'm going to participate in my baptismal priesthood, right? I'm here to worship the Lord. And on the way out, is I'm hearing, you're being, once again, making the sign of the cross with holy water, and I'm being sent out as a prophet into the world. I mean, think about, we can think about it like that, right?

And I'm walking into the church, this is just my reflection. I don't know if the church teaches officially this is what to think of, but this is what I'm saying. You can think of this. As you walk into the church, bless yourself with Holy Water. So it recalls your baptism. Baptism and priesthood, I'm here to worship. On the way out, bless yourself with Holy Water.

Recalls your baptism. You're called to be a prophet sent out into the world. So it's meant to sanctify these seasons and moments in our lives, these times in our lives. In fact, favorite prayer of 1669 highlights this, that every baptized person is called to be a blessing and to bless. So there are certain blessings that lay people can do. and the more and more blessing concerns ecclesial in sacramental life, the more it's going to be, or reserve the ordained ministers, like bishops, priests, deacons, that kind of thing. Now, at the same time, we recognize that blessings, blessings come first among the sacramentals.

So that means blessings of persons, blessings of meals, objects, and places. So one of the things we just realize is, man, Catholics, we bless everything. In fact, you might even know, you know the song Africa by the band Toto. Okay, of course you do. Everyone knows this song. So I don't know if you know the backstory to this song. The backstory to the song is the lead singer is the writer of the song. Lead singer of Toto is the writer of the song Africa.

And at one point, he went to an all boys Catholic school. And some of the teachers at this all boys Catholic school were seminarians as part of this order that was running the school. This is not a joke. I'm telling you this story that I heard. So these seminarians were in part of this religious community. And a lot of them as part of their training, part of their formation, not only was to teach in these schools, but also was to go to the missions. And a lot of missions were in Africa.

So a lot of these teachers that helped raise these boys had been missionaries in Africa. And so apparently, as the story goes, the lead singer said, yeah, these missionaries would come back. And they talk about how in Africa, the Catholics there, they bless everything. They bless the earth. They bless the rivers. They bless their homes. They bless the rain. And so here's the story.

So the guy said later on in life, he was writing a song about someone who's lonely, because he talked about sometimes at the seminary and said that as they were missionaries in Africa, they were lonely and they made it like a romantic lonely, not just lonely for home or lonely for family. So is the person who's longing for the person they're missing and saying, I bless the rain down in Africa. I bless the rains down in Africa because that's what they blessed. They bless everything. Bless the cars, bless the dogs. You bless your bless the rains. Does that make sense? Anyways, there you go. Little little musical fact for all the fans of music. So every spirit blessing, right? God, we're called to participate in every spiritual blessing. Every blessing

praises God and prays for his gifts. One of the reasons why the church it says here in 1671, church imparts blessings by invoking the name of Jesus, usually while making the sign of the cross of Jesus Christ himself. What is it that when we're doing when we're blessing something? I always say it like this. When we bless something, we're setting it apart for a purpose. Like, why do you bless stuff? Like, okay. Well, when something is blessed, it's made holy. We know this, if you've read the Bible, if you know anything about what it is to be holy that in the Old Testament, and still true in our day, but to be holy is to be set apart, but not just set apart, like removed from the world, but set apart for a purpose. And so when something gets blessed, it gets consecrated,

right? Consecreted, sacred, made holy, it becomes set apart for a purpose. So you have a cross on a chain. And that's jewelry. You buy it in the store? It's jewelry. The moment it gets blessed, it's now set apart for a purpose. It's no longer jewelry. It is. It is. set apart for a purpose. Whenever you put on that cross, whenever you wear that cross, it is no longer just for your outfit. It is now set apart for a purpose. And similarly, we have our Bibles. We have a rosary that gets blessed. We have all these manner of things that get blessed. In fact, I mean, think about even when you got blessed, say, you know, on the Feast of St. Blaze, where we get our throats blessed. That means, okay, you've been set apart for a purpose. You're blessed.

Your throat is blessed. It's set apart for a purpose. It always, it always invokes the name of Jesus, and it's always meant to praise God and pray for his gifts. Now, paragraph 1672 goes on to talk about how people get blessed, you know, people get consecrated. Not only we have consecration in the sacraments, but also you have non-sacramental consecrations. For example, here in 1672, it says that when an abbot is blessed or an abbess of a monastery is blessed, they're consecrated virgins and widows. Those are, moments of blessing, of people, consecrating people, setting them apart for a particular ministry, a particular mission in the church. I think it's fascinating that exorcism has one paragraph. We can often be very interested in the role of exorcism. And it is, it's fascinating. It's very, very fascinating to recognize that, yes, our point at the devil prowls like a roaring line looking for someone to devour, St. Peter says, to resist him solid in our faith, we're called to. paragraph 1673, when the church asks publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be protected against the power of the evil one and withdrawn from

his dominion, that specific blessing is called an exorcism. That particular prayer is called an exorcism. And Jesus performed exorcisms and every many, well, most baptisms should have an exorcism as part of it. It's part of the right. If it gets omitted, that's not good. It should be part of that right, a minor exorcism. And then the major exorcism is, when someone experiences demonic oppression, demonic obsession, demonic possession, that kind of thing that can happen there, the major exorcism, that can only be performed by a priest with the permission of his bishop. That is the only way that major exorcism can be performed. Now, this is, I'll just say it again. I'll read it again. Exorcism is directed at

what? At the expulsion of demons or to the liberation from demonic possession through the spiritual authority with which Jesus entrusted to his church. So that's what that is. It's the expulsion of demons or the liberation from demonic possession through the authority that Jesus has entrusted to his church. The church makes a point of saying the last couple sentences of paragraph 1673 that illness, especially mental illness, is very different than exorcism. So everyone who undergoes an exorcism has to have some kind of psychological evaluation before they enter into exorcism. And if they're not willing to participate in the medical, like scientific psychological investigation or psychological assessment, then I know exorcists who just

say, no, I can't help you because I'm not willing to help you until we diagnose what this is. If this is strictly mental illness, it is still difficult. It's still important that you get help, but that's very different than dealing with an exorcism. So that's very, very important. Now, last couple notes, popular piety. What's popular piety? Well, veneration of relics, visits to sanctuaries, pilgrimages, processions, some of the ones that you and I know on a regular, maybe do on a regular basis, things like Stations of the Cross, the Rosary, having medals, even praying the chaplain of divine mercy, those extend the liturgical life of the church. They're very important, but they don't replace it.

In fact, one of the, you might say maybe, I don't want to say abuse, but misuse of popular piety, like say the misuse of the rosary was at one time, I've heard that people, Catholics, would faithfully go to Mass, but when the Mass was being offered, they would be praying the rosary. And it makes sense because they're not really hearing what's going on at the altar. Maybe they're not able to pay attention what's going at the altar. So while the priest is praying up there at the altar in the sanctuary, here are some people who would be praying the rosary in their pew. And I can understand that they might be wanting to unite their prayer of the rosary in the pew with the prayer of the priest at the altar. But one of the things that the church has

invited us to do, and we said this so many times, is to not watch the priest pray, but to participate, to use, utilize, exercise our baptismal priesthood, our kingdom priesthood by uniting our hearts with what's happening at the altar. And so, again, that might be a silly example. And maybe other people didn't do that. Maybe many people didn't do it, but I heard about it happening. And so that's one of the things we have to realize that these expressions of piety extend the liturgical life, but they do not replace it. And they have to be lived out. So they harmonize with the liturgical seasons, according to the sacred liturgy, right? So they can't take us away from the liturgical season. They can't take us away from the sacred liturgy. They're meant to actually serve it. They're derived from that

and they lead back to it. So that's it because we know this. The liturgy by its very nature is far superior to any of the other expressions of popular piety. So keep that in mind. The rosary is incredible, powerful weapon, powerful tool in the arsenal of the Catholic Christian. The chapel of divine mercy. Amazing. So important. Station of the cross. Yes. all those are really, really great. But the liturgy itself is by its very nature is far superior to any of them, any of them. And that's just important for us to just be reminded of, not because we're downplaying any, downplaying the need to pray the rosary or the need to pray the chaplet. Not at all. But just elevating the fact that the liturgy, the divine liturgy, the holy

sacrifice to the mass is far superior in every way to any of those devotions of popular piety. Hope that makes sense. Again, I'm not trashing anything. I'm not throwing anything. thing under the bus. I just want to elevate this. It's almost like this. It's here the last little note. It's almost like when Jesus says, anyone who loves father or mother more than me, he's not worthy of me, anyone who loves their children or their home or their own very life more than me is not worthy of me. He's not telling them, don't love your parents, don't love your kids, don't love your home. He's saying, love me more, like have more love. He's not insulting parents. He's not insulting family. He's not insulting children. He's being elevated to being even

more. Similarly, I'm not insulting the rosary or insulting the stations to the cross. I want to exalt and elevate the role of the liturgy even more. Does that make sense? Well, speaking of liturgy tomorrow of Article 2, the final article here in Pillar 2, we talk about Christian funerals, which you might think, why would we spend an entire day talking about Christian funerals? We could spend an entire week talking about Christian funerals and maybe even more because that it's so important. It is so vital. And every one of us is meant to participate in Christian funerals in many, many ways, and long before our own. So we're going to learn about that tomorrow. You guys, today, what a day. Oh my goodness gracious. Here we are. Long day,

but still praying. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.