The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 232: Man Is Made in the Image of God

Episode Date: August 20, 2023

We enter a new chapter examining the dignity of the human person, and Article 1 shows us that we have dignity because we are made in the image and likeness of God. We preserve that dignity when we exercise virtue and charity, and we do violence to it when we commit sin and evil acts. Fr. Mike hones in on the bold statement that we as humans are “the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake.” Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1699-1715. 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 to 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 to our Heavenly Home. This is day 232. We are reading paragraphs 1699 to 1715.

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. You're very own Catechism and you're reading plan by visiting AscensionPress.com slash C-I-Y. And you can also click follow or subscribe and your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications today is day 232 reading paragraph 1699 to 1715, which sounds like a lot. But there's some nuggets at the end here that we have just this one section just introducing

chapter one, the dignity of the human person article man in the image of God, which is what we're going to talk about. And tomorrow we'll talk about an article too, our vocation to be added to it. And so, it's kind of like this intro that the church gives us. And setting the stage, kind of like yesterday, set the stage where it's like, well, here's the high call,

everything begins with Jesus, it ends with Jesus. The fact that God has made us into His sons and daughters means we're called to more. And so here, the church today, it says, okay, so this is the vocation, life in the spirit. And this here, the church today, it says, okay, so this is the vocation, life in the spirit. And this begins with the dignity of the human person. You're made in the image and likeness of God. And because you've been redeemed, because God has

poured out His Holy Spirit into you, that we have to live in a certain way. And so we're going to talk about, in fact, paragraph 1700, it's going to break down articles one through article eight. So for example, article one is the dignity of the human person, is rooted in his creation, the image of the God. Article two is that dignity is fulfilled in his vocation to divine beatitude. Article three is it is essential to human being freely to direct himself to this fulfillment and goes on to eight articles.

And so the all eight of those will be kind of, that's kind of, but we'll be very much summarized in just a few words in paragraph 1700. If you have a catacism in front of you can fall along much more easily, but by this point, it's day 232. You know how to listen along. You might listen, you might read and listen. I don't know how you do it, but man, you've been doing it for two and a 31 days, and here we are on day two, 32, so let us pray as we launch into this day today. Father in heaven, we give you praise. Thank you so much.

Thank you for this group of people. Thank you for this community of C.I. wires. Thank you for helping each one of us today to press play. Thank you for helping each one of us today to be open once again to your high call to be open once again to what it is Not just that what you want from us, but what you want for us You've made us in your very image

And you call us to treat everyone we meet As they are made in your image. So today, Father, we don't just want to have the idea that every human person has dignity. We want to have the reality. We want to have that change our actions. How we look at people, how we treat people, how we speak to them, how we think of them. Help us to never ever forget that the people surrounding us are meeting your image and likeness. The people surrounding us have an incredible dignity that cannot be taken away.

Help us to treat each other in that dignity and to treat ourselves with that dignity. And by doing so, help us to honor you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. It is day 232, we are reading paragraphs 1699 to 1715. Section 1, man's vocation, life in the Spirit. Life in the Holy Spirit fulfills the vocation of man, chapter 1. Man's vocation. Life in the Spirit. Life in the Holy Spirit fulfills the vocation

of man, chapter 1. This life is made up of divine charity and human solidarity, chapter 2. It is graciously offered as salvation, chapter 3. Chapter 1. The dignity of the human person. The dignity of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness of God, Article 1. It is fulfilled in his vocation to divine be attitude, Article 2. It is essential to a human being freely to direct himself to this fulfillment, Article 3. By his deliberate actions, Article 4, the human person does or does not conform to the good

promise by God and attested by moral conscience, Article 5. Human beings make their own contribution to their interior growth, they make their whole sentient and spiritual lives into means of this growth, Article 6. With the help of grace, they grow in virtue, Article 7, avoid sin, and if they sin, they entrust themselves as did the Particle Sun to the mercy of our Father and Heaven, Article 7. Avoid sin, and if they sin, they entrust themselves as did the prodigal son to the mercy of our father and heaven, Article 8. In this way, they attain to the perfection of charity.

Article 1. Man, the image of God. Christ, in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of His love, makes man fully manifest to himself and brings to light his exalted vocation. It is in Christ, the image of the invisible God, that man has been created in the image and likeness of the Creator. It is in Christ, redeemer and Savior, that the divine image, disfigured in man by the first

sin, has been restored to its original beauty and ennobled by the grace of God. The Divine Image is present in every man. It shines forth in the communion of persons in the likeness of the unity of the Divine persons among themselves. See chapter 2. Endowed with a spiritual and immortal soul, the human person is the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake. From his conception, he is destined for eternal beattitude. The human person participates in the light and power of

the divine spirit. By his reason, he is capable of understanding the order of things established by the Creator. By free will, he is capable of directing himself toward his true good. He finds his perfection in seeking and loving what is true and good. By virtue of his soul and his spiritual powers of intellect and will, man is endowed with freedom, an outstanding manifestation of the divine image. By his reason, man recognizes the voice of God which urges him to do what is good and avoid what is evil. Everyone is obliged to follow this law which makes itself heard in conscience and is fulfilled in the love of God and of neighbor. Living a moral

life bears witness to the dignity of the person. Man, enticed by the evil one, abused his freedom at the very beginning of history. He succumbed to temptation and did what was evil. He still desires the good, but his nature bears the wound of original sin. He is now inclined to temptation and did what was evil. He still desires the good, but his nature bears the wound of original sin. He is now inclined to evil and subject to error. Man is divided in himself. As a result, the whole life of men, both individual and social, shows itself to be a struggle and a dramatic one between good and evil, between light and darkness. By his passion, Christ delivered us from Satan and from sin. He merited for us the new life in the Holy Spirit.

His grace restores what sin had damaged in us. He who believes in Christ becomes a son of God. This filial adoption transforms him by giving him the ability to follow the example of Christ. It makes him capable of acting rightly and doing good. In union with his Savior, the disciple attains the perfection of charity which is holiness. Having matured in grace, the moral life blossoms into eternal life in the glory of heaven. In brief, Christ makes man fully manifest to man himself and brings to light his exalted vocation.

Endowed with his spiritual soul, with intellect and with free will, the human person is from his very conception ordered to God and destined for eternal beattitude. He pursues his perfection in seeking and loving what is true and good. In man, true freedom is an outstanding manifestation of the divine image. Man is obliged to follow the moral law which urges him to do what is good and avoid what is evil. This law makes itself heard in his conscience. Man, having been wounded in his nature by original sin, is subject to error and inclined

to evil in exercising his freedom. He who believes in Christ has new life in the Holy Spirit. The moral life, increased and brought to maturity and grace, is to reach its fulfillment in the glory of heaven. Okay, paragraph 1699 to 1715, this section one, chapter one, article one, all of that. So again, chapter one, that dignity of the human person, that bullet point, not a bullet point, it's called a paragraph, paragraph 1700, breaks down. Here's all these articles that we're going to go through.

We went through article one, today, tomorrow, we'll go through article two, that our vocation is to divine be attitude. We're made for God But today in article one we're highlighting this fact that the fact is that in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love Jesus makes man fully manifest to himself But another way to say it is Jesus reveals man fully to himself That's it that that Jesus reveals to us human beings Who we are and what we are, where we come from, where we're going, why we are.

I mean, think about this. You ever have you ever wondered what life would be like if you didn't know that God existed, if you didn't know that He made you on purpose. If you didn't know why He made you, remember going back to the very, very first day, the first paragraph in a plan of sheer goodness. Because God wants us to share his divine life. Think about that.

Again, Jesus reveals man fully to himself. Jesus reveals you fully to yourself. You know who you are in Jesus Christ. That means meeting God's image and likeness. You know why you are. That he made you so that you could share in his divine life. You know where you come from? You know where you are going. Now, at the same time, even though, yes, we are made in the divine image.

At the same time, we experienced this divine image, disfigured in us by the first sin. It becomes restored to its original beauty and a noble by the grace of God in Jesus Christ. And so the next three paragraphs, 1702 to the end, it's the gospel presentation. As someone asks what you believe, you could just recite the creed if you wanted to, you could recite the apostles' creed, you could recite the nice scene creed, or you could say, read paragraphs 1701 to 1709 in the Catechism, because this is the story of the Gospel, paragraph 1701.

God made human beings in His image like this, in a planet sure goodness, God who's good, made us good, made us in His image like this. And at the same time, we've got broken, right? Sin broke us. 1702 says, yet the divine image is present in every human being, every human being. And so it shines forth when we're individuals and it shines forth when we're in community with each other. 17 or three, what is human being?

The human person is someone who's in doubt with a spiritual and immortal soul. That yes, you are a body, you are a soul, that you have that. Now here's this big statement. This statement comes from the Second Vatican Council document called Gaudium at Spes. I know you've heard of this one before. And it says this, the human person

is the only creature on earth that God willed for its own sake. This was, and some people find this controversial. At the same time, the scripture seems to bear witness to this, and the church tradition seems to bear witness to this. Human person is the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake. That God didn't make us for another

purpose other than to share in God's divine beatitude. He didn't make us because he needed us, he didn't make us for some other purpose. It's one of the reasons because of this, because you has human being are the only kind of creature that God has willed for your own sake, for its own sake. That means that human beings can never merely be used. We have to be loved, right? Because if something is for some other sake, then it can be used. Here's a hammer.

Yeah, that's for the sake of driving an else. It's not for its own sake. The hammer doesn't exist for its own sake. It exists in order to drive an else. You can use a hammer, but a person exists for its own sake. It exists in order to drive in nails. You can use a hammer. But a person exists for their own sake. Therefore, we may never merely use a person out. Someone, think of the person at the cash register or the person at the checkout line. No, we're kind of in some ways using them. But we may never use them as a tool. Like, the self-checkout versus a human being checking you out are two vastly different things.

The self-checkout, yes, it's just a machine. That is made not for its own sake. That's just a tool. But the person who is using that machine, that person has been made for their own sake. And from their very beginning of their existence, from the very moment of their conception, their destined fraternal be attitude. Now, this is the next thing to highlight. That your destined fraternal be attitude, every human being, be attitude. Now this is the next thing to highlight. That you're destined for eternal be attitude.

Every human being, God wants every, this is called the universal called the holiness. God is destined every person who's ever lived. He's destined them for heaven, eternal be attitude. Now, what does it to be destined? Destined doesn't mean that this is fate. It just means you have a destination, right? So we believe in destiny only in the sense that we believe you have a destination you're made for. So God made every person for heaven, even if we don't choose heaven, that's what he made us for.

He made us to choose heaven. So keep that in mind as we move forward. Every human being has been created for the, this end, this good of being united with God. Fraternity. Going on, 1704, the human person, we participate in the light and power of the divine spirit, because we have a reason where capable of understanding the order of things.

Like we have an intellect, right? Maybe being made in God's image and likeness, we have an intellect, and so we can understand the order of things. We can understand this world in some ways. We also not only have an intellect, we also have free will in paragraph 1704 says, by free will, we're capable of directing ourselves

towards the true good. So not only, we have an intellect, you have to use it. Right, if God's giving you an intellect, we have to use it. We have to strive after grasping the truth and what is good, what is beautiful, then we have to use that free will to choose the good, to choose the beautiful and to choose the truth. This is the high call.

It is the blessing. It is also the burden because we could also choose the opposite. Like we talked about yesterday, there's good and evil before every one of us. And we can choose evil. And not only that, but even though we're still making God's image, paragraph 1706 highlights the fact that there is the voice of God that speaks inside of us to do what is good and avoid what is evil. And we're obliged to follow that law, which makes itself heard in conscience. But 1707, man enticed by the evil one, abused his freedom at the very beginning of history. So we recognize here's the fall of humanity in Genesis chapter 3, that here's human beings who succumbed

to temptation, did what was evil. In our nature, we're still good. In fact, it even says, he still desires the good. Like, you still desire the good, but our nature bears the wound of original sin, and now we're inclined to evil and subject to error, which means that we're attracted. Remember that 25,000 dollar word, concupacence. We have this attraction to evil. We're now inclined to evil, and we're supposed to err. We ask we have intellect, but intellect's been darkened.

We have a free will that we can choose the good, but we can also fail to choose the good. So again, we still have these innate gifts that God has given to us, being in His image and likeness. And at the same time, those gifts have been distorted. Those gifts have been affected by sin. And here's where we're perk up 1708 and 1709 come in and just like come in guns blazing, amazing, by his passion. Christ delivered us from Satan and from sin. He merited for us the new life in the Holy Spirit.

His grace restores what sin had damaged in us. Remember that line from God, him it spits once again, man is divided in himself. Alexander Scholzenitsen, who pointed out that the dividing line between good and evil passes straight through the human heart. As a result, the whole life of men, both individual and social, shows itself to be a struggle and a dramatic one between good and evil, between light and darkness. And here's Jesus who comes and buys passion, death and resurrection, delivers us from Satan and from sin, gives us the new life in the Holy Spirit. He married that. We didn't marry that.

He married that for us. And his grace restores what sin had damaged in us. And now, 1709, he who believes in Christ becomes a son of God. And this familial adoption, right? This God has made you, he's adopted you as his daughter. He's adopted you as his son. That transforms you by giving you the ability to follow the example of Christ. It makes you capable of acting rightly and doing good. This is just the power. That last two sentences here, in union with his Savior,

the disciple attains the perfection of charity, which is holiness. This is what God wants for you. Having matured in grace, the more life blossoms into eternal life in the glory of heaven. This is, man, as we move forward, I can, I went to Dr. King with Dr. Healy a couple days ago and yesterday and today, like, okay, here, here we guys, let's go. Let's strap in. It's going to be really tough at the same time. Let's be real. Sin is difficult.

It is difficult to live in sin. It is depressing. It is, it is saddening. It is painful. It is saddening. It is painful. Yes, it is a challenge. Is it takes effort to choose the good? But with God's grace, we can. And that is a life of joy and of freedom. As we move forward, we recognize that all these things are true. God is good, He made us good. But then with our free will that He gave us, our intellect, and He gave us, we broke.

We said no to Him. And now we live in this place of brokenness. We have an intellect, but it's been darkened. We have a will that's been weakened. We're made for love, but we simply more often choose to use. And yet here is Jesus. He delivered us from Satan and from sin. He married it for us, the new gift of life and the Holy Spirit,

His grace restores, but sin had damaged in us. And now we can say yes to that. We can live a life of power. We can live a life of freedom and joy. And that's what this next section is all about. And I think I might have held up the, it's gonna be tough you guys. It's gonna be really hard.

Maybe a little bit too much. Because it's gonna be beautiful. It's gonna be an incredible call. If you and I are willing, if we're willing to hear the voice of God and all of this and say, okay, God, meet me with your grace, meet me with your power. So I can walk this walk so I can live this life. It'll be a season of joy. Not just a season of joy, a season of joy that leads you to an eternity of joy. So do not be afraid.

Do not be afraid. God has your back. He has fought for you. He continues to fight for you. I'm praying for you. I'll continue to pray for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Micah.

I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless. God bless.