The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 24: Unity of Faith (2026)

Episode Date: January 24, 2026

As we wrap up the current section, we learn about the unity of faith and how the Church is meant to be united in Christ through apostolic succession. In addition, Fr. Mike reminds us that, as Catholics, we don’t just believe in formulas. We believe in the realities those formulas express. Lastly, Fr. Mike encourages us to trust in the Church, who guards the truths of the Faith and passes them down through the ages. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 170-175. 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 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 24. We're reading from paragraphs 170 to 175. As always, I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the foundations of faith approach. You can follow along. In that version, or in any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,

you can also download your Catechism in a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y. That's C-I-Y, that's what that stands for. You're like, wait, no way. Yeah, way. Lastly, you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily notifications. This is the kind of the conclusion of this article,

the article we believe. Remember yesterday two days ago was I believe. Yesterday was we believe. Here we are concluding that. We do have the in-brief tomorrow. After tomorrow, pretty incredible, pretty exciting. We get to launch into section two of what we believe in that creed, looking at the creed essentially, which is pretty neat. Today we get to read paragraph 170 to 175. So let's say a

prayer, Father in heaven, and give you praise and glory. We thank you so much for bringing us to this moment. We thank you for the fact that you've passed on your word. You passed on your revelation of yourself to us through the church. Lord God, we also know that we don't simply believe in formulas. We believe in the realities that those formulas express. We know we don't believe in the idea of you as Father and as Son and as Holy Spirit. We believe in the reality. You are Father. You are Son. You are Holy Spirit. We don't believe merely in the idea that you've came to save us from our sins, but in the reality that you have done this and you continue to do this by sending out your Holy Spirit and meeting us ever new with your mercy every morning. So Lord,

Help us to continue to recognize that you're not merely an idea, your reality itself, your being itself. Help us to be aware of your reality. Help us to be aware of your being. Help us to be aware of you this day and every day. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. As I said, it is day 24.

We're reading paragraphs 170 to 175 talking about the language of faith and the fact. that there is only one faith when it comes to Christianity, although there are many claimants, people who organizations, groups who might claim this truth about Jesus, the truth about what Christians would believe, recognize that there truly ultimately, though, is only one faith in which we profess together, God willing, uniting our hearts and our minds to what God has revealed. Once again, Day 24, paragraphs 170 to 175. The Language of Faith We do not believe in formulas, but in those realities they express, which faith allows us to touch.

As St. Thomas Aquinas stated, the believer's act of faith does not terminate in the propositions, but in the realities which they express. All the same, we do approach these realities with the help of formulations of the faith, which permit us to express the faith and to hand it on, to celebrate it in community, to assimilate it, and live on it more and more. The church, the pillar and bulwark of truth faithfully guards the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. She guards the memory of Christ's words. It is she who from generation to generation hands on the Apostle's confession of faith. As a mother who teaches her children to speak

and so to understand and communicate, the church our mother teaches us the language of faith in order to introduce us to the understanding and the life of faith. Only one faith. Through the centuries, in so many languages, cultures, peoples, and nations, the church has constantly confessed this one faith, received from the one Lord, transmitted by one baptism, and grounded in the conviction that all people have only one God and Father. St. Ironaeus of Leone, a witness of this faith declared, Indeed, the church, though scattered throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, having received the faith from the apostles and their disciples, guards this

preaching and faith with care as dwelling in but a single house, and similarly believes as as if having but one soul and a single heart, and preaches, teaches, and hands on this faith with a unanimous voice, as if possessing only one mouth. St. Ironaus further declared, for though languages differ throughout the world, the content of their tradition is one and the same. The churches established in Germany have no other faith or tradition, nor do those of the Iberians, nor those of the Celts, nor those of the east, of Egypt, of Libya, nor those established at the center of the world. The church's message is true and solid, in which one and the same way of salvation appears throughout the whole world. Finally, Iranis declares, we guard with care, the faith that we

have received from the church, for, without ceasing, under the action of God's spirit, this deposit of great price, as if in an excellent vessel is constantly being renewed, and causes the very vessel that contains it to be renewed. Okay, so there we are. A day 24, paragraphs 170 to 175, the conclusion of this response, we have to, I want to highlight at least a couple things. The first is the language of faith. One of the things that I find fascinating is this paragraph 170 for years.

I mean, I don't know, maybe 20 years, maybe even more than 20 years. I have come back to this line. We do not believe in formulas, but in those realities they express, which faith allows us to touch. There is something so powerful about that because, you know, we stand up every single Sunday. And we recite the Nicene Creed. Right. We talked about that yesterday. We also, at times, recite the Apostles' Creed. We say the creed. And the reality, of course, is I can say, I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth, et cetera, et cetera. We'll talk about that more tomorrow. Sorry, the day after that. But I'm not saying that I believe in these words, right?

I'm not saying I believe in the formulation. I believe the formulation, right? The formulation is true. the words are accurate, but I believe in the reality that they express. I think that's an important distinction to make. One of the things we're going to talk about as the year goes on is we're going to talk about what we have already mentioned even here, the development of doctrine and the recognition that as our understanding grows, right, remember faith seeking understanding. As our understanding grows, as our faith deepens, there might be a more unique way we can express the truth about the same reality.

Now, again, we believe the formula, but we don't believe in the formula. But in the reality they express, the reality they are conveying and allow it, that faith again allows us to touch. So we, you know, I mean, think of any of the complicated ways in which we're trying to understand. What's the nature of Jesus being fully human and fully divine? That's called the hypostatic union. Like, what is it that Jesus is one divine person with two natures, a divine nature and a human nature. nature. So we say that. He's a he's one person with two natures. Like, okay, that formula of saying that Jesus is one divine person with a divine and human nature is a formula trying to give us the ability

to express and capture and convey to others what we have a belief about Jesus. But if we were to say that I understand that or I fully grasp the depth of what that means, we recognize that. No, I don't. I don't understand what that really means. Or to assert that, yeah, God is one. In his unity, in his being, he's one. But he's also Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three divine persons. Okay, again, that formula communicates a deep and profound truth. But I don't believe in the formula.

I believe the formula. I do believe in God the Father. I do believe in God the Son. I do believe in God the Holy Spirit. Hope that makes sense. And again, because those formulas, well, they're not the end of themselves. they allow us to express an approach to the realities. They allow us to convey them.

They allow us to dive more deeply into the realities that they're trying to convey to us. And again, I want to clarify that it is absolutely important that we have these formulas. We need the formulas because they lead to the proper understanding of the realities. Without them, without the formulas, we can fall into grave error. Therefore, the formulas are actually indispensable in our faith. Like, we can't go without them because they play an essential role in. and knowing the truth of the realities that they express. So moving on, we recognize the role of the church then,

that the church's role is to faithfully guard the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints. That is so important. Remember we talked about this, how St. Paul had written to Timothy, and he called the church the pillar and bulwark of the truth. And that declaration is very important, especially for our brothers and sisters who say that, no, scripture is the only source of God's revelation.

We'd recognize that, okay, well, that revelation, that sacred scripture, the Holy Bible, the Word of God, calls the church, the pillar and bulwark of truth, which is very, very important. And because the church faithfully guards the faith, she guards the memory of Christ's words. And because that member, we talked about how the church is mother, not in the same way that God is father,

but the church is mother in the sense that, again, she continues to teach us. It's through the church that we're handed on eternal life. It's from God, but it's through the church that we're given that eternal life. and as a mother who teaches our children to speak, and so to understand and communicate, the church our mother teaches us the language of faith in order to introduce us to the understanding and life of faith. And that's just so vastly important. Now, at the end, the last four paragraphs,

172 to 175, most of them, well, 173, 174, 175, those paragraphs are extended quotes from a man named St. Iranaeus of Leone. And this is so important, St. Ironaus of Leone, he was a disciple of a man named St. Polycarp, who was a direct disciple of a man named John the Apostle. This is really, really important. So St. Ironaus of Leone, he was around the years 130 to 202. So right at the very beginning. Now, we're talking about early church fathers. He's an early church father. And again, with a direct connection to John the Apostle, one of the things we've established, where we've tried to at least assert, has been the reality of apostolic succession, the fact that here is the church where here's the apostles, like Jesus, right, gathered the 12 apostles around him,

says to send them out. Judas betrayed, so they replaced him with St. Matthias. And so those 12 are sent out, and consistently, as those 12 went out, they would ordain other men who would be their, ultimately their successors, right? They would lay their hands on them, invoke the Holy Spirit, and essentially ordained them as Jesus had ordained them. And one of the things we recognize is that unity and have a, apostolic succession that we can go all the way back to Jesus himself is, I would say it's essential,

but also what we can see is it's historical. Here is St. Aaron S. From 130 to 202, who was himself ordained by Polycarp, who was himself ordained by John the Apostle, who himself was ordained by Jesus Christ. It's him who says, yep, the church, even though scattered throughout the whole world, has received the faith from the apostles, guards with care, as dwelling in a single house. Similarly, it says the quote, believes as of having but one soul and a single heart, preaches, teaches, and hands on this faith with a unanimous voice as if possessing only one mouth.

You know, Jesus, at the last supper, he has a long high priestly prayer. And part of his high priestly prayer is, Father, may they be one. May they be one. is you and I are one. And here is Saint Iranaus who's saying, yeah, that's one of actually the marks. One of the church is it's one. One soul, single heart in a single house, unanimous voice as of possessing only one mouth. He goes on to say in paragraph 174, for the languages differ throughout the world, the content of the tradition is one and the same.

And he goes in contrast like the church in Germany and the church of the Iberians, right, in the Iberian Peninsula, like Spain. in Portugal, those of the Celts, those of the east of Egypt, of Libya, are also those established at the center of the world. They're not different, different languages, different cultures, different customs, but the church's message is true and solid in which one and the same way of salvation appears throughout the whole world. And that is so vastly important. Now, I think we're so used to seeing division among Christians that we think, well, that's just how things are. That's not how things are. That from the very beginning, the church had to fight for unity. And when I say fight, I do not mean some of the broken ways in which churches and Christians have

fought for unity in terms of persecution. What I mean is having to fight for ideas, having to fight for the truth, having to stand for and really wrestle with each other over, okay, so how are we going to live out? How are we going to express? How are we going to understand this faith? That's part of what the church councils have been all about. And we know that that is reality because all the way back in the Acts of the Apostles, the church had to gather in that first church council of Jerusalem and answer the question. So what about these people who are not Jewish? What about Gentiles who are not brought into the old covenant? Can we just bring them into the new covenant? So the church from the very beginning has had to come together, again, not disparately, not separately, has had to come together, invoke the

Holy Spirit and really wrestle with these big questions. But the answer that they've come to about these big questions has been passed on, has been formulated and taught throughout the whole world so that we have this one united faith, one church. Because of that, paragraph 175, we guard with care the faith we've received from the church. For without ceasing, under the action of God's spirit, remember God does this. This deposit of great price as if in an excellent vessel is constantly being renewed and causes the very vessel that contains it to be renewed. One thing that we can recognize as Christians, as Catholic Christians, is that we are constantly in need of renewal. We're constantly in need of conversion. We're constantly needing to come back to the Lord and say,

okay, God, what am I missing? What are my blind spots? Where do I need to grow? Where do I need to understand you? Where do I need to say yes to you? And that's our prayer today. It's just, okay, how can I submit once again to the invitation of the church to come back to the Lord? How can I submit once again to the teaching of the church and say, okay, Lord, I don't have all the answers. Your church is going to guide me into all truth by the power of your Holy Spirit. Help me today. Help me today.

Not just so I can know more about you, but so that in knowing you, I can love you better, I can follow you better, and in knowing you, I can be renewed. And that's the whole thing, to be renewed. by the truth of the gospel, by the truth of the Holy Spirit, by the truth that the church continues to proclaim throughout the world. So we pray for that. I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.