The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 246: Mercy and the Mystery of Sin (2025)

Episode Date: September 3, 2025

Jesus reveals God’s offer of loving mercy to sinners. To accept this gift, we must identify and admit our failings. Recognizing our sins enables us to further cooperate in our redemption. Sin can be understood and categorized in several ways, but every sin wounds our nature and damages our relationships with God and neighbor. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1846-1853. 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 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 246. We are reading paragraphs 1846 to 1853, as always. I am 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.

If they have the Catholic Church, you can also download your own catechism in a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y, and I'm grateful for Ascension press to do this whole thing. It's so good. Make the Catechism. They make the podcast available. Ascension makes all this content. It's so good.

Lastly, you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. Today is Day 246. I have that song. I think for the last number of days. Whenever I say today, I think, today it's going to be the day, going to make it back to you. Oh, my gosh. So I apologize twice.

One is for making that reference again. Secondly, for kind of singing. Okay, today 246, reading paragraphs 1846, 28, 1853. We're talking about sin today, actually, for the next three days. We're talking about sin from day 246 to 248. We're going to talk about what is not just the nature of sin and what sins are. That's good. We need to know those things.

But also, this article, Article 8 on sin is. The first half of it, the first part of it is called mercy and sin. And so one of the things we realize is we can't really understand mercy until we understand sin. We can't really understand really what it is to be forgiven until we really grasp what it is we're forgiven of. Does that make sense? And so, yes, the church has, we have to take this time in these next couple days to investigate deeply with the mystery, the mystery of iniquity, right? The mystery of sin, the mystery of our own brokenness. So today we're looking at not only mercy and sin. We're also looking at the definition of sin. And I'll read the Catechism's definitions because I have to.

I'm obligated to do that, obviously, because it's so important. I'm just teasing. But also, I'm going to give my own definitions of sin, which you've heard a thousand times. One of the things we oftentimes do, or maybe I oftentimes do is here's my own kind of my take on this, this deep and complicated and very complex issue. And then we realize, oh, here's the Catechism. Here's the church that has thought deeply through this. the Church that has processed this and doesn't just have my own particular narrow definition of something, but has a comprehensive definition. I love that. Paragraph 1849 to 1851, we'll talk about the definition of sin. And then lastly, we'll conclude today with looking at the different

kinds of sins. And so, you know, talk about all those things today. Let's launch into today, talking about mercy and sin, talking about definition of sin and kinds of sin by calling upon the Lord, the Lord who conquers sin. Lord who conquers death, the one who conquers all. The one who conquers all those things that conquer us we call upon our father in jesus name father in heaven we pray we pray to you we ask that you please uh receive our thanksgiving receive our praise today and father we also ask that in the in the name of your son jesus christ we ask that you please grant us a heart that's that's open you know a mind that's open grant us that gift of docility that you can teach us and we can not just not just hear your words, hear the words of your teaching, but also to receive them.

Help us to truly receive what it is you want to reveal to us today. The mystery of mercy and the mystery of iniquity, the mystery of sin. Let us and our hearts be convicted by sin and let us in our hearts be convicted by your mercy. We ask all of this 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. And then today is day 246. We're reading paragraphs 1846 to 1853. Article 8. Sin. Mercy and sin. The gospel is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God's mercy to sinners.

The angel announced to Joseph, you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. The same is true of the Eucharist, the sacrament of redemption. Jesus said, This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for men. for the forgiveness of sins. St. Augustine stated, God created us without us, but he did not will to save us without us. To receive his mercy, we must admit our faults. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. St. Paul affirms, where sin increased, grace

abounded all the more. But to do its work, work. Grace must uncover sin so as to convert our hearts and bestow on us righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Like a physician who probes the wound before treating it, God by his word and by his spirit casts a living light on sin. St. John Paul II wrote, Conversion requires convincing of sin. It includes the interior judgment of conscience, and this, being a proof of the action of the spirit of truth in man's inmost being, becomes at the same time the start of a new grant of grace and love. Receive the Holy Spirit. Thus, in this convincing concerning sin, we discover a double gift, the gift of the truth of conscience and the gift of the

certainty of redemption. The spirit of truth is the consoler. The definition of sin. Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience. It is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. It has been defined as an utterance, a deed or a desire contrary to the eternal law. Sin is an offense against God. Against you, you alone have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight. Sin sets itself against God's love for us and turns our hearts away from it. Like the first sin, it is disobedience, a revolt against God. through the will to become like gods, knowing and determining good and evil.

Sin is thus love of oneself even to contempt of God. In this proud self-exaltation, sin is diametrically opposed to the obedience of Jesus which achieves our salvation. It is precisely in the passion, when the mercy of Christ is about to vanquish it, that sin most clearly manifests its violence and its many forms. Unbelief, murderous hatred, shunning and mockery by the leaders, and the people. Pilots, cowardice, and the cruelty of the soldiers. Judas's betrayal, so bitter to Jesus. Peter's denial, and the disciples flight. However, at the very hour of darkness, the hour of the prince of this world, the sacrifice of Christ secretly becomes the source from which the forgiveness

of our sins will pour forth inexhaustibly. The different kinds of sins. There are a great many kinds of sins. Scripture provides several lists of them. The letter to the Galatians contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the spirit. St. Paul writes, now the works of the flesh are plain, fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Sins can be distinguished according to their objects, as can every human act, or according to the virtues they oppose by excess or defect, or according to the commandments they violate. They can

also be classed according to whether they concern God, neighbor, or oneself. They can be divided into spiritual and carnal sins, or again as sins in thought, word, deed, or omission. The root of sin is in the heart of man in his free will according to the teaching of the Lord who said for out of the heart come evil thoughts murder adultery fornication theft false witness slander these are what defile a man but in the heart also resides charity the source of the good and pure works which sin wounds all right there we have it paragraphs 1846 to 1853 talking about sin. I love the fact, and I mentioned this a little bit at the beginning, I love the fact that the church begins talking about Article 8, sin, which we'll keep talking about for the next two days after

this, by talking about mercy and just even what it says, here is the gospel. It says this 1846. The gospel is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God's mercy to sinners. I just pause on that for one second. I mean, it's not the totality of the gospel, but to realize the good news, what is the good news? The good news is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God's mercy to sinners. What is required for the good news to be good? Here's the important thing. What is required for the good news to be good? It's not just news.

It's not bad news. It is the good news. What is required for that? Well, if you heard, I mean, I've heard this example before. If you were told that, hey, congratulations, today you get to go into the hospital and have a heart transplant, that would not be good news probably for most people listening to this right now. That would be really inconvenient. That would be painful.

that would be a loss in so many ways. But if you knew that you had a heart in your chest that was not working, if you knew that you've been waiting for however long, for days, weeks, months, years, for a compatible heart donor, essentially, and you've been desperate for this. Because you knew that your heart had failed. You knew that you could not go on living with the heart in your chest.

And then you got the call that said, hey, get to the hospital as soon as possible. We have a heart for you. We have a heart transplant. That's good news. So we can't actually have the good news. the good news itself, right, of God's mercy to sinners is not good news unless we realize, oh, I'm a sinner. And this is why this is so important. This is one of the reasons why when we talk

about original sin, this is we, I think, in our culture, we have forgotten. We have forgotten the reality of original sin. And because we've forgotten the reality of original sin, that fact that every one of us is born into a broken relationship with God, with other people, with ourselves, because we've forgotten that, the mercy of God is, is like, oh, that's neat, I guess. The gospel of God's merciful love to sinners is lost on us. Because we're not that desperate heart patient, right? We're not that desperate person awaiting your heart transplant.

We're people who are fine. I'm okay. I don't have this felt need for mercy. I don't have this felt need for forgiveness. I don't have this felt need for God. Because why? Because, you know what? guys, I'm fine. But, but if we pay attention to this, if we pay attention to this article today,

tomorrow, the next day, we pay attention to the reality of our lives, again, that every one of us is born into this world with a broken relationship with God with other people and with ourselves, and then we live out of that, right? We continue to break it. We continue to break our relationship with God with other people and with ourselves. Then we realize, oh my goodness, Lord, I need this good news. I need this good news to be absolutely true. Remember, second, line in paragraph 1846. It says the very beginning of the gospel, the angel announced to Joseph, you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. And even the heart of the Eucharist, while so many of us, we love the Eucharist because this is truly Jesus Christ,

body, blood, soul, and divinity. This is him itself. You know, he himself at the mass, amazing. But the Eucharist is the sacrament of redemption. Jesus saying, this is the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. And this is just so important because if we're not going to, if we're going to receive God's mercy, we have to admit our faults. If we're going to receive God's mercy, we have to admit the fact, I need mercy. And again, I just want to pause. I know it feels, maybe it feels to you like I'm beating a dead horse right now.

But man, this is so necessary. Because if the gift is a burden and just, and that's all it is, if the gift is just perceived as a burden. Hey, you gotta go into the hospital today, get a heart transplant. Okay, I guess, well then the joy, the gratitude, the amazing good news of God's mercy is lost. But when you and I realize I am dead in the water, I'm not good, and I'm not good enough.

God is good. And Jesus Christ's sacrifice, that's enough. Now, what I have to do is I have to admit my fault and realize that I need him. But also, what a great gift. Also, what a great gift. I like a lot of St. Augustine's quotes, but paragraph 1847, that's one of my top all-time favorites. God created us without us. but he did not will to save us without us.

Isn't that great? So God created us without your permission, but he will not save you without your permission, without your cooperation. And that's why we need to admit our sins and acknowledge our need for God. Okay, so hopefully this, I don't know, again, dead horse beating it?

I'm not sure. But I just really believe that for the next, well, for rest of our lives, we can be filled with gratitude because, yeah, I was lost and had been found. That's why they wrote that song, Amazing Grace, that saved a wretch like me. Yeah, so good. Okay, let's move on.

The definition of sin, as I mentioned. Okay, definition of sin, 1849 to 1851. Sin is what? Sins an offense against reason. I think that's remarkable that the church begins by saying not just an offense against God, but sin is an offense against reason. This doesn't make sense. This is the truth, and I've worked against the truth.

It's a sin against right conscience. I love this. It's failure and genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. What does that mean? Okay. Well, we recognize that a lot of times when it comes to when we've chosen sin, it's we've traded the ultimate thing that be God himself or a penultimate thing like a love of neighbor for a non-ultimate thing. Father, give us an example. Great. Thanks for asking camper. Here's an example out of the Bible would be, remember Jacob and Esau? So here is Jacob. He's the homebody. Here's Esau. He's the one that goes out into the woods. He hunts and whatnot. And here's Jacob. Jacob made some red stuff. If you remember the book of Genesis,

you remember the red stuff, the red porridge, the stew, whatever it was that Jacob had made back at the ranch. And here's Esau. And he's coming in from hunting. And he's hungry. And he says, give me some of that red stuff. And Jacob says, okay, I'll give it to you if you give me your birthright. Esau says, I don't care about the birthright. Issa says, I don't care about the birthright. You can have it. Give me some of the red stuff. And so he trades his birthright for the red stuff. This is a biblical example of what you and I do when it comes to sin. So I'm called to love God. But you know what I really want to do is I want to do? I want to do what I want to do. And so I'm attached to my own stuff. So I trade in the great thing, the ultimate thing for a non-ultimate

thing. So every time you and I, every time you and I lie, what we're doing is we're trading in the truth we're connected to God himself for the convenience of the lie, of getting out of the truth. Every time you and I give in to the sin of gossip, we are trading, taking care of our neighbor, that that honors that belongs to our neighbor just because they have dignity as a human being for the momentary pleasure of having that piece of information that gets people interested in us, or that gets people to pay attention to us, or that we just kind of get that pleasure of sharing this detail. So every time we sin, there's an attachment. And I love how it says a perverse attachment to certain goods, because we're called to have some kind of attachment. We can be attached to good

things of this world. But a perverse attachment doesn't order them rightly in the sense that God always needs to be the ultimate, right? And then to love of God, ultimate, penultimate, love of neighbor. And true love, remember, is willing the good of the other. And yet we can. can sometimes have this perverse attachment to certain goods that then causes us to choose ourselves over God. It causes us to choose a thing over others. And so I love the fact that it goes on to say that sin wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. That when we sin, we become less human. It wounds our very nature. We're made for goodness, truth, life, beauty. We're made for all these good things. You're made for joy. And every time we sin, it wounds that being

made for truth and beauty and love and joy. And also injures human solidarity. I mean, think about even using the example of gossip. You can be the person who someone shares piece of gossip with. You can be the person someone, you know, kind of confides in when it comes to gossip. And that's okay, that's great. You're being united. Well, at the same time, you realize that now I'm not actually being united with this person because I know now that they're the kind of person who will talk about me behind my back as well. It wounds and injures human solidarity. And so sin has been defined as an utterance, again, something we've said, a deed, something you've done, or a desire contrary to the eternal law. And that's so good because, remember, it's not just

in my actions, also in my words, and also in the desires that I feed. 1850 highlights that sin is an offense against God. I think sometimes it's very helpful for us to be reminded that I remember as a kid thinking, how can something be a sin? No one got hurt. And then wondering, how do I defend that. If no one got hurt, how can that be a sin? And we realize that every sin, that the measure of a sin is not, did someone get hurt? But the measure of a sin is, did I violate God's law? Did I work against what God has revealed to me that he wants me to do? Sin sets itself against God's love for us and turns our hearts away from it. At the heart of it, it says here, like the first sin, it is disobedience. revolt against God.

That's one of the reasons why the definition I offer in the complex definitions from 1849 to 1851, my definition, you already know what, you've heard it a thousand times, is when I turn to God and say, God, I know what you want, I don't care, I want what I want. So like the first sin, all sins are disobedience, a revolt against God. So sin is thus, it says here in 1850, love of oneself, even to contempt of God. man i don't know if you ever heard it put that way love of oneself even to the to contempt of god when i say god i know what you want ah but i want what i want in other words contempt of god in this proud self exaltation sin is diametrically opposed to the obedience of jesus what did jesus do in all

things jesus was obedient he was obedient to his mother and father on earth he was also obedient to his father in heaven. And sin is diametrically opposed to the obedience of Jesus. And paragraph 1851 highlights it is precisely in the passion when the mercy of Christ is about to vanquish it that sin most clearly manifests its violence and its many forms. So realize that here is Jesus, how does he vanquish sin through obedience? How does he conquer sin through obedience to his father? It's remarkable. And in that moment, all of these ways that sin can manifest itself are revealed. I love that these lists are helpful for me because they become the mirror, right? They become those examination of conscience, unbelief, murderous hatred, shunning and mockery by the leaders and the

people, pilots cowardice and the cruelty of the soldiers. Judas's betrayal, so bitter to Jesus, Peter's denial and the disciples' flight. And these are all things that we know happened at the passion. But when I have to see them listed out like this, it just, again, it convicts and says, okay, Lord, where is their unbelief in my heart? Where is their murderous hatred in my heart? Where is their shunning or mockery or cowardice? And yet, in that moment, in the very hour of darkness, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ secretly becomes the source from which the forgiveness of our sins will pour forth inexhaustibly. Last two things. I know it's a little long, but these last two things here, that there are a lot of lists of sins in the Bible. We have one from Galatians. Later on,

we have the list that Jesus himself offers. And there are things like, you know, fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, factions, envy, drunkenness, crowzing, and the like. What we get to ask ourselves is the question, do I consider all of those to be sins? Let me just to be able to Put that to yourself. Do I consider jealousy or selfishness or envy or drunkenness? Do I consider those to be sins that if I engage in them, I am omitting myself from God's kingdom? Or here's Jesus' list. From out of the heart, he says, come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. There's just a few in that small list, that short list.

What I get to do is I get to ask, do I believe, right? Remember a couple days ago, we talked about the difference between simply agreeing and actually having faith. That agreeing, okay, give me an example of idolatry that would lead to hell. Give me an example of fornication that is always going to lead to death, right? Evil thoughts, how about that, so that I can agree with you versus, okay, faith says, yep, the scripture highlights this, that these are violations of God's will. These are violations of God's law. These are violations of what God wants. And so I have faith. I trust you, God. I trust that I have to do everything I can in my power and live by the

spirit so that I can avoid these sins and avoid hell to avoid eternal death. I think there's something so powerful about, okay, I've gotten to the place where I might need to know what licentiousness is. I might ask the question to be able to ask, okay, just for clarity's sake, not because I need to be convinced of this, I just need to know what this is so I can apply it to my life, to move from the place of prove it to me so I can agree, to the place of explain it to me, and I trust you. Does that make sense? And I think that there's something really good about looking at these different kinds of sins because they, some of them, again, are in thought, some of them are in word, some of them are indeed, and some of them are in omission.

But the root of sin is in our hearts, in our free will. And so we realize that we need the Lord into our hearts. Because, yes, from our hearts come these wounds, come these sins. But the last line here in paragraph 1853 is, but in the heart also resides charity, the source of the good and pure works which sin wounds. So your heart is good, just broken. and my heart is good, just broken. And from my heart comes all these sins, but also from my heart comes love.

From your heart comes all these sins, but also from your heart comes love. That's why today we're focusing on not just sin, but sin and mercy. You guys, I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless. Thank you.