The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 261: Justification (2025)

Episode Date: September 18, 2025

What does it mean to be justified? The Catechism teaches us today about the grace of the Holy Spirit and its power to justify us. Fr. Mike explains how justification detaches us from sin and purifies our hearts. We learn that justification brings about a marvelous inward transformation that bears witness to God's great mercy. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1987-1995. 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 it 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 to our heavenly home. This is Day 261. We're reading paragraphs in 1987 to 1995, 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 catechism in a year reading plan by visiting

ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y, and you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications, because today is day 261. You know, we're getting closer and closer to that 265 mark, which means only 100 days after this. But, man, why would we want to rush? I don't know, because this has been so good. Actually, today, ah, today is article two here in this next section on salvation. And it's on grace and justification. And so this is a huge, massive topic. Just to understand how is it that we are justified? How are we saved? Like, what is grace? What does grace do in our lives? Now, we talked about this, of course, in pillar one, but we're also talking about this in a very significant way here in pillar three, because, man,

the life of the Holy Spirit, this is how we're called to live, right? That we're not just covered by grace. Grace does something inside of us, right? We're not just clothed with Holy Spirit. Spirit, not just clothed in Christ, although, yes, of course, we are, but our fundamental disposition towards the Lord is radically reoriented. We are made into new creatures. Remember, we talked about this in Pillow 2, that what the sacraments do, what Jesus does through the sacraments in us, the Holy Spirit, right, radically changes us. We have become a new creation. And so what is that? And what does grace do? How does grace justify us? How does Jesus Christ justify us through the power of the Holy Spirit? We're talking about all of those things beginning today for the next few days,

which is just, I mean, man, talk about something that really is complex, and yet at the same time is so ultimately simple. That was so complex because what do all these words mean justification and sanctification and grace and merit and faith and works, all these things? And yet at the same time, here's what Jesus Christ has done. The grace of the Holy Spirit has the power to justify us. That is to cleanse us from our sins and to communicate to us the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ and through baptism. That's what we're going to talk about today. So let's pray to our Heavenly Father, Father in heaven, you are good and you desire that your children not only come to know you, but become like you. Lord, in the life of the Holy Spirit,

the life of grace, you give us your gift. You make us like you. By sending us your Holy Spirit, we have become partakers in the divine nature and by sending us your Holy Spirit you give us the power to live as sons and daughters of God. So Lord this day, wherever we are right now, please meet us with that grace. Wherever we are right now, please meet us with your salvation, meet us with your justification and sanctification. Meet us with your Holy Spirit. Lord God, just meet us and help us help us to see you in this world around us. Help us to hear your voice. Help us to become like you so that all may see and know you.

And so that you may be glorified in all things. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. It's Day 261. We are reading paragraphs 1987 to 1995. Article 2.

Grace and justification. justification. The grace of the Holy Spirit has the power to justify us, that is, to cleanse us from our sins and to communicate to us the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ and through baptism. As St. Paul wrote to the Romans, but if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, for we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all. But the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves as dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we take part in Christ's passion by dying to

sin and in his resurrection by being born to a new life. We are members of his body, which is the church, branches grafted on to the vine, which is himself. As St. Athanasius wrote, God gave himself to us through his spirit. By the participation of the spirit, we become communicants in the divine nature. For this reason, those in whom the Spirit dwells are divinized. The first work of the grace of the Holy Spirit is conversion, effecting justification in accordance with Jesus' proclamation at the beginning of the gospel, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Moved by grace, man turns toward God and away from sin, thus accepting forgiveness and righteousness from on high. Justification is not only the remission of sins, but also the same

sanctification and renewal of the interior man. Justification detaches man from sin, which contradicts the love of God, and purifies his heart of sin. Justification follows upon God's merciful initiative of offering forgiveness. It reconciles man with God. It frees from the enslavement to sin, and it heals. Justification is at the same time the acceptance of God's righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ. Righteousness, or justice, here means the rectification.

of divine love. With justification, faith, hope, and charity are poured into our hearts, and obedience to the divine will is granted us. Justification has been merited for us by the passion of Christ, who offered himself on the cross as a living victim, holy and pleasing to God, and whose blood has become the instrument of atonement for the sins of all men. Justification is conferred in baptism, the sacrament of faith. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who makes us inwardly just by the power of His mercy. Its purpose is the glory of God and of Christ, and the gift of eternal life. As St. Paul further wrote to the Romans, But now, the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, although the law and the

prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction. Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance

he had passed over former sins. It was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus. Justification establishes cooperation between God's grace and man's freedom. On man's part, it is exquisite. expressed by the ascent of faith to the Word of God, which invites him to conversion,

and in the cooperation of charity with the prompting of the Holy Spirit, who proceeds and preserves his assent. As is stated at the Council of Trent, when God touches man's heart through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, man himself is not inactive while receiving that inspiration, since he could reject it, and yet, without God's grace, he cannot by his own free will move himself toward justice in God's sight. Justification is the most excellent work of God's love made manifest in Christ Jesus and granted by the Holy Spirit. It is the opinion of St. Augustine that the justification of the wicked is a greater work than the creation of heaven and earth, because heaven and earth will pass

away, but the salvation and justification of the elect will not pass away. He holds also that the justification of sinners surpasses the creation of the angels in justice, in that it bears witness to a greater mercy. The Holy Spirit is the master of the interior life. By giving birth to the inner man, justification entails the sanctification of his whole being. St. Paul further writes to the Romans, Just as you once yielded your members to impurity

and to greater and greater iniquity, so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life. there we have it paragraphs 1987 to 1995 incredible just beautiful so beautiful i love that the catechism continually quotes st paul's letter to the romans which is an incredible letter to those roman christians

christians in rome about what had god has done for us and this is the massive key i mean everything we've been talking about right for well for 261 days has been about what god does for us and so here we are when we're looking now at our calling, how we live, the third pillar of the catechism, it is essential for us to recognize that we don't do any of this on our own, that we, A, we can't do any of this on our own, and B, that we don't do any of this on our own, that this is God's grace working through us, coming to us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let's just go back to paragraph 1987. This, all of this when it comes to justification and grace. The grace of the Holy Spirit has the power to justify us. That is, to cleanse us.

us from our sins and to communicate to us the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ through baptism. Okay. So what's what is righteousness? In paragraph 1991, it kind of defines this. This says righteousness or justice here means the rectitude of divine love. With justification, faith, hope, and charity are poured into our hearts and obedience to the divine will is granted to us. So what is that? So here, the Holy Spirit has communicated to us. We're justified. Okay, what does that mean? In some ways, we're made right with God. We're brought into a right relationship with God. We have the gift of faith, the gift of hope, the gift of charity, poured into our hearts, and we also then get to have the power to have obedience to the divine will. We have the power

to do something we couldn't do before. Again, remember, the law on its own, it's good, but it's not enough. It's good, but it's limited because it doesn't give the power to follow the law. But this righteousness, right, this justification made right with God. Because we have the power of the Holy Spirit, we have God himself living in us. So we're brought into a right relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Because faith, hope, and love is important to our hearts. We have God's spirit living in us. We have grace. So we actually can say yes to God's will. We have the ability to be obedient to God's will, which is amazing. Remember, we'll go back to paragraph 1988. It says, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we take part in Christ's

passion by dying to sin. Remember, the Holy Spirit makes possible. So your Holy Spirit makes actual what Jesus made possible. So through the power of the Holy Spirit, we take part in Christ's passion by dying to sin. And next step, in his resurrection, by being born to a new life, where members of his body, which is the church, branches grafted onto the vine, which is himself. So we don't only participate in Christ's death. Yes, we do. We need to.

We have done that through baptism. But we also get to participate in Christ's resurrection by being born to a new life. And so we have to live this new life, right? So paragraph, 1989, the first work of grace, the first work of the grace of the Holy Spirit is conversion. And that's what brings about justification in accordance with Jesus' proclamation saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So when we're moved by grace, this conversion, we turn away from sin and toward God. We accept God's forgiveness and we reject that sinfulness. And this is just so good.

So again, justification is not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior person. That's in Council of Trent. So we recognize that conversion, the sanctification, this work of the Holy Spirit in us. Yes, our sins are forgiven. Remember we talked about this when it came to the Sacrament of Reconciliation? That there is forgiveness. And that is amazing, incredible. But there's even more than just forgiveness.

There's reconciliation. We're brought into this relationship with God. And that we're also restored. And this is what it's saying in paragraph 1989. Justification, that original movement is not only the remission of sins, but also sanctification and renewal of the interior person, the interior man, it says here. Moving on, how does it do this? Well, 1990, it says justification detaches man from sin, which contradicts the love of God

and purifies his heart of sin. And this is just, oh, and this is one of those things I hear this. And I think, oh, that is what it does. And that's what I want it to do in my life even more. Because I don't know if you've ever had this experience, but just that sense of like, okay, I've been forgiven, you know, maybe I'm originally in baptism, of course. And then when we go back to reconciliation, we go back to confession, yes, I've been reconciled to the Lord. And so here's this detachment from sin, justification, the initial justification of baptism and faith, of course.

But it follows upon God's merciful love in such a way that it purifies our hearts of sin. And we get to look at our hearts and say, okay, Lord, is there a deeper and deeper way that you want to move in my heart? Is there a deeper and deeper way that you want to purify my heart? Because he does. And this is the great news that not only just to do. justification, originally, original justification, detach us from sin, but also purifies our heart from sin. Because at the same time, it is the acceptance of God's righteousness, right? Remember that right relationship, that justice, that faith, hope, and love, and obedience. And I love

this paragraph 1992. This justification has been merited for us by the passion of Christ, who offered himself on the cross as a living victim, holy and pleasing to God, and whose blood has become the instrument of atonement for the sins of all men. That is so amazing. That is so amazing. So incredible. Jesus did this. God did this for us. Justification is conferred in baptism, the sacrament of faith, and it conforms us to the righteousness of God. It makes us inwardly just by the power of his mercy. So here's the thing to understand. We're made inwardly just. We're not simply declared just. We're not simply declared righteous. God makes us righteous by baptism and faith. And that's so important for us to understand because this is not simply a legal justification

where we're simply declared just. But grace changes us. The Holy Spirit changes us. We're truly, inwardly, transformed by the power of God's mercy. And why? Why? For the glory of God in Christ and the gift of eternal life,

which is so amazing. And what it does is it establishes cooperation between God's grace in our freedom. And that's so important. I mean, the Council of Trent says this so clearly in paragraph 1993. It says, when God touches man's heart through the illumination of the Holy Spirit. Man himself is not inactive while receiving the inspiration

because we're not merely passive recipients of God's grace. We're always active recipients of God's grace because we could reject it. And yet it goes on to say, without God's grace, he cannot by his own free will move himself toward justice and God's sight. So even we absolutely need God's race and we are not passive recipients. We're active recipients of God's grace. And without it, we could not have our own free will move ourselves towards justice and God's side. We couldn't even move towards justice in God's sight, which is amazing. Because justification, paragraph 1994, we're just trucking through all these paragraphs. Paragraph 1994 says, justification is the most excellent work of God's love made manifest in Christ Jesus and granted by the Holy Spirit. So incredible. It's the most

excellent work of God's love. We wanted to say in this paragraph that St. Augustine says, justification of the wicked is a greater work than the creation of heaven and earth. That's amazing. justification of the wicked is a greater work than the creation of heaven and earth. Why? Because heaven and earth will pass away, but the salvation and justification of the elect will not pass away. Also, San Augustine said that the justification of sinners surpasses the creation of the angels injustice and that it bears witness to a greater mercy. Amazing and so, so incredible. Last little note here, and it's not just a little note in the sense that there's one sentence, well, two sentences, essentially. it says in 1995, the Holy Spirit is the master of the interior life by giving birth to the inner

man. Justification entails the sanctification of his whole being. Remember, to sanctify, right, to make holy is to set it apart for God. So to belong to God. The justification entails the sanctification, the setting apart, the transformation in so many ways of one's whole being. And that's what God's gift is here, which is just so incredible. I hope that none of this today has felt abstract. Maybe it has. Maybe it has to in some ways. But ultimately, this is not an abstract thing. Ultimately, this is so concrete and this is so tangible in our lives. What Jesus did for us is tangible, right? His life, death and resurrection, his passion, the pascal mystery, the death and resurrection of Jesus is tangible. This is something that happened in time. I mean, that cross is

tangible. Those nails, the crown of thorns, that's tangible. And is rising from the dead, is being transformed and rising to new life, that is tangible. And so when the Holy Spirit comes upon us in this work of justification and giving us grace, that is tangible as well. One of the problems for me, of course, and maybe for you too, is if I keep myself away from God's grace, if I don't allow that faith, hope, and love to be poured onto my heart and I don't live in obedience to the Father's will, then it's abstract, right? Then it's intangible. but when you and I look at our lives and say today today Jesus because of your grace because of the holy spirit for the Lord for the Father in heaven I'm going to walk in faith I'm going to walk in hope

I'm going to walk in love today today because of what you've done Jesus because you poured out your grace into my heart and brought me into your body the church I'm going to be obedient to the Father's will because when that happens every action of the day is an act of grace, and therefore it's no longer abstract. It's very tangible, it's very concrete. Tomorrow we're talking about grace, and what grace is, and it's going to be incredible. But today, today, so is salvation, so is justification, and just to take some time today and thank God, thank God for the grace of salvation.

Thank God for the gift of faith, hope, and love. Thank God that he enables us to be reconciled to him when we fall and when we fail. and to be obedient to him when we walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. 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.