The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 280: The Christian Name (2026)

Episode Date: October 7, 2026

What does it mean to bear the Christian name? The Catechism reminds us that in Baptism, we are given our Christian name, which is sacred. Our name represents the dignity of each of us and depicts how God loves us each uniquely. Fr. Mike explains that each time we make the Sign of the Cross, we call upon the Lord to bear witness to what we are about to do. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 2156-2167. 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 sure goodness for us, revealed in scripture, and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a Year is brought to 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 toward a heavenly home. This is day 280. We're reading paragraphs 2156 to 2167. There's some nuggets in there. 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 catechism into your reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y, and you can click follow or subscribe your podcast app for daily updates, daily notifications to keep on track. Today, you'd see that there's nuggets. You'd also see that this is a day that I just want to say thank you. Once again, to every person who has been praying for this podcast, praying for all the people working on this podcast, praying for each other. Thank you when you do that. It just, I think it matters a lot for praying for each other. Also, all of you who have supported the production of this podcast financially, we couldn't do this without you to get all the way to day 280.

That's a feat. And also, you guys pressing play. It's so good. Now, again, we're finishing commandment two, second commandment today. Tomorrow we'll launch into the third commandment. But today we're finishing up the name of the Lord is holy and that we must never take the name of the Lord in vain. But this is going to be one of those things where as we're reading through the commandments,

you're going to be struck by the fact that the catechism has put so much thought and so much prayer into these commandments that there may be some new aspects to the commandments that you've never considered in the past. And this is one of them. Today we're going to talk about here under the umbrella of the second commandment, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. We're going to talk about what it is to bear the Christian name, to bear the name Christ, that when you're baptized, you're baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And so in baptism, the Lord's name sanctifies us. And the Christian receives his name. in the church. Therefore, we actually can lift up the Christian name, the name of God. By living

the way he's called us to live, we can also, in some ways, like defame, right? Or blaspheme the name of Christian by the way we live. And that's one of the key things. You know, so often we can look in our lives, and we talked about this so many times. There are such things as personal sins, but no such thing as a private sin that here we have personal sins, yes, but since I bear the name of Christ, you bear the name of Christ if you're a Christian. then no sin we have is, is private. There's a personal aspect to every sin, but there's also this communal aspect to every sin. Because we bear the name of Christian, we're called to live in a certain way. And when we don't live that way, there's scandal, right? There's the sin of, in some ways

even, going so far as to say, blaspheming against the name of God himself. So as we launch into that and looking at some nuggets at the end of this, just keep that in mind. Let's pray and ask our father to sanctify his name in our lives, that his name may be glorified in how we live as we pray Father in heaven, we give you thanks. In the name of your son, we ask you, please send your Holy Spirit

upon us in this moment. Send your Holy Spirit so that every action of ours, every word we speak, even every thought that passes through our minds, glorifies your name, that every thought, word, and action reveals you, and reveals the truth of your name, the truth of your identity, the truth of your goodness,

your strength, your power, your justice to this world. Help us to never obscure your name by how we live, but help us to reveal your name by how we live, how we speak, and even how we think. In Jesus' name we pray, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. It is day 280. We are reading paragraphs 2156 to 2167. The Christian name.

The sacrament of baptism is conferred in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. In baptism, the Lord's name sanctifies man and the Christian receives his name in the church. This can be the name of a saint, that is, of a disciple who has lived a life of exemplary fidelity to the Lord. The patron saint provides a model of charity. We are assured of his intercession. The baptismal name can also express a Christian mystery or Christian virtue. The Code of Canon law states, parents, sponsors, and the pastor are to see that a name is not given which is foreign to Christian sentiment.

The Christian begins his day, his prayers, and his activities with the sign of the cross. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. The baptized person dedicates the day to the glory of God and calls on the Savior's grace, which lets him act in the Spirit as a child of the Father. The sign of the cross strengthens us in temptations and difficulties. God calls each one by name. Everyone's name is sacred. The name is the icon of the person.

It demands respect as a sign of the dignity of the one who bears it. The name one receives is a name for eternity. In the kingdom, the mysterious and unique character of each person marked with God's name will shine forth in splendor. As the Book of Revelation states, To him who conquers, I will give a white stone with a new name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it. The book of Revelation further states,

Then I looked, and lo, on Mount Zion stood the lamb, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name and his father's name written on their foreheads. In brief. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name and all the earth? The Second Commandment enjoins respect for the Lord's name. The name of the Lord is holy. The Second Commandment forbids every improper use of God's name.

name. Blasphemy is the use of the name of God, of Jesus Christ, of the Virgin Mary, and of the saints in an offensive way. False oaths call on God to be witness to a lie. Perjury is a grave offense against the Lord who is always faithful to his promises. St. Ignatius of L'Olla stated, Do not swear whether by the creator or any creature, except truthfully, of necessity, and with reverence. In baptism, the Christian receives his name in the church. Parents, Godparents, and the pastor are to see that he be given a Christian name. The patron saint provides a model of charity and the assurance of his prayer. The Christian begins his prayers and activities with the sign of the cross, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. God calls each one by name.

right there we have it paragraphs 2156 to the nuggets at the end of 2167 the Christian name man this is it's just incredible again 2156 highlights the fact that in baptism the sacrament is conferred in the name of the father and the son of the holy spirit think about this once again an oath is calling upon the lord god is taking the god's name to bear witness to one's actions to bear witness to what one says right and yet think about this at the beginning of every one of our How do we begin our prayers? How do we begin the Mass? How do we begin every sacrament? We begin in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, which is to say in a certain sense, again, keep this loosely, in a certain sense, virtually every prayer that we pray is connected to

oaths, right? It's connected to that. I'm calling upon God to bear witness to what I'm about to do. So even when you sit down to pray like your before meal prayer that bless us the Lord and these like gifts, if that's what you pray, we begin by praying in the name of the Father. and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, asking God himself to bear witness to what we're about to do. Isn't that incredible? It's just like so often we just race past this and we don't even realize that, wait a second, when I pray in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, I am calling upon God himself to bear witness to what I'm about to do and to even to bless what I'm about to do.

I mean, the Eucharist itself, I mean, is a covenant meal, right? It renews the covenant every time we enter into this. And how does it do that? Well, partly because we're invoking the Lord's name. There's a covenant oath that's involved at every mass. It's just really remarkable. It's so cool, incredible. In baptism, God's name, the name of Jesus Christ, sanctifies the human person.

And the Christian receives their name in the church. Now, what this Catechism 2156 is highlighting when it says the Christian receives his name in the church is there's a tradition. And it might be going on still. I know it happened in the 2000 year history of the church where someone would have their given name, right, the name that they were born with. And that name could be, like say someone's name was Mars after the God of War. And yet when they became a Christian, they were given a Christian name, a name that was associated either with the old covenant or the new covenant. So Mars could be a name that would then, they'd be baptized as Mark. Or you might be given the name Venus or Aphrodite.

and then when you're baptized, you're baptized as Sarah or Elizabeth, Mary, or another variation of the name of Mary. And so that's a common practice that's happened, happens throughout the world and has happened throughout history. You've even heard the phrase, this is my Christian name. My Christian name is such and such. And they don't just mean, oh, this is my first name, but they truly mean this is the name by which you were baptized. This is the name that was given to you at your baptism. Now, oftentimes we experience this at our birth, essentially, when our parents name us. if our parents are Christian, her parents are Catholic,

there is this, I don't just want to say tradition in the sense of like, oh, it's a custom, but here paragraph 2156 indicates this is actually what you are to do, meaning not just a custom,

but in some ways a certain kind of, this is a deeper custom than just kind of a slight tradition, but a larger tradition than church that meaning, hey, parents, you ought to do this. That sounds more along the lines of a should than anything else.

is that when you're born, when you're baptized, you should be baptized with the name of a saint. That is of a disciple who has lived a life of exemplary, fidelity to the Lord. Why? Because that patron saint now is your patron. That provides a model of charity. We're assured of his or her intercession. This is so important. You can also express a Christian mystery or Christian virtue, like this person's named Hope or she's

named Faith, that kind of situation. Parents, sponsors, and the pastor are to see that a name is not given, which is foreign, to Christian sentiment. So that's very important. So parents and God parents, parents and sponsor, right? And the pastor, if a child was presented to baptism whose name was Lucifer, that would be contrary to Christian sentiment, right? Or if they were named to Satan, that would be contrary to Christian sentiment. That might go without saying, but that's what that means. That's one of the things it means in paragraph 2156. Now, 2157 highlights the fact that the Christian begins his day, his prayers, and his activities with the sign of the cross, basically sanctifying. Remember how

way back when we talked about how lay people, you sanctify every moment, every hour of the day by going into the world bearing the name of Christian. So by the fact that you're bearing the name of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit into your work, into your family, wherever you are. You're sanctifying that day. And so, of course, it makes sense that we would do that like we begin our prayers as we talked about just a second ago. We do that in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. It goes on to say, the baptized person dedicates the day to the glory of God and calls on the Savior's grace, which lets him act in the spirit as a child of the father. So keep this in mind. I don't know how many of you make a morning offering. I recommend it wholeheartedly

to make a morning offering every single morning. Literally the very first thing I do, I hit the alarm. And then the very first prayer is this morning offering. It's an offering just saying, oh, my Jesus, to the mac of the heart of Mary, I offer to you all my prayers, works, sufferings, and joys of this day in union with the holy sacrifice of the mass said throughout the world for all intentions of your most sacred heart for the conversion of sinners, reparation of sins, reunion of all Christians, for the intentions of the Holy Father, our Pope. That's the prayer. Every morning, that's how I begin my day. Now, you might not remember all those words. I recommend that you write them down and they'll come up and pray those at the beginning of

the day. I have a friend, his morning offering, though, he's like, you know what, I could remember that. I could memorize it, but sometimes I get too confused in all the words. So he says what he does. His morning offering is the words, bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts, which we're about to receive from thy bounty to Christ our Lord. Amen. And I say, he's like, you don't mention food in that at all. It's your pre-meal prayer for a lot of Catholics, but food doesn't mention. It's just, bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts. Well, the whole day is God's gifts. And so that's his morning offering. But I recommend that every one of us takes a moment at the beginning of our day. He says, offer that day to the Lord. The last sentence in 2157 says,

The sign of the cross strengthens us in temptations and difficulties, and that's so important. At any given moment, if you are facing temptation to simply make the sign of the cross and say, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, I'm just encouraging you so often, this is the battle. The battle is not just simply, will I do the sin or not? This battle is, am I willing to shut down the temptation? Like honestly, just think about yourself and myself. I think about myself and ask how many times, would I rather kind of, would I rather kind of

of fiddle with temptation, right? Kind of play with temptation. I'm not going to shut the door completely unlock it and bolt it. I'm just going to kind of let it be outside the door and maybe there's a crack in the door and I don't want it to get in, but I'm also not willing to really stamp it out. By making the sign of the cross, what you're saying is I'm locking this door. I am shutting this door. I'm bolting this door and temptation has no space. I'm not going to mess around with temptation. I'm not going to play with temptation. I am putting a stop even to the temptation to sin. I invite every one of us to do this. Too many of us, I think, and maybe I'm just speaking for myself, but too many of us kind of just, again, I don't want it inside, but I'm also not willing to

lock it outside. But when we make that sign of the cross, you know, worship, that's an act of prayer, it's an act of worship. It's an act of, in some ways, adoration to call in the Lord's name and make that sign of the cross. We are shutting the door. We're locking the door. We're bolting the door. And I invite all of us to do that. I love the fact that paragraph 2158 says, God called each one by name, and everyone's name is sacred. Isn't that incredible? Your name is sacred. Because the name is the icon of the person.

It demands respect as a sign of the dignity of the one who bears it. So your name has the dignity because of you, because you're bearing that name. It has a dignity. And the name that you receive from the Lord is a name for eternity. I love this highlights Revelation chapter 2, verse 17, says to him who conquers, like to the one who makes it through this life and enters into heaven. I will give him a white stone with a new name written on the stone, which no one knows except him who receives it. I see this as an image of God's unique love for you. How many times in the

course of our lives, we say, okay, I mean, I know God loves me, but God loves everybody. God loves everyone. And so how special is God's love for me when he loves everyone? He loves everyone and he loves everyone infinitely. And yet here in Revelation 2 verse 17, there's this line that indicates, wait a second, there is a name that you, it's your name, that ultimately only you and God will know this name. I interpret that as meaning, not only does God love you infinitely, he loves you infinitely uniquely. God loves you infinitely, he also loves you infinitely uniquely. There's a name. He knows you in a way he knows no one else. And you're going to have a relationship with him that he has with no one else. You're going to have a relationship with God that he has with no one

else and he'll have a relationship with you that he has with no one else. And there is something about that. And it's summed up in the fact that to the one who conquers, I'll give a white stone with a new name written on the stone, which no one knows except him who receives it. I just think there's something so powerful about that. It's just amazing. And it highlights the fact that God loves you already and he will love you for eternity with the love that is infinite and infinitely unique. I think that's amazing. So, man, I hope we make it. I hope I make it to that eternity with him, and not eternity separated from him. For that, let's pray for each other.

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