The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 29: Knowing the Name of God (2026)

Episode Date: January 29, 2026

We can learn a lot about the nature of God from his Divine Name revealed in Scripture. When God said to Moses, “I am who I am,” this was a revelation of a name as well as a refusal of a name. Fr. Mike explains how this mystery reveals truths about God: he is infinitely above all things; we cannot comprehend him, yet he draws close to us. This Divine Name expresses the steadfast, faithful, unchanging love of God for his people, even when we betray and abandon him. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 205-211. 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'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 29. You guys, we've almost made it to day 30.

That's only one day away. We're reading paragraphs 205 to paragraph 211. A couple things to keep in mind. I'm using the Ascension. of the catechism, which is awesome and beautiful, and I love it. It includes the foundations of faith approach, but you can also follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Same words, same references, same stuff. But, you know, we got a little, some extra bells and whistle, some extra colors in there in the Ascension Edition. You can also download your catechism

in your reading plan for free by visiting ascensionpress.com slash CI. And also, I don't know if you know this. I mentioned it yesterday. I might have mentioned it before this, too. You can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily notifications and we'll get you those notifications. Again, I think I said this yesterday. I've said it again today. If you click subscribe, you click follow, you don't have to find the podcast. The podcast will find you. Oh man, here we go. As I said, today is day 29 reading paragraphs 205 to 211. Yesterday we started talking about God, I believe in God. I believe in God the Father. And that is so incredibly important that is. We also ended yesterday with the reality that God reveals his name.

Now, today, we're taking those next steps. What is the name that God reveals himself as? And so going all the way back to the book of Exodus, where God reveals his name to Moses at the burning bush. And we're going to recover that story. You know that story. We love that story. We're so grateful for that story.

And one of the lines that is so important, I think, is because, okay, God reveals his name as the tetagrammaton is how you say. it, the Y-H-W-H, which is almost impronounceable, in the sense that we don't necessarily know how you would say that word. It has been translated in some ways of saying Yahweh. It's been translated in other ways of saying Jehovah. We don't actually know how it is, but we know that the letters are Y-H-W-H, and we also know that the name is then, I am he who is, or I am who I am, or I am who am. And so it's revealing, right? We talked about this yesterday, how a name makes oneself accessible and invites into relationship. But one of the,

my favorite phrase maybe for today is in paragraph 206, where it says, this revealing of God's name is mysterious, just as God is mystery. It is at once a name revealed and something like the refusal of a name. Like, yes, thank you, catechism. I appreciate that. It is like a name and almost like a refusal of a name. I'm really, that hits my heart right, because sometimes I'm like, oh, golly, I don't even know, Lord. But we're also going to talk about the ways in which the Lord God, right, has revealed his name, but also how God's people then have cared for the Lord God's name and have avoided using it irreverently, and have not just irreverently, but have only wanted to use it in the most sacred of ways. And so we're going to talk about that.

a little bit today. Also, how God not only reveals his name, he reveals his identity, that he is merciful, that he is gracious, that God alone is. And so we're going to talk about that as well today. So since we're talking about God today, let's talk to God today. Father in heaven, you've revealed your heart. You have revealed your name because you want us to be in relationship with you. You want us to share our hearts with you as you have shared. your heart with us. And so this day, we come before you. And we ask that as we call upon your name, you answer quickly, you answer fully, and you help us, help us to understand who it is you are, help us to love who you are, and help us to glorify who you are in this life so we can be happy

with you forever in the next. 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's day 29. We're reading paragraphs 205 to 211. The Living God. God calls Moses from the midst of a bush that burns without being consumed. Exodus chapter 3 states, I am the God of your father.

The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is the God of the fathers, the one who had called and guided the patriarchs in their wanderings. He is the faithful and compassionate. passionate God who remembers them and his promises. He comes to free their descendants from slavery. He is the God who, from beyond space and time, can do this and wills to do it. The God who will put His almighty power to work for this plan.

I am who I am. Exodus chapter 3 further states, Moses said to God, If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, what is his name? What shall I say to them? God said to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, say this to the people of Israel. I am has sent me to you. This is my name forever. And thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. In revealing his mysterious name, Yahweh, I am he who is, I am who am, or I am

who I am. God says who he is, and by what name he is to be called. This divine name is mysterious, just as God is mystery. It is at once a name revealed, and something like the refusal of a name. And hence, it better expresses God as what he is. infinitely above everything that we can understand or say, he is the hidden God. His name is ineffable, and he is the God who makes himself close to men. By revealing his name, God at the same time reveals his faithfulness, which is from everlasting to everlasting, valid for the past, I'm the God of your fathers. As for the future, I will be with you. God who reveals his name as, I am, reveals himself as the God who is always there, present to his people in order to save them. Faced with God's fascinating and mysterious presence, man discovers his

own insignificance. Before the burning bush, Moses takes off his sandals and veils his face in the presence of God's holiness. Before the glory of the thrice holy God, Isaiah cries out, Woe is me, I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips. Before the divine signs wrought by Jesus, Peter exclaims, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. But because God is holy, he can forgive the man who realizes that he is a sinner before him. As Osaiah chapter 11, 11 states, I will not execute my fierce anger, for I am God and not man, the holy one in your midst. The apostle John says likewise, we shall reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us, for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

Out of respect for the holiness of God, the people of Israel do not pronounce his name. In the reading of the sacred scriptures, the revealed name, Yahweh, is replaced by the divine title, Lord. In Hebrew, Adonai, in Greek, Kyrios. It is under this title that the divinity of Jesus will be acclaimed, Jesus is Lord. A God merciful and gracious. After Israel's sin, when the people had turned away from God to worship the golden calf, God hears Moses's prayer of intercession and agrees to walk in the midst of an unfaithful people, thus demonstrating his love. When Moses asks to see his glory, God responds, I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name, the Lord, Yahweh. Then the Lord passes before Moses and proclaims,

Yahweh, Yahweh, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding and steadfast love and faithfulness. Moses then confesses that the Lord is a forgiving God. The divine name, I am, or He is, expresses God's faithfulness. Despite the faithfulness of men's sin and the punishment it deserves, he keeps steadfast love for thousands. By going so far as to give up his own son for us, God reveals that he is rich in mercy. By giving his life to free us from sin, Jesus reveals that he himself bears the divine name. In John chapter 8, Jesus states, When you have lifted up the son of man, then you will realize that I am.

Wow. Oh my gosh. Okay, you guys, there we go. I said this yesterday. I'm going to say it again. I think I'm getting writer and writer all these days as we keep diving more deeply into the catacism. Here we hit the 200s and all of a sudden it's like, okay, game over. Here we go. God reveals his name. And we get to have that story again. I think sometimes here's here's a little tale. Here's a little story for me. I think sometimes we just are given the facts. I think sometimes when it comes to God, it's like, okay, God is one, God's Father, Son, Holy Spirit. God revealed his name to Moses. We just get these facts. But the way in which the catechism is unfolding these facts is by reminding us of the story. And I just think that is so, so, so important for all of us. If I forget the fact that, no, God has entered into our existence. He's entered into our lives. Well, he created existence because he is existence himself. But he's entered himself. He's put himself into our story,

especially in the face of our unfaithfulness, in our stupidity and our foolishness, God has revealed his own faithfulness and his wisdom and his steadfastness. And it is so remarkable. I love, again, let's go back to the, here's the story of God revealing himself to Moses in the burning bush.

And Moses asked that question, If I'm going to go to people of Israel here, I'm going to tell them that you're going to do all this stuff. What shall I say to them? Who sent me? Who are you? What's your name? And God reveals that, again, the tetragrammaton, the sacred name, the holy name of God, Y-H-W-H. I am he who is, I am, or I am who I am.

Those are all legitimate translations of that same name. So I am. And I just think his name is ineffable, paragraph 206. And he is the God who makes himself close to men, so close to us. at the same time by revealing his name to us paragraph 207 says that he also reveals his faithfulness which is from everlasting to everlasting not only that in paragraph 208 when we're faced with god's fascinating and mysterious presence we discover our own insignificance and this is and there's three examples that are given right away um one moses takes out his sandals and veils his face you have

isaiah who cries out woe is me i am lost and even peter standing before jesus says depart from me lord I'm a sinful man. Oh, gosh, you guys, okay, remember, Jesus is the same God as the God of the New Testament is the same God of the Old Testament. And sometimes we can think, well, no, the God of the Old Testament is just really intimidating, but Jesus is not intimidating. If we realize the identity of Jesus and our own identity, we would say the exact same things that Moses said, take off our shoes and run away or want to run away and hide our face,

we'd do the same thing that Isaiah did, which is saying, well was me for I'm law. We would say the exact same thing as Peter. In fact, remember, after Jesus has risen from the dead at the beginning of the book of Revelation, here's John, right? The apostle John, the beloved John. He's on the island of Patmos, and he just got done celebrating Mass. We assume because it was the Lord's Day, right? And he hears a voice, and he turns around and he sees Jesus.

And he says, when I saw him, I fell down as though I was dead. When we realize who God is and when we realize who we are, we realize our own insignificant. we realize his glory. We realize, again, as we said already, his faithfulness and our faithlessness. And at the same time, John says, we shall reassure our hearts before him. Whenever our hearts condemn us,

for God is greater than our hearts and he knows everything. So we're not in, we have that intimidation, of course, because here's God and we're not. At the same time, he's also reminded us. He's a God who loves us. He's a God who draws close to us. And I just, this is incredible how the catechism in just a few short paragraphs is not only reminding us of how ineffable God is incomprehensible more than we imagine, better than anything we could ever dream of and how insignificant we are at the same time.

He's merciful and gracious. Paragraph 209 once again reminds us that out of respect for the holiness of God, the people of Israel do not pronounce his name. And so that's why in the Bible translations, a lot of times instead of having the sacred name, Y-H-W-H, what it'll have is L-O-R-D, all-capitalized. And that means if you're ever reading your Bible and you see L-O-R-D, all-capitalized, Lord capitalized, that means it was a replacement for the actual name of the Lord God. For example, when Elijah is having that showdown with the prophets of Ba'al, right? And at some point, the fire comes down from heaven and consumes the sacrifice.

And the people cry out, the Lord is God, the Lord is God. That can be kind of confusing. Wait, the Lord is God, of course, yeah. Are you just saying God is God? No, they're saying, the Lord meaning the sacred name. Y-H-W-H is God, the one, the only one. Not just our brand of God, but this God who has revealed himself to us. So we see Lord, in Hebrew it was Adonai.

In Greek, it was Curios. Here in English, it is Lord. Last thing I just want to walk away with is just, I think this is remarkable. Paragraph 211. By giving his life to free us from sin. Jesus reveals that he himself bears the divine name in John chapter 8. If you remember this, if you recall this story in John's Gospel, or Jesus says, when you have lifted up the son of man, then you will realize that I am.

In that moment and a bunch of other moments, Jesus makes it very clear that he is claiming divinity. He is claiming identity. This is very important. He's not claiming to be another God. He's claiming, I am the same God. that exact same one God, I am the same God that when he says, I am. And that is remarkable. That's one of the many bases for our understanding, one of the many foundations for our

understanding that not only is the Father God, but also Jesus Christ, the Son, is co-equal. Co-Eternal, same God. And so is the Holy Spirit. Okay, so, oh man, what a great day, day 29. You guys, well done. Keep it up tomorrow, day 30, one day away from the big. Big 3-0, so let's keep it going. I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.