The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 30: God Is Who Is (2024)

Episode Date: January 30, 2024

God is truth, God is love, and God is being itself. Today's Catechism readings begin to unpack the eternal nature of God and share with us God’s “innermost secret." Fr. Mike teaches us that because God made us in his image and likeness, then we too are called to embody truth and love. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 212-221. 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.

I'm your father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast where we encounter God's plan of pure 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 30. We're reading paragraphs 212 through 221. Kind of a chunk of change. I think yesterday, two days ago, we had four paragraphs. Today, we have a thousand. I don't know if I counted that right. 212 through 221. As always, before we get started,

I'm using the Ascension Edition of the Catechism, which includes the Foundations of Faith approach. But you can follow along in any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. So feel free to do that. Also, feel free to download your Catechism in a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash the IY. If you did, you would know that we're sticking with the Father for the next, oh, I don't know, 30 days? I think so.

I think we're sticking with the Father for the next 30 days. Then we jump over to the Sun, which is just a huge gift. Also, you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily notifications. And one last thing, just a quick thank you for all those of you who have supported the production of this podcast. It is so essential with your prayers

and your financial gifts. We literally could not do this without you. So here we are, day 30, paragraphs 212 to 221. We started talking about the Father a couple days ago, and today we have some things to listen for. Well, the first thing is there is a ton of Scripture. In fact, if you have your Ascension Edition of the Catechism or any edition of the Catechism, you will see that the footnotes are just abundant.

I think they're replete with quotes from Scripture. In fact, almost no sentence in what I'm going to read today doesn't involve some quotation of Scripture, almost all of them, almost every single sentence, which is not just remarkable. It's notable. It's not remarkable in the sense that it's like, wow, I can't believe the Catechism is quoting the Scripture. Of course, the Catechism is quoting the Scripture, but it's remarkable, meaning notable to just realize that when we talk about God today, we're going to talk about a couple different divine attributes. One is we're going to talk about the fact that God alone is existence. He is existence,

in which for some of us we think, well, duh, of course God is existence. But we realize that everything that exists only exists in relation to him, which is, oh my gosh, that would be, that's kind of something that can blow your mind. So God's existence, talking about the fact that God alone is, but also the God who is is God of truth and love, not God of truth or God of, yes, he is God of truth.

He's the God of love. But the Catechism states it like this, that actually God is truth and God is love. And we get that information, of course, from Divine Revelation. And so we're going to highlight these three attributes of God. What is it to say that God alone is? What is it to say that God is truth? And what is it to say that God is love? I'm so excited about this and because one of the things we can realize is that if God is, there are no other gods besides him, that he transcends the world, he transcends history, he made heaven and earth as we have stated so many times. If God is truth,

that means that he can never deceive us. If God is truth, that means his promises will always come true. And if God is love, then not only does it mean we can trust him, but also it reveals something critical about the very identity of God. So today we're gonna focus on these three aspects, these three divine attributes. Existence, truth, and love. So let's ask the God who is, the God who is truth, the God who is love to be with us now. Father in heaven, we know that you are. We affirm that you are, and we declare that you are truth, and we believe that you are and we declare that you are truth and we believe that you are love. Lord God, come and meet us. Come sustain us. Come guide us with your truth. Come lead us

more deeply into your heart. Come lead us more deeply into your love. Be with us this day and every day that we may never walk away from your truth That we may never run away from your love We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ our Lord and the name of the father and of the son and the Holy Spirit Amen, as I said it's day 30. We're reading paragraphs 212 to 221 God alone is Over the centuries Israel's faith was able to manifest and deepen realization of the riches contained in the revelation of the divine name. God is unique. There are no other gods besides Him.

He transcends the world and history. He made heaven and earth. As Psalm 102 states, They will perish, but you endure. They will all wear out like a garment, but you are the same, and your years have no end. In God there is no variation or shadow due to change. God is He who is, from everlasting to everlasting, and as such remains ever faithful to Himself and to His promises. The revelation of the ineffable name, I am who am, contains then the truth that God alone

is. The Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew scriptures and following it, the Church's tradition, understood the divine name in this sense. God is the fullness of being and of every perfection, without origin and without end. All creatures receive all that they are and have from Him, but He alone is His very being, and He is of Himself everything that He is. God, He who is, is truth and love. God, He who is, revealed Himself to Israel as the one abounding in steadfast love

and faithfulness. These two terms express summarily the riches of the divine name. In all his works God displays not only his kindness, goodness, grace and steadfast love, but also his trustworthiness, constancy, faithfulness, and truth. Psalm 138 states, I give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness. He is the truth, for God is light, and in him there is no darkness. God is love, as the Apostle John teaches. God is truth. Psalm 119 states, God is Truth. Psalm 119 states, The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous ordinances endures forever. 2 Samuel states, And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true. This is why God's promises always come true. God is truth itself whose words cannot deceive. This is why one

can abandon oneself in full trust to the truth and faithfulness of His Word in all things. The beginning of sin and of man's fall was due to a lie of the tempter who induced doubt of God's Word, kindness, and faithfulness. God's truth is His wisdom, which commands the whole created order and governs the world. God, who alone made heaven and earth, can alone impart true knowledge of every created thing in relation to Himself. God is also truthful when He reveals Himself, the teaching that comes from God is true instruction. When He sends His Son into the world, it will be to bear witness to the truth. We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding to know him who is true.

God is love. In the course of its history, Israel was able to discover that God had only one reason to reveal himself to them, a single motive for choosing them from among all peoples as his special possession, his sheer gratuitous love. And thanks to the prophets, Israel understood that it was again out of love that God never stopped saving them and pardoning their unfaithfulness and sins. God's love for Israel is compared to a father's love for his son. His love for his people is stronger than a mother's for her children. God loves his people more than a bridegroom, his beloved.

His love will be victorious over even the worst infidelities and will extend to his most precious gift. As John chapter 3 states, God so loved the world that he gave his only son. God's love is everlasting. Isaiah 54 states, For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you. Through Jeremiah, God declares to His people, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, I have continued my faithfulness to you.

But St. John goes even further when he affirms that God is love. Therefore, I have continued my faithfulness to you." But St. John goes even further when he affirms that God is love. God's very being is love. By sending His only Son and the Spirit of love in the fullness of time, God has revealed His innermost secret. God Himself is an eternal exchange of love. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And he has destined us to share in that exchange. Okay, here we go. I am almost speechless in this moment right now because, okay, let's break it down.

We have these three articles, right? These three things to hold onto, these three attributes of God. God alone is, God is truth and God is love. But there is this crescendo at the very end of today's reading that I just, we're going to wait, we're going to wait, we're going to get there in a second. But the first is let's highlight the fact that when we say God is, He is existence itself, and in paragraph 213, there is this explanation of that.

It says, the Greeks of Tuogen translation of the Hebrew scriptures, and following it, the church's tradition, understood the divine name in this sense. So when God says, I am who I am, it means God is the fullness of being and of every perfection without beginning and without end. This is one of those moments where the revelation of Scripture and the reason of human beings has come together. We recognize, okay, so if God is

who is, right, he says, I am who I am, that means that he's the fullness of being, fullness of existence itself and of every perfection without origin, without end, and and everything every creature everything that exists receive all that they are and have from him But he alone is being itself does that make sense and so everything that exists Exists in relation to God, which is just incredible and we think about this when it comes to we talked about I think necessary being and contingent being a number of weeks ago That we are all contingent being a number of weeks ago that We are all contingent beings. We're all dependent or contingent on something else on the one only soul

Necessary being and that's God himself who is fullness of being which is Incredible, let's move on though because it says in paragraph 214 God He who is revealed himself to Israel as the one abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Those two terms, steadfast love and faithfulness, the church says they express summarily the riches of the divine name. So in his works, God not only displays his kindness, goodness, grace, and steadfast love, but also his trustworthiness, his constancy, his faithfulness, and his truth. And this is one of those things that we're talking about divine attributes, like, okay, God is truth, God is love, can seem kind of

boring, but it is not boring. Because what that means is that God is absolutely faithful, and that God's promises always come true. If he is truth, that's what it says in paragraph 215. If God is truth, his promises always come true. The conclusion is, this is why, as it says in paragraph 215, this is why one can abandon oneself in full trust to the truth and faithfulness of his word in all things. We can abandon ourselves to the Lord because he is truth. He can neither deceive nor be deceived. And yet, of course, we know the story. We know the story in he is truth. He can neither deceive nor be deceived. And yet of course, we know the story,

we know the story in Genesis chapter three. It's summarized here. The beginning of sin and a man's fall was due to a lie of the tempter who induced doubt of God's word, kindness and faithfulness. You remember what the serpent said, did God really say? No, no, he doesn't want you to be like him.

That the tempter wanted us to doubt God's faithfulness. He wanted us to doubt God's truthfulness. And yet we can, because God is truth, we can abandon ourselves in full trust to the truth and faithfulness of His Word in everything, which is so, so remarkable. And also, God has revealed that not only is He truth, but He is love.

You know, people will ask all the time, well, why is God so like an egomaniac? He just wants us to worship him. He wants us to know who he is. He wants us to glorify him. He's just, why does he want so much attention? In paragraph 218, it says, in the course of its history,

Israel was able to discover that God had only one reason to reveal himself to them. He had only one motive. A single motive, it says, for choosing them from among all peoples as his special possession. It was not because he was lonely. It was not because he needed attention. It was not because of any of those reasons. The reason here is his sheer gratuitous love. That's all it is. Why does God call us to worship Him? Because He loves us. He's drawing us into a relationship with Him. Barrograph 219 and 220 talk about how God's love is compared to a father's

love. His love for his people is stronger than a mother's love. God loves his people more than a bridegroom than his bride. And it's just remarkable that even highlights, remember Hosea, his love will be victorious over even the worst infidelities and will extend to his most precious gift. Remember Hosea who had married Gomor the prostitute and she was unfaithful and he was to marry her knowing she'd be unfaithful, but he would have to be a symbol, a sign, a reminder, an image of God's love for his people that even though she ran away, even though she turned to others, he would be faithful just like when we run away. And the people of Israel in history had run away. God was always faithful. The last thing, it's incredible, paragraph 221.

It's probably one of my favorite paragraphs in the entire catechism, but at the same time, you're gonna hear me say that a bunch for the next year or so. Paragraph 221 says this, by sending his only Son and the Spirit of Love in the fullness of time, God has revealed his innermost secret. I remember when I first read this, it was like, wow, we need to know this. What's God's innermost secret? What is the innermost secret of God? And I always ask the question, what, wouldn't you want to know the innermost secret of God? Of course we would. Well, here's what it is. God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and he has destined us to share in that exchange. Now, when I first read that, it was kind of like, you know, kind of one of those, like, okay, well,

of course, God's innermost secret is that he is an eternal exchange of love. God's innermost secret is that he is love. In fact, until Christianity, you could say, you could say that God loves and you would be right. That would be true. But not until Jesus reveals that God is a communion of persons, that you could say that God is love. Why?

Because if God is simply monolithic, right? If God is yet one divine being, but also only one divine person, then God could not be love. Because there was a time when there was nothing else other than God. So he could not be love if he was only one divine being and one divine person. Because there'd be no one to love. Love would be something God does. But because God is a Trinity, right? Because God is one divine being and three divine persons from all eternity. What is that? That's the Father pouring himself out in love to the Son, the Son receiving that love and pouring himself out and love back to the Father. That love between

them being so real. It is another person, the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. Because God is a communion of persons, because God is a Trinity. That's the only reason why God is a communion of persons because God is a trinity. That's the only reason why God is love. And this is the innermost secret of God. And here's the crazy thing. If God is love, his deepest identity, if his innermost secret is that he is love, you are made in God's image and likeness. So what does that mean about you?

That means that your deepest identity is realized When you allow yourself to be loved and when you allow yourself to be a gift of love It is incredible God has destined us to share in this exchange. He wants us to be part of his love And that's why again the catechism Maybe up till now it's been a little dry for you, maybe up till now it's been a little kind of sparse, but you guys, I have to tell you, from now on when we get to talk about God himself and the life that he is destined for all of us,

it is anything but dry. God himself is love. You are made for love. You're made from love. You're made for love. And God is destined you and I to share in that exchange of love. So that's a high call. And so we need prayers. We need grace. We need 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.