The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 336: Jesus Hears Our Prayer (2024)

Episode Date: December 1, 2024

We arrive at the conclusion of the article on how Jesus prays, teaches us to pray, and hears our prayer. Fr. Mike examines the remarkable beauty and simplicity of the “Jesus Prayer.” He also examines Mary's Fiat and Magnificat, and how she can pray and intercede for us. He concludes with an invitation to prayer by saying it is more important to pray than to talk about prayer. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 2616-2622. 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 336. We're reading paragraphs 2616 to 2622. 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 lastly, you can click follow or subscribe to your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. We've been talking today, day three 36 about prayer. Yesterday we talked about Jesus prayer and not well, took a couple of days ago that Jesus prays and we watch him. Then also Jesus teaches us how to pray. And there's some aspects of prayer. Remember there was conversion of heart.

We need this interior disposition. There's faith. We trust in the Lord. Also filial boldness. If you remember this at all. We also have to do God's will. Remember not all those who say Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but only those who do the will of the Father in heaven. And also we have this watchfulness and awareness of what's going on. Awareness of the Lord's presence in our lives. Lastly, we didn't necessarily talk about this

yesterday, but we ask that what's new here in the prayer of the New Covenant is we ask in the name of Jesus and that's so so powerful. Today we're gonna look at the reality that Jesus hears our prayer as well as looking at briefly the prayer of the Virgin Mary. Now of course we're gonna go back and see Mary as a model of prayer later on, but today we recognize that Jesus hears our prayer and Mary becomes a model prayer. She's a model prayer for us. And so as we enter into this time, let's take a moment and pray in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Father in heaven we praise you and glorify your name. We thank you. Thank you for who you are and for all that you have done. We praise your name

for who you are. You are good. You are just. You are merciful. You are fair. You are near. And Lord God, you are God above all. You are the Lord of all. In you everything has its being. In you everything, everything has, it touches the light, your light, yourself, Lord God, your very being holds us into existence, keeps us in being. So Lord God, we ask you to please meet us with your reality, your presence, your power. Meet us with your grace in every way today, especially teach us how to pray. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. It is day 336. We are reading paragraphs 2616 to 2622. Jesus hears our prayer.

Prayer to Jesus is answered by him already during his ministry through signs that anticipate the power of his death and resurrection. Jesus hears the prayer of faith expressed in words, the leper, Jesus hears the prayer of faith expressed in words, the leper, Jairus, the Canaanite woman, the good thief, or in silence, the bearers of the paralytic, the woman with a hemorrhage who touches his clothes, the tears and ointment of the sinful woman. The urgent request of the blind man, have mercy on us, Son of David,

or Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me, has been renewed in the traditional prayer to Jesus known as the Jesus Prayer. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Healing infirmities or forgiving sins, Jesus always responds to a prayer offered in faith. Your faith has made you well. Go in peace. St. Augustine wonderfully summarizes the three dimensions of Jesus' prayer. He prays for us as our priest, prays in us as our head, and is prayed to by us as our

God. Therefore, let us acknowledge our voice in Him and His in us. The Prayer of the Virgin Mary Mary's prayer is revealed to us at the dawning of the fullness of time. Before the incarnation of the Son of God and before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, her prayer cooperates in a unique way with the Father's plan of loving-kindness, at the Annunciation, for Christ's conception, at Pentecost, for the formation of the Church, His Body.

In the faith of His humble handmaid, the gift of God found the acceptance He had awaited from the beginning of time. She, whom the Almighty made full of grace, responds by offering her whole being, Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word. Fiat, this is Christian prayer, to be holy gods because he is holy ours. The Gospel reveals to us how Mary prays and intercedes in faith. At Cana, the mother of Jesus asks her son for the needs of a wedding feast.

This is the sign of another feast, that of the wedding of the Lamb, where He gives His body and blood at the request of the Church, His Bride. It is at the hour of the new covenant, at the foot of the cross, that Mary is heard as the woman, the new Eve, the true mother of all the living. That is why the Canticle of Mary, the Magnificat, Latin, or Megillinae, Byzantine, is the song both of the Mother of God and of the Church, the song of the daughter of Zion and of the new people of God, the song of thanksgiving for the fullness of graces poured out in the economy of salvation, and the song of the poor, whose hope is met by the fulfillment of the promises made to our ancestors, to Abraham, and to his posterity forever.

In brief, Jesus's filial prayer is the perfect model of prayer in the New Testament. Often done in solitude and in secret, the prayer of Jesus involves a loving adherence to the will of the Father even to the cross and an absolute confidence in being heard. In his teaching, Jesus teaches his disciples to pray with a purified heart, with lively and persevering faith, with filial boldness. He calls them to vigilance and invites them to present their petitions to God in His name. Jesus Christ Himself answers prayers addressed to Him. The prayers of the

Virgin Mary in her fiat and magnificat are characterized by the generous offering of her whole being in faith. There we have it, paragraphs 26-16 to 26-22. Just so, just beautiful. Oh my gosh, okay. Have you guys ever heard of the Jesus Prayer? If you haven't, well yes you have, because you heard it in paragraph 26, 16. There is just something remarkable. We'll get to the Jesus Prayer in just one moment, but the beginning of paragraph 26, 16 highlights this,

that prayer to Jesus is answered by him already in his ministry. What kinds of prayers? And basically, we have any prayer expressed in faith. Jesus hears every prayer expressed in words and gives examples like the leper, Jairus, the Canaanite woman, the good thief, or in silence.

Remember those four friends who carried their fifth friend, the paralytic man on the mat, or the woman with the hemorrhage. He just reaches out to touch his garment. Or the tears and ointment of the sinful woman. So expressed in words, he hears those prayers. He hears your prayers uttered in silence or the urgent request of the blind man who had mercy on us. That has been the prayer of the church. In fact, that is the beginnings basically of what's known as the Jesus prayer, which is

in the East is, I mean, is very, very, very well known. The Jesus Prayer is very well known in Eastern Catholicism and Eastern Christianity. And hopefully a lot of Western, that's a lot of us, Western Christians know this powerful, incredible prayer, the Jesus Prayer. Essentially, it is Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. And there's a number of variations.

For example, sometimes the word living is in there. For example, Lord Jesus Christ Christ son of the living God have mercy on me a sinner it can be even shortened and this is the crazy thing is this is just this Jesus prayer this prayer in again in Eastern Christianity is one of those that people are just they're encouraged to pray with their very breaths so as they inhale Lord Jesus Christ son of the living God and exile have mercy on me a sinner and then it can even get to the point where people simply inhale or they pray Jesus and exhale mercy. And it doesn't have to be connected to your breath at all,

but just there's that awareness that if I'm constantly praying, if I'm always having this awareness of Jesus, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner. That's also a very very good act of contrition. If you ever get stuck in confession and you realize I can't remember my act of contrition the whole thing, very very simply, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner. Or just even as I said, Jesus have mercy on me. Jesus have mercy on me a sinner or just even as I said Jesus have mercy on me Jesus have mercy on me a sinner that prayer is remarkable and I just I cannot recommend it enough because it's so simple and because at any given moment we're

calling it's not in once again remember we talked about this the other day that prayer has to be connected to our heart it's these are not just simply external things I'm not just simply repeating a mantra. If I was simply repeating a mantra, you know, something that would just say, I'm saying peace, or I'm saying over and over again, or the, you know, the om or whatever the thing. Like, I'm not gonna do that. As Christians, we don't repeat mantras.

As Christians, we pray and we're talking to someone. This simple prayer of Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Remember, that's, it's not a mantra because we're talking to someone. We're directing our prayer, our of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Remember, that's not a mantra because we're talking to someone. We're directing our prayer, our thoughts, our attention, even if we're driving, even if we're out for a walk, even if whatever we're doing,

we're directing our attention and reminding us that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, they hold us in their gaze. And there's something so powerful about this. And also powerful, speaking of powerful, let's have this for a segue. Speaking of powerful. Let's happen this first segue speaking of powerful Here's the prayer of the Virgin Mary and it says in 26 17 Mary's prayers revealed to us at the dawning of the fullness of time, right?

I love even that phrase the dawning of the fullness of time because here's Jesus Jesus is coming into the world in the incarnation in the nativity That's the fullness of time. So Mary's prayer is like the beginning of that, right? Because why? Because as she has conceived Jesus in her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit, it's remarkable. Her prayer cooperates in a unique way with the Father's plan of loving kindness.

What does that mean? Like what prayer? Well, her prayer, let it be done to me according to your word. That's, I don't know If you've ever thought about the fact that that is a prayer behold I am the handmaid of the Lord let it be done to me according to your word that fiat Let it be is so remarkable and Mary is a model for prayer

Because she said let it be done to me according to your word The word became flesh and dwelt among us by the power of the Holy Spirit word. The word became flesh and dwelt among us by the power of the Holy Spirit. So good and just that is a model for all of us to have that kind of trust and that kind of openness. God whatever it is you want so be it. Whatever it is you want fiat. That's the key. Not the car, the prayer. Paragraph 2618 highlights the fact that the gospel then further reveals to us how Mary prays and intercedes in faith. And of course, the primary example we have is the wedding feast at Cana, where the elder of Jesus,

Our Lady, asks her son for the needs of the wedding feast. And that is a foreshadowing, of course, of the eternal wedding feast, the wedding feast of the lamb, where he gives his body and blood, his whole self, everything he is at the request of the church. And that's so, so beautiful. Now lastly, we have in Mary, we have this prayer called the Magnificat. So we have her Fiat, Behold, I'm the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word.

We have Mary interceding with her son at Cana. They have no wine, do whatever he tells you. Those are key, key words, key phrases. But in between those scenes, we have the visitation, right? Where Mary visits her relative, Elizabeth, and she breaks into song as the infant leaps in the womb of Elizabeth, John the Baptist.

Mary responds when Elizabeth says, "'Blessed are you among women, "'and blessed is the fruit of your womb. "'Who am I that the mother of my Lord should come to me?' And Mary cries out this prayer called the Magnificat. "'My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord. My spirit rejoices in God my Savior. She continues to pray and that is again a model for prayer just praising the Lord. Now I already said

last thing but let's have a real last thing today. In paragraph 2621, Nugget 2621, we were just reminded of in his teaching Jesus teaches his disciples to pray in a particular way to pray with a Purified heart be with lively and persevering faith See with filial boldness he calls them D to vigilance and He invites them to present their petitions to God in his name And there's something about this that's so key, right? All of our prayer, we just ask the Holy Spirit to be able to teach us how to pray with a purified heart, with lively and

persevering faith. We don't give up with filial boldness that we come humbly, but as God's sons and daughters and with this vigilance where we are aware of what's going on and we present our petitions before God in the name of Jesus Christ himself. And that's just powerful prayer because that's what Christian prayer is. And it's so good. You guys, please, I know as I said before,

this last pillar on prayer, I wish that we were able to read through this last pillar the entire year. That I wish it wasn't until you know today, day 336, that in a couple days before this, that we started talking about prayer. But this is so important. But it is more important to pray than to talk about prayer. So today, please say a prayer. And please pray for me. I'm praying for you. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow God bless