The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 341: The Theological Virtues (2024)

Episode Date: December 6, 2024

The Catechism reveals the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love as additional “wellsprings” of prayer for us to connect with the Father. Fr. Mike explains that we must enter into prayer with faith, pray in hope, and love as God loves us. Fr. Mike also addresses the Catechism's view on praying in the present, not looking at the past or future. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 2656-2662. 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 and God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is day 341, we're reading paragraphs 2656 to 2662. 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, I don't know if you know this, it's a little a little secret i haven't mentioned it before but you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications because today is day 341 we are reading paragraphs 26 56 to 26 62 yesterday we talked about the fact that prayer can't be reduced to simply you know spontaneous outpouring of interior impulse we have to have the will to

pray that's paragraph 26 50 so important for us, it's not just enough to know what the scriptures teach about prayer. We have to learn how to pray. And it's through the transmission of sacred tradition within the living believing church, the Holy Spirit teaches us how to pray. And so yesterday we talked about two of the wellsprings of prayer. Of course, we know this, we heard this yesterday, that the Holy Spirit is the living water, welling up to eternal life in the heart that prays. And the source is Christ. Now, there are several springs, the four we have yesterday and today. Yesterday was the Word of God, so sacred scripture, and also the liturgy of the church. And there was this powerful thing we heard of yesterday that obviously in the mass and the sacramental

liturgy of the church, the mission of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit proclaims, makes present and communicates the mystery of salvation which is continued in the heart that prays which is just awesome. Remember I used that term yesterday afterburn which again I don't know if that's an actual thing that is in the physiological world but it is a thing in the spiritual world that the graces that are in our lives in the mass are brought out into the world in the heart that prays. Now again, the word of God and the liturgy of the church yesterday. Today we're talking about the theological virtues.

So faith, hope and love as well as today is another one of those wellsprings. It's recognition that we only have been given today and God is found only in this moment and in this place where you are and where I am and so as we launch into this day let's launch into prayer recognizing that today is the day God has given us so let us rejoice and be glad in it as we pray in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit amen Father in heaven we give you praise and glory thank you so much for bringing us to this day thank you so much for nourishing us with your word

and inviting us to worship you in the liturgy. We ask that you please, through the power of your Holy Spirit, help us have hearts that pray, help us have heart that is an altar, that every moment of every day, every breath, every heartbeat, every thought, everything we do, everything we think and everything we say can be offered to your name as an act of worship to glorify, to bless you. We ask that, Lord God, you fill our hearts with the virtues of faith and hope and love by the power of your Holy Spirit. Help us to be true witnesses in this world, but help us, first of all, to be true sons

and true daughters of you, God our Father. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. In the name of the Father, of the Son and Of the Holy Spirit amen today's day 341. We are reading paragraphs 26 56 to 26 62 The theological virtues One enters into prayer as one enters into liturgy by the narrow gate of faith Through the signs of his presence. It is the face of the Lord that we seek and desire It is his word that we want to hear and keep. The Holy Spirit, who instructs us to celebrate the Liturgy in expectation of Christ's return, teaches us to pray in hope. Conversely, the prayer of the Church and personal prayer nourish

hope in us. The Psalms especially, with their concrete and varied language, teach us to fix our hope in God. I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined to me and heard my cry. As St. Paul prayed, May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Prayer, formed by the liturgical life, draws everything into the love by which we are loved in Christ, and which enables us to respond to Him by loving as He has loved us. Love is the source of prayer. Whoever draws from it reaches the summit of prayer. In the words of the Curiae of ours,

I love you, O my God, and my only desire is to love you until the last breath of my life. I love you, O my infinitely lovable God, and I would rather die loving you than live without loving you. I love you, Lord, and the only grace I ask is to love you eternally. My God, if my tongue cannot say in every moment that I love you, I want my heart to repeat it to you as often as I draw a breath. Today we learn to pray at certain moments by hearing the word of the Lord and sharing in His paschal mystery, but His Spirit is offered us at all times, in the events of

each day, to make prayer spring up from us. Jesus' teaching about prayer to our Father is in the same vein as His teaching about Providence. Time is in the Father's hands. It is in the present that we encounter Him, not yesterday nor tomorrow, but today. O that today you would hearken to His voice, harden not your hearts. Prayer in the events of each day and each moment is one of the secrets of the kingdom revealed to little children, to the servants of Christ, to the poor of the Beatitudes. It is right and good to pray so that the coming of the kingdom of justice and peace may influence the march of history, but it is just as important to bring the help of prayer into humble, everyday

situations. All forms of prayer can be the leaven to which the Lord compares the kingdom. In brief, by a living transmission tradition, the Holy Spirit in the Church teaches the children of God to pray. The Word of God, the Liturgy of the Church, and the virtues of faith, hope hope and charity are sources of prayer. All right there we have it in paragraphs 26 56 to 26 62. I don't know you guys yesterday today the last couple days just really brief at the same time so powerful I just almost had a loss for words.

Let's go back to this the theological. Remember we talked about the other virtues called the cardinal virtues, which are justice, prudence, temperance, fortitude. But today we just kind of touch briefly on these theological virtues of faith, hope and love. And I think about this, have you ever considered the three theological virtues as the wellsprings, as the living water, as those wellsprings that enable us to pray?

So it says just remarkable, paragraph 2656. It says, one enters into prayer as one enters into liturgy by the narrow gate of faith. And it's remarkable to recognize, remember we talked about this in the past where we encountered the sacraments and God's graces are truly, he is active, his graces are present, like he's doing something.

But if we don't have faith, we don't have that trust, that surrender to the Lord, then it's like getting into that shower with the raincoat on. Yes, the graces are there, the water is there. It's not going to do much to us. So one enters into prayer as one enters into the liturgy by the narrow gate of faith. Now, here's a thing to keep in mind, because sometimes people hear that and they think, but do I have enough faith? Am I entering the mass? Am I praying with this narrow gate of faith? Do I have this theological virtue, this gift of faith? And they get kind of concerned.

I would say this, I would say if you are showing up because you want God to act, if you're showing up because you're trusting in the fact that no, you told me to be here, Lord, and so that's why I'm here, that's an act of faith. That's an act of surrender. That's an act of obedience, right? That's an act of trust where Lord, I believe, I trust, I obey your command to be here. And so that's acting in faith. Also, hope, 2657,

the Holy Spirit who instructs us to celebrate the liturgy and expectation of Christ's return teaches us to pray in hope. And so we not only know that God is present and every time we pray, everywhere we are, especially in the liturgy, but also we recognize that, God, there is a future. There is a future that you desire for me. There's a future that you desire for the whole world. And this eager expectation we have of Christ's return, that is living in hope. That's praying in hope. And then thirdly, 26 58, it says, hope does not disappoint. Why why because God's love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us and this is so so critical. I love this that when we pray Prayer form of the liturgical life that prayer draws everything into the love by which we are loved in Christ

Isn't that amazing that the fact that? When you and I pray that it draws everything into the love by which we are loved in Jesus and especially if you don't feel it we're going to talk about that very very soon when you don't feel anything going on in prayer we don't feel any love maybe even wonder do I even want to be here I don't even know if I want it to be here and yet every time we pray with that faith we are praying in love because it draws everything into the love by which he is loved us. The reality of course is that we fail to love God the way we should. Like in prayer in our lives, just let's put it out on the table there. We fail to love God the way he deserves. We fail to love God in the way

we were made to love God. And so that reminds us to not put our hope and our trust in our love. Remember this is faith and hope and love. But we're not hoping, we're not trusting in our love. We are hoping and we are trusting in His love. We have faith in His love. This is the love by which we are loved in Jesus. And this love enables us to love Him as He has loved us. But that's just a response. Remember this. I'm not trusting in my own love for God because I don't I don't love him the way I should I don't love him the way he deserves. I don't hope in God the way he deserves I don't trust in God the way he deserves

But I'm loved by him and you are loved by him and that love Enables us to love and return that love enables us to have hope that love enables us to walk in faith I love this last line. Love is the source of prayer. This is in 2658. Love is the source of prayer and it's a love that comes from God first. We want to respond in love like Saint John Vianney. He's the curate of ours, right? Saint John Vianney, this incredible prayer. I invite you after this to go back to this prayer of Saint John Vianney and actually just go over this one more time and review it and allow those words or even that sentiment to enter into your heart. But before we get to that, the last two paragraphs before the nuggets of 2659 and 2660, this is so important. Why is it so

important? Well because we recognize that today, this day, this is the only day we have. I mean, this is so remarkable. Right in the middle of paragraph 26, 59, it says, it is in the present that we encounter God, not yesterday nor tomorrow, but today. And so often, what do we do? So often we look to the past,

either we look to the past with longing or with regret, right, we just like, I wish I was back there, or man, I'm so sorry about what happened in the past. Or we look to the future with expectation or a sense of doom, right? Forboding where it's either like, I can't wait until the future or man, I don't want the future to happen with fear. But we don't live in the past and we can't live in the future, the only moment we have to choose to love, to hope, to have faith is right now. The only moment we can hear the Lord's voice is right now. The only place we can pray is right here. And so this remarkable first sentence in paragraph 2659, we learn to pray at certain moments by hearing the word of the Lord and sharing in his paschal mystery. Yes, amen to that. But his spirit is offered us at all times

in the events of each day to make prayer spring up from us. That is, his spirit is offered to us at all times in the events of each day, in this now, moment, the here and now. Again, we're called to live in the here and the now. That's what we're called to pray and yet so many of us spend our time in there and then. But here we are and now we are and this is today. This is a wellspring of prayer,

a wellspring of grace in this moment. If I can learn to find God in this moment, I can find God in every moment, but if I can't learn to find God in this moment, I can find God in every moment. But if I can't learn to find God in this moment, I will never be able to find God in any moment. This last prayer, this last expression of a longing by St. John Vianney, let's just conclude with that and just, man, it's so beautiful. Where he prays and gets me remember these, these are kind of shorter days, but that's not because this information isn't important, it's because this information needs to be put

into application, right? We need to do something with it. We need to actually pray. So my invitation right after this is to pray. In fact, even let this conclusion be your prayer. Saint John Vianney's prayer. I love you, oh my God. And my only desire is to love you

until the last breath of my life. I love you, oh my infinitely lovable God, and I would rather die loving you than live without loving you. I love you, Lord, and the only grace I ask is to love you eternally. My God, if my tongue cannot say in every moment that I love you, I want my heart to repeat it to you

as often as I draw a breath. That's our prayer. I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.