The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 344: Guides for Prayer (2025)

Episode Date: December 10, 2025

We are lifelong learners in the school of prayer. The Church offers various guides to help us grow and cultivate our prayer lives. These include the family, the saints, priests, religious brothers and sisters, prayer groups, spiritual directors, and more. These individuals and communities teach us to pray in different ways and inspire us to persevere in prayer. Fr. Mike invites us to reflect on how God calls us to lead others in the Faith. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 2683-2690. 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. It is day 344. We're reading paragraphs 2683 to 2690. As always, I'm using the Ascentive. 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 CIY, and you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications because today is day 344. As I said, we're reading paragraphs 2683 to 2690. We're looking today at guides for prayer. And so we recognize that we have a cloud of witnesses, meaning we are surrounded. Remember the letter to The Hebrews chapter 12 talks about the fact that we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, those who have gone before us and have lived out their life following after Jesus. Of course, when the literature to the Hebrews was written, the cloud of witnesses with the Old Testament, folks, but still living in covenant with the Lord God.

They contemplated God. They praise God. They constantly care for those for whom they've left on earth. These are the saints in heaven. We're surrounded by them, this communion of saints. If I talk a little quickly, I apologize. These communion of saints, they were very different. and what paragraph 2684 reminds us of is that in the communion of saints, there are many

and varied spiritualities that have been developed throughout the history of the churches. And so we recognize that there's different ways of praying. That's so important for us because there's no one way for Christian prayer. There's one way to the Father, that's Jesus. There's no one way of Christian prayer. There's different spiritualities, different kinds of ways of living, different kinds of ways of praying. And so we're looking at after this section, servants of prayer, meaning there are different

different places we learn how to pray in different ways in which people have consecrated their lives in prayer. So, for example, the Christian family. That's one of the ways people learn how to pray. Ordiners are some of the people who are responsible for teaching others how to pray. Religious brothers and sisters, right? They dedicated their whole lives to prayer. We have catechesis of children, young people, and adults. What's the aim? Teaching people how to meditate on the Word of God and others. So we're looking at those. examples today. We're surrounded by a cloud of witnesses in heaven and on earth in our history and our patrimony of the church, our heritage. There's all these different spiritualities and all

these different sources of people who are teaching us, groups of people and in different areas of the church that's teaching us how to pray. We're looking at those areas and those ways to pray a little bit of those ways to pray today. So as we launch into this day, let's take a moment and stop and actually do it. Let's pray in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Father in heaven, we praise and glorify your name. We thank you. We thank you for giving us this day. We thank you for calling us to be yours, for calling us to be in communication with you. Thank you for teaching us how to pray, both through your church in generally, as well as through the individuals and the groups of people

you're brought into our lives. Lord God, in this moment, we raised before you all of those who have ever, ever taught us how to pray. For our moms and dads, if they taught us how to pray, for grandparents if they taught us how to pray, for our teachers who taught us how to pray, for the religious sisters and brothers dedicated their lives to not only developing and deepening their prayer life, but also teaching others. We pray for the priests and deacons and bishops and pastors who have taught us how to pray. And we thank you, God, for all those who just came into our lives out of the goodness of their hearts and they just showed us how to take one more step closer to you. We thank you for them and we ask that you please bless them right now.

Bless them now and always in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. It is day 344. We are reading paragraphs 2683 to 2690. Article 3. Guides for Prayer. A cloud of witnesses. The witnesses who have preceded us into the kingdom, especially those whom the church recognizes as saints, share in the living tradition of prayer by the example of their lives, the transmission of their writings, and their prayer today. They contemplate God, praise him, and constantly care for those whom they have left on earth. When they entered into the joy of their master, they were put in charge of many things. Their intercession is their most exalted service to God's plan.

We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world. In the communion of saints, many and varied spiritualities have been developed throughout the history of the churches, The personal charism of some witnesses to God's love for men has been handed on, like the Spirit of Elijah to Elisha and John the Baptist, so that their followers may have a share in this spirit. A distinct spirituality can also arise at the point of convergence of liturgical and theological currents, bearing witness to the integration of the faith into a particular human environment and its history. The different schools of Christian spirituality share in the living tradition of prayer

and are essential guides for the faithful. In their rich diversity, they are refractions of the one pure light of the Holy Spirit. As St. Basil stated, The Spirit is truly the dwelling of the saints, and the saints are for the Spirit a place where he dwells as in his own home, since they offer themselves as a dwelling place for God and are called His Temple. Servants of Prayer The Christian Family is the first place of education in prayer.

Based on the sacrament of marriage, the family is the domestic church, where God's children learn to pray as the church and to persevere in prayer. For young children in particular, daily family prayer is the first witness of the church's living memory as awakened patiently by the Holy Spirit. Ordained ministers are also responsible for the formation and prayer of their brothers and sisters in Christ. Servants of the Good Shepherd, they are ordained to lead the people of God to the living waters of prayer, the Word of God, the liturgy, the theological life, the life of faith, hope, and charity, and the today of God in concrete situations. Many religious have consecrated their whole lives to prayer. Hermits, monks, and nuns since the time of the desert fathers have

devoted their time to praising God and interceding for his people. The consecrated life cannot be sustained or spread without prayer. It is one of the living sources of contemplation and the spiritual life of the church. The catechesis of children, young people, and adults, aims at teaching them to meditate on the word of God in personal prayer, practicing it in liturgical prayer and internalizing it at all times, in order to bear fruit in a new life. Catechesis is also a time for the discernment and education of popular piety. The memorization of basic prayers offers an essential support to the life of prayer, but it is important to help learners savor their meaning. prayer groups, indeed schools of prayer, are today one of the signs and one of the driving

forces of renewal of prayer in the church, provided they drink from authentic wellsprings of Christian prayer. Concern for ecclesial communion is a sign of true prayer in the church. The Holy Spirit gives to certain of the faithful the gifts of wisdom, faith, and discernment for the sake of this common good which is prayer, spiritual direction. Men and women so endowed are true servants of the living tradition of prayer. According to St. John of the Cross, the person wishing to advance toward perfection should take care into whose hands he entrusts himself, for as the master is, so will the disciple be, and as the father is, so will be the son. And further, in addition to being learned and discreet, a director should be experienced. If the spiritual director has no experience of the spiritual life, he will be incapable of leading into it the souls whom God is calling to it, and he will not even understand them.

There we have it. Paragraphs 2683 to 2690. So just first thing we have, 2683, we're surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses, right? So there are saints in heaven. This is the church triumphant. We already talked about this. We recognize that these saints in heaven, their main preoccupation is contemplating God, praising God, and constantly caring for those whom they've left on earth. So remember, some of the things we do, we glorify God, we bless God. We also intercede for others. these prayers are petition on behalf of others, that is what is so good. That is what these saints in heaven are doing. It says, their intercession is their most exalted service to God's plan. We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world. There's a story of young St. Teresa of Lisu.

You know, she died at only 24 years old. She went into the convent at 15 years old. At one point, St. Therese, she prayed that after her death, she would be able to lead many souls to heaven, that through her intercession before God's heavenly throne that she would devote eternity or at least the time on earth here to intercede on behalf of those souls here on earth and that's what the saints do saints in heaven are interceding on our behalf as the worship God and praise God constantly it's incredible now 2684 highlights that yes in the communion of saints

so many various people there are many and various spiritualities I love this this line the personal charism of some witnesses to God's love for men has been handed on like you remember how in the old Testament, there's the spirit of Elijah to Elisha and John the Baptist so that their followers may have a share in this spirit. Something similar happens in the church where there is this incredible gift of when you have a spiritual mentor of some sort, or even not even if you know that spiritual mentor, but there's this a way of praying in the church at times that arises in certain contexts and certain moments in history and that gets passed down to the next generation

and to the next generation, which is remarkable. And it's incredible. And it's incredible. It's part of the living tradition of prayer, and that's an essential guide for us on this earth. Now, some of those sources of prayer or some of those sources of people who are teaching others how to pray, number one, 2685, is the Christian family. It says the family is the domestic church where God's children learn to pray as the church and to persevere in prayer, which I think is remarkable. I mean, think about this, what would it be to be disciples in prayer, like to be able to be walked with from someone who's actually been there before and like, oh yeah, this is what distraction is like. This is what dryness in prayer is like. This is how you persevere in prayer. I mean, think about this.

Here is this community of the catechism in the year. We went through the whole Bible in a year. Now we're going through the catechism. We're learning so much about the faith. And even now, in this fourth pillar, we're learning about the mystery and the depth of prayer. Wouldn't it be incredible if families then said, okay, we're going to be serious about this?

Yes, of course, we're going to know what we believe. Of course, we're going to worship the way God wants us to worship and strive to live the way he wants us to live. but also we're going to disciple our kids in prayer. I don't just mean teach them the memorized prayers, although that's part of it here. It even says in paragraph 2688 that memorization of prayers is good. It offers an essential support. But imagine what if you had someone as a kid when you were a child or maybe an adolescent

who showed you, hey, this is how you pray. And you're saying, yeah, but I'm really bored. Okay, this is how you deal with boredom. Yeah, but like I'm really distracted. Okay, this is how you deal with distraction. Yeah, but whatever. and to have someone who just mentored you. Paragraph 2685 highlights the fact that the Christian family is the first place of education

and prayer and it should also teach us how to persevere in prayer. And I just think that's amazing. Would it be cool? If you had a parent or you had family members who showed you how to pray and disciples you in prayer, you are blessed indeed. But if you didn't, you can be that blessing. You can be that blessing. It's just remarkable.

We do this thing. we have a camp every summer, it's a couple weeks long. I mean, you know, it's one-week installments for middle schoolers. And so if kids have gotten done with sixth grade, seventh grade, or eighth grade, they can be part of the camp in senior high. I think it's if they've completed 10th grade, 11th grade, or 12th grade, they can be what we call junior counselors. But there's this one grade, right, ninth grade, where they can't be campers anymore,

and they can't yet be junior counselors yet. And so what we do is we have, they can apply after their ninth grade year, after their freshman year of high school, they can apply to be on a thing called the prayer team. And it's one of my favorite things of all because these young people, they go away for a week and they're at our camp, but they're kind of like cloistered off to the side.

And we see them when we have mass with them. But they're kind of instructed not to talk to any of the campers, not to visit around with the junior counselors. They can talk to the adult staff, of course, and they can talk to each other. But this whole week is dedicated to discipleship and prayer. And we have a priest come. We have some religious sisters at times.

We have a bunch of young adults who themselves have been disciples in prayer, and they just walk with them for a solid week and say, okay, this is your basics in prayer. This is how you deal with these things like distraction. Here's how you do intercessary prayer. Here's how you can do meditative prayer. Here's how you can journal in prayer. Here's how you can pray with scripture. And for one week, one solid week, they get disciples in how to pray.

And it's one of the things I'm just most grateful for when it comes to what we do as a diocese, but especially at what we do at this camp. because it gives these young people an opportunity to have what many of us never had a chance to have, the opportunity to have some kind of mentor who shows us how to pray. Now, we don't all get a chance to have a spiritual director. That's just the reality. And yet we all need to be taught how to pray. The role of the spiritual directors is fascinating.

Paragraph 2690 highlights this and says that there are certain of the faithful, certain people in the church, have been given the gifts of, by the Holy Spirit, the gifts of wisdom, faith, and discernment. for the sake of the common good, and that's spiritual direction. And so they should be true servants of the living tradition of prayer. And then there's this quote, it's the last quote we read today from St. John of the Cross. Here's what it says. It says, according to St. John of the Cross, the person wishing to advance toward perfection should take care into whose hands he entrusts himself, right?

So if you're going to seek out a spiritual director, be careful into whose hands you entrust yourself. It goes on to say, for as the master is, so will the disciple be. and as the father is, so will be the son, which is just really, really remarkable. I always think of it like this. This is true when it comes to parents, it's true when it comes to pastors of parishes, like the priests. You have to see yourself in some ways as the prototype in the sense that what we're trying to do in many ways is we're trying to help the young people, or the people that we're serving.

We want to help them become like us. And you might hear that and go, no, no, no, no, no, no. I don't want them to be like me, and I understand that sentiment. And yet, if you're in a place of responsibility, if you're in a place of authority, if you're responsible for their spiritual life, the goal should be, okay, I want them to be imitators of me, like St. Paul says, be imitators of me as I'm an imitator of Christ. What that means is, if I'm not an imitator of Christ, then I need to check myself. I need to stop. I need to pause for a moment and ask, okay, what's the goal here? I ask this of myself, because I am definitely.

far, far from perfect. And so I ask the question, okay, if my students, if the people that I'm here to serve on this campus, if they lived life exactly the way I'm living, if they prayed exactly the way I pray, if they had a relationship with God the way I have, if they have a relationship with their friends and the people around them the way I have, would they become great saints or not? If they lived like me, would they become great saints or would they just become nice people? and that is a really sobering question because yes not all of us are called to have a spirit director or to be a spiritual director but we realize that if i seek a spiritual director they're not going to be a perfect person obviously because no one's perfect but they have to be striving for holiness

they must be striving for holiness and they should have some experience john of the cross goes on to say in addition to being learned and discreet a director should be experienced if the spiritual director has no experience of the spiritual life, he will be incapable of leading into it the souls whom God is calling to it, and he will not even understand them. And this is often the case. And yet at the same time, there's a dearth of spiritual directors. And so there's so many people who are like, I want mentorship, I want discipleship, I want a director, and that we don't have them. But we keep this in mind. The Holy Spirit is the director, like capital T, the capital D, duh, director. The Holy Spirit is the spiritual director of the faithful.

And so we stay close to the church and listen, let the church teach us. And we listen to the Holy Spirit, listen to the Word of God. And we let the Holy Spirit guide us and the Word of God form us. And when we do that, we know that God is going to provide,

whether that is through His Word and through His Church and His Spirit or even through His Word, Church, and Spirit in the person of someone who would be a reliable spiritual director. But I would say this. Do not be afraid. Don't be afraid because there are so many places that we can learn how to pray. So many sources of teaching and how to pray, whether that be

resources online like this or your local church, or maybe you are blessed enough to get a spiritual director that you can trust. Regardless, regardless, know this. You and I, we are in the school of prayer and we are lifelong learners in that school. There is no graduation because for all eternity, you and I will be, God willing, will be with that communion of saints. And what will we do? we will spend eternity contemplating God, praising God, and constantly caring for those whom we've left on earth. That is our destiny. That is our hope. And that's my prayer. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mac. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.