The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 345: Animated by Prayer (2025)

Episode Date: December 11, 2025

We know we can pray anywhere at any time, yet certain places are more favorable for prayer. There are also certain rhythms of prayer in the life of the Church that foster regular attention to the Lord. As Fr. Mike emphasizes with the Catechism, we can’t pray always “if we don’t pray at specific times.” Today Fr. Mike encourages us to find our place and time for prayer. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 2691-2699. 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 345. We're reading paragraphs 2691 to 2699. 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 and you can click follow or subscribe on your podcast app for daily updates, daily notifications. You guys, thank you so much. You know it's Day 345, which means what? It means that after this, we have 20 episodes to go. We are getting so close to the end.

And what a great gift has been to be able to journey with you. I am praying for you. Thank you so much for everyone who has supported the production of this podcast, the whole team, who supported me through your prayers and financial gifts. We could not do this without you. We definitely could not have made it all the way to date 345. Now, here's the thing about today. Yes, we've been doing this 345 days.

Today we're doing something we've never done before. And here's what we've never done before. We've never gone from one article or one chapter to another chapter in the same episode. I don't know if you know this. I could be wrong on that because I have a bad memory. But here's what we're going to do. We're going to finish this section that's on the guides for prayer, right? Yesterday we talked about servants of prayer, those people who teach us how to pray.

Today, we're going to kind of conclude this section by looking at places favorable for prayer. Like, where could you pray? We're going to do some nuggets. And then we're actually going into chapter three on the life of prayer, just looking at those first three paragraphs on chapter three, the life of prayer. And this is remarkable because not only are we going to get some really practical things at the very beginning, places favorable, favorable for prayer, easy for me to say, but we're also in starting chapter three in the life of prayer, we get this just beautiful, these beautiful words. For example, paragraph 2697, it says, prayer is the life of the new heart. It ought to animate us at every moment, but we tend to forget

him who is our life and our all. And this is just the reality. I love the fact that here today, on this one random day that we're going from one section to another section, one chapter to another chapter, we both get this practical teaching on places for prayer as well as just this word that speaks right to our heart. That is, yeah, prayer is the life of the new heart. And yet, and yet we tend to forget. And yet we tend to put God on a shelf. So we have to, we have to remember, if we're going to have a life of prayer, we must remember God more often than we draw breath. Think about that we must remember God more often than we draw breath. That's a quote from St. Gregory of Nazianzus. It's just remarkable. And so we're going to learn today. We're going to be taught.

We're guided. So let's pray. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Father in heaven, we give you praise. Thank you so much for bringing us to this day. We thank you for being with us every step along the way. Every time we press to play, Lord God, we call upon the name of your son, Jesus Christ. We ask for your Holy Spirit to come into our hearts and to help us love you and love our neighbor the way you deserve, the way our neighbor deserves, where you command us to love our neighbor, and also illuminate our minds that we can know you more clearly and with courage, follow you more closely. We give this day to you, we consecrate it to you, we consecrate every moment, every breath,

every heartbeat to you for your glory and for the salvation of the world. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Lord. Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. It is day 345. We're reading paragraphs 2691 to 2699. Places favorable for prayer. The church, the house of God, is the proper place for the liturgical prayer of the parish community. It is also the privileged place for adoration of the real presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. The choice of a favorable place is not a matter of indifference for true prayer.

For personal prayer, this can be a prayer corner. with the sacred scriptures and icons in order to be there in secret before our father. In a Christian family, this kind of little oratory fosters prayer in common. In regions where monasteries exist, the vocation of these communities is to further the participation of the faithful in the liturgy of the hours and to provide necessary solitude for more intense personal prayer. Pilgrimages evoke our earthly journey toward heaven and are traditionally very special occasions for renewal in prayer. For pilgrims seeking, living waters, shrines are special places for living the forms of Christian prayer in church.

In brief, in prayer, the pilgrim church is associated with that of the saints whose intercession she asks. The different schools of Christian spirituality share in the living tradition of prayer and our precious guides for the spiritual life. The Christian family is the first place for education in prayer. Ordained ministers, the consecrated life, catechesis, prayer groups, and spiritual direction, ensure assistance within the church in the practice of prayer. The most appropriate places for prayer are personal or family oratories, monasteries, places of pilgrimage, and above all, the church, which is the proper place for liturgical prayer for the parish community and the privileged place for eucharistic adoration. Chapter 3. The Life of Prayer

Prayer is the life of the new heart. It ought to animate us at every moment. But, But we tend to forget him who is our life and our all. This is why the fathers of the spiritual life in the Deuteronomic and prophetic traditions insist that prayer is a remembrance of God often awakened by the memory of the heart. As St. Gregory of Nazianzis stated, we must remember God more often than we draw breath. But we cannot pray at all times if we do not pray at specific times, consciously willing it. These are the special times of Christian prayer, both in intensity and duration.

The tradition of the church proposes to the faithful certain rhythms of praying intended to nourish continual prayer. Some are daily, such as morning and evening prayer, grace before and after meals, the liturgy of the hours. Sundays, centered on the Eucharist, are kept holy primarily by prayer. The cycle of the liturgical year and its great feasts are also basic rhythms of the Christian's life of prayer. The Lord leads all persons by paths and in ways pleasing to him. and each believer responds according to his heart's resolve and the personal expressions of his prayer. However, Christian tradition has retained three major expressions of prayer, vocal, meditative, and contemplative. They have one basic trait in common, composure of heart.

This vigilance in keeping the word and dwelling in the presence of God makes these three expressions intense times in the life of prayer. all right there we have it paragraph 2691 to 26 99 let's go back to the last section places favorable for prayer so you know when it comes to we're going to get taught later on we're going to be we're going to hear that any place you can pray in any place you can pray while you're shopping when you're cooking your meals when you're out for a walk you can pray anywhere and yet there are places favorable kind of what you say privileged places for prayer so we recognize that the church itself right the house of

God, that's the proper place for the liturgical prayer of the parish community. What's that mean? That means that the best place, the most fitting place, the proper place for the mass is inside the church. It's also the privileged place for adoration of the real presence of Jesus and the blessed sacrament. So that's that church building is the proper structure, the proper location for that. Now, going on to say, for personal prayer, this is your own prayer. This can be a prayer corner with sacred scriptures and icons. So the idea behind this, is, yes, the church proper place of prayer for the liturgy, right, for the mass, for adoration, and yet we can't always get to the church every time we pray.

Is there a space in your own home that could be your, you know, quote-unquote prayer corner? Is there a place you can make it and kind of almost in some ways sanctify it by having your sacred scriptures really present there? Maybe having some images that would help you and assist you in prayer. It can be so incredible. It calls it a little kind of little oratory and that fosters prayer in common. next place of prayer monasteries and the vocation of those communities is to further the participation of the faithful in something like the liturgy of the hours so as we talked about many many times

there are five times a day when bishops priest deacons religious sisters and brothers and many lay people have dedicated themselves to say okay i'm to pray i'm going to pray morning prayer daytime prayer evening prayer night prayer and the office of readings and so monasteries these kind of communities they can open up their doors, as long as they're cloistered, and sometimes even if they're cloistered, the monks and nuns will be in a separate place, but the faithful in the area can come and join them for these times of prayer in the liturgy, the hours,

and in mass oftentimes. Lastly, it says here, that pilgrimages, oftentimes pilgrimages evoke our earthly journey toward heaven in our traditionally very special occasions for renewal and prayer. If you've ever been on a pilgrimage, especially if you've ever been on a pilgrimage with Jeff Kavins or myself, you will hear us say this. We'll say that the pilgrimage is a microcosm of your life, of your life. Because in the course of a pilgrimage, right, we have a destination and there's a journey to get there.

And everything that happens in your life happens on a pilgrimage. So you get tired. You get cranky. You have highs, you have lows. You get to rest. You have these moments of intense joy and sometimes moments of intense grief. It all happens in the space of, you know, whatever seven days to 12 days or however long your pilgrimage is. is a microcosm of one's life. And that's why it says here that they evoke our earthly journey toward heaven in our traditionally very special occasions for renewal and prayer. And so there's oftentimes shrines that are associated with these pilgrimages. So that's what we had for that last section.

Now, as we launched into chapter three, the life of prayer, man, it's so important. I love this paragraph, 2697, because there's so many just little nuggets. I know we had some nuggets earlier today, but there's just gold. prayer is the life of the new heart and of course it ought to animate animate us at every moment but but that's not how it works right why because we tend to forget him who is our life and our all my guess is after 345 days you have this routine and the routine is you know i get in my car i go for my walk or whenever you're listening to this and it's like okay i feel my heart i feel my mind with thoughts of god and i'm reminded constantly you press play and 50 minutes later or maybe

30 on so of those long days, minutes later, I just realized, okay, I was reminded of the goodness of God, the reality of God, the presence of God, the love of God, what I owe to God, what he's given me access to? It's such a great reminder because we need to be reminded. What's to say here? We tend to forget him who has our life and our all. In 21 days, you'll be done with this. And then what will take the space of this time that you've dedicated to the Lord for 365 days? that's the question we get to ask and we have to plan now 20 days in advance to be able to say okay when this is done not that we're trying to get ahead of ourselves get over our skis here what we're trying to do is I know that for the last 345 days when you press play you're being

reminded of God's love for you you're being reminded that he is real you're being reminded that your life is not your own and we need to be reminded so so consistently because we so quickly so quickly forget. And I love this. You know, St. Gregory of Nazanis, this quote, we must remember God more often than we draw breath. We have to pray at all times. And yet at the same time, this is one of my killer quotes. Not my quote, a killer quote, but this is a killer quote from the catechism. But we cannot pray at all times if we do not pray at specific times, consciously willing it. So someone who says, oh, my work is my prayer. Oh, you know, I pray as I go. That's what's wonderful. Keep doing that. Keep offering up your work as your prayer. Keep praying as you

walk, praying as you go, but we cannot pray at all times if we do not pray at specific times. And so there are special times of Christian prayer, both in intensity and duration. And so, for the next couple days, what we're going to look at is we're going to look at these expressions of prayer. First, we're just going to look at these three kinds. It's described in paragraph 2699, three major expressions of prayer, vocal, meditative, and contemplative. And that's just so beautiful. And it's so essential for us. Tomorrow, we're we're looking at vocal prayer and meditative prayer. The following day, we'll look at contemplative prayer.

But we recognize that they all have one thing in common. And that one thing in common, one basic trait in common, it says in paragraph 2699, is they have composure of heart, being vigilant. Remember, we have this awareness, this vigilance in keeping the word and dwelling in the presence of God makes these three expressions, vocal prayer, meditative prayer, and contemplative prayer, intense times in the life of prayer. So tomorrow, looking at vocal prayer, meditative prayer the next day, contemplative prayer, and we'll continue on moving forward as we just allow the Lord to draw us into a relationship,

deeper and deeper relationship with him. So please take this time right now, as you press stop, as you press pause, to say, okay, God, I've just heard your call to pray, your call upon my life to remember, to remember you regularly in 20 days from now. What will I do so that I can remember you and don't forget you when it's the busyness of life? don't forget you amidst the distractions of life amidst the noise of life oh god help me help me to remember you now and always and as you pray please know i'm praying for you please pray for me my name is father mike i cannot wait to see you tomorrow god bless