The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 351: The Prayer of the Hour of Jesus (2025)

Episode Date: December 17, 2025

Looking at the prayer of the Hour of Jesus, we learn from the Catechism that it “embraces the whole economy of creation and salvation, as well as his death and Resurrection.” This prayer summarizes everything: “God and the world; the Word and the flesh; eternal life and time; the love that hands itself over and the sin that betrays it; the disciples present and those who will believe in him by their word; humiliation and glory. It is the prayer of unity.” Fr. Mike reiterates that this prayer from the Son to the Father allows us to pray as sons and daughters of Christ and give glory to the Father. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 2746-2751. 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 Ear 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 Ere 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 351. We're reading paragraphs 2746 to 2751. 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 CIY, and you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app. Follow or subscribe in your podcast app, follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates in daily notifications. Today is day 351. We're reading Article 3, and the Article 3 is all about the prayer of the hour of Jesus.

this is the high priestly prayer of Jesus Christ in John's Gospel. It's John chapter 17. So paragraphs 2746 to 2751, which is what we're reading today, kind of basically just is a summary and a highlight. I'll say it like that. Yeah, it's a highlight and a summary of the beauty of this prayer that Jesus utters at his hour. And this is what 2746 says.

When his hour came, Jesus prayed to the Father. His prayer, this is the very first lines, the longest transmitted by the gospel, embraces the whole economy of creation and salvation, as well as his death and resurrection. And this is remarkable. And this, it's really powerful and beautiful. I don't know if you've ever had a chance to just simply read John chapter 17, that prayer of Jesus. And if you've never had a chance, or even if you have done it in the past, my invitation is that you take some time today, because what's going to happen is tomorrow's going to come

and with all of its cares, all of its worries, all the things to do. But if you could today, just track down John chapter 17 and just listen to Jesus. as he prays. This is so powerful. We're going to talk about that today in 2746, 2751. We're talking about the prayer of the hour of Jesus. So let's unite our prayer. Unite ourselves. Unite our hearts with the heart of Jesus Christ as we pray to the Father, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. We thank you. We thank you for leading us to this moment. We thank you for bringing us to this day. And we ask you to please receive our thanks. Receive this day as our gift to you. Receive our sufferings, our joy, our joy,

receive our pains and our strengths, our victories, and our failures, Lord God. Receive all of them today. Receive our struggles today as we offer them to you. Receive our hearts and unite our heart to the heart of your son, Jesus. For the power of your Holy Spirit, Lord God, fill us with your spirit. Give us your grace in this moment so that we can be an image of your son to this world by the power of your Holy Spirit. that we may glorify you in everything that we say and do and lead all of our brothers and sisters

to know who you are and to love you even more truly. 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 351. We're reading paragraphs 2746 to 2751. Article 3. The Prayer of the Hour of Jesus.

When His hour came, Jesus prayed to the Father. His prayer, the longest transmitted by the gospel, embraces the whole economy of creation and salvation, as well as his death and resurrection. The prayer of the hour of Jesus always remains his own, just as his Passover once for all remains ever present in the liturgy of his church. Christian tradition rightly calls this prayer the priestly prayer of Jesus. It is the prayer of our high priest, inseparable from his sacrifice, from his passing over, Passover, to the Father, to whom he is holy consecrated.

In this pascal and sacrificial prayer, everything is recapitulated in Christ, God and the world, the word and the flesh, eternal life and time, the love that hands itself over and the sin that betrays it, the disciples present, and those who will believe in him by their word, humiliation and glory. It is the prayer of unity. Jesus fulfilled the work of the Father completely. His prayer, like his sacrifice, extends until the end of time. The prayer of this hour fills the end times and carries them toward their consummation. Jesus, the son to whom the father has given all things, has given himself wholly back to the father, yet expresses himself with a sovereign freedom by virtue of the power the father has given him over all flesh. The son who made himself servant is Lord, the Pantocrater,

our high priest who prays for us is also the one who prays in us and the God who hears our prayer. By entering into the Holy Name of the Lord Jesus, we can accept from within the prayer he teaches us, our Father. His priestly prayer fulfills from within the great petitions of the Lord's Prayer, concerned for the Father's name, passionate zeal for His Kingdom, Glory, the accomplishment of the Will of the Father, of His Plan of Salvation, and Deliverance from Evil. finally in this prayer Jesus reveals and gives to us the knowledge inseparably one of the father and of the son which is the very mystery of the life of prayer right there we have it paragraphs 2746 to 2751 pretty brief but at the same time just absolutely beautiful that's one of the reasons why I'm inviting you if you have the chance go back and read

this prayer on your own time paragraph 2746 highlights this when his hour came Jesus prayed to the father So this is this prayer, the high priestly prayer. It embraces the whole economy of creation and salvation as well as his death and resurrection. And this goes on to say in paragraph 2748 that this high priestly prayer is so amazing. In this paschal and sacrificial prayer, everything is recapitulated in Christ. So what would it mean about everything? Well, here's the list. This is incredible.

In this pascal and sacrificial prayer, everything is recapitulated in Jesus Christ. God in the world, the word and the first. flesh, eternal life and time, the love that hands itself over, and the sin that betrays it, the disciples present, and those who will believe in him by their word, humiliation and glory. This is the prayer of unity. And if you want to know what I'm talking about here, as an example, there is this moment in John chapter 17, where Jesus looks up to heaven. He begins his prayer and he says, Father, the hour has come, glorify your son, that the son may glorify you. This is, here's the father and the son. Man, this is the son. Man, this is the son.

If you realize, here is the only begotten son, right, the son of God by nature. Here you are. Here we are in baptism, adopted sons and daughters by adoption. And to how Jesus prays as son, we get to pray as sons and daughters, adopted sons and daughters. And this is his prayer. He says, Father, the hours come, glorify your son so that the son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. This is incredible.

Remember in Philippians chapter 2, where it says that have in your own minds the mind of Jesus Christ, who though in the form of God did not de inequality with God, something to be grasped at, but humbled himself, emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of human beings. Here we are. And it goes on to say, so that at Jesus' name, every name shall bend. In heaven, on earth and under the earth, and every tongue proclaim, Jesus Christ is Lord. And here's the prayer, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son so that the son may glorify you.

Jesus Christ is Lord. But the rest of the prayer goes on to say, again, at Jesus' name, every knee must bend in heaven, on the earth and under the earth. And every tongue proclaim, Jesus Christ is Lord. And it goes on and finishes by saying, to the glory of God, the Father. This is incredible. That when the Son is glorified, the Father is glorified. That here is what Jesus reveals to us is that everything he does, he does for the Father's glory. even being glorified. His hours come.

Glorify your son. That your son may glorify you. Every knee will bend. Every tongue will proclaim that Jesus Christ's Lord to the glory of the Father. And that's what Jesus wants. That's what the son wants. He wants his father to be glorified. And he wants us to have eternal life. He's given him authority. Jesus prays this. You've given me authority over all people to give eternal life to all whom you've given. And this is eternal life. That they may know you. The only true God and Jesus Christ whom you sent is incredible is so amazing it's so beautiful now it goes on to say in paragraph 2748 that not only are these things recapitulated god in the world word in the flesh it also says the love that hands itself over

and the sin that betrays it which is again so poignant and beautiful and tragic it goes on to say while i was with them this is what jesus is saying in john chapter 17 verse 12 while i was with them I protected them in your name that you've given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost, except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. So again, here is the he loves them, including the one who's going to betray him. And this is remarkable in John 17, verse 20. I don't know if you've ever noticed this.

There's a moment in the Bible here where Jesus specifically prays for you. And this is in John 17, verse 20. He says, I ask not only, I'm not only, I'm behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word. This line, John 17, verse 20, is the one time, I think, maybe it's the only time. I'm not sure, where it's very, very clear that Jesus is praying for you. Yes, Jesus is praying for the people around him a lot of times. When he prays out loud, do we get insight into his heart? But here in John 17, verse 20, Jesus prays for you. I ask not only for these on behalf of these, right? The apostles with

him, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word. And that's so, so powerful and beautiful. He goes on to say that also, this is a prayer of unity. And this is a critical moment. And this is one of the things that I highlight at every mass we have, we have mass on campus. We have a lot of visitors, a lot of times, especially we have non-Catholic visitors, non-Catholic Christians. And one of the realities, of course, is that at Holy Communion, we're not able to extend the offer of communion to all those who are not Catholic or not practicing Catholics. And so I invite people, you know, if they want to come forward for a blessing, I'll do that. But one of the things I'll highlight in this moment is that the church is divided. And for the most part, that doesn't bother

us. For the most part, where we're totally cool with, yeah, whatever, you know, varieties of spice of life and you have your version of Christianity, my version of Christianity. So that's all the same and it doesn't bother us at all until that moment, right, in mass, where all of a sudden you feel the division and you feel the fact that, oh, we're not united. And that, and that, the becomes a moment, a time of pain, and especially it becomes a moment of pain where we just realize that this isn't what Jesus wants. In fact, here in John chapter 17, this is the Last Supper, right? I don't know if I didn't say the context. This is Jesus' prayer at the Last Supper. So where Jesus gave us the Eucharist, right? Where he instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper, he also specifically

prayed that we wouldn't be divided. He prayed that we would be one. John chapter 17, verse 21. He says, I pray. For on behalf of these, that's this verse 20, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word. In verse 21 says, that they may all be one as you father are in me and I and you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. And the glory that you've given me, I've given them so that they may be one as we are one. I in them and you and me, that they may be completely one so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you loved have loved me. This is this prayer of Jesus. He is begging his father that we would be one. And again, we are like, we're cool with not being

one. We're cool with being divided for the most part until we get to that moment in mass where we realize we're not supposed to be divided. We're not supposed to be like this. We're meant to be unified. And so, and we've experienced the pain of that when we can't extend communion. And people like, I'm here. I went to Mass, but I can't receive Holy Communion. Like, yeah, yeah, it's a painful moment. But we have to transform that pain into prayer. And that's the moment. We do it.

We transform that pain into prayer. And so one of the things I'll do, and I apologize for this, I'm just saying this is what I'll do because I'm reminded of this. And because we have so many, again, so many non-Catholics who come to Mass with us, is say, well, let's transform that pain into prayer. Let's take a moment right now and pray for the heart of Jesus, but that we have the same heart in our hearts as Jesus has. that heart that longs for unity, that heart that begs the father for unity. And so we take a moment

of silence and we pray for the unity of all Christians. Once again, be united around one altar with one shepherd. That's our prayer in that moment. And again, it's just a short, brief moment of silence where we pray. And because what we're trying to do, they're trying to let Jesus' prayer become our prayer, let Jesus' heart that longs for unity to be our heart that longs for unity. And so that's one of the things that we do, because here's Jesus. praying that they may be completely one so that why so that the world may know that you've sent me and you've loved them even as you've loved me and that's and that's so important right that's what jesus will longs for and so we need to long for that as well the last couple paragraphs here

paragraph 2750 highlights this i don't think this is i think this is incredible it says by entering into the holy name of the lord jesus we can accept from within the pray teaches us the our father which is what we're going to start in two days from now. This is incredible. Tomorrow we have nuggets the day after tomorrow. We're looking at the Lord's Prayer until the end of our time together. And he says, by entering into the Holy Name of the Lord Jesus, we can accept from within the prayer teaches us, the Our Father.

His priestly prayer fulfills from within the great petitions of the Lord's Prayer. And we're going to go through these in the next number of days, which is what, concern for the Father's name, passionate zeal for his kingdom, the accomplishment of the will of the Father of his plan of salvation and deliverance from evil. These are these aspects of the Lord's Prayer, the aspects of the Our Father that really get to the heart of what we're asking for. Concern for the Father's name. Hallowed be thy name, right?

Passionate zeal for His kingdom. Thy kingdom come. That will be done, accomplishment of his will, of his plan of salvation, and lead us not a temptation, but deliver us from evil, deliverance from evil. And so as we journey forward again, tomorrow, we have nuggets, awesome, to recapitulate what we've been talking about when it comes to the battle of prayer. And then the day after tomorrow, our last section, our last main section, we're looking at The Our Father, taking a deep dive into this prayer.

How did Jesus teach us to pray? I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.