The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 354: The Prayer of the Church (2025)

Episode Date: December 20, 2025

Through the Catechism, we learn more about the Lord’s Prayer and how it should be included in our personal prayers as well as in community during the liturgy of the Mass. In giving us the Our Father, Jesus models how we are to use this prayer to speak directly with the Father. Fr. Mike drives home that we receive the words to pray and also receive the Holy Spirit when saying this prayer. Together, the words and the Holy Spirit enable us to pray like Christ and become more like him. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 2765-2772. 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 and God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is day 354. We're reading paragraphs 2765 to 2772. 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. What can you click? You can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. Today is we're continuing to talk about the Our Father. In fact, we will continue to talk about the Lord's Prayer. until the last day of this year, until day 365. Today, though, we're talking about, what do we call this prayer? We call it the Lord's Prayer, or Arracio Dominica. It means that the prayer to our father is taught and given to us by the Lord Jesus. So this is the prayer that comes from him. That's what we call it the Lord's prayer. We also call it the Our Father, because we're talking to

the Father. But we realized that Jesus, when he gave us this prayer, he didn't just give us a formula to repeat mechanically. He gave us, this is a prayer that gives us access to the Father in this really mysterious and unique way. We're meant to pray, though, in spirit and in truth. It's also, we're going to hear today, the prayer of the church. And it belongs in the context, not only of your private prayer and my private prayer, but also belongs in the context of liturgical prayer, and the context of the church. And so we're looking at that right now, let's call upon our father, call upon the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit and pray, Father in heaven, in the name of Jesus Christ. In the power of your Holy Spirit, we ask that you please, please renew

in us a spirit of adoption, renew in us that that spirit that enables us to cry out Abba, Father. Lord God, in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, we ask that you, please, renew that in us so that when we pray, we can pray not only with our words and our lips, but also in the depths of our heart and our very lives. Lord God, in this moment, we give you this moment. In this moment, we give you the rest of our day. In this moment, we give you the rest of this week, the rest of this month, the rest of this year. In this moment, Lord God, we give you the rest of our lives. In this moment, we entrust to you everything, our cares, our worries, our work, our family, our friends, everything that battles for our attention, Lord God, we entrust them

to you. And we trust you with them. Lord God, come and meet us in our need, teach us to pray, and help us to live in such a way that you are known, that you are loved, and that your children, that your children would come to know and love you as well. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. It's day 354. We're reading paragraphs 2765 to 2772. The Lord's Prayer The traditional expression, the Lord's Prayer, oratio Dominica, means that the prayer to our Father is taught and given to us by the Lord Jesus. The prayer that comes to us from Jesus is truly unique.

It is of the Lord. On the one hand, in the words of this prayer, the only son gives us the words the Father gave him. He is the master of our prayer. On the other, as word incarnate, he knows in his human heart the needs of his human brothers and sisters and reveals them to us. He is is the model of our prayer. But Jesus does not give us a formula to repeat mechanically. As in every vocal prayer, it is through the Word of God that the Holy Spirit teaches the children of God to pray to their Father. Jesus not only gives us the words of our filial prayer, at the same time he gives us the Spirit, by whom these words become in us spirit and life. Even more, the proof and possibility of our filial prayer is that the Father sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying,

Abba, Father. Since our prayer sets forth our desires before God, it is again the Father, he who searches the hearts of men who knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. The prayer to our Father is inserted into the mysterious mission of the Son and of the Spirit. The Prayer of the Church. This indivisible gift of the Lord's words and of the Holy Spirit who gives life to them in the hearts of believers, has been received and lived by the church from the beginning. The first communities prayed the Lord's prayer three times a day in place of the 18 benedictions customary in Jewish piety. According to the apostolic tradition, the Lord's prayer is essentially rooted in liturgical prayer.

As St. John Christosom stated, the Lord teaches us to make prayer in common for all our brethren, for he did not say my father, who art in heaven, but our father, offering petitions for the common body. In all the liturgical traditions, the Lord's Prayer is an integral part of the major hours of the divine office. In the three sacraments of Christian initiation, its ecclesial character is especially in evidence. In baptism and confirmation, the handing on, Tradizio of the Lord's Prayer signifies new birth into the divine life. Since Christian prayer is our speaking to God with the very word of God, those who are born anew through the living and abiding word of God, learn to invoke their father by the one word he always hears. They can henceforth do so, for the seal of the

Holy Spirit's anointing is indelibly placed on their hearts, ears, lips, indeed, their whole filial being. This is why most of the patristic commentaries on the Our Father are addressed to catacumans and neophytes. When the church praise the Lord's Prayer, it is always the people made up of the newborn, who pray and obtain mercy. In the Eucharistic Liturgy, the Lord's Prayer appears as the prayer of the whole church and there reveals its full meaning and efficacy. Place between the anaphora, the Eucharistic prayer, and the communion, the Lord's Prayer sums up on the one hand all the petitions and intercessions expressed in the movement of the Epiclesis, and on the other knocks at the door of the banquet of the kingdom, which sacramental communion anticipates.

In the Eucharist, the Lord's Prayer also reveals the eschatological character of its petitions. It is the proper prayer of the end time, the time of salvation that began with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and will be fulfilled with the Lord's return. The petitions addressed to our Father, as distinct from the prayers of the old covenant, rely on the mystery of salvation already accomplished once for all in Christ crucified and risen. From this unshakable faith springs forth the hope that sustains each of the seven petitions, which express the groanings of the present age, this time of patience and expectation during which it does not yet appear what we shall be. The Eucharist and the Lord's Prayer look eagerly for the Lord's return until he

comes. All right, there we have it, paragraphs 2765 to 2772. Let's go back to this. We reckon, I like the fact that it just describes why we call the Our Father the Lord's Prayer, because it comes to us from the Lord himself. And the prayer that comes to us from Jesus is truly unique. I love it in paragraph 2765 it highlights on the one hand in the words of this prayer the only son gives us the words the father gave him he's the master of our prayer which is incredible he's telling us this is what to do this is the mat he's the master he gets to tell us on the other hand because he is the incarnate word right because he is god made man he has a human heart and in his human heart he knows the needs of your human heart and reveals them to us so he's not only the master of our

prayer. He's also the model of our prayer, which is amazing to realize that here is Jesus who spent his whole life on earth, praying in his human heart, praying in his human nature. And that's just, it's incredible to realize that because of that human heart, I mean, as it says here in 2765, he knows in his human heart the needs of your human heart, essentially, and reveals them to us in prayer. He's not only the master of our prayer, he's the model of our prayer. And yet, of course, 2766 highlights what we all know. We know it's like to pray words mechanically. We know it's like to pray words mechanically. We know like to just repeat rather than actually pray. Jesus does not give us a formula to repeat mechanically. We know that we need the Holy Spirit. Jesus goes on to say, Jesus not only gives us the words

of our filial prayer, at the same time, he gives us the spirit by whom these words become in us spirit and life. And so, again, of course, anyone could pray the prayer our Father, but only by the power of the Holy Spirit can we say this. And A, if be true, and B, allow it to transform our lives. remember when we talked about the sacraments how the sacraments aren't magic that they require faith it requires god's actions it's not this is not an abracadabra kind of a thing and neither is the lord's prayer it's never one of those things where if you pray this prayer to say these words as an incantation that is not even remotely close to what we're doing we are given these words by jesus but we're also given his Holy Spirit. And it's both of these, the words of Christ and the spirit of Christ that enables

us to actually pray like Christ. And I love this. It goes on to say, since our prayer sets forth our desires before God, it is again, In the Our Father, he who searches the hearts of men, who knows what is mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And this is so important. We have the Holy Spirit every time we pray. So that's one of the things, I've mentioned this before, I think, but I'm so moved by our students whenever they pray. It's like, hey, John, would you mind leading this prayer? Or, hey, Kathy, can you move, lead this prayer? They'll pause and let's say, come Lord Jesus, come Holy Spirit, teach me how to pray. And I just think, that's amazing. And whenever they do that, I'm just so proud that they know, yes, come Holy Spirit.

Teach me how to pray. Teach us how to pray. Because we know we need the Holy Spirit, because it's the Father who sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out Abba Father. Okay. So not only do we need the Holy Spirit in order to truly pray the Lord's Prayer. But the Lord's Prayer is the prayer of the church. And as it says in 2767, it says this invisible gift of the Lord's words and the Holy Spirit, remember, we need both, who gives life to them in the hearts of believers, has been received and lived by the church from the beginning. And so we realize from the very, very beginning, it was customary to pray the Lord's prayer at least three times a day. And not only that, but to pray this in common, like as part of a liturgical prayer.

So it wouldn't just be our individual prayer that we'd pray the Lord's prayer or the Our Father, but we would pray the Our Father in common. And I love how St. John Christ's system highlights. He says, the Lord teaches us to make prayer in common for all our brethren, for he did not say, my Father who art in heaven. He could have, right?

We know this. Jesus could have said, my Father who art in heaven because he is the only begotten son. But he said, our Father. Whenever you pray, say, our Father, offering petitions not only for oneself, but for the common body. think that's just remarkable. If ever participated in a baptism or a confirmation, you've

ever participated in the Mass, which I think we all have, hopefully God willing, you know the role of the Lord's Prayer. It says in 2769, handing on the tradition of the Lord's Prayer signifies new birth into the divine life. What does that mean? Well, go back to a baptism. And if you have a baptism, say, let's say just a baptism of the child outside of the context of Mass. one of the things that happens is this whole rite of baptism but after the actual baptism and after like the handing on

of these certain sacramentals right these things that are reminders like the white garment the candle that's lit that's a sign of this new life the person presiding of the baptism the bishop priest or deacon will then invite all those who are gathered

to in the name of this child if it's a baptism of an infant in the name of the child to pray the Lord's prayer together to pray the Our Father together knowing that okay right now there are words that this child cannot pray but one day this child will stand with us and not only will receive the holy spirit in confirmation and will receive our lord jesus christ in the eucharist but one day this child will stand with us and will pray the words of the lord's prayer

and so right now let us who can speak who have been anointed by the holy spirit and transformed a maiden into God's sons and daughters, let us together and in the name of this child, or on behalf of this child, right, pray the Lord's prayer together. And it's just this beautiful, I love it. It's just a beautiful moment in the right of baptism. That just highlights the fact that now this child can actually truly say our father, because now that this child is baptized, they truly are an adopted son or daughter of God the father, which is just incredible. In the Eucharistic liturgy then, this is remarkable you know where we pray the our father is in between the eucharistic prayer and actually receiving our lord jesus in communion and there's something incredible about this because it says here

in paragraph 2770 the lord's prayer sums up on one hand all the petitions and intercessions expressed in the movement of the epictosis right that that we've been doing in the eucharistic prayer but also on the other hand knocks at the door of the banquet of the kingdom which sacramental communion anticipates so it's the one hand it's like okay this summarizes everything we've been interceding for every offer of praise to God we've been lifting up but also and now before we receive his the body and blood soul and divinity of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist let's just I love this knock on the door of the heavenly banquet asked to be let in there's something so beautiful in this and so that's my invitation is the next time you get to mass and you and you get to participate in the mass in the

Eucharist and you're standing and you get to pray the Our Father. Not only are you summarizing all the prayers that came before this, all the petitions, all the intercessions that came before this, but also in this moment, this is the moment where you're knocking on the door of the heavenly banquet. And I can get your next step, your next step is to receive the body, blood, soul, and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's so amazing. Man, it's so cool.

I hope that the next mass you go to, you remember this. And if not, remember at the one you go after that. Oh, what a gift it's been. This is amazing to be able to journey with you on this. And not only that, but also to be taught how to pray and taught how to pray by the master himself, by the model himself, by our Lord Jesus himself. There's no greater master, no greater model, and no greater Lord than Jesus Christ. I'm praying for you.

Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless. Thank you.