The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 359: The Seven Petitions (2025)

Episode Date: December 25, 2025

In the Lord’s Prayer, we make seven different petitions to our Father in heaven. Together, we examine what makes each set of these seven petitions different. Fr. Mike unpacks how the first three petitions emphasize love of the Father, the next two concern us in the present world, and the final two concern the battle of prayer. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 2803-2806. 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 there. I just wanted to hop in real quick to tell you about a great way to listen to both Bible in a year and Catechism in ear. It's called the Ascension App. Not only does the app contain the entirety of both podcasts, it also includes transcripts of each episode, the full text of the Great Adventure Bible and the Ascension Catechism, over 1,000 answers to tough Bible questions we couldn't get to in the podcast, bonus content from the Bible and ear companion, and so much more. This app really enhances the experience of the podcasts and helps you get more out of the Bible. and Catechism. I highly encourage you to check it out in the app store. Just search Ascension app or text the letters A-P to the number 713-9-1 to get a download link sent directly to your phone. Thank you so much again for being part of this community, and God bless. 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, passed down to the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in the 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 359. We're reading paragraphs 2803 to 2806. 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 for daily updates in daily notifications. Today is 359. Nass of work people. We're reading paragraph 2803, 20806. We're going on to the next article, essentially, the seven petitions. So we recognize that here in the Lord's prayer, in the Our Father, at first we say Our Father, who art in heaven. And then we have these three

petitions that are directed, carry us towards him. That's what it says in 2804. And they're for his own sake. We say, hallowed be thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. So there's that sense of this first of these seven petitions. The first three are for his own sake. God, may your name be hallowed. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. But the second series of petitions, the last four, we're praying for ourselves. In many ways we're saying, give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our trespasses, lead us not to temptation, deliver us from evil. And there's something beautiful about this, that says they are in 2805. It says the fourth and fifth petitions concern our life as such to be fed and healed of sin. And the last two concern our battle for the victory of life, the battle, that battle

of prayer, which I think is amazing. So the first two, give us this day or daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, those that have to do with our life as such to be fed and healed of sin. And the last two, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, concern our battle for the victory of life, that battle of prayer. So great. So as we launch into these seven petitions, we're just going to talk. We have four paragraphs quick before we even actually look at how it would be thy name. We're just going to look at the structure a little bit here from paragraph 2803 to 2806. So as we look at structure, we also know that the most important thing is not the information that we know, the data that we have. The most important thing is to be able to enter into communion,

enter to prayer relationship with our Father, and so we pray. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Father in heaven, our Father who art in heaven, we give you praise, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. God, may you be glorified. May your name be hallowed, known to be holy, praised and revered, loved and adored. may your kingdom come let your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven and father may your will be done may your will be done in our lives not just in in this world not just in our culture but in this day

in this moment may your will be done with his next next breath with this next minute with this next 15 minutes lord may your will be done always I will be done. Always. We make this prayer in the name of the one who gave us this prayer, our Lord Jesus Christ, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. We're reading paragraphs 2803 to 2806. Article 3. The 7 Petitions. After we have placed ourselves in the presence of God, our Father, to adore and to love and to bless him, the spirit of adoption stirs up in our hearts seven petitions, seven blessings. The first three, more theologal,

draw us toward the glory of the Father, the last four, as weighs toward him, commend our wretchedness to his grace. Deep calls to deep. The first series of petitions carries us toward him for his own sake, thy name, thy kingdom, thy will. It is characteristic of love to think first of the one whom we love. In none of the three petitions do we mention ourselves, the burning desire, even anguish of the beloved son for his father's glory seizes us. Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. These three supplications were already answered in the saving sacrifice of Christ, but they are henceforth directed in hope toward their final fulfillment, for God is not yet all in all. The second series of petitions unfolds with the same movement

as certain Eucharistic Epicles, as an offering up of our expectations, that draws down upon itself the eyes of the Father of mercies. They go up from us and concern us from this very moment in our present world. Give us. Forgive us. Leave us not. Deliver us. The fourth and fifth petitions concern our life as such to be fed and to be healed of sin. The last two concern our battle for the victory of life, that battle of prayer. By the first three petitions, we are strengthened in faith filled with hope and set aflame by charity. Being creatures and still sinners, we have to petition for us, for that us bound by the world and history which we offer to the boundless love of God. For through the name of His Christ and the reign of His Holy Spirit, our Father accomplishes

his plan of salvation for us and for the whole world. There we have it, paragraphs 2803 to 2806. This is, I know, okay, I'm a broken record. I'm a broken record. beautiful, just incredible. I love, you know, I said yesterday, I think it was yesterday. One of the paragraphs kind of took me my surprise. It was the paragraph that talked about the basically gave a gospel presentation in paragraph 2795 about how God is so good. His home is in heaven. We're made for that home and yet sin exiles us this whole thing and Jesus Christ reconciled heaven and earth and we get to have conversion of heart and say yes to him and get back to our heavenly home. Amazing, beautiful. Today I'm kind of taken by surprise as well. I have taught, I can't tell you how many times I have

taught on the Our Father, on the Lord's Prayer, from the Catechism. And yet, I think this might be the first time where I've, I mean, again, I've literally taught on the seven petitions, right? And yet, I don't know if I ever noticed the difference between the first three, the next two, and the final two. And I just, I was like, yeah, the first three are for God to be glorified. Yeah, hallow be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. And then the last four, yeah, of course, that's we're praying for what we need in this day and every day but to really truly focus on the fact that those first three highlight the the primary characteristic of love to think first of the one whom we love that I hear I am just a selfish and self-centered prayer right where I'm

saying yeah our father who art in heaven and we'll get to the stuff where I start asking for myself here's what I need but No, even as a self-centered person, Jesus says, yeah, it's, I want you to learn how to love first, the Lord, first love the father, first love God himself. And so the first things we petitioned for, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. It's just, it reorients our hearts. And that's, it's so, it's, it's, it seems characteristic of the teachings of Jesus, right? That this reorientation of our hearts happens if we, even if we don't even know it, he puts into our mouths, these words that reveal first things first. And the first thing here is the one

whom we love, that his name is hallowed, that his kingdom comes, that his will is done. Why did I not notice that? It's so much love. It is so much love in that. But also those last four, right, the second set of petitions, how they're divided into two. I know I already said this in the introduction here. But paragraph 2805 highlights this. The fourth and fifth petitions, right, give us this day or daily bread, forgive us our trespasses. Concern our life as such to be fed and to be healed of sin. The last two, lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil. Concern our battle for the victory of life, that battle of prayer. And there's something remarkable about this, that it keeps us right before our eyes, the fact that, yep, we have to do today's

business. Today, we need God here right now, right here. Here he is. We need him immediately. And also raises our eyes to the ultimate end. And the ultimate end is, God, there's a battle. There is a battle that we are all in. And so please lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil. So important that we keep all of these things in the forefront of our minds. First, God, you're first. You are number one. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. I want to think of you first because you're the one whom I love more than me. Hopefully God, and this is all of us, hopefully we love God more than we love ourselves.

Hopefully we love God more than we love anything. That doesn't automatically happen. So when we pray the Lord's Prayer, when we pray the Our Father, one of the things we're asking is change my heart, change my heart so that I can pray first of all for you and your own sake. It's amazing. Love you, God. And also, help me to do the tasks of today.

be with me in the tasks of today that give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our trespasses, and also help me to keep my eyes fixed on the goal. Help me keep my eyes fixed on the fact that you have, like we said yesterday, God, you have made us for a heavenly homeland. You have prepared a place for us to dwell with you for eternity and help us always, always to say yes to that by leading us not into temptation and delivering us from evil. It's just so powerful and so incredible. The last line of paragraph 2806 for through the name of his Christ and the reign of his holy spirit our father accomplishes his plan of salvation for us and for the whole world amazing that through the name of Jesus Christ and the reign of his holy spirit our father accomplishes his plan of salvation for us

and for the whole world and just seems like so powerful one of the great ways I know we're talking our father right now but one of the great prayers that has been given to us in our patrimony right our inheritance is called the chaplet of divine mercy. And there is something that just leaps off the page today. It's a part of the prayer of the chaplet of divine mercy. So Jesus had revealed to St. Faustina, a Polish nun, he revealed to her of his divine mercy, revealed to her the depth of his heart, longing for our trust and longing to bring this, what he did for us on Calvary, when he poured out of his Holy Spirit and Pentecost to the whole world. And so we pray this in the chaplain, the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world. That prayer, for the

sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world. And that's amazing. Through the name of Jesus Christ, the reign of His Holy Spirit, our Father accomplishes his plan of salvation for us and for the whole world, for the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world. Remember we said this the other day, that God's love excludes no one. And so our prayer must exclude no one. So good. And so I've got to tell you, it's true. If God's love, God's love excludes no one, therefore our prayer has to exclude no one, guess what? I'm praying for you. And please pray for each other and pray for me. My name's Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you

tomorrow. God bless.