The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 365: So Be It (2024)

Episode Date: December 30, 2024

Congratulations, you have reached Day 365! We conclude our journey through the Catechism with the final “nugget day” as we review the seven petitions of the Lord’s prayer. In closing, Fr. Mike reminds us of the purpose of our time with the Catechism: recognizing that every part of our human experience matters to God simply because he loves us. It matters to God that we know him, worship him, live in his love, and draw near to him in prayer. We respond to God’s astounding love for each of us with our final “Amen- so be it.” Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 2857-2865. 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.

I'm Father Mark Mary Ames with the Franciscan Friars The Renewal. My brothers and sisters at the service of becoming saints and falling in love with Jesus and Mary and the Most Holy Rosary, the team here at Ascension Press have put together the Rosary in a Year podcast. Each day we're gonna have a 10 to 15 minute episode where we're just gonna work through the basics of the rosary. Who is Jesus? How do we encounter Jesus? Who is Our Lady? What does it mean for us to be in relationship to her? We're going to go through the Hail Mary, the Our Father, each of the different mysteries. And then we're going to bring in some Saint writings on the mysteries and some sacred art that speaks on the mysteries and all of this to help enrich our prayer, to renew our prayer, to help us fall in love with Jesus and Mary and to fall in love with the Rosary again. If you want to join us on this journey, you can begin by going to assentgenpress.com

forward slash rosaryinayear to download the prayer plan and by listening and praying with us through the Rosary in a Year podcast. Alright, look forward to the journey with you. 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 sure 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 365 out of 365. We're reading paragraphs 2857 to 2865. 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, this is ridiculous, I don't know why I'm even saying this, you can also download your own Catechism in a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y. Also, you can, maybe just for fun, maybe just for fun, you can click follow or subscribe to your podcast app

for daily updates, daily notifications. Also, before anything further, I wanna thank you so much. All of you who have been, you're here, date 365, this is crazy, this is amazing. Did you ever think that you would read through the entire catechism? I can't imagine. So thank you so much.

Also, thank you for your prayers. Again, the people who are on this, who produce this podcast are incredible people. People edit things, I'm making all these mistakes and saying all the wrong things and people who go over what I've said and make sure that it's actually consistent with what the Catholic Church teaches. I don't want to teach any error at all. But also just the ways in which we are praying for each other. Hopefully you've been spending a good portion of the last 365 days praying for each other.

I truly have been praying for you and I'm so grateful for your prayers and your financial gifts. Like again, this podcast is free to have but not free to make. And we couldn't do it without you. Okay, so let's get started. This is where nugget day and how perfect is this

for us to have our final day of nuggets? And there are quite a few, 2857 and 2865, going through basically all that we just covered when we're talking about the Lord's Prayer, and we're talking about the Our Father. So an incredible, incredible review as we launch into today. Let's just say a prayer before we dive

into the chickie nuggies, you know? Ridiculous. Okay, in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen. Father in heaven, I thank you. I thank you for This opportunity this chance to learn this chance to hear the truth as

Articulated to us through the catechism by by your church that you founded upon the rock of, that you founded upon the apostles, that you filled with your Holy Spirit and have brought to this day. Thank you so much, Father. Thank you for this chance. I thank you for all the people who have worked on this project. All of them, every single one of them, from those who have the biggest, most important, and most visible jobs to those who have the least visible jobs that we might never hear of, but because of them, because of their willingness, their hard work, their perseverance, we get this incredible gift of the Catechism. We get this incredible gift of this podcast. Thank you so much. And Father, thank you for every person who's pressed play. Those who did the Catechism in a year and those who are just finishing out the catechism in two and a half or three years, Lord God, I

thank you for every one of them. I ask that you please, just like your son Jesus prayed, I ask that you keep them in your hand. Lord God, keep them close to your heart and pray for them. Hold us and help us to hold on to you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen. Stay 365, we're reading paragraphs 2857 to 2865. In brief, in the Our Father, the object of the first three petitions is the glory of the Father, the sanctification of His name, the coming of the first three petitions is the glory of the Father, the sanctification of His name, the coming of the Kingdom, and the fulfillment of His will. The four others present our wants to Him, they ask that our lives be nourished, healed of sin, and made victorious in the struggle of good over evil.

By asking, Hallowed be Thy name, we enter into God's plan, the sanctification of His name, revealed first to Moses and then in Jesus, by us and in us, in every nation and in each man. By the second petition, the Church looks first to Christ's return and the final coming of the reign of God. It also prays for the growth of the Kingdom of God in the today of our own lives. In the third petition, we ask our Father to unite our will to that of His Son, so as to fulfill His plan of salvation in the life of the world. In the fourth petition, by saying, Give us, we express in communion with our brethren

our filial trust in our Heavenly Father. Our daily bread refers to the earthly nourishment necessary to everyone for subsistence, and also to the bread of life, the Word of God, and the Body of Christ. It is received in God's today as the indispensable, super-essential nourishment of the feast of the coming Kingdom anticipated in the Eucharist. The fifth petition begs God's mercy for our offenses, mercy which can penetrate our hearts only if we have learned to forgive our enemies with the example and help of Christ. When we say, lead us not into temptation, we are asking God not to allow us to take

the path that leads to sin. This petition implores the spirit of discernment and strength. It requests the grace of vigilance and final perseverance. In the last petition, but deliver us from evil, Christians pray to God with the Church to shore forth the victory already won by Christ over the ruler of this world, Satan, the angel personally opposed to God and to His plan of salvation. By the final Amen, we express our fiat concerning the seven petitions. So be it. Right, there we have it, paragraphs 2857

to 2865. Nugget Day, this is incredible. Okay, this is the review, obviously. We know all of these things and there's some things to highlight. So paragraph 2857, nugget number one here, the object of the first three petitions is the glory of the Father. So, the sanctification of His name, the coming of the Kingdom, and the fulfillment of His will. This is so vitally important. Remember, in so many ways, to be able to give God praise and to be able to recognize that we want His name to be hallowed, we want his name to be known and loved, adored, the coming of his kingdom and the fulfillment of his will.

Remember that sense of, God, give me a heart like your son's. Unite my will to that of your son so as to fulfill the plan of salvation in the life of the world. And then in the four petitions, we have give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive the trespass against us, lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil. We recognize that we're praying because we realize we have this incredible dependence on God, that this world, our hearts, our lives, we are broken. God is so good that he wants us to bring everything to him and to entrust everything we have to him. And so we say, give us, and that and that's remember we have the heart of children, the heart of children who trust in their dad to say okay God dad our father you know what we need and

so we are children who trust in you to give us exactly what we need. And that's that's the key thing. I just mean we can go through the petitions again but you know when we started the Catechism maybe 365 days ago maybe again as I said two and a half years ago how long it's been for you it doesn't matter you're here now. When we started this we were saying the thing that we've repeated so many times and that word is that this isn't just about information transfer, right? This is about transformation.

This is not just about communication of data or wanting to know more things. It's about conversion of heart. And this last section, this last pillar, right, on prayer has been, I mean, all of the catechism is meant to affect our life, right? It's meant to bring us to a place of conversion. So the first section on the Creed, what we believe, that's meant to shape our lens. So I see God as he truly is. I see salvation and faith and his revelation and ourselves and each other as we're truly

meant to be. That second pillar about worship, it's meant to actually shape how I worship God. How do I approach him? How do I realize what God is doing in our lives and in this world by the power of his Holy Spirit, what Jesus made possible, the Holy Spirit makes actual right? Do we realize that's supposed to shape the way we approach the Lord in the sacraments, how we worship him? That third pillar, of course, is meant to challenge us and hopefully was challenging,

hopefully was convicting. Hope we didn't throw anything away. Hope we didn't discard anything. Hope we engaged and wrestled with the stuff we need to wrestle with. But that's also meant to change us, how we live. And this last pillar, this final pillar on prayer, we can't do anything without prayer. That if I don't, if we don't, take what we've learned

and apply it to how we see the world, then it was a good exercise. If we don't take what we've learned and apply it to how we see the world, then it was a good exercise. If we don't take what we've learned and apply it to how we worship, how we approach the Lord and let Him into our lives through the sacraments, then again this was interesting but not impactful. If I hear this is Christ's call, this is how we live, how we're supposed to live in this world as Christians. And I go, that's an interesting note, and I just kind of acknowledge that,

yeah, that's what I thought, or that's a really challenging thing. I don't know if I believe that, but we don't let it actually change how we live. Then in some ways, it's kind of like, what's the point? And lastly here, to read about prayer, to listen about prayer, to learn about prayer is wonderful, amazing, so good.

But if we do not become prayers, in some ways we're just missing the most incredible opportunity. In many ways we're maybe wasting this incredible opportunity. Because God loves you so much. You need to know that. God loves you so much. Remember He knows you. He doesn't love y'all. All y'all going through the Gattakism in here, He doesn't love y'all. He loves you so much. Isn't it crazy to realize that it matters to him whether or not we know him, the first pillar? It matters to God that whether or not we have faith in him. Isn't it amazing? I mean, it boggles the mind to realize here is the God of the universe and it actually matters to him that we worship him in a particular way

It matters to him that we show up for mass It matters to him that we participate it matters to him that we let him heal us through reconciliation That's nuts. That doesn't make any sense Why would it matter to the God of the universe what I do in that third pillar right how we live? Again, it's just bonkers to realize That here is God himself and it matters to Him whether I'm honest or not. Matters to Him about how we live out our private property and how we live out our relationship with our parents and with our children, how we live our relationship with the people around

us. It matters to God what we do with our sexuality. Isn't that crazy to think? But it matters to him. Why? Because you matter to him. And lastly, this pillar on prayer. Why in the world would God want my attention?

I mean, just honestly, why in the world would the God of the universe ever want my attention? Why would it matter to Him? Whether I have that, like St. Tres said, gentle glance turned toward heaven. Why would He want me to look at Him? Why would it matter to Him? The reason is because you matter to Him. That's why it matters whether we know Him. That's why it matters whether we worship Him. That's why it matters whether we know Him.

That's why it matters whether we worship Him. That's why it matters how we live. It's why it matters whether or not we pray, because you matter to Him. You matter to God. And so this time of transformation, this time of conversion, it's a big deal.

Why? Because you're a big deal. That's it. And the greatest big deal. Why? Because you're a big deal. That's it. And the greatest big deal, right? The Lord Himself says so. So you can argue with me and say, Father, you're wrong. I'm not a big deal. Well, don't take my word for it. Look at a crucifix. That's how much you matter to Him. Look at the Eucharist. That's how much you matter to Him. Remember that quote from Mother Teresa? When you look at a crucifix, you can see how much He loved you back then.

When you look at the Eucharist, you can see how much He loves you right now. That's how much you matter. God declares that you are worth his very life, death, resurrection and ascension. That is bananas, as they say. That is bonkers, as they say. And yet here we are. It's the truth. And so in response, what do we do? We say, amen.

You're loved. So be it. You are worth this, his very life, so be it. You are worth this, His very life, death and resurrection, so be it. God says that you and your life matters. We say, okay God, if that's the case, then amen amen so be it thank you so much for spending this time with me and with the catechism is that with me I know you're not hanging out with me you're hanging out with the catechism thank you so much all the people who I just I'm blown away by all

the people who contributed to the writing of this catechism the editing of the catechism that sent team at Ascension who made the new you know Ascension version of the catechism all the editing of the catechism, the team at Ascension who made the new, you know, Ascension version of the catechism. All the, these people just gave their lives so that you and I could hear these words. I'm so grateful to them. I'm so grateful to you. I don't know if I've said this before, but

when I say I'm praying for you every day, I actually am. Every single day. Every single day. I don't miss a day. If I do miss a day, I pray for you twice the next day. I am so grateful. And I'll tell you what. I'll make a promise. I know it's day 365, but I am going to continue praying for you on day 366 and day 367 until I can't anymore. I am praying for you.

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