The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 38: Summary of the Trinity (2024)

Episode Date: February 7, 2024

We have arrived at the “nugget day” or In Brief section for the paragraphs examining the nature of the Father in the Trinity. Fr. Mike reiterates some of the “nuggets” of wisdom from these past few days. He emphasizes the importance of how Baptism allows us to share in the life of the Holy Trinity. We conclude this section with a reflection on this profound call to share in the glory of the Trinity even though it exists “in the obscurity of faith.” Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 261-267. 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 a Year podcast, where we encounter God's plan of pure 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. It is day 38, we're reading paragraphs 261 to 267. It's a nugget day once again,

or nug days as we might say. I don't know if we've saved this because we're going through the in brief here at the end of that section we just have been reading about the most holy Trinity. We get, oh my gosh, you guys, incredible. As always, I'm always 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. Also, you can download your own Catechism in your reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y. And I don't know if you know about this. I mentioned it yesterday. I don't know if I've mentioned it before that. You can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. Again, it's day 38. We're reading paragraphs 261 to 267. It's Nugget Day. It's the in brief with summary of everything we've been talking about. So what have we been talking about? We've been talking about how the revelation of God as Trinity is the heart of the Christian history. Not only does God reveal Himself as Trinity, not only in the manner He reveals Himself, right? It's the Son

who reveals the fact that the Father is not just a father to Israel, and not just a father in the order of creation, but that the Son is eternally Father, which is remarkable, and that the second person of the Trinity, the Son, is eternally the Son. And then the Father and the Son are revealed by the Spirit. It's just is remarkable. But then also the Lord is inviting us to share his own blessed life. He's inviting us into the mystery of the Trinity. As I've said before, I think one of the most incredible lines in the Catechism so far is from Catechism 221, right? 221, where it says, By sending his only son and the spirit of love in the fullness of time,

God has revealed his innermost secret. God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and he's destined us to share in that exchange. So that was the last section, and this section we've been reading is all about how, how does that work? So we talked about words like substance So we talked about words like substance,

we talked about words like essence and nature and person and hypostasis. We also talked about some incredible words like theologiae and oikonomia, right? Theology and economy. That theology refers to the mystery of God's inmost life within the blessed trinity. That's who he is in himself.

An economy or oikonomia, and all the works by which God reveals Himself and communicates His life. So whenever you hear that phrase, the divine economy, again, you might think, like, use other words. I get it. I totally understand. But we're referring to all the works by which God has revealed Himself and communicates His life.

And so in the divine economy, God reveals the fact that he is Father and Son and Holy Spirit, but also that he's one God, but also that the Father is the one from whom all things come. The Son is the one through whom all things come and the Spirit is the one in whom all things are. And so it's just one of those incredible gifts, right? We also talked about the divine works and the Trinitarian missions. That was yesterday, right? Where we noted that the whole divine economy, remember the whole way in which God communicates himself and invites us into his life, is the common work of the three divine persons. So it has, it's what we're as the Holy Trinity has only one in the same nature. So too does it have only one and the same operation. And yet, this is

remarkable. There is the sense that we recognize that when one person of the Trinity is present, they are all present. When one acts, they all act. And yet, in a very distinctive way, and that's why we had quoted yesterday the Second Council of Constantinople kind of a few times where it states one God and Father from whom all things are, as I said earlier today, and one Lord Jesus Christ through whom all things are, and one Holy Spirit in whom all things are. So sometimes we can imagine that on this in brief day, right, the summary day or the nugget day, that we're simply restating, the Catechism is simply restating what we've been hearing for the last couple of days.

There is that, but there's also some new things. In fact, today, you know, we've talked about the Apostles Creed in the past. We talked about the Nicene Creed or the Niceno Constantinopolitan Creed, but we also, I think there's a reference we had made a couple days ago to the Athanasian Creed. Today, we're actually going to hear a little blurb, right? A little excerpt from the Athanasian Creed, which is if you have a chance to look up Athanasian Creed, it's long. It's probably one of the reasons why we don't say it in the context of mass because it's very, very long, but it's very, very beautiful. And we're going to hear a little section from the Athanasian Creed as part of the nugget of paragraph 266. And so just there's a beauty that we're invited into today. So just invite us all, all of us, to simply reflect on these bullet points reflect on this in brief reflect on each of these nuggets

As we just kind of allow what we've heard over the last couple of days just sink from our minds into our hearts So let's pray and ask God to do that Father in heaven we know we know that we desire to know who you are and you are yet you are mystery. We can't know you fully, but in some ways we can love you fully. We want to know you more. We want to even more than know you more. We want to love you more.

Help us to know you more so that we can love you more and above all, Lord God, by your grace. Send your spirit to open our hearts so that we can love you the way you deserve. Send your grace in our hearts so that we can love you the way you love us and bring us into your own blessed life. Bring us into that relationship where you are, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Once again, this is day 38, paragraphs 261 to 267. In brief, the mystery of the most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith and of Christian life.

God alone can make it known to us by revealing Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The incarnation of God's Son reveals that God is the eternal Father and that the Son is consubstantial with the Father, which means that, in the Father and with the Father, the Son is one and the same God. The mission of the Holy Spirit, sent by the Father in the name of the Son and by the Son from the Father, reveals that with them the Spirit is one and the same God. As we state in the Nicene Creed, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified. Saint Augustine stated, The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father as the first principle and by the eternal gift of this to the Son,

from the communion of both, the Father and the Son." Pope Paul VI stated, By the grace of baptism, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, we are called to share in the life of the Blessed Trinity, here on earth in the obscurity of faith, and after death in eternal light. The Athanasian Creed states, Now this is the Catholic faith. We worship one God in the Trinity, and the Trinity in unity, without either confusing the persons or dividing the substance, for the person of the Father is one, the Son is

another, the Holy Spirit is another. But the Godhead of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty co-eternal. Inseparable in what they are, the Divine Persons are also inseparable in what they do. But within the single Divine operation, each shows forth what is proper to him in the Trinity, especially in the divine missions of the Son's incarnation and the gift of the Holy Spirit. So there we have it, paragraphs 261 to 267, the nuggets that we have been given. And we wanna highlight the fact that here is this summary,

here's this in brief of what the church has been trying to communicate to us. Now, tomorrow we're gonna launch into some of the divine attributes. In fact, one of the divine attributes that we're going to highlight tomorrow is the fact that God is almighty, right? He is omnipotent. But before that, we have this, not just the attribute of God. Like, here's one of the words that can describe one of the qualities, right? Or attributes of God. But we've been listening for the last couple of days, but who God is in himself?

Like what's his deepest identity? And so again, 261 reminds us, the mystery of the most holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith and of the Christian life. And we've heard this a thousand times and it's really important though, we can never, never, ever forget it or underestimate it. Because God alone can make

it known. God alone can reveal to us that He is one God but three divine persons. And of course, He does this through the Incarnation, that when the second person of the Trinity takes on a human nature in Jesus Christ, He reveals that God is eternally Father as He is eternally Son. And then we have the mission of the Holy Spirit as it says in paragraph 263, sent by the Father in the name of the Son and by the Son from the Father. So again, both the Father and the Son involved in this. That's why we talked about that Philioquid clause that we state in the Nicene Creed. We leave the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.

Remember we also had for our Orthodox brothers and sisters or Eastern brothers and sisters that it is acceptable to say and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son. And that comes from Scripture. Again, sent by the Father in the name of the Son, that's John chapter 14 verse 26. And by the Son from the Father, that's John 15, verse 26. And that reveals to us ultimately

that the spirit also is God. The spirit is also co-equal and co-eternal with God. And that is just incredible. Not only because that's who God is, but then we realize in paragraph 265, Pope Paul the sixth has stated this, by the grace of baptism, we were baptized in the name of the Father

and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we are called to share in the life of the blessed Trinity. And I love how he says it, here on earth in the obscurity of faith and after death in eternal light. Now we are gonna talk about, as the days go on, we're definitely going to talk about what is it to live in faith on this planet? like the obscurity of faith that Pope Paul VI says. But we're also

going to talk about what is it to have that unmediated vision of God? What is it to have this life with God in heaven? We're going to be able to reflect on that when we get to the end things, you know, the four last things. And yet here we have a little taste that your destiny, we're called to share in the life of the Blessed Trinity now, even now, as the Holy Spirit dwells inside of you. And we know, as the next article says, we know that when the Holy Spirit is present, so is the Father and the Son. So here we are called to share in the life of the Trinity, even though it's in the obscurity of faith, ultimately, God wants for us, God wills for us, God desires that we share in His blessed life, in eternity,

in heaven, which we're just, just keep on praying for. I love, as I mentioned before, the Athanasian Creed, and this is maybe where we'll kind of end in a little bit. The Athanasian Creed, as I said, is beautiful and it's so poetic, it's so deep and profound. You could pray with it for weeks and months. But here is this article of the Athanasian Creed that makes it clear that we worship one God in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity

without either confusing the persons or dividing the substance, right? So the Father isn't also the Son. The Son isn't also the Holy Spirit. No, the Father is not the Son. The Son is not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not the Father. So we're not confusing the persons.

We're not mixing them together, but we're also not dividing the substance. Remember, the substance is that very divine nature. So one divine being, three divine persons. And it goes on to say that their glory is equal, their majesty is co-eternal, which again is just reflect on that reflect reflect on the fact that God's glory, God's majesty exists right now. So wherever you're listening to this, it's one of those things where

we can just say, well, you know, I'm really busy with the the the affairs of my day, which probably is the case. All of us are. But in this very moment, in this very moment, God exists in glory. In this very moment, God exists in majesty that that God continues to reign. I mean, we recognize this, that God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, whatever that means to for God to reign, for God to exist in glory, for His majesty to be real and and active in this very moment, whatever that means, that is happening. So here we are, and we're going through our daily lives, we're going through our daily affairs, and doing the things we need to be doing, which is really

good. That's one of the ways we actually can give glory to God. But to realize that in this moment, God is enthroned. In this moment, God is glorified. And that same God who is glorified, that same God who is enthroned, is the same God who is calling you into his own blessed life. That even though he's glorified, even though he's enthroned, even though his majesty is without end, he cares about you. And that is just absolutely incredible. And I just invite all of us to never ever forget that. That, yes, we're going to talk about God being almighty tomorrow, the God being omnipotent tomorrow, his might is universal, his power is loving absolutely and that power is loving you that that might cares about you and he is calling you and me to share his own blessed life so I'm just just asking all of us just pause on that for just a moment as we go out or go

about our daily business that we, there's more to this life than just this life. So, in order to see that and respond to it, we need God's grace. So we just continue to pray today. I am praying for you. Please, please pray for me. My name is Father Mike and I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.