The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 59: Summary of The Fall (2025)

Episode Date: February 28, 2025

We have arrived at the “nugget day” or the In Brief for the sections on The Father and Original Sin. Fr. Mike reiterates the important idea that every human person is good, but every human person is also broken. This brokenness and inclination towards sin is called concupiscence. However, as St. Paul reminds us “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20). Fr. Mike concludes with the sentiment of hope that we believe that the world has been established and set free by God’s love. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 413-421. 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 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 in God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. It is day 59. You guys were reading paragraphs 413 to 421.

It is nugget day. Nugget day is always a good day. And I'm not talking about chicken nuggets. I'm talking about Catechism nuggets. And I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the Foundations of Faith approach. You can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Also if you want to download your own Catechism in a year reading plan, please just visit ascensionpress.com slash C I Y.

And lastly, you can click follow or subscribe to your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. You guys, this is the last part of the section on the Father and on the original sin. This is the little nugget day. Tomorrow, we're going to talk about the Son. And man, I just, hasn't it been incredible to be able to cover things like, remember back when we talked about there is the theology of God in himself, right? That sense that we just get to say, okay, God is almighty. Remember that? That sense that the reality is we can get to know God as he is and also get to that sense that the reality is we can get to know God as he is and also get to know God for what he does. Which is, I think, just incredible because both of those, you know, what he does also reveals to us who he is.

But there's something about this that when I grow in knowledge of someone, I grow in my capacity to be able to love them, my ability to be able to love them. My ability to be able to love them, the more I know them. And I think there's something about this time we've been able to journey together here on day 59, where it's just, okay, God, keep revealing things about yourself. Keep revealing yourself. Not just so I can have a collection of data,

data points or information, but because I want to know you better in order to love you better. I want to know you better in order to be able to trust you better and follow you more closely And so that's what we've been doing. Hopefully that's what it's been like for you I know that as I say almost every other day now, it can be slow going at times but to realize the more and more we have an accurate view of Who God is and what his plan is for our lives and also even the wounds that come against us like the last few days talking about original sin and today

talking about original sin then it seems like this gives us hope for the present and hope for the future because okay God I know that you're not going to abandon me God I know that okay the fact that it is a battle okay I'm not gonna be surprised by that this is life in which it is difficult and broken But it is beautiful and worth living that yes, I find myself in a place of distress But I never find myself abandoned You might find yourself in a place of distress, but you will never find yourself abandoned today in this in brief Right the nuggets from 413 to 421

We're gonna hear of basically a summary of everything we've been talking about that God didn't make death that here's Satan the other fallen angels That they rebelled against God in a definitive way, right? There's no going back and they also they want us to share in their brokenness They want us to share in their rebellion and yet yes Even though God made us in complete goodness right original holiness original justice in a state of rectitude The ecatechism says today In that state of right relationship with God we abused our freedom We rejected God and that that abuse led to taking away losing original holiness losing original justice

Losing some of those powers that God had given to us as part of our human nature, and yet we remain good, now broken, and we hold therefore that original sin is transmitted now by propagation, right? The original sin is transmitted through the propagation of the human species in human nature, or human nature through the human species, and yet the victory that Christ has won over sin has given us greater blessings than those that sin has taken away from us.

We have hope even in the midst of original sin, even in the midst of our brokenness. We have hope and that's what we're going to hear today. Again, paragraphs 413 to 421 is a summary of almost everything we've been hearing for the last few days. And so it's almost like, oh wow, this is a 50,000 foot overview of what we've been diving into deeply for the last week or so. So let's get started. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we know that we can trust you. We know that you do not abandon us to the domain of death. You do not abandon us the power of the evil one.

You do not abandon us to the domain of death. You do not abandon us to the power of the evil one. We know that we can trust you even when we say, God, can you just take us out of this situation? Can you remove us from the battle? You don't. Instead, you do something more incredible. You enter into the battle. You didn't take us out of the fight.

You enter into the fight. You didn't take us out of suffering. You enter into our suffering. Thank you for being here with us. Thank you for being here with us out of suffering. You enter into our suffering. Thank you for being here with us. Thank you for being here with us on this day. And we know that you will be with us every day until that great day when you will be all in all. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, in the name of the Holy Spirit. Amen. As I said, it's day 59 we're reading, paragraphs 413 to 421 in brief.

Nugget day, here we go. In brief, the Book of Wisdom states, God did not make death, and he does not delight in the death of the living. It was through the devil's envy that death entered the world. Satan or the devil and the other demons are fallen angels who have freely refused to serve God and His plan.

Their choice against God is definitive. They try to associate man in their revolt against God. Gaudí Matzpéz states, Although set by God in a state of rectitude, man, enticed by the evil one, abused his freedom at the very start of history. He lifted himself up against God and sought to attain his goal apart from him. By his sin, Adam, as the first man, lost the original holiness and justice he had received

from God, not only for himself, but for all human beings. Adam and Eve transmitted to their descendants human nature wounded by their own first sin and hence deprived of original holiness and justice. This deprivation is called original sin. As a result of original sin, human nature is weakened in its powers, subject to ignorance, suffering and the domination of death, and inclined to sin. This inclination is called concupiscence. Pope Paul VI stated, We therefore hold with the Council of Trent, that original sin is

transmitted with human nature, by propagation, not by imitation, and that it is proper to each. The victory that Christ won over sin has given us greater blessings than those which sin has taken away from us. As St. Paul wrote to the Romans, where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. According to Gaudí Matzpez, Christians believe that the world has been established and kept in being by the Creator's love, has fallen into slavery to sin, but has been set free by Christ, crucified and risen to break the power of the evil one.

Alright, so there it is, Nugget Day, today, paragraphs 413 to 421. I actually, if there's ever been an in-brief, right, at the end of a section that has been more comprehensive, we have not had it yet, because this starts from the very beginning. God did not make death, He does not delight in the death of the living. You know, if you want to read an incredible, incredible book of the Bible, well, they're all pretty remarkable, but wisdom, the Book of Wisdom is often overlooked by so many people, but there is, we get so much about this critical question of what happened. Does God not care?

No, no, no. The book of wisdom makes it explicitly clear. God did not make death. He does not rejoice or delight in the death of the living. How did it happen? Well, wisdom chapter two, verse 24 says, it was through the devil's envy that death entered the world. And that is so remarkably important for every one of us

to realize that God only the world. And that is so remarkably important for every one of us to realize that God only gives good. God only gives life. God is love. So he cannot be envious, right? He cannot create evil. And you think like, well, how is that? Well, because remember that image, that analogy of the sun,

the only thing that comes off the sun is light and heat because that's all it is. Well, God is love. God is life. God is goodness itself, himself. He's being itself. And so death and evil and lies, they just, they can't come from God because those are all distortions. Those are all privations. And yet here's, go back to the envy of the devil. They rejected the Lord. They rejected God in a definitive way, in a free and definitive way. So as we mentioned the question before,

do we pray for the evil one? Do we pray for the enemy? Do we pray for the devil? And the answer is essentially no because their choice is definitive. There's no going back as far as we know. So there's that, and yet here now, they try to associate us, human beings,

in their revolt against God. And so we recognize we have three enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil, according to scripture. The world, again, that broken world, the flesh, meaning our broken human nature, and again, this evil one who wants to get us to rebel against God like he rebelled against God you know it is the

The heart of of those who reject things that are beautiful reject things that are in that love that's freely offered Is they don't want other people to experience the beauty either they don't want other people to experience that love that's freely offered either It's the difference. I've mentioned this before but it's the difference between a thief and a vandal, right? It's the difference between someone who steals something and someone who vandalizes something. If you steal something, it's like, but why? It's because you want to have it. If you vandalize something, it's because you don't want anyone to have it. And here is the evil one, right? The devil, who is a thief? Yes, he steals, he kills, he destroys. But also in this strange, strange way,

he also in some ways vandalizes, right? Where you think like, okay, evil one, devil, if you don't want the Lord, okay, go your way. But there's this darkness there that exists in us too, because we experience this brokenness. There's this darkness in the exists in us too, because we experience this brokenness. There's this darkness in the evil one that says, I don't want it and I don't want you to have it either. And so we have to be on guard ourselves, of course,

against that because that lives inside of you and that lives inside of me as well. Because that's original sin. Remember paragraph 418 says, as a result of original sin, human nature is weakened in its powers. We're subject to ignorance. Our human nature is subject to suffering,

the domination of death and inclined to sin. Remember the $25,000 word of being inclined to sin is called concupiscence. And we have to realize that every one of us has that. That's one of the reasons why we recognize that just because I want something doesn't mean that it's good for me. Doesn doesn't mean that I should choose it just because I've always been a certain way. It doesn't mean that that's actually good. Now remember

every human being is good but also every human being is broken. We all have this inclination to sin and that is something if we lose that, we lose sight of that reality then we will make excuses for ourselves all of the time. We have an inclination to sin and we just, we have to fight against that. That's part of the battle of earthly life at the same time. In paragraph four 20, the victory that Christ won over sin has given us greater blessings than those which sin had taken away from us. Remember we said this yesterday, the St.

Leo, the great and St. Thomas Aquinas both had said greater blessings, better blessings. The gifts that God gives because of sin are greater than the gifts that he gave without the sin, which is again, hard for us to understand, but we recognize that Saint Paul said in Romans 5 20, where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. God in his presence, I think it's worth ending today

with what we believe in paragraph 421. Because we believe that the world has been established and kept in being by the creator's love. Yes, it has fallen into slavery to sin, but has been set free by Christ, who was crucified and risen to break the power of the evil one. That is just a word of hope.

And how amazing is this? Tomorrow, tomorrow we get to start this, this next section of I believe in the Son. Remember, this is what we're following in this first pillar and the pillar of the creed, we're following the Apostles' Creed. And so we we I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. We're gonna start tomorrow and I believe in Jesus Christ, his only beloved Son and so that's what we get to do tomorrow. I am so excited. You guys,

this has been, it's been a journey, isn't it? And I would love to be able to hear like what it's been like for you for these first, you know, two months here. We're coming up on day 60 day 60 very, very quickly. In fact, tomorrow and for these first two months, like what has it been like? Is it like showing up for class every day? I don't know. I don't know. Is it, has it been a situation where it's been like, Oh my gosh, this, my mind is being open. My heart's being open. Or has it been kind of a, I feel like I'm waiting in the dark, you know,

because we have big ideas and the church has been revealing to us in the cat, these first paragraphs in the catechism, some really, really big ideas. And so it can be a challenge. I believe me, I can understand that as we get more and more deeply into the catechism, I am convinced that our hearts will continue to grow. And so that's my prayer for you. So let me know though. I just, I would love, I don't know how you let me know these things, but, but please know that if this has been one of those where it's like, yeah, I,

uh, I'm waiting for the heart to kick in, right? I'm waiting for that love to kick in. I'm waiting for the joy to kick in. Um, just know it's coming. It's coming because here you are being faithful. Here we are as part of this community, people joining through the catechism this year. It's it's it is remarkable because I Don't know if we could do this without each other. I know I couldn't do I literally I could not do this without you and So I'm so grateful. So let's keep praying for each other. I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Fr. Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow.

God bless.