The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 65: Why the Word Became Flesh (2024)

Episode Date: March 5, 2024

The Word became flesh to reconcile us with God, to manifest God’s love for us, to model holiness, and to make us partakers of the divine nature. We learn that the “Incarnation” refers to the fact that the Son of God assumed human nature in order to accomplish our salvation. Fr. Mike explains that belief in the Incarnation of God is the distinctive sign of Christian faith. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 456-463. 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 and 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's day 65. We're reading paragraphs 456 to 463. It is a whole new section, you guys. A new section on, well, a new article at least, where we look at the statement, who is conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. We're looking at the Son of God became man and answering the big question. Why? Why did the word become flesh? Why did the Son of God become one of us?

It's so incredible. 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. If you want to download your own Catechism in a year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y,

and you can also click follow or subscribe in your podcast app to receive daily updates and daily notifications. Just a quick, I just want to take a moment to thank all of you. Not just for pressing play. That's incredible. I love this community. It's been such a blessing as we begin this journey, if you continue this journey really here on day 65, but also for all those who have supported the production of this podcast with your prayers and with your financial gifts, truly couldn't do this without you. And I'm just so, so incredibly grateful.

and with your financial gifts, truly couldn't do this without you. And I'm just so, so incredibly grateful. I say kind of said there in the little intro today, we're on article three, which is the next statement in the apostles create. That statement is who was conceived by the Holy spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. Paragraph one here, this, what we're going to read today is the son of God became man. And we're actually asking the question, why? Why did the word become flesh? Now the church is going to offer us four reasons. It's remarkable.

So I love this. I know that I see Creed says, for us men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven. Yes, that is, that is a great reason. And that fact, that's the first reason paragraph 457. It says the word became flesh for us in order to save us by reconciling us with God So that's the first one Why did the word became flesh to save us by reconciling us to God the second reason in 458 if you're following along you can

See this right now the word became flesh so that thus we might know God's love or imagine this Imagine not even hearing this. I'm know a lot of us a lot of us struggle to believe that. But imagine never, never really hearing that even. Or even saying, okay, God loves me when, how, why. And not even realizing that here's how he loves us. In this, the love of God was made manifest. God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him. So the second reason, why did God become man? Why did the word become flesh? So that we might know God's love. The third reason in paragraph 459, the word became flesh to be our model of holiness. It came to show us the way.

The fourth reason that the church offers here in paragraph 460, the word became flesh to make us partakers of the divine nature. I don't know. The other three reasons, the first three reasons are amazing. They're incredible. This fourth reason, you know, we could dive, we could dive deeply into what it means to be saved. I mean, we need to, in fact, we need to dive deeply into what it means to know God's love.

We have to reflect on that. And of course, we need to dive deeply into, in reflecting on Jesus as our model of holiness. But this fourth reason in paragraph 460, I cannot begin, I cannot begin to reflect on what it means to be a partaker of the divine nature. When you and I were baptized and the Holy Spirit dwelt inside of us, we became a new creation. And we're going to talk more about this when it comes to baptism. We'll talk more about this in other other sections of the Catechism. But we became a new creation. We became in some ways a new species.

We were adopted by God the Father. Now, and this is, well, we'll talk about this after we read the section, but it just blows my mind that that's one of the reasons why the word became flesh and dwelt among us so we could become partakers. We could share in the divine nature. Now, last three paragraphs we're looking at 461 to 463 today are all just kind of a reflection, a brief reflection on the incarnation,

which is, you know, the inflection of God. If you know any Spanish, carne means meat, right, or flesh. So the incarnation is the inmeatment, the inflection of God. And so we're gonna talk about that in three quick paragraphs. So again, we're inmatement, the infleshment of God. And so we're going to talk about that in three quick paragraphs. So again, we're reading paragraphs 456 to 463. So before we dive into this incredible mystery, amazing mystery of the incarnation, and of God's love for us, and the reality that He has saved us by becoming one of us and living, dying and rising, ascending

to heaven. We just need to call upon the Lord. We need to actually talk to God right now. Let's take a moment and talk to God. Father in heaven, we love you more powerfully than we could ever love you. You love us more truly than we could ever choose you. You have chosen us in more faithfully than we could ever be faithful to you. You've laid a claim on our lives. You've promised yourself, you've covenanted yourself to us, that becoming one of us and even not abandoning us by even taking our humanity with you into heaven, by taking our humanity into your divinity,

Lord God, you've united forever, humanity and divinity, and you've even given us a share in your divinity. So Father, I just can't even begin to thank you. I cannot even begin to understand the depth of your love, the depth of your faithfulness. Help us grasp a little bit more clearly today so that we can love you even

more truly today and forever in heaven. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. As I said, it's day 65, reading paragraphs 456 to 463. Article 3, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary? 1. The Son of God became man. 1. Why did the word become flesh? With the Nicene Creed, we answer by confessing, For us men, and for our salvation, he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man.

The word became flesh for us, in order to save us by reconciling us with God, who loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. The Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world and he was revealed to take away sins. As St. Gregory of Nissa said, Sick our nature demanded to be healed, Fallen, to be raised up. Dead, to rise again. We had lost the possession of the good.

It was necessary for it to be given back to us. Closed in the darkness, it was necessary to bring us the light. Captives, we awaited a Savior. Prisoners, help, slaves, a liberator. Are these things minor or insignificant? Did they not move God to descend to human nature and visit it since humanity was in so miserable and unhappy a state? The word became flesh so that thus we might know God's love. As the first letter of John states, In this, the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world,

so that we might live through him. John chapter 3 states, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. The word became flesh to be our model of holiness. Jesus said, Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. He also said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me. On the mountain of the transfiguration, the Father commands, Listen to him. Jesus is the model for the beatitudes and the norm of the new law. He stated, Love one another, as I have loved you. This love implies an effective offering of oneself after his example.

The word became flesh, to make us partakers of the divine nature. As Saint Irenaeus stated, For this is why the word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of Man, so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a Son of God. Saint Athanasius stated, For the Son of God became man, so that we might become God. And Saint Thomas Aquinas stated, The only begotten Son of God, wanting to make us shares in His divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods. The Incarnation Taking up Saint John's expression,

the word became flesh, the church calls incarnation, the fact that the Son of God assumed a human nature in order to accomplish our salvation in it. In hymn cited by Saint Paul, the church sings the mystery of the incarnation. Have this in mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.

The letter to the Hebrews refers to the same mystery. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, Lo, I have come to do your will, O God. Belief in the true incarnation of the Son of God is the distinctive sign of Christian faith. As the first letter of Saint John says,

By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. Such is the joyous conviction of the church from her beginning. Whenever she sings the mystery of our religion, he was manifested in the flesh." Okay, this is incredible. I don't even know you guys. I'm so glad we made it today 65 together because this is, I want to say bananas. It is bonkers. It is incredible. The question, why did the word become flesh? Why did God become one of us?

And here is the church's beautiful, powerful, just this is worth, bring this, guys, bring this to prayer today, please. Maybe return to this, bookmark this page, and just highlight these words. Here's these four reasons. Here's why God became flesh for you and for me. And of course, we know this is all communal, right? We know Jesus did this. That God did this for all of the world, right? That Jesus,

there's no one that he didn't become flesh for. There's no one that Jesus didn't suffer and die for. Everyone in past, present, and the future. He did it for everyone. But let's also make it really personal. This might be very helpful, because the four reasons are, the word became flesh for us in order to save us by reconciling us with God. Okay, let's pause. That's true. Make it personal. The word became flesh for you in order to save you by reconciling you with God. Second reason, the word became flesh so that thus we might know God's love.

Make it personal. The word became flesh so that you might know God's love. Third reason, the word became flesh to be our model of holiness. Personal, the word became flesh to be your model of holiness. And the fourth reason, the word became flesh to make us partakers of the divine nature. The word became flesh to make you partaker of the divine nature. The word became flesh to make you partaker of the divine nature. Again, again, of course, this communal God did this for everybody. It's not just, it's not just just me, but it is personal, right?

This is this is for the whole church is for every person who's been baptized. Every person on the planet, God has done this for even if they don't even know it. And yet let's not let this be an abstraction. This is so concrete. This is so personal. Oh man. Okay, so let's go back. The four reasons for salvation, of course,

by doing what? By reconciling us with God. Remember original sin? Remember what that did? Remember how original sin did so many things, had consequences? One of those consequences being that we are divided in our own hearts. Another consequence being we're divided from each other and that other primary, you know, let me say primary consequence

is we're divided from God. Jesus became flesh. The second person of the Trinity became flesh so that we might be reconciled to God, and by that reconciliation that we might be saved. I love what St. Gregory of Nissa had said. This is incredible. Sick are nature demanded to be healed. Fallen to be raised up. Dead to rise again. We had lost possession of the good. It was necessary for it to be given back to us. Closed in the darkness, it was necessary to bring us the light. Captives we awaited to save you. Prisoners help. Slaves a liberator."

Oh my gosh, incredible. Incredible. Second reason. So that we might know God's love. I love. Oh my gosh, you guys. John 3 verse 16, you've seen it in the end zone. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son.

That whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. So we might know God's love. You know, it is so common that we have heard the truth that God loves us. How many of us have received or accepted the truth that God loves us? I've said it many times, I'll say it again right now.

Many people that I talk with, many people that I interact with, they don't believe God loves them. They believe God tolerates them. And yet the word became flesh, so that we might know God's love. Do you know God's love? Do you know that He loves you? If you don't, just trust me. Trust me, He does.

The third reason, the Word became flesh to be our model of holiness. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Him. That, of course, He's the model of the Beatitudes, right? And He's the norm of the new law. Love one another as I have loved you. So that's how we have to live. Because He's set the standard. And as I said before, the fourth reason, the word became flesh to make us partakers of the divine nature. The example I always give is of Pinocchio. And we'll talk about this at baptism. You have Gepetto, right? Who's a human being. And he makes us marionette Pinocchio. And Pinocchio is looks like Gepetto. He can walk like Gepetto. He can talk like Gepetto. But he and Gepetto

might love him as a beloved creation of his own. But he's not Gepetto's son. He's Gepetto, he can walk like Gepetto, he can talk like Gepetto, but he, and Gepetto might love him as a beloved creation of his own, but he's not Gepetto's son, he's Gepetto's creation. Why? Because Gepetto has a human nature and Pinocchio has a marionette nature. So you can love him. And even if he's in the image and likeness of Gepetto,

there's this closeness, but they're not the same thing, right? They're not the same, they don't share the same nature. Therefore, Jopeto can't be Pinocchio's father. What has to happen to Pinocchio so that Jopeto can look at his creation and truly say, this is my son. Well, Pinocchio has to become a real boy, right?

You have to have, they have to have the same nature. This is why, you know, we can, we can love our pets. Of course we love our pets, but we're never truly our pets' parents. They're never really our children, even if we love them truly, because we don't share the same nature. But here is God, who loves us so fully.

That He actually allows us to share in His divine nature, we partake in His divine nature, so that we can truly say, God is our Father. And he can truly look at us and say, you are my child. This is the power of baptism, right? This is the power of being given the Holy Spirit through the gift of baptism. We'll talk more about this as the year goes on,

but there's some pretty profound quotes here from St. Irenaeus, St. Athanasius, and St. Thomas Aquinas, right? St. Irenaeus saying, for this is why the word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of Man. So that man, by entering into communion with the word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a Son of God. That's why, incredible, Athanasius steps it up a notch for the Son of God became man, so that we might become God, which is just, that can be very confusing because then also Thomas Aquinas says, the only begotten Son of God, the only one, right? The only begotten Son of God,

wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, right? He became human. He assumed our human nature while not losing any divinity so that he made man, might make men gods. Now, not gods in the sense that you get your own planet or you get your own universe, but that we would share, share in own universe, but that we would share share in His divinity, that we would share in that nature. Incredible, so that we have access to the Father as our Father. It was just what I said the word bananas today. I think I said the word bonkers today and it truly, truly is. Oh, it's so amazing. And then of course we heard it from the letter, St. Paul's letter to the Philippians, chapter two, and from the letter to the Hebrews, you know, the Philippians saying,

have this among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, no, form of God doesn't mean the appearance of God, but it means like the very substance of God. That's what that actually translated as. He who was the very substance of God did not count equality with God,

a thing to be grasped, emptied himself. Now that doesn't mean he ceased being God that meant that he Didn't hold on to the rights he had fully as God but emptied himself and became one of us, which is incredible and Of course the letter to the Hebrews referring to the exact same mystery of this God taking on a body right so that he could sacrifice himself so they could do the Father's will as truly a human being in a human nature with a human will.

It's just amazing, amazing. And this is, as I said, the church's joyous conviction from a beginning that he was manifested in the flesh. He was revealed to us as a the same Paul's letter to Timothy, chapter three, verse 16, the first letter. First Timothy 3, 16, it says Jesus, he was manifested in the flesh. He was revealed to us in the flesh.

Amazing, incredible. Those four reasons, remember these four reasons. Remember the incarnation, the power of the incarnation, because here is God's love for you, God's love for me. I'm gonna pray with this for the rest of the day, because this is incredible. I'm thank you, thank you love for me. I'm gonna pray with this for the rest of the day, because this is incredible. I'm thank you, I thank you guys so much.

Thank you for being part of this community because without you, I probably wouldn't be reading every single word of this God because if I'd skip around, I'd bop around and just like pay attention to what I, you know, what I'm interested in, I would have missed this gold mine today. Now, okay, full disclosure, I've already read this section today. I've always loved

this section for today, but I wouldn't read it today unless I was reading it to you. So I'm trying to say thanks. That's all I'm saying. Thank you so much. I am so grateful for this community. I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.