The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 68: The Mystery of the Incarnation (2025)

Episode Date: March 9, 2025

We learn more about Jesus Christ’s nature as fully God and fully human. Because he was fully human, “like us in all things but sin,” Jesus had a human will that was perfectly aligned with the will of God the Father, a human body that can be seen and venerated, and a human heart with which he loves us. Fr. Mike sums up the teachings in recent readings by reviewing that the Incarnation is the mystery of the union of the divine and human natures in the one person of the Word. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 475-483. 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. This is day 68. You guys are reading paragraphs 475 to 483.

As always, 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, you can download your own Catechism and your reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com. And also, you can click follow or subscribe Whatever the word is just click it and you can receive daily updates and daily notifications. As I said, it's day 68

We have been going through we've been following this this part of the Creed that is talking about what it is For God to be human and divine like sorry what is for Jesus to be human and divine. Like, sorry, what is for Jesus to be human and divine? Oh man, and so we talked about the incarnation. Why did the word become flesh? Remember those four reasons a couple days ago? For four reasons, one, to save us by reconciling us with God. Secondly, so that thus we might know God's love.

Thirdly, to be our model of holiness. Fourth, to make us partakers in the divine nature. And so then we talked about the incarnation, this incredible mystery. The central mystery, remember, is the Trinity. Beyond that, though, is the incredible mystery of the incarnation, that God became one of us. Remember that we mentioned that many times

that Jesus is a divine person. Remember the second person of the Trinity, divine person with two natures, a human nature and a divine nature. We talked about that he didn't absorb human nature, that he assumed human nature. We talked about the fact that he wasn't half God and half man. He was fully God and fully man in the divine person of the second person of Trinity. Also, that here at Jesus, we talked that he take took on a truly human soul with the functions of intellect and will operations of intellect and will and as such his

Intellect had to grow but also as as such All the way along every moment of his life on earth The son of God in his human knowledge also showed the divine penetration He had into the secret thoughts of human hearts. So So you guess he had truly human knowledge and at the same time this human Soul right will and intellect was united to the divine Intellect and divine will now we're talking about that today only one paragraph when it comes to Christ's human will that's paragraph 475 and then

we're going to talk about Christ's true body and now in many ways we talked about yesterday how yeah in assuming our human nature there is not one aspect of humanity and none one aspect of human life that Jesus didn't enter into that he thought with the human mind he loved with the human heart he moved around with a human body but there's two paragraphs here about Christ's human body his true body what that are relevant to us not just in this that in suffering and loving and dying and rising from the dead in his body he's redeemed that but also that because he had a human body we can actually

portray the human face of Jesus we can can portray the body of Christ in this, in art, right? In images. In fact, there was a heresy back in the day called the iconoclast heresy that said, no, you couldn't have any images whatsoever. And the church really faced that really honestly and strenuously wrestled with this question, of course, because in the old Testament, one of the great commandments of God in the 10 commandments is you shall have no graven image.

You shall worship no graven image. What do we do when it comes to images of God? Yet the church concluded that because the word became flesh, and because God assumed a true humanity, a body that was finite, therefore the human face of Jesus can be portrayed. And so that's, you know, in the 700s and thereabouts is where the church really wrestled with that and came to the conclusion that we can. And we actually can even venerate the image. You can

venerate the icon and in doing that we're venerating the person of the one depicted, right? So we're not worshiping the icon. There was the second Council of Nicaea that made that very, very clear. And then we're venerating the person of the one depicted, right? So we're not worshiping the icon. There was the second Council of Nicaea that made that very, very clear. And then we're gonna conclude with some nuggets, but before the nuggets, we're gonna look at the heart of the Incarnate Word. So we have three kind of, I don't wanna say parts of Jesus, human will, his true body, and his heart,

the heart of the Incarnate Will. But these three aspects of the human nature that the second person of the Trinity assumed in becoming one of us, his will, his true body, and his heart. And there is this reflection in this last paragraph, paragraph 478, this reflection that he has loved us all with a human heart., yes, the heart of the second person of the Trinity, the divine heart of God that is love, remember, God is love, He has also loved us all with a human heart. For that reason, the sacred heart of Jesus, pierced by our sins and for our salvation,

is quite rightly considered the chief sign and symbol of that love with which the Divine Redeemer continually loves the Eternal Father and all human beings without exception. We're going to talk about that at the end and then we're going to conclude with five little nuggets in our in brief as we conclude this section. Tomorrow we're going to talk about how Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and talk about the Annunciation and Mary's role tomorrow. But today, on day 68, we're reading paragraphs 475 to 483,

Christ's human will, Christ's true body, the heart of the incarnate Word, and this in brief. Before we do this, let us pray. Let's actually ask God the Father to be with us now. Oh man, here we go. Father in heaven, I thank you. I thank you so much for every person who's joined us, every person who pressed press play today.

This is their day 68. This is our day 68 together. If whether this is the actual day 68 or whether, you know, we're struggling to press play every single day, Lord God, this is the day you want us to hear these words. This is the day that you want us to reflect on this truth. This is the day that you want to reveal to our minds the power of knowing you more deeply

so we can love you more truly. Help us to do both. Help us to follow you. Help us to belong to you. Help us to be yours, this day and every day. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Again, we're per day 68 reading paragraphs 475 to 483. Christ's Human Will Similarly, at the 6th Ecumenical Council, the third council of Constantinople in 681, the Church confessed that Christ possesses two wills and two natural operations, divine

and human. They are not opposed to each other, but cooperate in such a way that the Word made flesh willed humanly in obedience to His Father all that He had decided divinely with the Father and the Holy Spirit for our salvation. Christ's human will does not resist or oppose, but rather submits to His divine and almighty will. Christ's True Body Since the Word became flesh in assuming a

true humanity, Christ's body was finite. Therefore, the human face of Jesus can be portrayed. At the Seventh Ecumenical Council, the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, the Church recognized its representation in holy images to be legitimate. At the same time, the Church has always acknowledged that in the body of Jesus, we recognize in Him God made visible, so that we may be caught up through Him in love of things invisible. The individual characteristics of Christ's body express the divine person of God's Son. He has made the

features of His human body His own, to the point that they can be venerated when portrayed in a holy image, for the believer who venerates the icon is venerating in it the person of the one depicted. The Heart of the Incarnate Word Jesus knew and loved us each and all during his life, his agony and his passion, and gave himself up for each one of us. As Saint Paul wrote, The Son of God loved me and gave himself for me. He has loved us all with a human heart. For this reason, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced by our sins and for our salvation,

is quite rightly considered the chief sign and symbol of that love with which the Divine Redeemer continually loved the Eternal Father and all human beings without exception. In brief, at the time appointed by God, the only Son of the Father, the eternal Word, that is, the Word and substantial image of the Father, became incarnate. Without losing His divine nature, He has assumed human nature. Jesus Christ is true God and true man in the unity of His divine person. For this reason, he is the one and only mediator between God and men. Jesus Christ possesses two natures, one divine

and the other human, not confused but united in the one person of God's Son. Christ, being true God and true man, has a human intellect and will, perfectly attuned and subject to his divine intellect and divine will which he has in common with the Father and the Holy Spirit. The Incarnation is therefore the mystery of the wonderful union of the divine and human natures in the one person of the Word. Okay, so good. I don't know if you guys got that, okay since we already talked about Christ's human will which again

He doesn't oppose or resist the Father but rather submits to his divine and Almighty will this is I love this There is a aim. Mm-hmm There's a line here in paragraph 475 that highlights this it says that you know He Christ said two wills into natural operations a divine a human, right? says that Christ had two wills and two natural operations, a divine and human, right? They're not opposed to each other, but cooperate in such a way that the Word made flesh willed humanly in obedience to his Father all that he had decided divinely with the Father and the Holy Spirit for our salvation. Again, so think about what that means.

Well, it means many things. One of the many things that it means, there are times when some people will say, how evil, how wicked of the father to give his son up to death. That seems so cruel, seems so heartless that the father would be willing to sacrifice his son. Well, what we know is that, here, think about this. It says, he willed humanly in obedience to his father

all that he had decided divinely with the father and the Holy Spirit for our salvation. So this is not the father on his own sending the son to die for the sins of humanity. This is the father, Son and Holy Spirit united in this purpose, united in this mission that the Father is sending the Son. Of course, I mean John chapter 3 verse 16, God gave his only, he so loved the world that he gave his only Son, but there is the Son who goes forth

willingly. Here is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who decided divinely with each other for our salvation. Again, so just keep that in mind. That's powerful, powerful to recognize that in His human will, in His human intellect, Christ submitted not only to His Father, but to everything that He had decided divinely with the Father and the Holy Spirit for our salvation,

which is remarkable, incredible. We also talked about Christ's true body, right? So that in assuming a true humanity, Christ's body was finite, therefore the human face of Jesus can be portrayed. And in this last line here of paragraph 477, it says this, he has made the features of his human body his own. So that's what he really looks like. That's to the point that they can be venerated when portrayed in a holy image. And this is a quote from the second council of Nicaea for the believer who venerates the icon is venerating in it the person of the one depicted right so so we look at an image a statue a an icon or painting of a

saint or in this case of Jesus if we were to light a candle in front of that kind of thing we're not worshipping thing, we're not worshiping the image. We're not bowing down before the image. It's venerating the icon or venerating the image in order to, in our human bodies, in our time, to venerate in it the persona of the one depicted. Right? So in this, we recognize that we're not worshiping a statue of Jesus or we're not worshiping an image icon painting of Jesus, but it expresses a deeper and more profound reality. It's kind of like, I don't know if you've ever done this, but maybe you have a photograph of your child or a photograph of your

sweetheart, whatever that says. Um, and some of the, someone you have a lot of affection for and And there might be times when you miss them, you're praying for them, maybe just give that image a kiss. Now you don't, again, if you've ever done that, you'd be like, wait, it's so weird. It's not weird, it's very normal. I'm telling you this right now. You know you're not kissing the person.

And you're not saying, this is, as I'm kissing this photograph, I'm kissing this image, this is them. We say no, it's a reminder, it's an expression of something in time, of just, yeah, what your heart, the one your heart loves, right? The one your heart longs for. You know, similarly, that last paragraph, or last little section here, paragraph 478,

about the heart of the incarnate word, the one your heart longs for. I just want to go back and, man, pray with this. Jesus knew and loved us each and all during His life, His agony, and His passion, and gave Himself up for each one of us. Think about this. Isn't that incredible? Again, this massive mystery of the divine intellect of God with the human intellect of God. But Jesus knew and loved us each and all during his life, his agony, and his passion. Without exception, that's the last line of this paragraph. His heart is considered the chief sign and symbol of that love with which the divine Redeemer Continually loves the eternal father and all human beings without exception You're not disqualified

God loves the father Jesus the son of God Jesus Christ loves the father and all human beings without exception He's loved us all with a human heart and To think about this He knew and loved us each and all during his life his His agony and His passion, and gave Himself up for each one of us. That before we even came into being, Jesus loved you as He walked this earth. Jesus loved you in His suffering, His agony. Jesus loved you in the midst of His passion and he gave himself up for you That's why I love this st. Paul's letter to the Galatians chapter 2 verse 20 Where he writes the son of God loved me and gave himself for me remember

Paul never met Jesus during his earthly life during Christ's earthly life that we know of at least That that Paul did not encounter Jesus that we know of until his road to Damascus. Yet Paul can say, But the Son of God loved me and gave himself for me. See, when we encounter this love, it becomes intensely personal. When we encounter this love, it is not something we just read about in a book. That, yeah, God kind of sort of loves all of us like no St. Paul was able to say actually what he did in his passion in his agony what he did on the cross He did for me

That Jesus knew and loved us each and all during his life his agony and his passion and gave himself up for each one Of us he has loved us all with a human heart. This is just incredible. As I've said many times, I'll say again, the question of course is not whether or not God loves us. And even later the question might be how do we love him back? But the first question is, does he have your permission to love you? He already loves you Does he have your permission? That you let him love you Today After just finishing up this episode today of the catechism in the air does God have your permission to love you

He has loved us all with the human heart without exception And that's just incredible. I just invite you and I invite myself to if I get done with this I'm just gonna pray with this and just ask Jesus help me help me to let you love me because you have loved me and you gave yourself up for me and for everyone listening. You love them and you have given yourself up for them. So Father, I pray for them right now. Jesus, I pray for them right now. You guys, I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.