The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 75: Jesus’ Infancy and Hidden Life (2025)

Episode Date: March 16, 2025

Fr. Mike explores the mystery of Jesus’ infancy and hidden life. We first take a look at Jesus’ Baptism, circumcision, and the Epiphany. Fr. Mike discusses that Jesus’ circumcision shows us that salvation comes from the Jews. The Epiphany shows us that salvation does not stop there, it extends to all of us. Later, we examine Jesus’ hidden life. Fr. Mike emphasizes the importance of Jesus’ obedience to not just his Father in Heaven, but to his earthly father and mother as well, and how we can imitate that obedience. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 527-534. 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 journeyed together toward our heavenly home. It is day 75, reading paragraphs 527 to 534 more about the hidden life of Jesus' infancy. All of that, 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. Also, you can download your free Catechism in your reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com Speaking of free, you can click follow or subscribe to this podcast in your podcast app and receive this for free. It's amazing. Also, just a quick thank you to all those who supported the production of this podcast. It is so incredible. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your financial gifts. We could not do this podcast without you. I know I couldn't. I mean it every day. I am telling you, I say I pray for you every day and it is completely true. 100% true and I'm so grateful. You know, as I said, it's day 75 and as we

continue yesterday, we talked about how the fact that the whole life of Jesus is with two days ago, that whole life of Jesus is a mystery. Yesterday we talked about His infancy, like in that sense of the preparations. John the Baptist prepared from the Liturgy of Advent prepares for Christ and then here's Christmas. Today we're gonna look at these other, I guess you could call them two mysteries. One is the mysteries of Jesus's infancy and secondly the mysteries of Jesus's hidden life. So the mysteries of Jesus's infancy are things like his circumcision, right? The epiphany is his manifestation of Jesus as the Messiah to the world.

And so you have the Magi. Later on you have of course his manifestation by his baptism by John and the Jordan, as well as the wedding feast at Cana where he performed, that's the word, he performed his first miracle and so revealed his glory. So those are three kind of what you might call epiphanies, but the one we'll focus on today of course is the infancy epiphany which is the visit of the

wise men and what that represents. We're also going to look at two other infancy mysteries. One is the presentation of Jesus in the temple, that uh this encounter with him by Simeon and Anna and what they both say about him in the temple and then lastly the infancy mystery of the flight into Egypt like why what is it that Jesus is doing when they when he and Mary and Joseph have to flee into Egypt and when he comes out of Egypt what is what does that say also that's the first batch of mysteries right the infancy mysteries the second one we're gonna looking at today are the mysteries of Jesus is hidden life meaning okay so he had a life of labor he had a okay, so he had a life of labor,

he had a life of obedience, he had a life of silence, and those all are very, very important things that reveal something to us. A life of silence, a life of labor, a life of obedience that we don't really see much. We do have the finding of the child Jesus in the temple in paragraph 534, but other than that, all we We do have the finding of the child Jesus in the temple in paragraph 534 but other than that all we know is that

The life of Jesus was marked by ordinariness, right? It was marked by silence and obedience and work And and and this obedience to not only to his his mother and legal father joseph But also how that prefigures his radical and total obedience to his Father in heaven. We'll talk about that today. So these mysteries, the mystery of Jesus's infancy and the mysteries of Jesus's hidden life. And so as we launch into this, remember whenever we're walking among mystery, we just ask the Lord for his grace. We ask the Lord for his guidance and his illumination. So we pray. Father in heaven,

we do trust you and we, we know that we need you. We know that we need your light to guide us, your voice to call us by name. And so as we reflect on these, this infancy, the infancy mysteries, infancy narrative of Jesus is we reflect on his being presented in the temple, his being lost and being found as we reflect on his being presented in the temple, his being lost and being found, as we reflect on his hidden life in Nazareth, in the silence that marked the vast majority of his life, the obedience that marked all of his life, and the work that marked his life. We just ask you to enter into the silence of our own hearts. Enter into the ways in

which you are calling us to be obedient, not only to you, but also to those people who are in our lives that you are calling us to be obedient to. Enter into our work, Lord God, with your grace, with your own hands, you worked. And so we ask that you please enter into the work of our hands. You've sanctified work. Help our work this day be sanctified in you no matter what it is that we're doing. Let it be all for your glory

and for the salvation of the whole world. 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 is day 75, we're reading paragraphs 527 to 534. The Mysteries of Jesus' Infancy Jesus' circumcision on the eighth day after His birth is the sign of His incorporation into Abraham's descendants, into the people of the covenant.

It is the sign of His submission to the law and his deputation to Israel's worship, in which he will participate throughout his life. This sign prefigures that circumcision of Christ which is baptism. The Epiphany is the manifestation of Jesus as Messiah of Israel, Son of God and Savior of the world. The great feast of Epiphany celebrates the adoration of Jesus by the wise men, Magi, from the east, together with his baptism in the Jordan and the wedding feast at Cana in Galilee.

In the Magi, representatives of the neighboring pagan religions, the Gospel sees the first fruits of the nations who welcome the good news of salvation through the Incarnation. The Magi's coming to Jerusalem in order to pay homage to the King of the Jews shows that they seek in Israel, in the Messianic light of the Star of David, the one who will be King of the nations. Their coming means that pagans can discover Jesus and worship Him as Son of God and Savior of the world only by turning toward the Jews and receiving from them the Messianic promise as contained in the Old Testament.

The epiphany shows that the full number of the nations now takes its place in the family of the patriarchs and acquires Israelitica dignitas, the dignity of Israel's birthright. The presentation of Jesus in the temple shows him to be the firstborn son who belongs to the Lord. With Simeon and Anna, all Israel awaits its encounter with the Savior, the name given to this event in the Byzantine tradition. Jesus is recognized as the long-expected Messiah, the light to the nations and the glory of Israel, but also a sign that is spoken against. The sort of sorrow predicted for Mary announces Christ's

perfect and unique oblation on the cross that will impart the salvation God had prepared in the presence of all peoples. The flight into Egypt and the massacre of the innocents make manifest the opposition of darkness to the light. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. Christ's whole life was lived under the sign of persecution. His own share it with him. Jesus' departure from Egypt recalls the Exodus and presents him as the definitive liberator of God's people. The Mysteries of Jesus' Hidden Life

During the greater part of his life, Jesus shared the condition of the vast majority of human beings, a daily life spent without evident greatness, a life of manual labor. His religious life was that of a Jew obedient to the law of God, a life in the community. From this whole period, it is revealed to us that Jesus was obedient to his parents and that he increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. Jesus' obedience to his mother and legal father fulfills the Fourth Commandment perfectly, and was the temporal image of his filial obedience to his Father in heaven. The everyday obedience of Jesus to Joseph and Mary both announced and anticipated the

obedience of Holy Thursday. Not my will. The obedience of Christ in the daily routine of his hidden life was already inaugurating his work of restoring what the disobedience of Adam had destroyed. The hidden life at Nazareth allows everyone to enter into fellowship with Jesus by the most ordinary events of daily life. As Pope Paul VI stated, The home of Nazareth is the school where we begin to understand the life of Jesus, the

school of the gospel. First then, a school of the gospel. First then, a lesson of silence. May esteem for silence, that admirable and indispensable condition of mind, revive in us a lesson on family life. May Nazareth teach us what family life is, its communion of love, its austere and simple beauty and its sacred and inviolable character, a lesson of work. Nazareth, home of the carpenter's son, in you I would choose to understand and proclaim

the severe and redeeming law of human work. To conclude, I want to greet all the workers of the world, holding up to them their great pattern, their brother who is God. The finding of Jesus in the temple is the only event that breaks the silence of the Gospels about the hidden years of Jesus. Here Jesus lets us catch a glimpse of the mystery of his total consecration to a mission that flows from his divine sonship. Did you not know that I must be about my Father's work?

Mary and Joseph did not understand these words, but they accepted them in faith. Mary kept all these things in her heart during the years Jesus remained hidden in the silence of an ordinary life. Okay, so here we are, paragraphs 527 to 534. Gosh, you guys, it's incredible. I mean, okay, so we do, of course, we have these four really pretty significant mysteries of Jesus's infancy circumcision epiphany Presentation in the temple and the flight into Egypt and all of them again as I said the mysteries and so even if I pull

Out some points about them. There's so much more. So Jesus is his circumcision What is it? What is that a sign of it's a sign of its incorporation into Abraham's descendants, right? If you're a male and Jewish in order to be be brought into the covenant You had to be circumcised and so here is his mother and legal father who are bringing him into the covenant and What it is a sign of it is a sign that prefigures The circumcision of Christ that is baptism because what brings us into the covenant in the new covenant in the New Testament what brings us into the covenant is baptism and so it's just radical this obedience even of Mary and Joseph to be able to bring the child Jesus to be circumcised on the eighth day

Which is just remarkable not only that we also have the presentation in paragraph 529 But before that we have the epiphany and what's the epiphany again? It's a it's a it's a fact a B it's also this sign that yes, salvation is from the Jews Jesus makes that very clear in John chapter 4 and at the same time salvation is for the whole world and The Magi write the wise men visiting from the east who are not Jews who come to do him homage Who come who saw a star and they bring gold of frankincense and myrrh these gifts

It's a sign of the nations who will welcome the good news of salvation through the incarnation This is this is one of those where the circumcision is incredible mystery of Jesus as a Jew The epiphany is an incredible mystery for us who are not born Jewish But have been grafted onto the tree as st Paul writes about that we're not descendants of David We don't share in that like, you know that genetic home or that genetic family But we're brought into the family of God through baptism through grace Which is incredible and God wants us all that God wants every

Person on this planet to know him to love him and to serve him in such a way as to live with him forever in this In the next life and so the epiphany is a sign of this Yes Circumcision sign of the fact that Jesus is coming from the Jews salvation comes from the Jews and the epiphany is that sense of and doesn't Stop there it goes to the whole world now paragraph 529any is that sense of, and doesn't stop there. It goes to the whole world. Now, paragraph 529 talks about the presentation of Jesus in the temple.

As we know, if we were to read the Bible, that the firstborn male of all the animals and human beings had to be redeemed. So firstborn male of sheep, goats, cattle, all those would be sacrificed. Human beings, no, no sacrifice there. They would sacrifice something in the place of that human being, right?

So you would sacrifice a lamb or you would sacrifice some other kind of animal. For Mary and Joseph, we know that they were so poor that they offered the minimum sacrifice. Not because their hearts were small, but because their pocketbooks were small. So they offered a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons but to redeem

Jesus back that that's the whole point like he's the firstborn of Mary therefore he's belongs to God and there's this that sense of again obedience in his mother and father not only in having him circumcised but also in his presentation in the temple while he there, you have Simeon and Anna who highlight the fact that this is the long-awaited Savior. You know, Simeon who was promised that he would not die until he had seen the Lord's anointed. He said, Now Lord, let your servant go in peace.

Your word has been fulfilled. My own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people. I like to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel." This incredible, like here is the one, here is the Messiah and also Anna. Anna who prophesies that here is Mary and here is Jesus who is destined for the fall and the rise of many in Israel, a sign of contradiction, but also that Mary will be pierced with the sword, her own heart will be pierced with the sword, her own heart will be pierced with the sword. So there's that sense of that mystery.

Then last mystery of Jesus' infancy, we have the flight into Egypt and the massacre of the innocents. And I love how the Catechism highlights. What does this make manifest? Well, it makes manifest the opposition of darkness to the light. As John says in his gospel, he came to his own home and his own people received him not Makes manifest the opposition of darkness to light. You know, I think it's it's remarkable. Well, he's will say this many many times Here is God who is

Invulnerable, right? You can't hurt God but God makes himself one of us. And think about this. From the moment that God made himself vulnerable, human beings tried to kill him. Like from the very moment God made himself hurtable, we tried to hurt him. From the very moment God made himself mortal,

in the person of Jesus here in the incarnation, we tried to kill him And I think that says something about the heart of human beings I think it says something about the reality of the opposition of darkness to light That if God came close to me God came close to you when I receive him with love or would there be so much resentment in my heart that I would lash out against Him? It's worth reflecting on that so I can know my own heart. But it says this in paragraph 530, Christ's whole life was lived under the sign of persecution. His own share it with Him. Christ's whole life, from the moment he's born, he has to flee into Egypt and avoid being

killed. And his whole life is lived under the sign of persecution and his own if we belong to him. We share that with him. Of course, his departure from Egypt recalls the Exodus, again another mystery, and presents him as the definitive liberator of God's people. Here's Moses who is liberator of God's people. Here's Joshua who is the liberator of God's people. Here's Joshua who leads the people into the promised land and here's Jesus who is the new Moses. He's the new Joshua. Then we go into these last couple paragraphs for today. The mysteries of Jesus's hidden life and as I mentioned, part of the mystery is his obedience. I love this paragraph 531. During the greater part of his life, Jesus shared the condition of the vast majority of

human beings. a daily life spent without evident greatness, a life of manual labor. And that's just that reality is simple life. Here is God himself. And it goes to the point of being able to highlight that there's no life that's beneath the Lord. I mean, there's no work that's beneath the Lord. We talked many times about how in scripture, work is held up as something that is noble. Work is held up as something that is noble.

Work is held up as something that is honorable, that there is no task that is beneath you. There's no task that's beneath me. Here is the Lord Jesus. If I ever think, if I ever think, if we're ever tempted to think that there is work that's beneath us, we have to just remember that for essentially 30 years of his life, Jesus spent that day in and day out a life of manual labor. Now he also had religious life, and the religious life in paragraph 531

was that of a Jew obedient to the law of God, a life in the community. And so it's really, really important for us to understand also that it's not as if Jesus created this whole new religion, he did not. He fulfilled the old covenant, right? He fulfilled the religion that God had revealed and given to the people of Israel. And so there's this obedience that he has not only to his parents, not only to his community, also to the law of Moses.

There's something powerful about that. In paragraph 532, I love this. Jesus's obedience to his mother and legal father fulfills the fourth commandment perfectly. It was the temporal image of his filial obedience to his father in heaven." And there's that, that the everyday obedience of Jesus to Joseph and Mary, everyday obedience, that's just that, that simple everyday obedience of Jesus to Joseph and Mary, both announced and anticipated, the obedience of Holy Thursday, where in the Garden of Gethsemane he said, not mine will father, but your will be done. And I just, there's this remarkable note, you know,

the virtue of obedience. I think in our, in our day and age, when we think obedience, we think like dog training, right? And yet in the old wedding vows, what did couples vow? To love? Yes, of course. To honor? Absolutely. To love, to honor, and obey. And there's something really profound about that. I can love someone, of course. I can honor someone, of course. But can I obey them? Because

obedience implies a depth of trust. I mean, love of course requires trust, and honor requires trust. But if I'm going to place myself in your hands, if I'm going to do what you ask of me, it means I have to trust you. And the obedience of Christ in the daily routine of His hidden life was already inaugurating His work of restoring what the disobedience of Adam had destroyed. Remember, we talked about this, that all of Christ's life is a mystery and that his whole life is a mystery of redemption. Remember paragraph 517, that in his incarnation, it was part of redemption, in his hidden life was part of redemption, in his word, part

of redemption. All these pieces in here today, his obedience was part of the way that he redeemed the disobedience of Adam. This is incredible. Incredible. I love Pope Paul the sixth reflection on life of Nazareth. It was pretty remarkable how he just said, yes, you're going back. There's this lesson of silence that's learned in Nazareth. There's a lesson on family life that's learned in Nazareth. And there's a lesson of work that's learned in Nazareth and there's a lesson of work that's learned in Nazareth. Now think about those three things

Silence, family life and work. These are mysteries that Jesus enters into and he redeems them He changes them, he transforms them. So you and I, when we find ourselves in times of silence We have to esteem that silence, which is an admirable and indispensable condition of mind But also lesson on family life, that we are all born into broken families, we're part of broken families, and we bring the brokenness ourselves. And yet, family life is a communion of love.

It has beauty, it has a sacred and inviolable character. And lastly, that lesson of work. I think it's remarkable. That's why Pope Paul VI says, To conclude, I want to greet all the workers of the world, holding up to them their great pattern, their brother who is God, their brother worker who is God. Lastly, we have the finding of the Child Jesus in the temple, the only event that breaks the silence of the Gospels. And here, it says in the Catechism 534, Jesus lets us catch a glimpse of the mystery

of his total consecration to a mission that flows from his divine sonship. He is totally, even though he's in Nazareth, even though 30 years, it seems like to us, all there is is silence, family, life, and work. It seems like he's living off mission. No, in this event, Jesus allows us to catch a glimpse of the mystery of his total consecration to a mission that flows from his divine sonship.

This is as important as the last thing. He was not off mission when he was living those 30 years in silence. He was not off mission when he was living those 30 years in a hidden life. He had total consecration to this mission that flowed from his divine sonship, which is just so important for us. God has placed a mission in your life. He has a task. He has something He wants you to accomplish.

Maybe something you're accomplishing currently. Maybe it's something that has not yet been fulfilled. Maybe not come to fruition yet. But God has a mission for your life. Just because it might not be happening right now, just because it might not be on the surface right now, just because it might not be known right now, doesn't mean that you cannot still at this moment be totally consecrated to this mission because it flows from identity, right? It flows from relationship.

We know that our relationship as God's children in baptism, right, we're now sons and daughters of God in our baptism, therefore we have this relationship with God and that gives us our identity tells us who we are and then that feeds our mission Here is Jesus those 30 years. He was not just kind of sitting around in some mysterious way He lived a life of total consecration to this mission that flowed from his relationship to his father that flowed from his identity and we get to do the same thing I don't that makes sense I just oh man that it I love that it's incredible I know this is a little bit longer today I'm sorry about that I get me basically too excited about like breaking down every single paragraph but man we start talking about Jesus and I I

go a little nuts so I'm sorry oh brother well you guys oh tomorrow tomorrow we get to talk more and more about Jesus, the mysteries of Jesus' public life. Yes, today, yesterday, private life, hidden life, infancy. Tomorrow, mysteries of Jesus' public life, this baptism of Jesus, the temptations, and all the rest, as they said it

in the opening of Gilligan's Island. Anyways, oh man, okay, this is ridiculous. I'm drawing this on way too long. I am just so excited and so glad, so proud of all of you for making it to day 75. This has been an incredible gift, an incredible journey, ups and downs for sure, difficulties absolutely. And yet here we are on day 75.

I am praying for you, please pray for me. My name is Father Mike and I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.