The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 76: Jesus’ Baptism and Temptation (2026)

Episode Date: March 17, 2026

Together, with Fr. Mike, we examine the mysteries of Jesus' Baptism and temptation in the wilderness. Fr. Mike unpacks how Jesus’ Baptism is yet another Epiphany or manifestation of Christ as Messiah. We also explore Christ’s acceptance of his mission as God’s suffering servant. Fr. Mike emphasizes that Jesus’ temptations in the desert mirror the temptations of Adam in the garden, but, unlike Adam, Jesus does not succumb to these temptations. He remains faithful to the Father. Through this obedience to the Divine Will, he conquers the Devil, and in our own obedience, we are participating in this victory. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 535-540. 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 Gaticism in Ere 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 76. We're reading paragraphs 535 to 540. We're continuing to follow along the mysteries of Jesus' life. As always, I am 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 and a year reading plan by visiting Accenturepress.com slash CIY. And you can also click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. It is, as I said, day 76. One of the things we're talking about today is we're kind of what we're following along the mysteries of Jesus' life. We talked about how all of Christ's life, the Christ's whole life is mystery a couple days ago. Yesterday, we talked with the fact that the hidden life, hidden mysteries of Jesus' infancy and hidden life, right? And so we had, I'm saying right as if, like, I need you to agree. You know the truth.

We talked about how Advent, the Christmas mystery, the mysteries of Jesus' infancy we talked about, and also the mysteries of Jesus' hidden life for the last two, three days now. Now today, we're talking about the mysteries of Jesus' public life. And we're talking about, in particular, these two mysteries of the baptism of Jesus, and Jesus' temptations in the wilderness. And so it's just remarkable because, I don't know, well, you know what it's been like for the last couple days. We get to reflect on things that we kind of know about and get to hear what the church says

about those things we know about. Of course, this is a summary. It's not, we're not diving as deeply as our person could humanly possibly dive into these mysteries. But we're having the opportunity, and I think hopefully it's been a joy for you. It's been really moving to me, to be able to take this to prayer every day, to take to prayer, the finding of Jesus in the temple, to take into it. to prayer. Jesus' obedience to his mother and father. I just love this. I mean, honestly,

that line in paragraph 532 from yesterday that said, the everyday obedience of Jesus to Joseph and Mary both announced and anticipated the obedience of Holy Thursday. And just that sense of like, oh my gosh, that here is the obedience of Christ in the daily routine of his hidden life was already inaugurating his work of restoring with the disobedience of Adam had destroyed. And that's just remarkable. Again, it just strikes me a lot and pierces my heart. a bunch. Today, as I said, we're looking at the two mysteries of the baptism of Jesus and Jesus when we look at the baptism of Jesus. We'll look at the actual reality that Jesus, Jesus goes to the Jordan River, is baptized by John amongst all these people. And he's revealed by the voice of the father,

by the spirit coming upon him in this form of a dove. But also what it means in paragraph 536, it's going to highlight what does this mean? What does this epiphany, this manifestation of Jesus as Messiah I mean. Well, one, it's on his part, the acceptance and inauguration of his mission as God's suffering servant. He allows himself to be numbered among sinners, that he already is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He's already anticipating the baptism of his bloody death, and already he's coming to fulfill all righteousness. Like this, all of these pieces, this is paragraph 536, all of those pieces revealed to us that Jesus begins his march. He begins his march to Calvary right away and reveals that he has accepted and begun this mission as God's suffering servant. Now, I would imagine that even the

incarnation is his beginning of the mission. But it's a sign of his acceptance. It's a sign of the inauguration. You know, I love this. It says he allows himself to be numbered among sinners. There's a reflection that Pope Benedict has had years ago when he was the Holy Father that he talked about how along the shores of the Jordan River there was all of humanity. Like the brokenness of humanity was represented. And Jesus elected to be numbered among them, that he goes down into the waters on our behalf. And that's what paragraph 537 talks about. 537 talks about what the baptism of Jesus means for us. He says this. Through baptism, the Christian is sacramentally assimilated to Jesus, who in his own baptism anticipates his death and resurrection. And so we have to

also enter into this mystery. It's remarkable. Then again, lastly, the second half. of these mysteries, Jesus' temptations that after he's baptized, he goes into the wilderness for 40 days. Now, we talked about how part of Christ's what he's doing, the revelation, right, he's the revelation of the Father. He is redeeming us, and also he's recapitulating something. And so we're going to highlight what Jesus is recapitulating. He's recapitulating the life of Adam. He's recapitulating the life of the chosen people of Israel. And also, the last thing in paragraph 540, Jesus' journey into the wilderness reveals the way in which God the Son of God is Messiah. And I love this.

This is the first sentence of paragraph 540. It says, Jesus' temptation reveals the way in which the son of God is Messiah, contrary to the way Satan proposes to him and the way men wish to attribute to him, that he allows himself to be not the conquering hero in the sense of he is powerful, worldly in a worldly way, not that he is victorious in a way that is political, but he vanquished the tempter for us. Why? How? By entering into our weakness, that he's been tested in the same way that we are, yet without sinning. And it's just so cool, so incredible. And of course, the last line in paragraph 540 is by the solemn 40 days of Lent, the church unites herself each year to the mystery of

Jesus in the desert. And so we recognize that this is a mystery that existed at one time in time, but we get to enter into it every single year when we enter into Lent as well, which is just amazing. So here we are. Let's begin. Let's continue our day right now as we pray to our father and just ask him to help us soak in the mystery of Christ's baptism, what that means as he enters into those waters, help us to soak into the mystery of Christ's, his temptation in the wilderness. us help us to say yes to God and know to Satan in the wilderness as well. Father in heaven, you know us. You know our name. You know our weaknesses. You know our great need for you. We ask that you please meet us in our self-abasement. Meet us in our weakness.

We ask you to please meet us in our hesitancy and in our littleness. Meet us in our trials. When we find ourselves, Lord God, in the wilderness. when we find ourselves in a place of temptation, and even when we find ourselves in a place where we have failed the temptation. And we have said no to you and yes to the tempter. Help us even then, Lord God. Help us even then to know that we can count on you, to know that we can trust you. Help us to trust you in our brokenness. Help us to trust you in our wilderness and our weakness. Meet us there, find us there, and bring us to your heart. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Again, it's Bay Day 76.

We're reading paragraphs 535 to 540. The mysteries of Jesus' public life. The baptism of Jesus. Jesus' public life begins with his baptism by John in the Jordan. John preaches a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. A crowd of sinners, tax collectors and soldiers, Pharisees and Sadducees and prostitutes come to be baptized by him. Then Jesus appears. The Baptist hesitates, but Jesus insists and receives baptism. Then the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, comes upon Jesus and a voice from heaven proclaims, this is my beloved son. This is the manifestation, epiphany, of Jesus as Messiah of Israel, and Son of God. The baptism of Jesus is on his part, the acceptance and inauguration of his mission as God's suffering servant. He allows himself

to be numbered among sinners. He is already the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Already he is anticipating the baptism of his bloody death. Already, he is coming to fulfill all righteousness. That is, he is submitting himself entirely to his father's will. Out of love, he consents to this baptism of death for the remission of our sins. The father's voice responds to the son's acceptance, proclaiming his entire delight in his son. The spirit whom Jesus possessed in the fullness from his conception comes to rest on him. Jesus will be the source of the spirit for all mankind. At his baptism, the heavens were opened, the heavens that Adam's sin had closed, and the waters were sanctified by the descent of Jesus and the Spirit, a prelude to the new creation.

Through baptism, the Christian is sacramentally assimilated to Jesus, who in his own baptism anticipates his death and resurrection. The Christian must enter into this mystery of humble self-abasement and repentance, go down into the world. water with Jesus in order to rise with him, be reborn of water and the Spirit, so as to become the Father's beloved son in the sun, and walk in newness of life. As St. Gregory of Nazianzus said, Let us be buried with Christ by baptism to rise with him. Let us go down with him to be raised with him, and let us rise with him to be glorified with him. St. Hilary of Poitiers said, Everything that happened to Christ lets us know that, after the bath of water, the Holy Spirit swoops down

upon us from high heaven, and that, adopted by the Father's voice, we become sons of God. Jesus' temptations. The gospel speaks of a time of solitude for Jesus in the desert immediately after his baptism by John. Driven by the Spirit into the desert, Jesus remains there for 40 days without eating. He lives among wild beasts and angels minister to him. At the end of this time, Satan tempts him three times, seeking to compromise his filial attitude toward God. Jesus rebuffed these attacks, which recapitulate the temptations of Adam in paradise and of Israel in the desert, and the devil leaves him until an opportune time. The evangelists indicate the salvific meaning of this mysterious event. Jesus is the new Adam, who remained faithful just where the first Adam had

given into temptation. Jesus fulfills Israel's vocation perfectly. In contrast to those who had once provoked God during 40 years in the desert, Christ reveals himself as God's servant, totally obedient to the divine will. In this, Jesus is the devil's conqueror. He binds the strong man to take back his plunder. Jesus' victory over the tempter in the desert anticipates victory at the passion, the supreme act of obedience of his filial love for the Father. Jesus' temptation reveals the way in which the Son of God is Messiah, contrary to the way Satan proposes to him and the way men wish to attribute to him. This is why Christ vanquished the tempter for us, as the letters of the Hebrews states, for we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every

respect has been tested as we are, yet without sinning. By the solemn 40 days of Lent, the church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert. Okay, so there we are paragraphs 535 to 540 today. Oh my gosh, you guys, let's just, let's dive in. Let's let's go. Paragraph 535, recap. It is the story. Paragraph 535 is simply the story. Jesus says, public life begins by his baptism, with his baptism by John and the Jordan. So John is, he's preaching there, a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,

a crowd of sinners, all kinds of sinners, show up. And then Jesus appears. John the Baptist says, actually be baptized by you, et cetera, et cetera. Jesus says, nope, let's fulfill all righteousness. Let's do this thing. And the Holy Spirit, as he's baptized, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, comes upon Jesus. and the father's voice declares, this is my beloved son. This is the first, you know, that this is one of the manifestations, right?

Remember, we talked about another manifestation, the epiphany, literally the feast of epiphany of the magi, but here's another epiphany, revelation, manifestation of Jesus as Messiah than going on in paragraph 536. The meaning of this is just remarkable. We already highlighted this, but I'll do it again because it's so powerful. The baptism of Jesus is on his part, the acceptance and inauguration of his, mission as God's suffering servant. Again, this is the beginning of Jesus' public life. He's accepted. He's begun this mission. He allows himself to be numbered among sinners. Remember the mess of humanity on the

banks of the Jordan River. He's already the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Remember, it's in Christ's sacrifice, in the pascal mystery that he fully redeems us, that he redeems humanity. But he already is the Lamb of God. Why? How do we know this? Because John the Baptist saw him walking along the Jordan River at this time. And he says to the disciples, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He already is that Lamb of Sacrifice, who already is taking away the sins of the world

in some mysterious way. He says this. He's already anticipating the baptism of his bloody death. Already he's coming to fulfill righteousness, which is so important. We're going to highlight this because it's going to be the hallmark of Jesus' life. That is, here it says in paragraph 536, right in the middle.

That is, he is submitting himself entirely to his father's will. Out of love, he consents to this baptism of death for the remission of our sins. Now, this is the core. Christ's obedience. We highlighted Christ's obedience yesterday, right, with Mary and Joseph in the hidden life in Nazareth. But Christ's obedience to his father is the, I, here's, here's my hot take on this one.

I'll just tell you this. This is my perspective. I think it has been validated. and asserted by many people throughout the history of Christianity. But Christ's obedience is the heart of his sacrifice. Christ's obedience is the heart of redemption. That he is submitting himself entirely to his father's will. Out of love for the father,

he consents to this baptism of death for the remission of our sins. Out of love for us as well, I imagine. But it's obedience. And this is going to be so clear for us, because even let's go down to the temptations of Jesus in the desert. Remember, we talked about this. We talked about how Jesus recapitulates Adam. He recapitulates the story of the people of Israel.

And where Adam was disobedient, Jesus is obedient. Where the people of Israel were obedient and rebelled against the Lord, Jesus was obedient and submitted himself to the Lord. And so go to this in paragraph 538. We have this really, really clear note. Jesus rebuffs these attacks in the desert, in the desert now, which recapitulate the temptations of Adam in paradise and of Israel in the desert. It goes on to say exactly what this.

It says the evangelist indicate the salvific meaning of this mysterious event. That again, remember this, all these things are mysteries, which means we can know something about them. We can kind of grasp them, but they're so much deeper. There's something happening beneath the surface that we can't see, but we can some way grasp. This is what it says, 539. Jesus is the new Adam.

who remained faithful just where the first Adam had given into temptation. That's that in the first way, which is so remarkable. He was faithful where the first Adam had given into temptation. And secondly, Jesus fulfills Israel's vocation perfectly. In contrast to those who had once provoked God during 40 years in the desert, Christ reveals himself as God's servant, totally obedient to the divine will. And in this, Jesus is the devil's conqueror. Think about this.

It's remarkable. It's in Christ's obedience to His Father. that he is the devil's conqueror. Let's apply this to our lives because that's what the catechism keeps doing. You know, paragraph 535, 536 tells about Christ and the significance of this mystery. But then 537 talks about, oh, that's us now. We need to participate in this. Paragraph 538 and 539 talk about Christ's participation in the mystery of him being tempted in the wilderness. But then 540 reveals how we participate in this as well. And how does it reveal? It reveals that Christ conquers the evil one by his obedience to his father.

Loving obedience, my brothers and sisters, this is going to be the key for all of our lives. All of our lives. That if I know what the father's asking me to do and I don't do it, I'm lost. But on the other hand, to know what the father's asking me to do and to do it, I'm a saint. and not only a saint, but when we do that, we are participating in the redemption of the world. We're participating in this incredible, incredible action. Again, paragraph 537, it says this, through baptism, the Christian is sacramentally assimilated to Jesus. We must enter into this mystery of humble self-abasement and repentance, go down into the water with Jesus in order to rise with him.

And I love what St. Hilary Apatier said. He said this, adopted by the father's voice in baptism, adopted by the father's voice. we become sons of God. We know this, and we're going to talk about this more deeply, that when the Holy Spirit comes upon us in our baptism, we are truly adopted. We are new creations. We become sons and daughters of the father. He actually truly becomes our father in a completely unique, completely unique way. And as God's sons and daughters, that's where we have to live that way that way that the son lived. What was that way? That way was the way of obedience, which is just difficult, really difficult. But yet,

In Christ obedience to the divine will, I'm going to restate what I said in paragraph 539. In Christ obedience to the divine will, he is the devil's conqueror. I love this. Oh, man. Last line in paragraph 539, we said it before. We'll say it again. Jesus, his victory over the tempter in the desert anticipates victory at the passion, the supreme act of obedience of his filial love for his father.

We have a savior, we have a God who's not unable to sympathize with our weakness. but one who in every respect has been tested as we are and yet did not sin. So praise the Lord. Tomorrow we're going to talk about the mystery of the proclamation of the kingdom of God. What does that mean that Jesus announces the beginning of the kingdom of God? What is the kingdom of God? We're looking at that tomorrow. And so we as we continue, as we continue to walk with the Lord in these mysteries of his now public life. Oh man, please just know. I am praying for you. I am praying for, please pray for each other because it's one thing to kind of just know some things and learn some things. It's another to realize,

oh my gosh, Lord, you're calling me to live this way to. You're calling me to participate in these things. And he is. So, as I said, I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.