The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 77: The Kingdom of God (2025)

Episode Date: March 18, 2025

Fr. Mike explores Jesus’ mission of establishing the kingdom of God on earth, and who belongs in the kingdom of Heaven: all people. We see how Jesus identifies himself with the poor, lowly, and those who the world says are not important. If we do not welcome them, we cannot enter the kingdom. Fr. Mike challenges us to examine the fact that in order to gain entry into the kingdom, “one must give everything. Words are not enough; deeds are required.” Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 541-546. 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 to 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 through to Heavenly Home. This is day 77. We're reading paragraphs 541 to 546.

As always, 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 a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y.

And you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. It is day 77 as I said. And you know, yesterday we started, we started talking about the public life of Jesus and the mysteries of Jesus' public life. Not just about here's the things he did, but the fact that those things that he did are mysteries, right? The things that he did reveals something incredible and they do something incredible.

And yesterday was the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan by John, and Jesus' temptations in the wilderness. You know, what I forgot to say yesterday was the fact that, remember how Christ was anointed. Like he's the Messiah, right, anointed one. And he's anointed priest, prophet, and king. That the king was the Messiah, the king was the anointed one, and he's anointed priest, prophet, and king, that the king was the messiah,

the king was the anointed one. And the role of the king for a lot of the world, a lot of the history, is not the person who, you know, sits on a throne and just lets people, like, surround him and feed him grapes and, you know, kind of do whatever he asks. But the job of the king was to do battle for his people. And that's what happens here. We just talked about this yesterday, the mystery of a Christ public life. He's baptized, right? He's anointed priest, prophet and king, declared, revealed, manifested as

the son of God and Messiah. And the very next thing he does is he goes into the wilderness. And what does he do? He does battle with the strong man, right? He does battle with the evil one. And in this, as we said yesterday, in this, in his obedience, his battling, but in his obedience, he is the devil's conqueror. Like he fights the one who fights against you. He fights the one who fights against us. And so he reveals himself in some really clear way as the king, right? The king who does battle. Now today, praise the Lord, the king has a kingdom. And so today in paragraphs 541 to 546, we're gonna talk about the beginning of this term,

the kingdom of God. Now, one of the things that happens is, we hear, sometimes we hear these words so often or hear these phrases so often, that we don't stop and ask, wait, what do you mean by that? You know, if you say the Creed every Sunday, we already talked about this word, the word consubstantial. You know, consubstantial with the Father.

Like, yeah, yeah, that's the word I say. That's what I say, Jesus is consubstantial with the Father. But I don't, and have I ever stopped to ask the question, what does that mean? It means of the same substance, right? I mean, one in being. The kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom of God, have we ever stopped to ask, what is the kingdom of God is a hand the kingdom of God have we ever stopped to ask?

What is the kingdom of God? Remember in our history lesson of the Old Testament as we're going through God's revelation in in the Old Covenant He established a kingdom and he promised a kingdom He promised a kingdom to Abraham that was united under David and Solomon right 12 tribes of Israel that then became divided and then became dispersed. Now the remnants of that kingdom exist, but Jesus, the Messiah, right? The king was going to not only recapitulate the life of Israel, he was going to bring back together those lost tribes of the house of Israel. He was going to bring, he's going to establish a kingdom that would never end.

Remember that vision, King Nebuchadnezzar, that Daniel predicted, Nebuchadnezzar and he had the big statue with the head of gold and then silver and then bronze and then iron and then feet of iron and clay and that big stone came and those are all the dynasties, that was the Babylonians and the Persians and the Greeks and the Romans and this stone came, knocked it all down, turned it to mist, to dust. And then that stone became a mountain, an everlasting mountain, an everlasting kingdom. Jesus is that stone. Jesus established that everlasting kingdom.

That kingdom is the church. This is so important. Paragraph 541, this gathering, this kingdom is the church on earth and the beginning of that kingdom. Remarkable. We say the word kingdom of God. We recognize that while it may be many things, one thing it definitely is, is the kingdom of God is what we know as the church on earth, the seed and beginning of that kingdom which might be challenging for

some people but when Jesus says repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand what he's saying is I'm establishing a church now there is gonna be my kingdom on this earth with him as the center right he is the king and and yet there is a kingdom and so when we have a relationship with the king, we're brought into the kingdom, which means it's never just the king and I. It is the king and I and we, because we are in that kingdom. As we're gonna talk about today, the proclamation.

Who is it that is called to enter the kingdom? We're gonna hear that first announced to children of Israel, right? That it's the Messianic kingdom. It's where the Jewish people are invited, invited to say yes to this kingdom. The kingdom also belongs to the poor and the lowly, those who everyone else forgets. Jesus invites sinners to the table of the kingdom and he does this by invoking parables, right? Although so many of Jesus's parables are all about what the kingdom of heaven is

like and so as we dive into this beginnings, you know, putting our toes into the the waters of the mystery of the kingdom, let's say a prayer and just ask the Lord to help us plunge deeply into this mystery of the kingdom of God. Father in heaven we praise you and we thank you. We thank you for sending your Son not only to save us from our sins but also to establish the kingdom, to make it possible that we could be part of your family, that we could be part of your church. Because in our baptism, Lord, you've brought us into the kingdom, in our baptism, you've not only made us new creations, made us your sons and daughters, but you have made us a people.

People that transcend definitions and boundaries of race or ethnicity, of culture, of nationality. But a people united in your Son, a people united in your Holy Spirit, and a people united because you are God our Father. And we get to be part of your family. We get to be part of your church. We get to be part of your kingdom on earth. And ultimately your kingdom in heaven. Thank you. Receive our praise and receive our thanks this day. In Jesus name, Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

As I said, it's day 77, we're reading paragraphs 541 to 546. The kingdom of God is at hand. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of God and saying, The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. To carry out the will of the Father, Christ inaugurated the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. Now the Father's will is to raise up men to share in his own divine life. He does this by gathering men around his Son Jesus Christ. This gathering is the Church on Earth, the seed and beginning of that Kingdom. Christ stands at the heart of this gathering of men into the family of God. By his

word, through signs that manifest the reign of God, and by sending out His disciples, Jesus calls all people to come together around Him. But above all, in the great Paschal mystery, His death on the cross and His resurrection, He would accomplish the coming of His Kingdom. As He said, And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself. Into this union with Christ, all men are called." The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God

Everyone is called to enter the kingdom. First announced to the children of Israel, this Messianic kingdom is intended to accept men of all nations. To enter it, one must first accept Jesus' word. As Lumen Gentium states, The word of the Lord is compared to a seed which is sown in a field. Those who hear it with faith and are numbered among the little flock of Christ have truly received the kingdom. Then, by its own power, the seed sprouts and grows until the harvest.

The kingdom belongs to the poor and lowly, which means those who have accepted it with humble hearts. Jesus is sent to preach good news to the poor. He declares them blessed, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. To them, the little ones, the Father is pleased to reveal what remains hidden from the wise and the learned. Jesus shares the life of the poor. From the cradle to the cross, he experiences hunger, thirst, and privation. Jesus identifies himself with the poor of every kind and makes active love toward them

the condition for entering his kingdom. Jesus invites sinners to the table of the kingdom, saying, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. He invites them to that conversion without which one cannot enter the kingdom, but shows them in word and deed his Father's boundless mercy for them, and the vast joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. The supreme proof of his love will be the sacrifice of his own life for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus' invitation to enter his kingdom comes in the form of parables, a characteristic

feature of his teaching. Through his parables, he invites people to feast of the kingdom, but he also asks for a radical choice. To gain the kingdom, one must give everything. Words are not enough. Deeds are required. The parables are like mirrors for man. Will he be hard soil or good earth for the word? What use has he made of the talents he has received? Jesus and the presence of the kingdom in has received? Jesus and the presence of the Kingdom in this world are secretly at the heart of the parables. One must enter

the Kingdom, that is, become a disciple of Christ, in order to know the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven. For those who stay outside, everything remains enigmatic. Okay, so there we are. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Remember, the Kingdom is the Church that Jesus Christ is establishing. This gathering begins in paragraph 541. Jesus is establishing the Kingdom. The gathering is His Church on earth, the seed and beginning of that Kingdom. Have you ever wondered? Have you ever wondered?

We know why Jesus came to earth, right? Jesus came to save us. How does He save us? Ultimately, he saves us by the sacrifice of himself. Ultimately, he saved, this might be a simplistic way of saying this, but let's highlight this. Ultimately, Jesus saves us through his death and resurrection. So have you ever stopped to wonder,

this is just again, thought exercise, just my thought exercise here. Have you ever thought to wonder if Jesus's mission was to save us and he saved us by dying and rising from the dead, you know, when Herod was gonna try to kill him, why did the angel appear to Joseph and tell him to flee to Egypt?

Why not just let him be killed then? Because if the mission is to save the world and he saved the world by dying and rising, why not just allow him to, you know, he becomes becomes humble right? He becomes vulnerable. He talked about this before Why not let him die then or you know when he goes to Nazareth and they're gonna throw him off the brow of the hill Why not let him die then? There's a time in in Jerusalem when they're gonna kill him and Jesus walks away slips away. Why not let him die then

to kill him and Jesus walks away slips away. Why not let him die then? Again, if Jesus's mission is to save the world and it is and he saved the world through his death and resurrection which he does then why all of this? Now we mentioned this yesterday part of it is because Jesus recapitulates the whole story of Adam right? He recapitulates the story of the people of Israel that by his obedience is he's freely entering into suffering and death. That's a very critical part of this. But also because the mission of Jesus was not quote unquote merely to save us.

Jesus' mission was to establish the kingdom on earth, to allow us to be brought into the family of God, to allow us to be brought into the kingdom, to allow us to have a church in the first place. And this is just so, so important for us. We cannot, we cannot live without the church. We cannot come to know Christ without his church. And this is so important. We're going to talk more and more about the church as time goes on. But here in this really small way, this term that we keep throwing around, the kingdom of God, we must understand what that means. And one of the many things that means it means

the church of course it also means the kingdom in heaven that exists in heaven right we even call that the church triumphant on earth it's the church militant and in purgatory it's the church suffering but hmm Christ stands at the heart of this gathering of men into the family of God And this is remarkable. Let's go back to the text here Jesus calls all people to come together around him Hmm Last line in paragraph 542 it says into this union with Christ all men are called in the very next line says

Everyone is called to enter the kingdom Again, the first what people it was announced to are the children of Israel but this Messianic kingdom is intended to accept men of all nations every single person every single person. Jesus says the kingdom belongs to the poor and the lonely. Jesus declares them blessed but also Jesus declares himself one of them. In the middle of paragraph 544, it says, Jesus shares the life of the poor. From the cradle to the cross, he experiences hunger, thirst, and privation. He identifies himself with the poor of every kind and makes active love toward them to

condition for entering his kingdom. He identifies himself with the poor. As often as you did this for one of the least of my brethren, you did this for me. And unless we do that, unless we take care of the poor, unless we take care of the lowly, unless we take care of those who the world says are not important, we may not enter, ultimately enter, the kingdom. Again, remember here's the many levels of kingdom. We have church on earth, but also church triumphant, right, in heaven.

545, Jesus invites sinners to the table of the kingdom because he came not to call the righteous, but sinners. And he invites them to that conversion without which one cannot enter the kingdom. That he, seriously, this is so important. He shows them in word and deed his Father's boundless mercy for them. And ultimately though

Ultimately, there will have to be have to be a Change of heart and not just a change of heart but a change of life It says that you know, everyone's invited to this feast in paragraph 546. Everyone's invited to this incredible joy But God also asks for a radical choice. To gain the kingdom, one must give everything. This is the heart of, this is my heart right now. To gain the kingdom, one must give everything. Words are not enough, deeds are required. That's what the parables highlight,

so teaching of Jesus highlight. To gain the kingdom, one must give everything words are not enough Deeds are required and so today I just I Get to use the parables in my own heart right use the parables as mirrors as it says here in paragraph 546 it's my is my heart hard soil or a good earth What use have I made of the talents that God has given me? How have I taken care of those who are the least of God's chosen ones? Deeds are required.

And I just realized that today, today you and I, if you're baptized, you've been brought into the kingdom. If you've gone through like RCIA and you've been through the fullness of the sacraments, that they have that fullness of initiation into the kingdom of God, fullness of initiation into the church. What a gift. If you're on your way, also what a gift. What am I doing with that gift? Is it a superficial gift that remains on the surface?

Is it a gift that I only talk about? Or is it a gift that moves my feet? A gift that moves my actions? Words are not enough. Deeds are required. So Lord, I know that I am not strong enough. I am not on my own. I am not strong enough to do this. I need so much help and I know you do too. I know, I know you do. Even though it's day 77 and you keep pressing play, man it's easier to press play than it is to belong fully to the Lord Jesus. And so what we do is we say let's pray for each other. Please pray for each other because it is easier to press play than it is to belong fully to the Lord Jesus And so what we do is we say let's pray for each other

I please pray for each other because it is easier to talk about this and it is to live it Words are not enough deeds are required exactly and so here we are Asking for God's grace to be strong to be courageous to be bold to choose him not just with our words With our entire lives. I am praying for you for that. Please pray for me for that. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.