The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 78: Signs of the Kingdom

Episode Date: March 19, 2023

Fr. Mike unpacks the signs of the kingdom of God that Christ performed while on Earth. These signs of the kingdom are a way for us to see that Jesus is not just “another prophet” but is, in fact, the Son of God. Fr. Mike reminds us that these miracles and signs can strengthen the faith, but they can also be opportunities for “offense.” We also examine the authority that Christ entrusts to St. Peter, and his unique role within the college of apostles, just like the unique role the Holy Father has within the Church today. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 547-553. 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 78. Congratulations, you guys are reading paragraph 547-553. 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 get your own free Catechism and your reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y. And also, you can click follow or subscribe and your podcast podcast app for daily notifications today is, as I said, day 78, we're reading paragraphs five 47 to 553. And we're talking about the keys of the kingdom. As you know, even following along, you were here at day 77 yesterday. We

are talking about the mysteries, right? The mysteries of Christ's life. All of Christ's life is a mystery, like, meaning it reveals the depths of God's heart. Of course we talked about the Christmas mystery, we talked about the mystery of Jesus' infancy, his hidden life, we talked about the baptism of Jesus and the his temptations. We also talked about the kingdom of God that was yesterday. How Jesus came to establish the kingdom, right?

The fulfillment of the promise that God had made to Abraham so many years ago. And here is Jesus saying, the kingdom is at hand, which is incredible, amazing. Now, today, Jesus is going to be talking about the signs of the kingdom. So, we recognize yesterday we talked about everyone is called to enter the kingdom, that yes, salvation is from the Jews, and then it goes to the Gentiles. So, it goes to the whole world, everyone is called to enter the kingdom. The kingdom belongs to the Gentiles, or it goes to the whole world, everyone is called to enter the kingdom.

The kingdom belongs to the poor and the lowly. Yesterday, we talked about how Jesus invites sinners to the table, that yes, he calls everyone, no matter how broken we are, but he also calls us to repent, calls us to change, calls us to belong to him. We have to die in order to live. Today, there are the signs of the kingdom of God,

which means that it wasn't just that Jesus came along and said, oh, by the way, the kingdom of God is on hand for you. Everyone just followed along. He had to demonstrate that he was the Messiah, that he is the Messiah, with many mighty works and wonders and signs, which manifest the fact that the kingdom is present in him and attest that he is the promised Messiah. So this is important. We're going to talk about how that's one of the things, one of the many things that Jesus is miracles, his signs and wonders pointed to. They pointed to the fact that, yes, the kingdom of God is at hand, that he truly is the denoted one, the king of the eternal kingdom. So that's why it points to, of course, you know, we sometimes think of the signs and wonders and we say,

I want more, Lord, I want, how about if you can heal the sick, how about you heal all the sick, if you can raise the dead, how about you raise all of the dead? And yet, that wasn't why Christ came. The reason, you know, well, the reasons I can name here, the reasons the Catechism names, that he healed the sick and and cast out demons was because he was establishing the kingdom and he was demonstrating through signs and wonders that that is what he was about, that there was a greater slavery that he wanted to set us free from. There was a greater death that he wanted to bring us back to life from. That was the slavery of sin. That was the death of an eternal death. And so these are signs and wonders that point to the fact that he is establishing a kingdom. Now, we're also going to talk about the fact that Jesus hands over the keys of the kingdom, that in paragraph 551 of 552 and 553,

that Jesus chooses certain men, twelve of them in number, to recapitulate or reconstitute the people of Israel. And among those twelve, there is one person, Simon Peter, who holds the first place in the College of the Twelve. And Jesus entrusted a unique mission to Peter. Now we're gonna talk about that more as days go on. But today we have this beginning of Matthew chapter 16, where Jesus asked the question,

who do people say the son of man is? And they say, well, Elijah, Jeremiah, one of the prophets, John, but the Baptist come back from the dead, and he asks them in Matthew chapter 16, but who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter, again, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and think the father reveals this to him, says, you are the Christ, the Holy One of God.

And Jesus says to him, the flesh and blood is not revealed to the student by heavenly Father has. Therefore, I say to you, you are rock, right? You are Peter, Kefa. And upon this rock, I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. Now it goes on to say in paragraph 553,

based off Matthew chapter 16, that I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And he gives a unique and specific authority to Peter. We're gonna talk about that today. So as we note, Jesus is establishing the kingdom and pointing to himself as the Messiah through signs and wonders. And also, he's setting up a structure to the kingdom

because he is making Peter the prime minister. He's making Peter the al-Haba'it. He's giving Peter a unique authority. That's what we're talking about today, in paragraph 547-553. And before we jump into this, let us pray to the Lord, they just, that he's with us, you know, as we're learning, we're learning not just information,

but we're allowing the Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts, not just our minds. Father in heaven, we know you are with us, we know that you love us, we know that we can trust in you, we have confidence in you, we know that Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, that he demonstrated not only his Messianic power, his Messianic identity through his signs and wonders, he also demonstrated his great care for us. He also demonstrated his great love for us through these miracles, through these signs and wonders, through these exorcisms, because he wants everything that is dead in us to come

to life. All those things that are good in us to be made whole. All those things that are holding us back and are keeping us from you, Father, He wants those things to be shed, to be gotten rid of, that we be delivered from the power of the enemy and brought into your kingdom, into your family even more fully than we are right now. Lord, whatever things attach to us, whatever things are clinging to us, whatever things we're clinging to right now

that are holding us back from living freely in your kingdom. We ask you, please help us to let them go. Help us by removing them from our lives. According to your will, according to your will in all things, Father. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. As I said, it is day 78 where reading paragraphs 5-47-553.

The Signs of the Kingdom of God. Jesus accompanies his words with many mighty works and wonders and signs, which manifest that the Kingdom is present in him, and attest that he was the promised Messiah. The signs worked by Jesus, a test that the Father has sent him. They invite belief in him. To those who turn to him in faith, he grants what they ask. So miracles strengthen faith in the one who does his Father's works. They bear witness that he is the Son of God. But his miracles can also be occasions for offense.

They are not intended to satisfy people's curiosity or desire for magic. Despite his evident miracles, some people reject Jesus. He is even accused of acting by the power of demons. By freeing some individuals from earthly evils of hunger, injustice, illness, and death, Jesus performed messianic signs. Nevertheless, he did not come to abolish all evils here below, but to free men from the gravest slavery, sin, which thwarts them in their vocation as God's sons and causes all forms of human bondage.

The coming of God's kingdom means the defeat of Satan's. If it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, Christ said, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Jesus' exorcisms free some individuals from the domination of demons, they anticipate Jesus' great victory over the ruler of this world. The kingdom of God will be definitively established through Christ's cross. As we pray during Holy Week in evening prayer, God reigned from the wood. The keys of the kingdom. From the beginning of his public life,

Jesus chose certain men, 12 and number, to be with him and to participate in his mission. He give the 12 a share in his authority and sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal. They remain associated forever with Christ's kingdom, for through them he directs the church, as my father appointed a kingdom for me, so do I appoint for you that you may eat and drink

at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel? Simon Peter holds the first place in the College of the Twelve. Jesus entrusted a unique mission to him. Through a revelation from the Father, Peter had confessed, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Our Lord then declared to him, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. Christ, the living stone, thus assures His church built on Peter a victory over the powers of death. Because of the faith he confessed,

Peter will remain the unshakeable rock of the church. His mission will be to keep this faith from every lapse and to strengthen his brothers in it. Jesus entrusted a specific authority to Peter, saying, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you lose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. The power of the keys designates authority to govern the house of God, which is the church. Jesus, the good shepherd, confirmed this mandate after his resurrection when he

told Peter, feed my sheep. The power to bind and loose connotes the authority to absolve sins, to pronounce doctrinal judgments, and to make disciplinary decisions in the Church. Jesus entrusted this authority to the Church through the ministry of the Apostles, and in particular through the ministry of Peter, the only one to whom he specifically entrusted the keys of the kingdom. Okay, so there we have it today. Bear Graves, 547-553, incredible. I love, okay, two parts of this, one part being the signs, the Messianic signs, right? The Messianic signs of Jesus Christ.

Now remember, John the Baptist at one point, he said, he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, are they the one we're waiting for, or should we look for another? Christ. Now remember John the Baptist at one point, he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, either one we're waiting for, or should we look for another? And Jesus says, go tell John this, you know, the blind regain their sight, the deaf here, that basically I'm doing the works of the one who was promised. And here we have in paragraph 547, Jesus accompanies his words, does he isn't just speak, right? He accompanies his words with many mighty works and wonders and signs which manifest that the kingdom is present in him and attest that he was the promised Messiah. One of the things we recognize is

you know, it's one thing for someone to come along and say I have insight into God. I have you know I'd be able to say I have a revelation from God but Jesus not only says these powerful new words, right? Remember scripture says that he taught with authority, not like the scribes. But he also backs up those new words, these new teachings. Remember how the sermon on the mount and on the sermon in the plain that Jesus says, you have heard it said, such and such, like you have heard it said, and I for nine, a tooth for a tooth, but then he says, but I say to you, forgive your enemies. You've heard it said that you should not commit adultery, but I say to you, if you look

on a person lustfully, you've committed adultery. So Jesus is giving this new teaching with authority, but he's backing up that authority by these signs and wonders, which point to the fact that he's not merely another rabbi. In fact, his signs and wonders not only point that he is the Messiah, right, that he is ushering in the new kingdom, but also he is also not only the Messiah, he's also God himself claiming to be God and then demonstrating the very power of God. That's what these miracles are also doing. So, goes on to say paragraph 548, the signs worked by Jesus, a test that the Father has sent him.

And this is really important. The next line says, they invite belief in him. The signs are meant to invite us to this place of saying yes. This is this place of saying, okay, you're not just another prophet. You're not just another rabbi. You're not just another person. Then I'm called to believe in you. I'm called to put my faith in you. I'm

called to entrust myself to you and it goes on to say to those who turned him in faith and he grants what they ask. So miracles strengthen the faith. But his miracles can also be occasions for offense. It's remarkable, right? How many times have you ever read the Gospels? And here's Jesus doing a miracle, and people are upset about this. Maybe it was because it was done on the Sabbath or something along those lines. But you think, like, wait a second, if a miracle happened, you think everybody in the area would just be going bananas. Like, this is amazing, this most incredible thing. Some of Christ's miracles invite faith. Those same miracles can invite antagonism, right? So if you go to John chapter 11, in the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead,

after Lazarus is raised for the dead, it says many of the Jews, because of this, came to believe in him. But a couple lines later, it says, but for that moment on, others plotted to kill him. And this is one of those incredible things that happens is that here is Jesus demonstrating that he is who he says he is, but also at the same time that demonstration, while it invites belief in some others respond to it with the desire to destroy him, which is remarkable. It says, again, paragraph 548, his miracles can also be occasions for offense. I love this next line. They're not intended to satisfy people's curiosity or desire for magic. You remember when Jesus went before Herod?

And Herod wanted to see Jesus. And we imagine he wanted to see Jesus because he wanted to see some miracles. But Jesus not only did not do any miracles in Herod's presence, he didn't even speak in Herod's presence. And so you recognize, yeah, he just was curious. Remember, Herod, the one who killed, beheaded John the Baptist. He was merely curious, even with John the Baptist.

He was perplexed by him, but he liked to hear him preach, merely curious. And this is one of the things for all of us to recognize that am I merely curious about Jesus? Am I merely interested in learning more about him? Because that's one thing, and it's maybe a start. But we recognize that Christ did not come to this earth, that preach into miracles, he did not suffer and die and rise from the dead, ascend to heaven, give us the Holy Spirit,

so that our curiosity could be sated. But he came so we could believe in him, so we could trust in him. I love this paragraph 549 by freeing some individuals from earthly evils of hunger, injustice, illness, and death. He performed Messianic signs, but he did not come to abolish all evils here below. In Angon, that's a mystery. Isn't that just incredible mystery for us? But if we realize that there are more serious things than suffering, there's more painful things than physical death. We realized that Jesus came to save us from eternal death. He came to save us from the slavery of sin so that we can actually live as God's sons and daughters in the power of the Holy Spirit. And of course, Jesus' exorcisms highlight the fact that there is a battle going on, that

we're born into the dominion of darkness, and Jesus has transferred us into a kingdom of light in our baptism. And so that hymn setting us free highlights, not only the fact that thank you, thank you, Lord, for doing this, but also highlights the fact that there's an enemy, that Jesus, he's bound the strong man, and at the same time, we experience the consequences of the reality of Satan, the reality of the, the being a world of darkness that is fighting to steal our souls away from our Heavenly Father. At the same time, I love this. The last section today, 551 to 553, talking about the keys of the kingdom.

And we know that again, we said this before, Jesus assembles 12 people around him, these 12 men, the 12 apostles. And not only are they a temporary kind of a group of, you know, band of brothers here on earth back in the first century, but we recognize that. As scripture points out, in even the book of Revelation, saying, John says, I see heaven come down. And the city of heaven, the new heavenly Jerusalem is built on the foundation stones of the twelve apostles. And we recognize that they have a role throughout the entire history of the world. But also among them, Simon Peter has a role. We talked about this already, Matthew chapter 16, how he confesses that, again, inspired by the fathers in the Holy

Spirit given to him, the Lord the Christ, the Son of the living God, and Jesus gives him a new name. His name was Simon, his name is Al-Khifah, his name is now rock. And upon this rock, I will build my church, and Jesus gives him a particular and unique authority. Yes, the other apostles have authority. Definitely do. And their successors, the bishops have authority.

Completely, yes. But Jesus entrusted a specific authority to Peter when he says, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatever you lose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. This is a throwback to Isaiah chapter 21, where there is the role of the Al-Habai'i, the one over the house.

Al-Over-Hah-The-En-Bait-Or-Bet-House. So the prime minister, there's the king, and the king is the ruler, the king is the king. But there's also the steward of the house, or the prime minister, there's the king, and the king is the ruler, right? The king is the king. But there's also the steward of the house, or the prime minister of the house. The prime minister of the kingdom was the one who was the Al-Haba'id, and he would have the keys. And as A.H. chapter 21, it talks about Eliakim and Shabnam. And one of them was the Al-Haba'id,

who did not do well. And so he was thrust from his office, and another took his place. And he was given the keys to the Kingdom of Judah. And when he opened the one shall shut and when he shuts, no one shall open. And he had authority. And it is also was the authority of a father, which is remarkable.

Go back and read Isaiah 21 and we realize that when Jesus is speaking to Peter in Matthew chapter 16, he is referencing so clearly Isaiah 21. Part of that authority that Jesus gives to Peter as the al-Habay, as the prime minister, is the authority to absolve sins, the authority to pronounce doctrinal judgments, like he can say things definitively, to make disciplinary decisions in the church. He can govern the church. He has the authority to do that. And Jesus entrusted this authority to the church, he can govern the church, he has the authority to do that.

And Jesus entrusted this authority to the church through the ministry of apostles, right? All the apostles and their successors, the bishops. And in particular, to the ministry of Peter, who is the only one to whom he specifically entrusted the keys. Now, yes, the other apostles and their successors, the bishops, have authority. Yep, they have authority to govern as well. But Peter has a unique role in the midst of the college of apostles, the midst of that fraternity of brothers. It's just like the Holy Father now, the

Pope now, has a unique role amongst other bishops who are around the world, which is incredible. It's incredible to realize that when Jesus established a kingdom, he is the king, he's the Messiah, he's the one who brings together reconstitutes the kingdom. And he also gives it a structure. And part of that structure is, he's given us a prime minister. Part of that structure is, he's given us these apostles and their successors, the bishops. So the church is not just the invisible church that exists kind of in our dreams or imagination or kind of in our hearts. But the church not only exists there, it also exists in reality tangibly and presently among us today. And I'm so grateful for that. I'm so grateful that our Lord Jesus not only prove that he is the Messiah,

but also gave the keys to Simon Peter and to his successors, the keys of the kingdom that belong to Jesus, they're his, they're his keys, they're his kingdom, but he entrusted them to a Peter and they've been entrusted to every Pope since Peter all the way down the Holy Father right now, which is an incredible gift. So I don't know, I want to thank God today. I'm going to praise God today for the gift of demonstrating that he is who he says he is and to give God the praise and glory for giving us the church, he's just remarkable. It's incredible.

Anyways, I'm not only praising God today and thanking him. I'm also praying. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mack. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless. you