The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 86: God’s Plan of Salvation (2024)

Episode Date: March 26, 2024

How can we have free will if the Scriptures foretell God’s plan of salvation? This is a great mystery and something we might struggle to understand. Fr. Mike explains what it means to say God’s plan of predestination includes God’s permissive will, each person’s free will, and human beings’ response to the Father’s grace. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 599-605. 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 86. We're reading paragraphs 599 to 605. 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 versions of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, it's all the same. And to download your own Catechism and your reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y. And lastly, you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. This day is day 86. As I said yesterday, golly, yesterday we talked about what is it that we believe about the role of the Jews when it came to Jesus's condemnation and his crucifixion.

And the church is emphatic in saying that we do not lay the guilt of our Lord's death at the feet of the Jews. We do not place blame, we take the blame, right? Essentially that all sinners were the authors of Christ's passion and that includes ourselves. We yesterday also, we had that convicting word of St. Francis of Assisi. That was the last word we talked about where he said, nor did demons crucify him. It is you who have crucified him and crucify him still when you delight in your vices and sins."

So that powerful word. Now, here's the next move. The next move is Christ's redemptive death in God's plan of salvation. So what happens? Basically, we recognize that Christ died for our sins. This is something we say a lot, right? But what's going on here? First of all, we're going to talk about the

fact that Jesus' violent death was not the result of chance and unfortunate coincidence or circumstances, but it's part of the mystery of God's plan. So it's part of the mystery of God's plan that Christ would suffer death, that he'd undergo his passion and rise from the dead. At the same time, that does not mean that those who are involved were kind of like pawns, that they didn't have free will. We recognize that every person on this planet continues to have free will, even if the Lord has a knowledge, even if God himself, who is omniscient, he knows everything. God is still in the midst of his omniscience. He still retains and protects.

He continues to allow us to have free will. He still gives us free will. And there's this mystery of grace and free will. There's also this mystery of sin and free will. Yet at the same time, we talked about mystery before. And the reality is I can understand I can grasp a part of okay that this works that this is Reality that here's God's his his will. This is his

Knowledge. This is even a degree of predestination at the same time We remain free. How does that work? It is, as I said, it is incredible mystery. And yet, if you hear the last line in paragraph 600, for the sake of accomplishing his plan of salvation, God permitted the acts that flowed from their blindness, those who were involved in that moment. Now, moving on, we talked about how Jesus died

for our sins in accordance with the scripture, in accordance with the scriptures. That's paragraph 601. And so this recognition that there was a scriptural prophecy, right, that pointed to the fact that the Messiah would suffer. And we have the book of the prophet Isaiah, who in Isaiah chapter 53 talks about the suffering servant. And Jesus explains that he himself is the fulfillment of that. the prophet Isaiah who in Isaiah chapter 53 talks about the suffering servant and Jesus

explains that he himself is the fulfillment of that. He's the fulfillment of the suffering servant. In fact, remember after his resurrection on the road to Emmaus, he's giving that great Bible study to the two who walked from Jerusalem to Emmaus and he showed them why it was necessary that the Messiah should suffer all these things and it's just remarkable now the last two kind of movements of today's reading this is it's dense dense stuff today there's the line for our sake God made him to be sin so what is that what does that mean um it does not mean that Jesus himself sinned nor does it mean here's the paragraph 603 nor does it mean

Jesus it says this Jesus did not experience reprobation as if he himself had sinned, nor does it mean, here's the paragraph 603, nor does it mean Jesus says this, Jesus did not experience reprobation as if he himself had sinned. He wasn't actually rejected by his father. That there is a line in a famous Christian hymn that says the father turned his face away of Jesus on the cross. The father never turned his face away from Jesus Christ. That the son lived and continues to live in eternal gaze of love with the Father at the same time.

In this incredible state here, but in the redeeming love that always united him to the Father, he assumed us in the state of our weirderness to sin, to the point that he could say in our name from the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Right? to the point that he could say in our name from the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Right, so he had such solidarity with sinners that he experienced what we experience when we are away from the Lord, right? He experienced what it was to be rejected, but he never rejected, does that make sense?

He experienced what it is to be cut off from the Father, although he never was cut off from the Father. His solidarity with us was so real, was so great, that his experience and his humanity was that of he could say, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? But we recognize that he never, never was away from the father.

He was never disconnected. Just like in so many ways, I mean, so often, I mean, we can have analogies here, right? We can experience this distance from the Father. We can experience the silence of prayer. We can experience dryness in prayer. That does not mean God is absent. His silence does not mean that He is absent.

But we experience that. Jesus experienced what it felt like to have lost the Father. But he never lost the Father and the Father never lost him. In the last part here, God takes the initiative of universal redeeming love. That paragraph 604 says, by giving up his own son for our sins, God manifests that his plan for us is one of benevolent love prior to any merit on our part that this is a mission of love This is what God wants for us because he loves us And so we just recognize that that Christ redemptive death in God's plan of salvation. Yep. Here's God's

predestination with here's God's will Working with our free will here's our grace working with our brokenness and yet grace still is operative and our free will is still operative. That Jesus Christ took upon himself the guilt of us all in such a way that he had this solidarity with sinners. He identified himself with sinners although he himself never sinned in order to reconcile us to God and that is God's initiative. That is God's prerogative that we did not deserve it, we did not do anything to merit it and we could never do anything to merit it, but God himself takes the initiative,

which is just an incredible, incredible note. I want to give you a heads up. The last sentence in paragraph 605 is one of my favorites. I mentioned it yesterday I kind of maybe butchered it and I kind of kind of paraphrased it But is one of my favorite quotes in the catechism the final line in paragraph 605 We're gonna get to that and we pray father in heaven You have loved us. You gave yourself up for us in your son, Jesus Christ

You sent us your Holy Spirit Help us to say yes to you. Lord God, we know that our sins have created a gap between us and you. We know that your love bridges that gap. We know that there was a point in time, in the fullness of time, when you sent your own son, born a woman, born under the law, to save us. Extend that grace, extend that salvation once again to us today. Help us to confidently call upon you, to call upon the name of your son Jesus Christ, to

call upon your Holy Spirit that we might have new life and freedom in you, this day and every day. Make this prayer in Jesus name, amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and day and every day, make this prayer 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 86, reading paragraphs 5 and 99 to 6. Christ's Redemptive Death in God's Plan of Salvation Jesus handed over according to the definite plan of God. Jesus' violent death was not the result of chance in an unfortunate coincidence

of circumstances, but is part of the mystery of God's plan. As St. Peter explains to the Jews of Jerusalem in his first sermon on Pentecost, this Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. This biblical language does not mean that those who handed him over were merely passive players in a scenario written in advance by God. To God, all moments of time are present in their immediacy. When therefore, he establishes his eternal plan of predestination, he includes in it each person's free response to his grace. As St. Peter says in the Acts of the Apostles,

In this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. For the sake of accomplishing his plan of salvation, God permitted the acts that flowed from their blindness. He died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures. The Scriptures had foretold this divine plan of salvation through the putting to death of the righteous one, my servant, as a mystery of universal redemption, that is, as the ransom

that would free men from the slavery of sin. Citing a confession of faith that he himself had received, St. Paul professes that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures. In particular, Jesus' redemptive death fulfills Isaiah's prophecy of the suffering servant. Indeed, Jesus himself explained the meaning of his life and death in the light of God's suffering servant. After his resurrection, he gave this interpretation of the Scriptures to the disciples at Emmaus, and then to the apostles.

For our sake, God made him to be sin. Consequently, St. Peter can formulate the apostolic faith in the divine plan of salvation in this way, saying, You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake. Man's sins, following on original sin, are punishable by death. By sending his

own son in the form of a slave, in the form of a fallen humanity, on account of sin, God made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in time we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus did not experience reprobation as if he himself had sinned, but in the redeeming love that always united him to the Father, he assumed us in the state of our waywardness of sin to the point that he could say in our name from the cross, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Having thus established him in solidarity with us sinners, God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, so that we might be reconciled to God by the death of

his Son. God takes the initiative of universal redeeming love. By giving up His own Son for our sins, God manifests that His plan for us is one of benevolent love prior to any merit on our part. St. John wrote, In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the expiation for our sins. St. Paul wrote to the Romans, God chose his love for us, and that while we were yet sinners,

Christ died for us. At the end of the parable of the lost sheep, Jesus recalled that God's love excludes no one. He said, So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. He affirms that he came to give his life as a ransom for many. This last term is not restrictive, but contrasts the whole of humanity with the unique person of

the Redeemer who hands himself over to save us. The Church, following the Apostles, teaches that Christ died for all men without exception. There is not, never has been, and never will be a single human being for whom Christ did not suffer." Okay, there we are. Day 86 paragraph 599-605. So powerful. Incredible. Now, a couple things. The Church is maintaining a lot of clarity in the midst of mystery. So first, we recognize Jesus' violent death was not the result of chance or coincidences, circumstances. It's part of the mystery of God's plan. Okay, so that's number one. At the same time, the biblical language that's used does not mean that those who handed him

over were merely passive players in a scenario written in advance by God. What that means is that God did not overwhelm someone's free will. Again, they articulate this so well, that last sentence in paragraph 599. It does not mean that those who handed him over were merely passive players in a scenario written in advance by God. The very next line tells us one of the things we can affirm and assert about God's knowledge. Paragraph 600, to God, all moments of time are present in their immediacy. So we don't necessarily, we, I mean, you can speak of God's,

what you call divine for knowledge, but he doesn't actually know things ahead of time. It's not really for knowledge because to God being outside of time yet present to all time, he, it's just knowledge, right? That makes sense. It's for us it's for knowledge, but for God, it's just knowledge. He's all moments of time are present in their immediacy. So when, it's the next sentence in paragraph 600, there's so much being said here. This hurts your brain, it's okay.

When therefore, God establishes his eternal plan of predestination, he includes in it each person's free response to his grace. Now, this is so important, right? When he establishes his eternal plan of predestination, he includes in it each person's free response to his grace. Now this is so important, right? When he establishes his eternal plan of predestination, he includes in it each person's free response to his grace. That's why we have this mystery, right? The paradox of grace and free will.

That God knows all things and yet we still get to be free in the midst of our lives. And just again, it can give your brain a cramp, but it's worth reflecting on this. It's worth asserting all these things that are not contradictory. They might be seemingly contradictory, but they're not contradictions. They are merely paradoxes And again last sentence in 600 For the sake of accomplishing his plan of salvation God permitted the acts that flowed from their blindness

We have mentioned this before but all things that happen are God's will Some of them fall into God's perfect will This is what he actually directly immediately perfectly wants to happen many things that happen fall into that category and Many things that happen fall under the permissive will of God that he allows to happen knowing that he can bring out About a greater good we talked about this the other day when we talked about how Joseph was sold into slavery That was not God's will in the sense of his perfect will, but it was part of his permissive will. Knowing that, yes, he preserved the freedom of Joseph's brothers,

but also knowing that he could bring about a greater good. This crucifixion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is an example like that. Where here is the worst thing that ever happened in the history of the universe, in the history of everything. That here is God who made himself humble and the moment he made himself humble enough, weak enough and vulnerable enough, we killed him. The worst thing that ever happened. God preserved our freedom in this. He accomplished his plan of salvation in this, in this mysterious way with grace and free will, with his knowledge and with our freedom. Again, hold all those things together.

Now, the next couple paragraphs talk about he died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. Yes, so even scriptures in this mysterious way had been prophesying this, particularly as we talked about the book of the prophet Isaiah, the suffering servant. And after his resurrection, Jesus gives the incredible Bible study to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and then to the apostles where he opened their hearts and their minds to understand this as well. Now, the last two notes.

For our sake, God made him to be sin. Now, there's a couple different ways of reading this. One is that we talked about before, that Jesus chose a solidarity with the human race so fully, with human nature so fully, that He aligned Himself with us, that He took upon Himself all of our sin. Yes, He made Himself to be sin who did not know sin, right? That Jesus never once sinned. And as God, who is sinless, blameless, He had such affinity, love for us, that he had the solidarity with us in his human

nature, even though he never sinned. So he took upon our sins. Again, for our sake, God made him to be sinned who did not know sin. Another interpretation of that term is made him a sin offering. That Jesus who did not know sin was made to be sin, meaning he made to be a sin offering. That he essentially offered himself up for us, you know, the, the, in the ancient rites of old, right? In the old Testament, there are many different offerings, many different sacrifices. One of those was a sacrifice of atonement, the sin offering. And here is Jesus who becomes

that sin offering. He becomes that even though he did not need atoning, that he did not need forgiving because he was sinless, but he became the sin offering for us. That's one of the ways that we can also interpret that and understand this. Why did he do this? The last sentence, paragraph 603, having thus established him in solidarity with us sinners, God did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all so that we might be reconciled to God by the death of his son. And that's the last two paragraphs here, 604 and 605, that by giving up his own Son for our sins, God manifests that his plan for us is one of benevolent love. He just loves us.

And again, it says, prior to any merit on our part, those next two quotes from 1 John and from St. Paul's editor to the Romans are among my favorites. And this is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the expiation for our sins. And then that's 1 John, then Romans 5 is, God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

That we recognize, last two notes here, we're getting there, we recognize that it's God's initiative, God loves you. Just to break it. I know our brains can be cramped today. We can have a little bit like this is a little longer than a little longer than normal, not too much longer, but a little bit longer than normal. But just to be able to rest in this and say, okay, God loves you and gave himself up for

you. And this is love, not that we love God, but he loved us and gave himself up for us. There is a line and it's a line we often repeat is that Jesus came to give his life as a ransom for many. Now the paragraph 605, the catechism clarifies this last term, that term many, is not restrictive. So you could say, well, why don't you say give his life as ransom for all? Again, this is clarification here. this last term is not restrictive, but contrasts the whole of humanity with the unique person of the Redeemer

who hands himself over to save us. This is so critical because the church, following the apostles, teaches, and here's my favorite line, teaches that Christ died for all men without exception. And it's the Council of Queersia in 853 that says, there is not, never has been, and never will be a single human being for whom Christ did not suffer.

Those words should be embedded deeply into our hearts. That when we're talking with anybody, we're talking with everybody, we're looking in the mirror to recognize this is true. When I'm talking to others, I mean it's one of the reasons why the last couple of days I've included prayers for the Jewish people, included prayers for those who do not yet know Christ. Why? Because there is not, never has been,

and never will be a single human being for whom Christ did not suffer. And yes, I want every human being on this planet to know that. I want them to know his great love for them. I want them to have a relationship with this God anyway there again to say that we're praying for other people does is not meant to be condescension it's not meant to be an insult what it's meant is to say there is so much more God is so much grace he

has so much life and love and joy that he wants for the entire world including other peoples including other people of other faiths, including our next-door neighbors and including ourselves because there's so much in our hearts that is tempted to disqualify ourselves. Say, well I've messed it up too much. I'm too far gone. And the church is saying today, false, church is saying today that it's not today that is not true christ died for all men without exception here's the last line once again there is not never has been and ever will be a single human being for whom christ did not suffer and that includes you and that includes

me let's pray for each other let's pray for each other that we not only can believe that with our minds But that we can take that deep into our hearts and live This truth today and every day i'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is father mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow God bless