The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 9: The Fullness of Revelation (2025)

Episode Date: January 9, 2025

In our Catechism reading today we learn how out of love, God has fully revealed himself by sending his Son, Jesus Christ who established God’s covenant forever. We also learn that the Son is the Father’s definitive Word, but this Word has not yet been made completely explicit. Fr. Mike explains how private revelations may not claim to add to the Faith and must not contradict the Faith. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 65-73. 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 entire Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity in God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is day nine, you guys. We are reading from paragraphs 65 to 73. I am using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the Foundations of Faith approach, but you can follow along this podcast with any recent version

of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. If you want to follow along in the reading plan, you can download the Catechism and your reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y. You can also follow or subscribe, click those things in your podcast app for daily notifications. As I said, this is day nine. We're reading paragraphs 65 to 73. Actually, we're at the end. We're going to have an in brief today. Remember last time we had an in brief? Actually, it was the first time we had an in brief. It was those six bullet points, six paragraphs essentially. And now we get to actually combine that

with a couple preceding paragraphs. Two days ago we talked about how God has revealed Himself in stages, right? God reveals His plan of love for us. So in the beginning He makes Himself known with Adam and Eve. Of course we break that relationship, but He still reveals Himself.

Then He has a covenant with Noah. Then yesterday how God chooses Abraham and then forms the people of Israel through Moses and David and the prophets. Now on this last little section in this article how Jesus Christ is the mediator and fullness of all revelation. Right? So we got the Old Testament the last two days and now this one day we're highlighting the fact that okay, Jesus, one of the phrases that's used in this section of the catechism is God has said everything in his word. That word word is capitalized.

The W is capitalized because we know that Jesus is the word made flesh. So we're realizing that after Jesus, there is no further revelation. So these are kind of some of the points, the things to listen to or listen for today, that God has said everything in his word, Jesus Christ. So that's the, he is the fullness of revelation. Also, the church is making the statement that there is no further public revelation.

There's no further things that God would reveal. He's revealed himself fully in Christ in Jesus Christ But there are such a thing as private relations So we're gonna talk a little bit about that and then we're gonna have the in brief just to summarize What we've been listening to for the last few days as I said, it's day nine Let's say a prayer as we begin because you know, God asked the Lord for help. So we pray father in heaven Thank you. Thank you for bringing us to this day. Thank you for bringing us just past a week of listening to the catechism, bringing us into day nine today. We just are so grateful for not just for the gift of all that you've done with the Jewish people,

all that you've done in establishing covenants with them, but also in fulfilling the covenant and establishing the new and eternal covenant in Jesus Christ, who is the mediator and fullness of all revelation. Help us to receive him, to receive you, your revelation in Christ and through this church. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

I'll say it a fourth time today in his day nine. We're reading paragraphs 65 through 73 Christ Jesus mediator and fullness of all revelation God has said everything in his word The letter to the Hebrews states in many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a son. Christ, the Son of God made man, is the Father's one perfect and unsurpassable word. In him he has said everything, there will be no other word than this one. St. John of the Cross, among others, commented strikingly on Hebrews 1, verses 1 and 2, saying,

In giving us his Son, his only word, for he possesses no other. He spoke everything to us at once in this sole word, and he has no more to say. Because what he spoke before to the prophets in parts, he has now spoken all at once by giving us the All who is his Son. Any person questioning God or desiring some vision or revelation would be guilty not only of foolish behavior but also of offending Him, by not fixing his eyes entirely upon Christ and by living with the desire for some other novelty.

There will be no further revelation. Dave Erbohm states, The Christian economy, therefore, since it is the new and definitive covenant, will never pass away, and no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet, even if revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely explicit. It remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the centuries.

Throughout the ages, there have been so-called private revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ's definitive revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history. Guided by the magisterium of the Church, the census fidelium knows how to discern and welcome in these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church.

Christian faith cannot accept revelations that claim to surpass or correct the revelation of which Christ is the fulfillment, as is the case in certain non-Christian religions and also in certain recent sects which base themselves on such revelations. In brief, by love, God has revealed himself and given himself to man. By love, God has revealed himself and given himself to man. He has thus provided the definitive, superabundant answer to the questions that man asks himself about the meaning and purpose of his life. God has revealed himself to man by gradually communicating his own mystery in deeds and in words.

Beyond the witness to himself that God gives and created things, he manifested himself to our first parents, spoke to them, and after the fall, promised them salvation and offered them his covenant. God made an everlasting covenant with Noah and with all living beings. It will remain in force as long as the world lasts. God chose Abraham and made a covenant with him and his descendants. By the covenant, God formed his people and revealed his law to them through Moses. Through the prophets, he prepared them to accept the salvation destined for all humanity. God has revealed himself fully by sending his own Son in whom he has established his covenant forever. The Son is his Father's definitive Word, so there will be no further revelation after him."

Okay, so that is paragraphs 65 through 73. Those last six paragraphs, those bullet points, are the in-brief of this whole section that we've been reading. And I think it's just fascinating. Here we go back to the very beginning. We realize that God has said everything in his word again capital W word Because we know that Jesus is the word made flesh who dwelt among us, right? So I think this is fascinating We're going to talk about this again when we dive more deeply into Revelation I remember hearing it said that strictly speaking Christianity is not a religion of the book You know, they call the three monotheistic religions, you know, Islam and Judaism and Christianity,

the religions of the book, because we have books. I remember hearing a priest once say, but we're not really a religion of the book, we are a religion of the word. And I thought, oh man, I like that. Of course, at the same time, yes, we have divine revelation through the Bible, all 73 books of the Bible.

But there's something about this that we recognize that it is 100% true that, as the letter to the Hebrews states, in many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us through his Son, by a Son, as it says. Now, I think this is another dramatic statement that is worth praying about reflecting on, that it says in him, in Jesus, the Father has said everything. And that's just, that's remarkable. There will be no other word than this one. And so one of the things that we recognize is that God has revealed himself fully.

Now in God revealing himself fully, I think this is the St. John of the Cross quote that I'm just gonna read a couple parts from once again We just struck it struck my heart and I just I love this Goes on to say, you know, he makes the statement that we just read from catechism paragraph 65 that The Jesus is the Father's one perfect unsurpassable word But John of the cross he goes on to point out like any person, he says this, any person questioning God or desiring some vision or revelation would be guilty not only of foolish behavior but also of offending him. And I think that's, you know, because we made the statement a second ago that, yep, Jesus

is the fullness of revelation. But what is our response to that? And John of the Cross here addresses this. He says, yeah, if we were to say, no, God, I want more. And that's what John of the Cross is saying. What is it in us that says, well, yeah, that's fine and everything, but give me more? He goes on to say, not only of foolish behavior,

because are you kidding me? God has revealed himself fully, but also of offending him. And the last phrase in the sentence is, by not fixing his eyes entirely upon Christ and By living with the desire for some other novelty And I just think like that that just struck my heart living with the desire for some other novelty You know CS Lewis wrote about this phrase the next big thing and he says that here as human beings fallen human beings one Of the things we have in us is this desire for the next big thing. It's like, okay, that was fine. That was old. I want the new thing. What's next?

And every one of us has that impulse. Not only do we have the impulse for the novelty thing, the new thing. I want, okay, that's what you said in the past, but I want something new for me right now. But also sometimes we want a different answer, right? There's a desire that we have of saying, okay, but could there be other revelations? Could God say even more? Because, you know, I don't necessarily like the answer he gave me already, right?

In his scripture, through the church. And that's one of the things that I reflect on a lot because I remember back in high school, this is a really dumb example, but you know, I'm a simple guy, here we go. I was in gym class and we had a teacher, he was also a coach, phenomenal man, Mr. Embertson. And Mr. Embertson, at one point we were doing pushups

and he said, hey, you know, Mikey, you're not pushing all the way up, you know, your arms aren't getting locked out essentially, right, you know, you're still bending your elbow. And I was like, really? And he's like, yep. And I was like, wow, really? And he looked at me, he must have been having a bad day

because he was a very patient man and that's why I remember it and he's like Yes, that was my answer if it's not gonna change if you asked me one more time, you know And I'm again very patient man great individual great human being but it was very clear that here I am saying really and he's like yes, I already gave you the answer and Sometimes we want God to give us a different answer and so we look all over the place for different revelations. But God is there something more you could say that would give us a different answer? Or sometimes we look

for further revelation because we want control over the answer or maybe because we want surety or like certainty. Isn't that something that's in us that's like, oh but God give us more. And the church something that's in us? That's like, oh, but God, give us more. And the church says very clearly in paragraph 66, there will be no further revelation. There'll be no further revelation because Jesus is the fullness. Now, here's two points to make. One is in the middle of paragraph 66, it says, yet even if revelation is already complete, it has not yet been made completely explicit. So here is God fully revealing himself through his word,

the word made flesh, right? Jesus Christ. Yet, we don't fully understand the revelation he's given to us. So over the course of the years, I mean, think about this. Here's the baptism of Jesus by John in the Jordan River. So in that moment of Jesus's baptism by John, you have the revelation of the Trinity. Here is Jesus, the Son of God.

Here is the Holy Spirit descending upon him. Here's the Father declaring, this is my beloved Son. Listen to him. So here's the fullness revelation. Here is the revelation of the Trinity. Now, did early Christians understand that that's what that was? That here is one divine being in three divine persons? No, they did not understand that.

So what that's saying is, revelation's complete, but not completely explicit yet. And that's, it goes on to say, it remains for a Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the centuries. That's one of the reasons why you have these church councils. So one great example is

in the Acts of the Apostles, they have the question of when someone becomes a Christian and they're not Jewish first, do they have to first be circumcised in order to become baptized? Like do they have to first be enrolled into the Old Covenant in order to participate fully in the New Covenant? And here's the church council. Why? Because this has all been revealed but has not yet been made explicit. And the church gets together, Council of Jerusalem, and they pray about this and it seems clear to the Holy Spirit and us.

They say that you don't have to basically be circumcised in order to be baptized. That's great. That's the first church council in Jerusalem there in the first, you know, couple years of Christianity. And that was just the very first church council where yes, here is the fullness of revelation given to us, but it's not yet been made completely explicit. It unfolds or we grasp its significance

over the course of the centuries. Now, last point here, throughout the ages, paragraph 67 says, there have been so-called quote unquote private revelations, and some of which have been recognized by the authority of the church. So what are private revelations? Well, private revelations are, you know, given to an individual or to a group of people that is a message essentially from the Lord. Some of those, or an apparition, that kind of thing, some of those have been approved by the church. Not all of them. Now when there's such a thing as a private revelation, what that means is it's not binding on

the part of any Christian, any Catholic, to believe in a private revelation. Even if the Church says, yeah, this is an approved private revelation, there is nothing in it that says a Catholic has to believe in this. Why? Because the fullness of revelation happened in the Word made flesh, in Jesus Christ. And then again, gets made explicit through the teaching of the church. These private revelations though, even if they're approved, they're approved as being probable because, you know, Pope Benedict XVI, he said this back in 2010, he said, ecclesiastical approval of a private revelation essentially means that its message contains nothing contrary to faith and morals.

Which is very, very important. So basically, the private revelation is okay, there's nothing wrong with it. It's not contrary to faith and morals. He goes on to say, it is licit to make it public and the faithful are authorized to give to it their prudent adhesion. He goes on, a private revelation can introduce new emphases, give rise to new forms of piety,

or deepen older ones. You know, there are times when Mary appears to people to stay at Fatima and encourages them once again to pray the Rosary. So people have been praying the Rosary for centuries and here is Our Lady saying, hey, this is very important. You have the revelation of Jesus to St. Faustina, Colosca, and given the chaplet of divine mercy. So this is new forms of piety or deep and older ones. Goes on to say, this is Pope Benedict in 2010.

It can have a certain prophetic character and can be a valuable aid for better understanding and living the gospel at a certain time. Consequently, it should not be treated lightly. It is a help which is proffered, but its use is not obligatory." He wrote that in Verbum Domine, paragraph 14. So it's really, really helpful for us

to just even know this, okay, private revelation, don't have to believe it. At the same time, we shouldn't treat it lightly. You know, actually there's another Pope Benedict, Pope Benedict the 14th back in the 1700s. Here's what he said about this. He said when it comes to private revelation it follows that anyone may without injury to the Catholic faith give no heed to these revelations, meaning you don't have to pay attention to them at all. They can also differ from them, provided that this person does so modestly, not without reason and without contempt.

And I like that last part, and I read an article that highlighted that last part and without contempt, because there's such a thing as people making a really big deal about private revelations. And sometimes if you're a contrarian, like I sometimes can be, you wanna say, well, everyone's really excited about this private revelation or you're really excited about this thing.

Because everyone else is excited about it, I'm gonna be dismissive of it. And Pope Benedict XIV highlights this. And listen, you can disagree. You can differ from this, but you probably should do it with a good reason. And you should never do it with contempt. I just think, wow, Pope Benedict XIV, that's really wise, so because he's reminding me of how I'm tempted to be and I don't want to be like that. So here we are, Jesus, the fullness of God's revelation. Here is, there'll be no revelation after this, so don't look for that novelty, but at the same time doctrine will develop,

will understand this over the course of time. There have been times when God has revealed himself in those private revelations but they may not claim to add to the faith and they absolutely must not contradict anything in the faith. They're simply meant to be helps to what we've already been given. Hope that makes sense. Here we are on a day nine concluding this this wrapping this up and I'm so I'm so grateful to be Be walking with you here in this second week of the catechism in a year. I am praying for you Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless