The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 92: The Man of Heaven (2024)

Episode Date: April 1, 2024

The Catechism demonstrates how Christ’s resurrection is “essentially different” from other cases of resurrection in the Bible and shows us how his rising from the dead is a “work of the Holy Trinity.” Fr. Mike emphasizes that Jesus was not merely “resuscitated” from the dead, as Jairus’ daughter or Lazarus, but he rose from the dead glorified, “filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.” Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 645-650. 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 your 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. It is Day 92 and we're reading paragraphs 645 to 650. 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. You can also download your own Catechism in a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash C I Y. And also you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. As I said, today is day 92 reading paragraphs, 6 45 to 6 50. How incredible is this? We yesterday talked about the fact that the resurrection is an historical and transcendent event, right?

The empty tomb points to the reality of the resurrection above everything else. The appearance of the risen Christ, the glorious and risen Christ, to the apostles, to Mary Magdalene and the holy women, to Peter and the twelve, to the over five hundred people appearing to St. Paul on the road to Damascus, all of those point to the reality that Jesus Christ truly, truly is risen. A body and soul, the whole thing, right? All of him is to the reality that Jesus Christ truly truly is risen a body and soul the whole thing Right all of him is risen from the dead now today. We're going to take a next kind of couple steps And the question is going to be what is the condition of the risen christ's humanity like in that sense of okay? So is jesus simply resuscitated?

You know, we have examples three examples at least in scripture where Jesus raised someone from the dead Right Jairus his daughter that 12 year old girl He raised from the dead the son of the widow of Naim He raised him from the dead and even Lazarus right the brother of Martha and Mary all three of those people Jesus raised from the dead in those cases though They were just brought back to normal human existence when Jesus was resurrected He had a different quality, right? A different character, different condition of his risen humanity that was distinct,

very distinct in fact, from merely, I guess, quote unquote, merely being resuscitated like those others who were brought back to life. The next thing is that the resurrection is a transcendent event. Now I think this is really, really remarkable. One of the things that catechism highlights that we're going to hear about today is that no one was an eyewitness to the resurrection. No evangelist describes it, right? None of the gospels talk about, and here's what happened when

Jesus went from death to life. They did see his, his resurrected body. They did see the empty tomb, but it's so amazing. It says, still, this is paragraph 647, still it remains at the very heart of the mystery of faith that the resurrection is something that transcends, and surpasses history. And this is why the risen Christ does not reveal himself to the world, but to his disciples. And that's again, it's remarkable because I don't know if you've ever thought about that. Like, wait a second, Jesus risen from the dead,

he could have walked up to Pilate and said, hey, you know, I'm alive. Why did he not do this? Well, it's one of the mysteries, but this is why the risen Christ does not reveal himself to the world, but to his disciples that the mystery of faith, the mystery of the resurrection

is something that transcends and surpasses history. And also we're going to talk about the fact that in paragraphs 648, 649, and 650 that the resurrection of Jesus is the work of the Holy Trinity, which is so good. Now you know this, right? You all know that when one person of the Trinity acts, they all act. When one person of the Trinity is present, they are all present. And so clearly, of course it makes sense that, yes, Jesus would rise from the dead by virtue of his own power, but also that the Father's power raised up Christ his Son,

and that the Spirit of God dwelling in us is the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. We recognize this. So the resurrection is the work of the Holy Trinity, which I think is just, pardon me, which is good to know, and I think it's kind of good to know So today we're looking at the condition of Christ risen humanity The resurrection as a transcendent event and the fact that the resurrection is the work of the entire Trinity Father Son and Holy Spirit. So as we enter into this time of reflection time of learning Let's enter into a moment of prayer father in heaven to give you praise and glory. Thank you so much for bringing us to this moment Thank you for bringing us to this day.

Day 92, we thank you for your grace. Thank you for the spirit that you've given to us, the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead that dwells in us now. We ask that you help us to be cooperative, to be attentive, to be receptive to your Holy Spirit so that in all things we can do your will father in Jesus name We pray in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

And then as I said, it is day 92. We are reading paragraphs 645 to 650 The condition of Christ's risen humanity By means of touch and the sharing of a meal, the risen Jesus establishes direct contact with his disciples. He invites them in this way to recognize that he is not a ghost, and above all, to verify that the risen body in which he appears to them is the same body that had been tortured and crucified, for it still bears the traces of his passion. Yet at the same time, this authentic, real body possesses the new properties of a glorious

body, not limited by space and time, but able to be present how and when he wills. For Christ's humanity can no longer be confined to earth, it belongs henceforth only to the Father's divine realm. For this reason, too, the risen Jesus enjoys the sovereign freedom of appearing as he wishes, in the guise of a gardener or in other forms familiar to his disciples precisely to awaken their faith. Christ's resurrection was not a return to earthly life as was the case with the raisings from the dead that he had performed before Easter, Jairus's daughter, the young man of Naim, Lazarus.

These actions were miraculous events, but the person's miraculously raised returned by Jesus' power to ordinary earthly life. At some particular moment, they would die again. Christ's resurrection is essentially different. In his risen body, he passes from the state of death to another life beyond time and space. At Jesus' resurrection, his body is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. He shares the divine life in his glorious state so that St. Paul can say that Christ is the man of heaven. The Resurrection as Transcendent Event

O truly blessed night, sings the exultant of the Easter Vigil, which alone deserved to know the time and the hour when Christ rose from the realm of the dead. But no one was an eyewitness to Christ's resurrection, and no evangelist describes it. No one can say how it came about physically. Still less was its innermost essence, his passing over to another life, perceptible to the senses. Although the resurrection was an historical event that could be verified by the sign of the empty tomb and by the reality of the Apostles' encounters with the risen Christ, still, it remains at the very heart of the mystery of faith as something that

transcends and surpasses history. This is why the risen Christ does not reveal himself to the world, but to his disciples, to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. The Resurrection, a work of the Holy Trinity. Christ's resurrection is an object of faith in that it is a transcendent intervention of God Himself in creation and history. In it, the three divine persons act together as one and manifest their own proper characteristics.

The Father's power raised up Christ His Son, and by doing so perfectly introduced His Son's humanity, including His body, into the Trinity. Jesus is conclusively revealed as Son of God in power according to the Spirit of Holiness by his resurrection from the dead. St. Paul insists on the manifestation of God's power through the working of the Spirit who gave life to Jesus' dead humanity and called it the glorious state of lordship. As for the Son, He affects His own resurrection by virtue of His divine power. Jesus announces that the Son of Man will have to suffer much, die and then rise.

Elsewhere, He affirms explicitly, I lay down my life, that I may take it again. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. We believe that Jesus died and rose again. The Fathers contemplate the resurrection from the perspective of the Divine Person of Christ who remained united to his soul and body even when these were separated from each other by death. St. Gregory of Nyssa stated, By the unity of the Divine Nature, which remains present in each of the two components of man, these are reunited.

For as death is produced by the separation of the human components, so resurrection is achieved by the union of the two. There we go, we have Day 92, paragraphs 645 to 650. This is remarkable. Let's go back. Conditions of Christ-Risen Humanity. Paragraph 645. By means of touch and the sharing of a meal, the risen Jesus establishes direct contact with his disciples. He invites

them to recognize he's not a ghost and above all to verify his risen body is the same body that had been tortured and crucified, right? He still has the marks of his passion. Now at the same time, and this is incredible, at the same time this authentic real body possesses the new properties of a glorious body, right? So he still bears the wounds. Now, we don't have any sign that he bore wounds other than the nail marks in his feet, in his hands, and in his side.

We know that the body of Jesus was lacerated by the scourging at the pillar. He was beaten and broken, and yet he holds on to these wounds, the wounds in his hands, his side, and his feet, to demonstrate, we think think you know to demonstrate. This is the same body. This is the same body that was tortured and crucified at the same time Fully not just restored not just fully healed Exalted right the new properties of a glorious body and it says here in paragraph 645 what that means Not limited by space and time but able to be present how and when he wills

We know that here's the upper room, the doors are locked for fear, and Jesus appears in a locked room. He can appear when and where He wills. We have Jesus walking on the way to Emmaus with the two disciples, and at one point He disappears from their sight and quickly appears in Jerusalem. We recognize that Jesus has these new properties, the new properties of his glorified and glorious body. Which is, I love this, for this reason, the risen Jesus enjoys the sovereign freedom of appearing as he wishes. So even under the guise of the gardener or some other form familiar to his disciples, it's really remarkable. One thing, we highlighted this in the intro, but paragraph 646 emphasizes the fact that Christ's resurrection was not a return to earthly life, right? We have the gyrus's daughter

We have the young man from nine. We have Lazarus those three people they were essentially you might say resuscitated right so they went back to normal ordinary human existence They would die again. They would get sick again The glorhizon glorious body of Jesus will never die, will never get sick. And this is the last sentence in paragraph 646. At Jesus' resurrection, his body is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. He shares the divine life in his glorious state so that Saint Paul can say that Christ is the man of heaven. That he, in his risen body, he passes from the state of death

to another life beyond time and space, which is, again, really incredible. When it comes to the last three paragraphs, 648 to 650, that's highlighted the resurrection, a work of the Holy Trinity. This is, in the resurrection, the three divine persons act together as one. It says here, the Father's power raised up Christ his son

Guys, this is incredible. It says the father's power raised up Christ his son and by doing so Perfectly introduced his son's humanity including his body into the Trinity. I Don't know if you caught that sentence the first time we walked through it Once again the father's power raised up Christ his son and by doing so perfectly introduced his son's humanity Including his body into the Trinity That what God has done in this mysterious remarkable like unspeakable like I have no idea I know idea what this means. I have no idea how in the world This is the case, but the Father perfectly introduced His Son's humanity, including His Body, into the life

of the Trinity. Did just think about this. You know, hmm, man, did just consider this, that Christ empties Himself and takes the form of a slave, right? Christ empties Himself and takes the form of a slave, right? Christ empties himself and takes the form of humanity, takes on human nature, but then doesn't abandon it in his resurrection, doesn't abandon it, like discard humanity

when he's done with it. Instead, he takes humanity to himself, uniting humanity, human nature, his own human nature, to divine nature This is worth reflecting on we're gonna talk more about this as as the year continues There's some other other moments when this pops up But it is remarkable One wonders I just wonder you know, we talked about the the devil's rebellion and

You know, we talked about the the devil's rebellion And it seems like well, why would the devil why would the evil one rebel against God who just loves his creatures? Just he's gonna create human beings at some point and he's gonna he's going to love them in a unique way well, it could be the case that God had revealed to the evil one that He would do this that he would not just become one of us, but would forever unite our human nature to his divine nature. And that act of love, that act of goodness, that act of just divine condescension, right? God coming down, not just coming down to our level, but then taking our level up to his. Maybe that's just too much. Think about that. Maybe that's just too much for this angelic being to take. Too much love, too much goodness, too much divine condescension.

I don't know. I don't know if that's the case, but it's remarkable. I just want to read that sentence one more time. The Father's power raised up Christ His Son and by doing so, perfectly introduce His Son's humanity including his body into the Trinity. It's just remarkable. Now, at the same time, we also know that as for the son, paragraph 649, he affects his own resurrection by virtue of his divine power. So the father, yes, raised up Christ, but also Jesus, he has the power to lay it down

his life and the power to take it up again. So we recognize that it's not like, well, the father raised up Jesus because Jesus wasn't able to do this on his own. It's that Jesus didn't do it on his own. Jesus is united with his father. The second person of the Trinity is united with the first person of the Trinity, united with the third person of the Trinity,

the Holy Spirit. So the resurrection is a work of the entire Trinity, which again is just incredible. And last paragraph, the fathers contemplate the Resurrection from the perspective of the divine person of Christ who remained united to his soul and body Even when they were separated from each other by death We talked about this for the last few days that even after Jesus had died and his body and soul were separated That's what death is Jesus retained possession of his body

He retained possession of his soul and he retained possession of his soul, and so then in the resurrection, he reunited his body and his soul. So that's just kind of an important point to make because it highlights the reality that he truly died and that in resurrecting from the dead, he truly is alive and lives now and eternally, forever, uniting his assumed humanity into divinity, which is just bonkers. And I think it's worth praying about, just like, even just turning to the Lord right now and recognizing that here is God in heaven who has united human nature, including a body, to his divine nature in some mysterious, miraculous way. And God, thank you so much.

You did not merely condescend to be one of us, but you assumed our human nature into your glorious divine nature. Amazing, amazing. Tomorrow, we're gonna talk more about the resurrection, the meaning and the saving significance of the resurrection, that yes, Jesus did this and it's part of how he endures now forever.

What does this mean for us? How does this transform our lives? That is tomorrow day 93, but today it's an end to day 92. I am praying for you. Please pray for me My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless