The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 98: The Son and the Spirit (2026)

Episode Date: April 8, 2026

Fr. Mike continues to examine the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit’s mission. We explore the joint mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit. When the Son and the Spirit act, they act together. Fr. Mike emphasizes that though the Son and the Spirit are two distinct persons, they are inseparable. We also examine the proper name of the Holy Spirit and the different titles we use for the Holy Spirit. Today’s readings from the Catechism are paragraphs 689-693. 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 sure 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 98. You guys, we're so close to day 100. This is amazing. We're reading paragraphs 689 to 693 in the heart of the Holy Spirit so good. I'm using, as always, the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the foundations of faith approach. 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. You can also click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications today. Is day 98 reading paragraphs 689 to 693? We're continuing our time with the Holy Spirit. And we're going to talk about two kind of big things. And the two big things are the joint mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit and also the names, titles, and the Holy Spirit. We're just going to get to the names and titles of the Holy Spirit. But what we mean by paragraph 689 to 690, the joint mission of the Son and the Spirit

is that, man, this is incredible. When the Son and the Spirit act, they act together. We also recognize, of course, they are distinct. They are two of the three divine persons in the Most Holy Trinity. So they're distinct. The church always professes the distinction. of persons. At the same time, this is paragraph 689. When the father sends his word, he also sends his breath. And I think that's such a poetic, but also you can see how that's the case.

And I think that might have been like a St. Augustine kind of an example. Like, you have the speaker, that's the father. You have the word spoken. That's the son. And you have the breath that, you know, accompanies the word. We have this. When the father sends his word, he always sends his breath. And this is the last line in paragraph 689. Or second, the last line. line in their joint mission, the sun and the Holy Spirit are distinct, but inseparable. And this is just remarkable. So we're going to talk about the joint mission of the son and the Holy Spirit, that here's Jesus who's anointed and the Spirit is his anointing. Like all that. It's just remarkable. And they're also going to hear from St. Gregory of Nissa, who I just,

I think he captures this with his image of, you know, the surface of the water and oil. And you're going to hear all about it. But basically, there's oil in the water. And you come in contact with the water, you're coming in contact with the oil and vice versa. It's one of those, you'll love it. It's a great example, great analogy that St. Gregory of Nessa uses in paragraph 690. We're also going to talk about the proper name of the Holy Spirit. And so that is Holy Spirit, right? So we can call the Father, the Father. We call the Son Jesus, and we call the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. And so the church is going to make a distinction. This is really remarkable, I think. We receive that name, Holy Spirit, from the Lord. And we use it in Holy

baptism. I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. So we recognize that we use that when we baptize people, anyone. The term spirit is the Hebrew word Ruach, right? Which means breath, air, and wind. And so that's, the Holy Spirit is the name of the third person of the Trinity. yet at the same time, the catex that makes this point in paragraph 691, that the word spirit and the word holy are divine attributes common to all three divine persons. Does that make sense? So the father is a spirit and the son is spirit and the father is holy and the son is holy. But by joining those two terms, you know, scripture talks about this, our liturgy talks about this, how we talk about God in theological language, designate the inexpressible person of the Holy Spirit in the Holy Spirit in the Holy Spirit. that particular way, even though there's other ways we can use the terms Spirit and Holy.

So lastly, we have, that's the name of the Holy Spirit. Lastly, we talk about the titles of the Holy Spirit. He's the Pericles, the Advocate. And just we're going to talk about all of that. It's so good. So let's just pray and ask our Lord to send us this advocate, to send us this periclet, to send us this consoler into our hearts right now. Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory.

We thank you for this opportunity. to be here. Thank you for this incredible moment where we get to learn more about who you are. Holy Spirit, too often we forget about you. Too often you are the forgotten person of the Holy Trinity. We do not want to forget you. We forget you because we don't know. We forget you because of our lack of appreciation or lack of memory or lack of love. In this moment, help us to know more clearly so that we can love you, Holy Spirit. You are true God from true God. Help us to love you. Help us to know you. Help us to walk in your power and your strength this day and every day. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. As I said, it's Day 98.

We're reading paragraphs 689 to 693. The joint mission of the Son and the Spirit. The one whom the Father has sent into our hearts, the Spirit of His Son, is truly God. Consumstantial with the Father and the Son, the Spirit is inseparable from them, in both the inner life of the Trinity and his gift of love for the world. In adoring the Holy Trinity, life-giving, consubstantial, and indivisible, the Church's faith also professes the distinction of persons. When the Father sends his word, he always sends his breath. In their joint mission, the Son and the Holy Spirit are distinct, but inseparable.

To be sure, it is Christ who is seen the visible in. image of the invisible God, but it is the Spirit who reveals him. Jesus is Christ anointed, because the Spirit is his anointing, and everything that occurs from the incarnation on derives from this fullness. When Christ is finally glorified, he can in turn send the Spirit from his place with the Father to those who believe in him. He communicates to them his glory, that is, the Holy Spirit who glorifies him. From that time on, this joint mission will be manifested in the children adopted by the father in the body of his son, the mission of the spirit of adoption is to unite them to Christ and make them live in him.

As St. Gregory of Nissa wrote, The notion of anointing suggests that there is no distance between the sun and the spirit. Indeed, just as between the surface of the body and anointing with oil, neither reason nor sensation recognizes any intermediary, so the contact of the sun with the spirit is immediate, it, so that anyone who would make contact with the Son by faith must first encounter the oil by contact. In fact, there is no part that is not covered by the Holy Spirit. That is why the confession of the Son's lordship is made in the Holy Spirit by those who receive him, the Spirit

coming from all sides to those who approach the Son in faith. The name, titles, and symbols of the Holy Spirit. The proper name of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is the proper name of the one. whom we adore and glorify with the Father and the Son. The church has received this name from the Lord and professes it in the baptism of her new children. The term spirit translates the Hebrew word Ruach, which in its primary sense means breath, air, wind. Jesus indeed uses the sensory image of the wind to suggest to Nicodemus the transcendent newness of him who is personally God's breath, the divine spirit. On the other hand, spirit and holy, are divine. attributes common to the three divine persons. By joining the two terms, scripture, liturgy,

and theological language designate the inexpressible person of the Holy Spirit without any possible equivocation with other uses of the terms Spirit and Holy. Titles of the Holy Spirit When he proclaims and promises the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus calls him the Periclet, literally he who is called to one's side, Advocatus. Periclet is commonly translated by consoler and Jesus is the first consoler. The Lord also called the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth. Besides the proper name of Holy Spirit, which is most frequently used in the acts of the apostles and in the epistles, we also find in St. Paul the titles, the Spirit of the Promise, the Spirit of adoption, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of the Lord, and the Spirit of God.

And in St. Peter, the Spirit of Glory. All right, there it is, Day 98. Paragraph 689 to 693, the joint mission of the sun and spirit. The name of the Holy Spirit, the titles of the Holy Spirit. Man, I just think it's remarkable to recognize that the only way we come to know Jesus is by the Holy Spirit. In fact, I love this. The Holy Spirit and the Son are distinct but inseparable in their joint mission. In their joint mission, they are distinct but inseparable. And I love this last line of paragraph 689.

To be sure, it is Christ who is seen, right? He's the image of the invisible God. But it is the spirit who reveals him. And just this union between the two, right? The 690 in their economy, right? They're obviously united in the theology of the Trinity. But 690, Jesus Christ is anointed because the spirit is his anointing. And everything that occurs from the incarnation on drives from this fullness.

I love this. When Christ is finally glorified, he can in turn send the spirit from his place with the Father to those who believe in him. and he communicates to them his glory. That is the Holy Spirit who glorifies him. Like, well, what does that mean? Well, how about this? You are a temple of the Holy Spirit.

You're a temple of the Holy Spirit. So in glory, Jesus Christ, and the Father who are glorified, send the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit dwells in your hearts, you're a temple of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit glorifies one. And this is incredible. I love this. And paragraph 690, once again, from that time on, this joint mission of the Son and Spirit will be manifested in the children adopted by the father in the body of his son. That's you and I. The mission of the

spirit of adoption is to unite us to Christ and make us live in him. And there's this, again, this image that I mentioned before, which I think is so cool. There's no distance between the son and the spirit. And talk about this, the anointing. Like, think about anointing. If you ever been anointed, hopefully, as your baptism, you're anointed, help as your confirmation, you are anointed. Just as between the surface of the body, like here's your body and the anointing with oil, there's no nothing between. There's nothing between the oil and your body. It's immediate.

And here is St. Gregory of Nissa saying, in the similar way, similar way, the contact of the sun with the spirit is immediate. So that anyone who would make contact with the sun by faith must first encounter the oil by contact. There's no part that's not covered by the Holy Spirit. So every time we confess Christ's lordship, it is always by the power of the Holy Spirit.

It was just, again, that might give you a little bit of a headache. But at the same time, it's something we don't, it's so simple. It is so simple. This inseparability in the mission of Son and Holy Spirit. We talked about also, you know, before this, the proper name of the Holy Spirit of the third person of the Trinity is Holy Spirit. And the term spirit like Ruah means breath, wind, air. And at the same time, Spirit and Holy, divine attributes.

So that's common to the Father and to the Son as well. But when we put them together, scripture, liturgy, theological language, when we say Holy Spirit, we are always referring to the third person of the Trinity. So that's just a really remarkable thing. Lastly, though, you know, tomorrow we're going to talk about the symbols of the Holy Spirit. There are quite a few. Just FYI kind of heads up. But today we have the titles of the Holy Spirit.

And one title of the Holy Spirit, Jesus calls him the Pericles, the Advocate, the Advocate. right, the advocate, advocatas, the one who is called, literally, Pericles means he who is called to one's side. It has some references to like a courtroom, like someone who's like your defense attorney, essentially. That can also be commonly translated as consoler. Or, you know, again, that advocate, Jesus, at the end of his life, he says, I will pray to the father and he will send you another advocate. Which is remarkable. Once again, keep this in mind. The mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit are distinct, but inseparable.

And here's Jesus who says, I will ask the father, he will send you another advocate. What does that mean other than Jesus is the first advocate? He is the first one who is called to our side. He's the first one who's come to our defense. And he says, I'm going to ask the father. He's going to send you another advocate, both of us. That's the joint mission, right? The joint mission of the son and the spirit.

The son is the advocate who is called to our side. Emmanuel, who dwells among us. And the Holy Spirit, that, one who is called to our side, who advocates for us, who is the pericles, who is the consoler, and also the spirit of truth. And then I love, you know, 693 concludes with these different titles, this different titles of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul calls him the spirit of promise, spirit of adoption, right? Because you and I, being given the Holy Spirit, become God's sons and daughters. He becomes our father. The Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of the Lord,

the Spirit of God. And then, of course, St. Peter calls him the Spirit of Glory. And we just man, what a gift. Holy smokes. Oh man. We just get to be in this moment in awe of God. That inseparable mission of the Son and Spirit. And in the way in which you're like, I don't have a relationship with the Holy Spirit. If you have a relationship with the Son, then the Holy Spirit is operative in your life.

If you have read Scripture and it's spoken to you, the Holy Spirit is operative. If you can pray, the Holy Spirit is operative, if you've appealed to the sacraments and entered into them, the Holy Spirit is operative. And so we just give God praise today and every single day for sending His Holy Spirit among us and dwelling inside of us. May that Holy Spirit in us, in our lives,

give God glory forever and ever. Please pray for each other because it's one thing to hear about this stuff. You know, right? It's one thing to hear about, here's God's action, here's God's work, here's God's Holy Spirit. It's another thing to say yes.

Sometimes it's really hard to say yes to the Holy Spirit. So again, please pray for each other. I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father, Mike. I cannot wait. to see you tomorrow. God bless.