The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 130: The Communion of Saints (2024)

Episode Date: May 9, 2024

The Catechism begins Paragraph 5 and dives into the communion of saints. This communion is “in holy things (sancta)” and “among holy persons (sancti).” Fr. Mike emphasizes that “the least of our acts done in charity redounds to the profit of all.” At the same time, every sin hurts every single member of the Church. No one is an island—we belong to each other. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 946-953. 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 to our heavenly home. This is day 130, reading paragraphs 946 to 953. 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. You can also download your own Catechism and a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y. If you did, you'd know that we're on a new sheet, right right I think day 130 is the second little thing to check off the list you can also click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications one note just a thank you to all those who have supported the production of this podcast with your prayers oh my gosh absolutely necessary in our financial gifts we could not do this without you as I said it's day 130 kind of a big deal you know in the intro we say

discover our identity in God's family as we journey together toward heavenly home today we're reading paragraph 5 well you know you know what I mean by when I say paragraph 5 the communion of saints and so we get to talk about for the next couple of days this reality of what is the church in this in this mysterious ah you know we talked about the church is the body of Christ there's just the family of God to the churches all these things But here's the communion of saints and there's this something so powerful. In fact in paragraph 946 It says after confessing the Holy Catholic Church the Apostles Creed adds the phrase the communion of saints in a certain sense

This article is a further explanation of the preceding and here's the question What is the church if not the assembly of all the saints and That's just what an incredible thing that reality that here we are United in our faith united in well You know what the actual Apostles says that here are the believers that were united in the Apostles teaching and fellowship The breaking of the bread and prayers and so we going to recognize how we have communion in the faith. That's one thing we have communion in the sacraments. That's another thing we have communion in the charisms, right?

The gifts of the Holy spirit that he has given to the church. Well, also we have communion because we hold everything in common, right? And then lastly, in paragraph nine 53, communion and charity. So we're united in these, these aspects. And it's just so powerful again, because we profess the same faith. We're united in that. We have communion there. The sacraments that unite us, particularly baptism at the beginning, but then you know in some ways ultimately you might say the Eucharist because we call it Holy Communion. Third, the communion of charisms and again

just the gifts that God pours out to the faithful. We hold everything in common, which means that basically we recognize that we place our gifts, we place ourselves at the service of those around us, and then also we have communion and love. Now, before we jump into today, there is some Latin words that we should get used to. In paragraph 948, it talks about this. It says, the communion of saints therefore has two closely linked meanings communion in holy things sancta and Among holy persons sancti. So here's the thing. Here's the communion of saints referring

We have communion and holy things though That's sancta and then we're among holy persons sancti and so then the next big quote is sancti and so then the next big quote is sancta sanctis which in English would be God's holy gifts for God's holy people and this is just remarkable you know it's proclaimed actually by the most Eastern liturgies it says that in paragraph 948 one of the things that I you know have maybe failed to highlight in the past is the depth to which there are various rights in the church you know we don't only have the Latin rite within the church, we have all these other beautiful rites. One of the rites in the Eastern Liturgy

says this Sancta Sancti, God's holy gifts for God's holy people. So just listen to those two terms in paragraph 948 which specify that the fact that the term communion of saints has two closely linked meanings, communion and holy things, sancta, and among holy persons, sancti. Here we are entering into this day, Communion of Saints, let's say a prayer and just thank our Heavenly Father for bringing us here to this moment.

Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. Thank you so much. Thank you for bringing us into your church. Thank you for giving us communion among all believers, not just here on earth earth but those believers in heaven those are being purified on their way to you Lord God thank you for making us into one body you are the gift you're the source of all life you're the ultimate destination of all good everything we are is meant to be found in you everything good in us comes from

you it's all meant to find find its ultimate destination in you. So we ask you, God, please on this day, as we listen to these words, as we pray this reality, help us to say yes to you. Help us to say yes to you with everything that we have so that we can on this planet be united in love and in faith, be united in your sacraments, be united in caring for one another.

Lord God, help us to be united help us to truly Be an image of communion to the world in Jesus name We pray in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen again. It's day 130 We're reading paragraphs 946 to 953 Paragraph 5 the communion of saints After confessing the holy Catholic Church the Apost Apostle's Creed adds the Communion of Saints. In a certain sense, this article is a further explanation of the preceding, what is the

Church if not the assembly of all the saints. The Communion of Saints is the Church. Since all the faithful form one body, the good of each is communicated to the others. We must therefore believe that there exists a communion of goods in the Church, but the most important member is Christ, since He is the Head. Therefore the riches of Christ are communicated to all the members through the sacraments. As this Church is governed by one and the same Spirit, all the goods she has received necessarily become a common fund.

The term communion of saints therefore has two closely linked meanings – communion in holy things, sancta, and among holy persons, sancti. Sancta sanctis – God's holy gifts for God's holy people is proclaimed by the celebrant in most Eastern liturgies during the elevation of the holy gifts before the distribution of communion. The faithful, sancti, are fed by Christ's holy Body and Blood, sancta, to grow in the communion of the Holy Spirit, koinonia, and to communicate it to the world. Communion in Spiritual Goods

In the primitive community of Jerusalem, the disciples devoted themselves to the Apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and the prayers. Communion in the Faith The faith of the faithful is the faith of the Church, received from the Apostles. Faith is a treasure of life which is enriched by being shared. Communion of the Sacraments The fruit of all the sacraments belongs to all the faithful. All the sacraments are sacred links uniting the faithful with one another and binding them to Jesus Christ, and above all baptism, the gate by which we enter into the Church. The communion of saints must be understood as the communion of the sacraments. The name communion can be applied to all of them, for they unite us to God, but this name is better suited to the Eucharist than to any other, because it is primarily the Eucharist that

brings this communion about. Communion of Charisms Within the communion of the Church, the Holy Spirit distributes special graces among the faithful of every rank for the building up of the Church. Now, to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. They had everything in common. Everything the true Christian has is to be regarded as a good possessed in common with everyone else.

All Christians should be ready and eager to come to the help of the needy and of their neighbors in want. A Christian is a steward of the Lord's goods. Communion and Charity In the Sanctorum Communio, none of us lives to himself and none of us dies to himself. If one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ, and individually members of it.

Charity does not insist on its own way. In this solidarity with all men, living or dead, which is founded on the communion of saints, the least of our acts done in charity redounds to the profit of all. Every sin harms this communion. Okay, there we have it, paragraphs 9, 46 to 953. I think this is just absolutely beautiful. This section on the communion of saints only lasts a couple days because in a couple days we'll jump to, not jumped, we'll travel, we'll continue on to Mary, mother of Christ,

mother of the church. We'll also talk about what it is to be forgiven for our sins. We'll talk about what it is to believe in the resurrection of the body. Those are the days coming, but today and tomorrow, we're talking about the communion of saints. And I just love this.

This is incredible. Paragraph 946, the communion of saints is the church. Obviously everything comes from Jesus. Jesus is the source, he's the head. So he's the most important member of the entire body, right? But yet the Communion of Saints is the church. And then paragraphs 947 and 948 highlight this incredible way

in which the Communion of Saints essentially comes from the Eucharist, comes from the sacraments, and also unites us together and how we belong to each other because of this so paragraph 947 Since all the faithful form one body the good of each is communicated to the others now That's gonna be reiterated in the last paragraph we heard today right paragraph 953 We heard today that talks about there's a you know a quote from Scripture

It says none of us lives to himself and none of us dies to himself. That's from Romans chapter 14. St. Paul went on to say, if one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and each individually members of it. That's 1 Corinthians chapter 12.

Now all of those things are so, so important. Because we're part of the body of Christ, right? Because we're part of the communion of saints, we belong're part of the communion of saints we belong to each other and Because we belong to each other if one member suffers we all suffer and if one member is honored we all rejoice together That's why the very last two sentences of this entire reading for today Are both inspiring and convicting so it says in this solidarity with all men living or dead Which is founded on the communion of saints The least of our acts done in charity redounds to the prophet of all which is so inspiring, right?

The least of our acts done in charity every even the smallest thing that you do out of love is for everyone That's not just your virtue It's not just your grace ever downs to the prophet of every one of us at the same time The very last sentence we heard today is so convicting. Every sin harms this communion. So every good thing we do, everything, even the smallest thing, if you're homebound right now, if you do nothing in the sense of like nothing that the world would say is oh that's your important or that's productive, but if you simply unite your prayers, your heart to Jesus, if you unite your suffering to Jesus, that doesn't

just help you in being purified by your heart, that helps the entire body. If you unite your suffering to Jesus, that doesn't just help you in purifying your heart, that helps the entire body. If you just offer that suffering up in love, say Jesus take my suffering, Jesus use my suffering. That doesn't just make you holy, that doesn't just sanctify you, that actually helps everyone. Highlight, there's no such thing as private virtue, right? There's no such thing as private grace in some ways like that. You could say it like this. At the same time, there's also no such thing as private sin. There's personal sin, right? There's things that I've done on my own, but there's no such thing as private sin because it belongs to all of us. Again, every sin harms this communion.

That is both the inspiring part of being part of the communion of saints, as well as the convicting part of being part of the communion of saints there in paragraph 953. But going back to 947, we said this first line, since all the faithful form one body, the good of each is communicated to the others. Yep, we just kind of highlighted. But it goes on to say, this is so powerful, the riches of Christ are communicated to all the members through the sacraments. And a few days from now, maybe two weeks, I think,

in two weeks from now, give or take, we're gonna launch into the second pillar of the catechism on the sacraments. The riches of Christ, what Jesus has done for us, come to us, when they meet us, they transform us through the sacraments. And this is incredible, and that's why I love this paragraph 948

that says, if you're looking at your catechism right now, in the smaller script, right? In the small script, it talks about sancta sanctis, God's holy gifts for God's holy people. Let's just read that again. God's holy gifts for God's holy people is proclaimed by the celebrant in most Eastern liturgies during the elevation of the holy gifts

before the distribution of Holy Communion. So remember, so in the West, typically, if you're Latin Catholic, you're familiar with, here's the priest who says, behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world, blessed are those who called the supper of the Lamb, and we have our response. But one of the proclamations in the Eastern liturgies is Sancta Sanctis, God's holy gifts for God's holy people. Now, the faithful, the the sancti are fed by Christ's holy body and blood It's not done

To grow in the communion of the Holy Spirit koinonia Greek word and to communicate it to the world So here you are here I am we're fed by Christ's holy body and blood and growing communion. So how do we? Increase the communion of the Saints. How do we grow in community of Saints? Well by letting what the Holy communion, the Eucharist, by letting it do what it's meant to do, among many other things, it binds us together. That's one of the reasons why in paragraph 949,

it quotes the Acts of the Apostles. And in Acts of the Apostles, chapter 242, it says that the disciples devoted themselves to four things, right? The apostles' teaching, fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and the prayers. And that's why we highlight these elements here in the remaining paragraphs.

The faithful, from the very beginning, the church was marked by, to be a disciple was to be marked by the fact that you devoted yourself to the apostles teaching. So we're united in faith, to fellowship, that we are united in taking care of each other, caring for each other, to the breaking of the bread, which is code for the Eucharist,

that's code for the mass essentially, and the prayers. That's why it's so powerful in the next two paragraphs, it highlights those exact things. Communion of the faith, communion of the sacraments, communion of charisms, that those charisms are given to every person in the church for the good of everyone, and they held everything in common. That means to say, the gifts of God are given to every person in the church for the good of everyone, and they held everything in common. That means to say, the gifts that God's given to me,

that therefore the people who need them the most, that I get to place them back in the Lord's hands. I get to place them at the service of our brethren. It was just so incredibly important. Because why? Because we belong to each other. And I think that's a quote from Mother Teresa that we keep coming back to again and again,

when she said, there's a reason we don't have peace in the world is because we've forgotten that we belong to each other. And here we are today, tomorrow, and hopefully for the rest of our lives, just remembering that you're not alone. At the end, you might find yourself in a place of isolation. You might find yourself in a place where you do feel alone. You don't see many people, but you're not alone. You are part of the communion of saints. In fact those who have died They're still part of the communion of saints those who are in purification in purgatory those who are in the beatific vision in heaven

We're still united with them So our beloved faithful our beloved dead Who have passed into God's presence, they're not separated from us. Well, they are separated from us in time and space, but they're not separated from us when it comes to being part of one body. When it comes to having communion with them, we still are united with them. And so tomorrow, as we continue to pray through this and read through this section on the community of saints, we're going to hear a little bit more about what that means, but for right now, let's pray for each other.

I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is brother Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.