The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 147: Christ’s Work in the Liturgy (2024)

Episode Date: May 26, 2024

We continue our examination of Christ’s acts through the sacraments that he instituted. Fr. Mike emphasizes the importance of understanding that the sacraments are sacred signs that “make present efficaciously the grace they signify.” The sacraments specifically signify the Paschal mystery, Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. We also explore how the Paschal mystery cannot remain in the past. Though it occurred in time, it transcends all time and is made present in all time. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1084-1090. 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 Church. 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 147, you guys, we are reading paragraphs 1084 to 1090. As always, I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the foundations

of faith approach, it also includes a little red ribbon. That's where we're at in the second pillar right now. But you can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church or any ribbon you'd like. To download your own Catechism in a year 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. It is day 147 reading paragraphs, 1084 to 1090. Just a quick couple of quick reminders. Easy for

me to say as we are walking through this second pillar, the kind of the kind I want to say, I want to say the want to say the primary doc the primary documents always going to be scripture obviously if you want to take a look at those those footnotes on every single page virtually every page has a reference from scripture because we get everything you know our data comes from script or data of what we believe our theology comes from scripture but also in this second pillar the the document sacrosanctum concilium from the second Vatican council is going to be one of those Big ones we reference. I mentioned that you know me yesterday the day before that

That's it's going to be a big one kind of like dave erbam kind of day verb. Um, was a big one When it comes to what we're talking about now, it's going to be sacrosanctum sacrosanctum concilium. And so just keep that in mind Yesterday we talked about how the whole thing, the whole liturgical life of the church, the whole liturgical work of the church, that it is the work of the Holy Trinity. Yesterday, specifically, is the father, source, and goal of the liturgy.

Today, this is Christ's work in the liturgy, and you can guess what's happening tomorrow, Holy Spirit and the church in the liturgy. But today is just a few paragraphs on what does Jesus do and it's just remarkable to recognize that we're going to get a couple different definitions. We're going to get a definition of sacraments, which I'm really excited about in paragraph 1084. We're also going to get basically, how is Christ present in the earthly liturgy? And we recognize that Jesus is present in four distinct ways in the liturgy

We're here about that in paragraph 1088 and everything else besides so as we prepare our hearts to just see how is Jesus present? How is he active? What does Christ work in the liturgy in these next few paragraphs? Let's just call upon our Father and call upon the name of our Lord Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit We pray father in heaven, thank you so much. Thank you for the gift of the fact that what Jesus had done for us, what he has done for us 2000 years ago, halfway around the world for many of us,

comes to us now, comes to us here in our little towns, in our big cities, in our small parishes, in our giant churches. Lord God, what your son has done for us, we have access to. We have access to you. And you make yourself present, you make the Holy Trinity present

at every single liturgy, Lord God. You make yourself completely accessible to us because you're good and you love us. And we thank you. We thank you for everything you've done. We thank you for the paschal mystery, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, which comes to us in every liturgy, especially in the liturgy of the Eucharist.

We thank you, Lord God. Please help us to have eyes that see, right? To help us, little Father, to have eyes that recognize your presence, your work, your Son, your Holy Spirit in the liturgy, especially when our eyes can be so obscured by just seeing ordinary things. But Lord God, you use ordinary things in an extraordinary way. You use ordinary things to give us extraordinary grace.

You use ordinary things to give us yourself. And so help us have eyes to see and a faith that receives and worships and loves you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. We are on day 147. We are reading paragraphs 1084 to 1090. Christ's work in the liturgy. Christ glorified seated at the right hand of the Father and pouring out the Holy Spirit on his body, which is the Church, Christ now acts through the sacraments he instituted to communicate his grace. The sacraments are perceptible signs, words and actions, accessible to our human nature. By the

action of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, they make present efficaciously the grace that they signify. In the liturgy of the Church, it is principally his ownaciously the grace that they signify. In the liturgy of the Church, it is principally his own paschal mystery that Christ signifies and makes present. During his earthly life, Jesus announced his paschal mystery by his teaching and anticipated it by his actions. When his hour comes, he lives out the unique event of history which does not pass away. Jesus dies, is buried, rises from the dead, and is seated at the right hand of history which does not pass away. Jesus dies, is buried,

rises from the dead, and is seated at the right hand of the Father once for all. His paschal mystery is a real event that occurred in our history, but it is unique. All other historical events happen once and then they pass away, swallowed up in the past. The paschal mystery of Christ, by contrast, cannot remain only in the past because by his death he destroyed death and all that Christ is, all that he did and suffered for all men, participates in the divine eternity and so transcends all times while being made present in them all. The event of the cross and resurrection abides and draws everything toward life.

From the time of the Church of the Apostles, Sacrosanctum Concilium states, Accordingly, just as Christ was sent by the Father, so also He sent the Apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit. This He did, so that they might preach the Gospel to every creature, and proclaim that the Son of God by His death and resurrection has freed us from the power of Satan and from death and brought us into the kingdom of His Father. But He also willed that the work of salvation which they preached should be set in train

through the sacrifice and sacraments around which the entire liturgical life revolves. Thus there is in Christ, by giving the Holy Spirit to the apostles, entrusted to them His power of sanctifying. They became sacramental signs of Christ. By the power of the same Holy Spirit, they entrusted this power to their successors. This apostolic succession structures the whole liturgical life of the Church and is itself sacramental, handed on by the sacrament of Holy Orders. Is Present in the Earth earthly liturgy. To accomplish so great a work, the dispensation or communication of his work of salvation,

Christ is always present in his Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations. He is present in the sacrifice of the Mass not only in the person of his minister, the same now offering through the ministry of the priests who formerly offered himself on the cross, but especially in the Eucharistic species. By his power he is present in the sacraments so that when anybody baptizes it is really Christ himself who baptizes. He is present in his word since it is he himself who speaks when the Holy Scriptures are read in the church. Lastly, he is present when the church prays and sings. in the church. Lastly, he is present when the church prays and sings, for he has promised where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Sacrosanctum Concilium states, Christ indeed always associates the church with himself in this great work in which God is perfectly glorified and men are sanctified. The church is his beloved bride who calls to her Lord and through Him offers worship to the Eternal Father, which participates in the Liturgy of Heaven." Sacrosanctum Concilium further states, In the earthly liturgy we share in a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the holy city of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle. With all the warriors of the heavenly army, we sing a hymn of glory to the Lord, venerating the memory of the saints we hope for some part in fellowship with them.

We eagerly await the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, until He, our life, shall appear, and we too will appear with him in glory. Okay so there it is day 147 paragraph 1084 to 1090. Oh my goodness gracious you guys holy smokes this is just okay I don't know if you caught it but there there are a number of different authors who contributed to the writing of the Catechism. And the Creed was written, I think, beautifully. It sings, it's beautiful, it's poetic. It's, I mean, so clear and concise.

This, whoever the team was who wrote this section, it's amazing so far. It's just incredible. Okay, so here we go, 10 paragraph, 1084. Let's highlight this. Oh my goodness gracious. I said they were gonna give us a definition of the sacraments. We recognize that Jesus, who is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he's pouring out the Holy Spirit on his body, which is the

church, he now acts through the sacraments he instituted to communicate his grace. So, what are sacraments? Middle of paragraph 1084. The sacraments are perceptible signs, aka words and actions here in the parentheses, perceptible signs accessible to our human nature by the action of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, they make present efficaciously the grace that they signify. So we recognize this, right? That every sacrament is a sacred sign that causes what it signifies.

Every sacrament is a sacred sign that causes what it signifies. Not sure if we've talked about this before, but we'll talk about it now is recognize, okay, what's a sacred sign? Well, you know what we know what a sign is. A sign is like, okay, there's a stop sign on the on the corner right outside my house here. Now that sign signifies stop here. Okay, great. But it doesn't, it doesn't cause you to stop, right? I have demonstrated this many times, just kind of rolled right through. But you can imagine a sign, a stop sign,

that actually caused what it signified. It signified stops, you can imagine that you pull up to the corner and regardless of what you want to do, the sign actually caused you to stop. It would be a sign that caused what it signified. So here we have the sacraments, and they're signs, sacred signs, that cause what they signify because of the action of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. They make present efficaciously

the grace that they signify. So baptism, what's it's a sign of? It's a sign of washing. Well, it actually does wash away original sin. Baptism also a sign of new birth, right? As giving birth, of dying and rising. So it actually does make us into new creatures, right? It actually does make us into God's sons and daughters. The sign of reconciliation, right? Confession is a sign of God's forgiveness. It actually causes God's forgiveness, right? We participate efficaciously. That mercy of God is present efficaciously.

It actually does forgive our sins. The sign of signs, the Eucharist, is a sign of Jesus's presence. It actually is Jesus's presence, right? And it's just so remarkable, you know, the sign of matrimony is to become one flesh will actually to actually truly become one flesh. And this is just so so amazing that by the action of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, the sacraments make present efficaciously the grace that they signify. Now later on we're gonna highlight this, the sacraments make present efficaciously the grace that they signify.

Now later on we're going to highlight this, the paschal mystery. Paragraph 1085 is very important for us because we recognize that in the liturgy of the church it is principally Jesus' paschal mystery that he signifies and makes present. What is that? His life, death and resurrection. This is so incredibly important. Jesus dies, is buried, rises from the dead, seated at the right hand of the Father once for all.

That happened one time. The Paschal Mystery is a real event that occurred in our history, but it's the most unique event in the world because as it says in 1085, all other historical events happen once, then they pass away. The Paschal Mystery of Christ, by contrast,

cannot remain only in the past because by His death, He destroyed death and all that Christ is, all that He did, He suffered for all men, it participates in the Divine eternity. So why? What do you mean by that? Okay, what is Jesus doing when He's suffering, when He's dying, when He's rising, when He ascends to heaven? He is offering all of that to the Father.

He's offering Himself to the Father. This is so important. He's offering himself to the Father. This is so important. He's offering himself to the Father. He does not cease offering himself to the Father in eternity. And so this event that occurred in time, once for all, right, occurs in eternity constantly. It transcends all times

while being made present in all times. And just, man, think about this. That moment in time, which now exists in eternity, transcends all times while being made present in all times. And just incredible. So then what does Jesus do? In order to communicate that grace, what He's done for us, to all times, to us. He gives the ability to the apostles, not just to preach. He does that, definitely gives them the ability to preach the gospel to every creature, but he also wanted the work of salvation,

which they preached to be continued through the sacrifice and sacraments. And so what does he do? Well, we know this in John chapter 20, that's one of the moments in John chapter 20 where Jesus he's risen from the dead And he breathes on the Holy Spirit and he says peace be with you as the father sent me So now I send you receive the Holy Spirit those whose sins you forgive are forgiven those whose sins you hold bound are held bound He's given he's entrusted to the Apostles his power of sanctifying and they become sacramental signs of Christ, right?

His power of sanctifying and they become sacramental signs of Christ, right? Efficacious. They actually, they're not just kind of like over a little reminder. They're actually efficacious in the fact that they communicate the grace of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, which does that make sense? I just, oh my gosh, you guys, ah, so exciting. Lastly, well, maybe lastly, almost lastly, paragraph 1088. Jesus is present. He's always present in his church. He's always present in the church, especially in our liturgical sacraments, celebrations, right?

Did Jesus is present in the sacrifice of the mass, in the person of the minister? So the priest is, Jesus is present in the person of the priest. That's one way he's present. He's especially present in the Eucharist. And we're gonna talk about that so fully, that Jesus is exceptionally present,

especially present in the Eucharist. He's present in the sacraments so that when anybody baptizes, it is really Christ himself who baptizes. You might not be ordained listening to this. If you ever baptize someone, it would be, we would say it's actually Jesus who baptizes through you, baptizes through you. So it's really Christ himself. Jesus is present,

Christ is present in the Word. It's when the Holy Scriptures are proclaimed, there he is. And also Jesus is present whenever two or three gathering in his name. So we have this. Jesus is present in the person of the minister. He's present most above all in the Eucharist He's present in his word when it's proclaimed and he's present in the gathering and then in the among the people when they gather in His name, which is isn't that incredible? Just you know these four ways in which Jesus Christ is present to us and not only this this last little note Oh my goodness gracious. Okay, you guys I said this a thousand thousand times, right? Goodness gracious or wawikazawi. Paragraph 1090, what are we doing in the earthly liturgy?

Well, we're going to mass. That's good. What are we doing in the earthly liturgy? Well, what's happening is the Father is being glorified and the people of God are being sanctified. Hugely important. This is it. Every single time you go to mass, God is being

glorified, perfectly glorified, and human beings are being sanctified. But the earthly liturgy is also a share in the foretaste of what the heavenly liturgy is occurring there. That basically, we are joined at every single mass. We are joined with Jesus Christ sitting at the right hand of God the Father. We are joined with all the warriors of the heavenly army. We sing the hymn of glory to the Lord. We venerate the memory of the saints and we hope for some part in fellowship with them. We eagerly await the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, until He our life shall appear and we too will appear with Him in glory.

That is for the future. I mean, that's happening right now in eternity. And that's for the future. We get to participate fully in that in heaven, God willing. But think about this, the next time you go to mass, which might even be today, we're participating in that already here on earth. The earthly liturgy participates in the liturgy of heaven.

And this is not something you have to wait to do. You actually could even do this today or maybe tomorrow what a gift holy smokes what a gift God wants us to be part of this anyways man we got it we have a long journey ahead of us which is awesome tomorrow we're talking about the Holy Spirit and the church in the liturgy and then again we keep going off to the races because this is our life this is how God wants us to become holy and this is how God has asked us to come into contact with him on a regular maybe even daily basis. Oh man you guys I'm praying for you please pray for me. My name is Father Mike I cannot wait to see you tomorrow.

God bless.