The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 330: The Revelation of Prayer

Episode Date: November 26, 2023

As the Catechism reveals, we are made for worship and called to a relationship with the Lord through prayer. God is the initiator and wants us to walk with him as he “tirelessly calls each person to the mysterious encounter known as prayer.” Fr. Mike reminds us that just like Abraham in the Old Testament, the more we get to know the Lord through prayer, the more we become like him. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 2566-2573. 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 and God's families we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is day 330, we are reading paragraphs 2566-2573. 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 in a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com, slash C-I-Y, and you can click follow or subscribe on your podcast app for daily updates, daily notifications. That is the phrase. That's the term we like to use around here. I just quick thank you. I know that as we launch into this continue, in this fourth pillar of the catacasem, you know, sometimes I talk to people and they say, yeah, it's a challenge to keep pressing play sometimes some days, but here you are. You're at day 330 and I just want to encourage you so much. You have literally 35 days left and not only do you have 35 days left, but these last 35 days have to do with the most important, I mean, everything is important.

Obviously, the identity of God who we are in Christ, the way we worship, the way we're called to live, but this relationship with Jesus, that is called prayer, this relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit. And the right, the triumphant God that's called prayer is so essential. So thank you. Thank you for sticking around. Also, thank you for all of you who've continued to pray for the production of this podcast and have contributed with your financial gifts. We couldn't do this without you as we continue to talk about the revelation of prayer. We realize that's the next section is chapter one, the revelation of prayer, to even realize this, that for all humanity, man has been in search of God. That's the reality is that we've searched for something transcendent.

Every one of us, we're oriented towards, we're made for worship, we're made for relationship with God. And we don't know that. And so many times. I mean, we do because we have a revelation But God actually reveals that he made us this way and that it's possible Not only that as we said yesterday that God is the initiator right God calls us first and they're so powerful paragraph 2567 is Again, if I don't say each day for the next 35 days

This is my favorite line in the catacism. Something's wrong because every day has a couple massive lines that I just love. 2567 says, God calls man first, goes on, he says, man may forget his creator or hide far from his face. He may run after idols or accuse the deity of having abandoned him, yet the living and true God tirelessly calls each person to that mysterious encounter known as prayer.

It's like, oh my gosh, it's so important, because that's what we do, right? We can forget God, we can ignore Him, we can hide far from His face, we can run after other things, and we can even get angry at God and accuse God of a lack of love or abandoning us. And yet, God tirelessly calls you and me and everyone to that mysterious encounter known as prayer. So that's what we're going to do today. We're going to enter into prayer as we begin.

Father in heaven, we praise you and give you glory. We know that you're the one who has led us to this day. We know that you are the one who has guided us to this place. You brought us to this moment and you are with us in this moment You are with us in this place Lord God. Please help us to never forget you our creator Help us to never forget you our Redeemer in sanctifier Help us never to forget that you are good and you tirelessly call each of us to live in relationship with you at every moment and in every place in

Jesus name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. It is day 330. We are reading paragraphs 2566-2573. Chapter 1. The Revelation of Prayer. The universal call to prayer.

Man is in search of God. In the act of creation, God calls every being from nothingness into existence. Crowned with glory and honor, man is, after the angels, capable of acknowledging how majestic is the name of the Lord in all the earth. Even after losing through his sin, his likeness to God, man remains an image of his creator and retains the desire for the one who calls him into existence. All religions bear witness to men's essential search for God. God calls man first.

Man may forget his Creator or hide far from his face. He may run after idols or accuse the deity of having abandoned him, yet the living and true God tirelessly calls each person to that mysterious encounter known as prayer. In prayer, the faithful God's initiative of love always comes first, our own first step is always a response. As God gradually reveals Himself, and reveals man to Himself, prayer appears as a reciprocal call, a covenant drama. Through words and actions, this drama engages the heart. It unfolds throughout

the whole history of salvation. Article 1, in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, the revelation of prayer comes between the fall and the restoration of man, that is, between God's sorrowful call to his first children, where are you? What is this that you have done? And the response of God's only son on coming into the world? Low, I have come to do your willow, God. Prayer is bound up with human history, for it is the relationship with God in historical events. Creation, source of prayer. Prayer is lived in the first place, beginning with the realities of creation. The first nine chapters of Genesis describe this relationship with God as an offering of the firstborn of Abel's flock, as the invocation of the divine name at the time of Enoch, and as walking with God.

Noah's offering is pleasing to God who blesses him and through him all creation, because his heart was upright and undivided. Noah, like Enoch, before him, walks with God. This kind of prayer is lived by many righteous people in all religions. In his indefectable covenant with every living creature, God has always called people to prayer. But it is above all beginning with our Father Abraham, that prayer is revealed in the Old Testament. God's promise and the prayer of faith. When God calls him, Abraham goes forth as the Lord had told him.

Abraham's heart is entirely submissive to the word and so he obeys. Such attentiveness of the heart whose decisions are made according to God's will is essential to prayer, while the words used count only in relation to it. Abraham's prayer is expressed first by deeds. A man of silence, he constructs an altar to the Lord at each stage of his journey. Only later does Abraham's first prayer in words appear. A veiled complaint reminding God of his promises which seem unfulfilled. Thus, one aspect of the drama of prayer appears from the beginning,

the test of faith in the fidelity of God. Because Abraham believed in God and walked in his presence and in covenant with him, the patriarch is ready to welcome a mysterious guest into his tent. Abraham's remarkable hospitality at Mamray foreshadows the enunciation of the true son of the promise. After that, once God had confided his plan, Abraham's heart is attuned to his Lord's compassion for men, and he dares to intercede for them with bold confidence. As a final stage in the purification of his faith, Abraham, who had received the promises, is asked to sacrifice the Son God had given him. Abraham's faith does not weaken. He said, God himself will provide the Lamb for a burnt offering.

For he considered that God was able to raise men even from the dead. And so, the Father of believers is conformed to the likeness of the Father who will not spare his own Son, but will deliver him up for us all. Prayer restores man to God's likeness and enables him to share in the power of God's love that saves the multitude. God renews his promise to Jacob, the ancestor of the twelve tribes of Israel. Before confronting his elder brother Esau, Jacob wrestles all night with a mysterious figure who refuses to reveal his name, but who blesses him before leaving him at dawn. From this account, the spiritual tradition of the church has retained the symbol of prayer

as a battle of faith and as the triumph of perseverance. All right, there we have it, paragraph 2566-2573. This is, you guys, I'm telling you, this is going to be your favorite section. I don't know how to argue. I'm not going to argue. I'm just going to read this, this is going to be your favorite section. I don't know how to argue. I'm not going to argue. I'm just going to read this and it's going to be amazing. So, man, 2566 and 67, so important. We recognize this.

Man is in search of God, every one of us. Even after losing through our sin, our likeness to God, we remain in the image of our creator. And so we retain the desire for the one who calls us into existence. And the church reminds us that all religions bear witness to man's essential search for God. In fact, in paragraph 2569, it highlights the fact that God, even in creation, well, all humanity, even those who are not in covenant with the Lord, all humanity are, we're called to this walking with God. In fact, the last couple lines of paragraph 2569 say this. It says this kind of prayer, walking with God,

this kind of prayer that we just want to offer worship to God. It says this kind of prayer is lived by many righteous people in all religions, even if they're not people of the covenant. They still have this desire to walk with God. And of course, God desires all people to walk with Him. God desires the all men be saved. We know that this is true. And so even if they have no knowledge

of the covenant that God made with the people of Israel, if they have no knowledge of the ways in which God has restored us to a relationship in Jesus Christ, many righteous people have this kind of prayer. In fact, he goes on to say, in his indefectable covenant with every living creature, because there's this kind's this overarching covenant, they got makes, I mean, we use the term covenant

maybe a little bit loosely here, but there's this kind of overarching covenant God makes with every human he's created, every living creature. There's some kind of relationship, right? That's there. God has always called people to prayer. And of course, this becomes more and more unique

and more and more pronounced later on. In fact, that last line of 2569 says, but it is above all beginning with our Father Abraham, that prayer is revealed in the Old Testament. And that's the reality that God does call us first. And he is the initiator. And this is so incredible. Again, if we're kind of bopping around here,

but remember that when God calls Abraham, he is gradually revealing himself and reveals man to himself. This is what says in paragraph 2567, as I said, kind of bopping around. It says, as God gradually reveals himself and reveals man to himself, prayer appears as a reciprocal call, a covenant drama. And through words and actions, this drama engages the heart and unfolds through the history of salvation. As we said, beginning with creation and those first stories and those first nine chapters of Genesis,

but also taking this massive leap forward when God calls Abraham in paragraph 2570. As I said, we're bopping around. But in print of 2570 and following is just remarkable because you all know this story now, right? You all know the story, how God calls Abraham, and he acts. He says this in 2570, Abraham's heart is entirely submissive to the word, and so he obeys just because God calls him, he does it. And it says this, such attentiveness to the heart,

whose decisions are made according to God's will, is essential to prayer. Well, words used count only in relation to it. So remember, the heart, this reality of the heart, the heart is the place of decision, the heart is the place of encounter, the heart is the place of the covenant, and from the heart, flow all of those choices

between life and death, between saying yes to God and saying no to God. And so here is Abraham. He has this attentiveness of the heart, and he makes his decisions according to God's will, and those decisions are lived out first in deeds. Right? He's called to leave, so he leaves.

You know, we don't hear a lot, we don't hear a lot of Abraham's prayer. In fact, as it says here, once again, Abraham's prayer is first expressed by deeds. And how is that? Well, in silence, he constructs an altar to the Lord at each stage of his journey. And I love this because this only later does Abraham's first prayer appear in words, appear a veiled complaint reminding God of his promises which seem unfulfilled. And this is not incredible. I love how the church is highlighting this. That Abraham's first verbal prayer is a veiled complaint

reminding God that God, you promise this and it doesn't seem to be fulfilled. And the conclusion of that in paragraph 2570 is thus one aspect of the drama of prayer appears from the beginning. It's a test of faith in the fidelity of God. And that's so good because this is what we're gonna experience.

Every one of us is going to experience what is it like to know that here's God has revealed Himself as faithful. He's revealed Himself as the God of the promise. He's revealed Himself as the God who loves us. And then what we do is we walk through this life and it seems, wait a second, God, these promises haven't yet come true. I don't necessarily feel loved in this moment.

I'm experiencing this struggle, this trial, this test. With the people that I love are experiencing struggle and trial and test, and thus one aspect of the drama of prayer is from the beginning, the test of faith in the fidelity of God. That sense of, can I still trust God when things don't work out the way I thought they would work out? Now, paragraph 2571 goes on, because Abraham believed in God and walked in his presence and covenant with him, we have this scene, right? And this scene where these three people, these three individuals meet Abraham and Abraham hosts them, right? He gives them incredible

hospitality. And after that, he says in 2571, after that, once God has confided his plan, Abraham's heart is attuned to his Lord's compassion for men, and then what happens? Then we have that incredible scene in Genesis chapter 18. The scene in Genesis chapter 18 is when God reveals that he's going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Remember, he's going to destroy these cities because there is no good in them. There's no righteous person at all in them. And Abraham has the whole thing up, but wait, wait, wait, Lord, what if there's 50 righteous people?

And God says, no, I didn't, I wouldn't destroy it for the fifth sake of the 50. What about 40? What about 30? What about 20? What about 10? And God reveals that no, no, he is a God of justice, but it also is a God of compassion.

And it says this, once God has revealed Himself in this new way, Abraham's heart is attuned to his Lord's compassion for men, and then he dares intercede for them with bold confidence. And that is just remarkable. The more and more we get to know the Lord, the more we're supposed to become like Him, and actually the more and more we can be like God, and have that justice, have that love, have that compassion and live that out in relation to God. Last two paragraphs, or again, I'm going to keep saying this, are remarkable.

So 2572, we remember the great test. And this way it says, the final stage of purification of Abraham's faith, because that's really what's happening. In so many ways, Abraham isn't being tested in the sense of, okay, will you get an A or you not get an A? Will you pass or you fail in the sense of, is your faith good enough or is it not good enough? But in the sense of, this is a process of purification.

That's what we mean by testing here. It's a process of leaning more deeply into the Lord because you have to either make the decision to lean more deeply into trusting God or we find ourselves trusting in other things. And this is what God is going to do for every one of us. This is what he is doing. He's already started. God has already started purifying your faith. He's already started making your heart larger. He's already started bringing you through things that give you the opportunity to trust him in new and deeper ways.

So here's Abraham, who's been tested many times. His faith has been purified so many times, the depth to which he's been called to trust God has been deepened so many times. And it says here, as a final stage of purification of his faith, Abraham, who had received the promises. He's asked to sacrifice the sun God had given him. And in that moment, his faith doesn't weaken. Because he knows God will provide the lamb. Abraham knew, he said, he considered later on the letter to the Hebrew says that he considered that God was able to raise men even from the dead. See, at this point Abraham knows who God is because he's been walking with God this whole life. And so like you and like me, this is not a,

when God tests us, he's not testing us to see, will you pass or will you fail? Will you love me or will you run away from me? It's he is purifying our hearts so that we can learn how to trust him in newer and deeper ways. That we can learn to love him in new and deeper circumstances. That we can give him access to our hearts in ways that we couldn't do if he had kept us in a place of safety,

if he hadn't brought us to a place of desperation. That's God allows these things in so many ways because he knows that he can do something remarkable in those moments. And in this story with Abraham, God does the same thing. And it says this, as a result of this, the Father of believers is conformed to the likeness of the Father who will not spare his own son, but will deliver him up for us all. I love this last line, 2572. Prayer restores man to God's likeness and enables him to share in the power of God's love that saves the multitude.

Think about this, that there's prayer that every human being can enter into. We can all walk with God, even if we don't know who God is, there's a some sense of just God made us in relationship with Him, made us to be in relationship with Him. So there's this kind of, again, as it says here, this generic for lack of a better term covenant that every person has relationship, essentially, that every person has with God, but as God reveals himself and enters more deeply into covenants, here's Abraham. And as God reveals himself, and Abraham gets to know God more and more, Abraham becomes more and more like God. First, he's more compassionate. Then it has this prayer of intercession. Then it goes on to say, he's restored in some unique way to God's likeness, this is what prayer does. And he's

enabled to share in the power of God's love that saves the multitude. So remarkable. The last note, of course, is in paragraph 2573, where we turn our attention to the grandson of Abraham to Jacob. Remember, it's Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And it says in paragraph 2573, gathering news, his promise to Jacob, of course, who his name becomes Israel. He's the father of the 12 tribes of Israel. And it says this before confronting his elder brother Esau, we know that story there, twin brothers, Jacob wrestles all night with a mysterious figure who refuses to reveal his name, but who blesses him

before leaving at dawn. And then the last sentence here is vital for us because yes, we're invited into prayer. And God is going to be the one who moves first, and our prayer is always going to be a response. But from this account, the spiritual tradition of the church has retained the symbol of prayer as a battle of faith and as the triumph of perseverance. We're going to get in a number of days, like many, many days from now.

We're going to get to one of my favorite sections in the entire catechism. It's a section called the Battle of Prayer. And so this sentence just highlights the fact and gives us a little, little hors d'oeuvre when it comes to this reality that the symbol of prayer is a battle of faith and the triumph of perseverance. So I don't know where you are right now

when it comes to your prayer, when it comes to your faith, but the recognition of, if it's difficult in this moment, maybe you're doing something right. If you feel like, oh man, I've just been showing up and showing up and showing up, maybe you're doing something right. Because the symbol of prayer here, with Jacob wrestling with the angel,

he's essentially right wrestling with that character, mysterious figure in the old covenant, is a symbol of prayer as a battle of faith and a triumph of perseverance. My word of encouragement is, if you're in the battle, stay in the battle. And if you're in the midst of it, don't give up, but persevere. And just know, I'm praying for you. Please pray for me when His Father Mike, it cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.

God bless.