The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 58: Man’s Spiritual Battle (2024)

Episode Date: February 27, 2024

Fr. Mike explores the hard battle which each and every one of us must face, the battle with sin. Together, we examine the mystery of us being both free and under the power of the Devil. Fr. Mike emphasizes that if we are unaware of our wounded nature, it can lead to grave errors in our own lives. If we have an attitude that, “since I’m made good, then everything I’m drawn to must be good,” we can fall into temptation and evil. We conclude on a hopeful note; however, that even after we sinned, God did not abandon us to the “domain of death,” and with God’s grace, evil will never have the last word. Today’s readings are Catechism Paragraphs 407-412. 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 toward our heavenly home. the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity in God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is Day 58 and we are reading paragraphs 407-412. Of course, I'm using the Ascension Edition of the Catechism, which includes the foundations of the Faith Approach. You can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. If you want

to download your own Catechism in a year reading plan, visit AscensionPress.com. And lastly, you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for, visit ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y. And lastly, you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily notifications and daily updates. As I said, it's day 58, we're reading paragraphs four or seven to four or 12, you guys were still in the midst of looking at and examining original sins. So one of the things we ended with in paragraph four or five.

Now we ended with four or six yesterday, talking about the differences, plagianism, right? You don't really need God's grace or the heresy of Pelagianism, the heresy of the Protestant Reformation, which would talk about that human nature is completely corrupt, right? So either you don't need God's grace

because you're pretty much intact or you absolutely do need God's grace in the sense because you are depraved. Now the Catholic worldview is in between that, that we absolutely do need God's grace, but not because we're depraved, but because we're deprived, right? But that what that sets us up for is a spiritual battle. In fact, the end of paragraph 405 says this, of course, talk about baptism and baptism

by imparting the life of Christ's grace eases original sin. So I mean, we still experience the consequences, but it eases original sin and turns a man back toward God. But then it says, the consequences for nature, weakened and inclined to evil, persist in man and summon him to spiritual battle. And that's what we're gonna talk about a little bit today. That paragraph 407 begins with the words, a hard battle, dot, dot, dot. And that's a recognition that every single one of us, we find ourselves born into a situation, born into the condition where because of that first sin,

because of the fact that we've lost that original justice, right, that original righteousness before God, we've lost that original holiness, we've even lost, you know, remember we talked about this before, that with that first sin, trust died in the human heart. And with the recognition of to live a life of trust, to live a life of obedience, a loving obedience to the Father, we have to fight for that trust.

And in fact, we know that God fights for us. I mean, that's part of what the mystery of the passion of our Lord is, that his life, death, and resurrection and ascension into heaven is part of that battle for us. So going back to what we're going to talk about today, a couple things. 1. Paragraph 407 highlights this fact that because of that first sin, the devil, the evil one, has acquired a certain domination over human beings, even though we still remain free as human beings.

And that's this mystery of, here is this, we belong to the power of darkness and captivity. And yet here is the Lord Jesus who has defeated the powers of darkness. And yet we still experience the consequences, right? We still experience the consequences of this, this death, the dominion of the evil one in this world. And so we have to be aware of this. And if we're not aware of this paragraph 407 highlights, if we're not aware that we have a wounded nature inclined to evil, that can give rise to incredibly serious errors. And in how we educate people, in how we do politics, how we do social action, how we look at morals, I mean, look at it like this.

If we forget or ignore or don't even know the fact that we have a wounded nature, then we think, well, we could be inclined to think, well, anything, if I'm made good, because you might get part of the story right, right? You might get the beginning of the story where God made human beings and this whole world and declared that it was good, and you might think, oh, then I'm fine. In that case, whatever I want must be fine. If I'm made good, then whatever I want must be good. Or if I'm made good and God doesn't make junk, then everything that I'm inclined to, everything that I want must be good. Or if I'm made good and God doesn't make junk, then everything that I'm inclined to, everything that I'm attracted to or drawn to,

that must be fine too, that must be good as well. But the full story is we are made good, but broken. We are inclined to evil. And so we have to kind of be on guard against even our own hearts. That's one of the things that is at risk if we forget the reality of original sin. But going on today, we're going to hear about more things.

For example, the consequences of original sin and of all of our personal sins, put the world as a whole in the sinful condition that Saint John describes as the sin of the world. Now, what does that mean? That's in paragraph 408. And one of the things it means is that here we are in this place where the context of our lives, we find ourselves in a place where we have to fight not only against ourselves, right, our broken human nature, but also against this, you know, the quote-unquote, the world, meaning the fact that we have a fallen human nature and human beings create culture,

therefore we have fallen human culture as well. That's one of the ways that this expression, the sin of the world, can be understood. Now, beyond that, beyond this, we recognize the last section we're going to read today, it's only three paragraphs long from paragraph 410 to 412. The line is, you did not abandon him to the domain of death. We get that from the fourth Eucharistic prayer in the Roman rite, it's incredible. Even after we sinned, even after we disobeyed, Lord God, you did not abandon us to the domain of death. But in your mercy, you came to the aid of all of us. So after the fall, paragraph 410 says,

man was not abandoned by God. On the contrary, man calls him and in a mysterious way herald the coming victory over evil and his restoration from the fall. And we just recognize that evil does not have the last word. Yes, we have broken hearts. We have broken relationships. This universe that is good and beautiful remains broken. And yet we're not abandoned in our brokenness. This is so very important to us. Now the last big question that the Catechism is going to ask in today's section in paragraph 412 is but there's a big but but why did God not prevent the first man from sinning? Why did not God prevent Adam or Eve from sinning in the first place? And there's an answer. In fact, we get two answers from Saint Leo the Great

and from Saint Thomas Aquinas. But in order to hear that answer, you're gonna have to listen. You're gonna have to listen to what we have to say today. So, oh man, you guys, here we are. Day 58, reading paragraphs 407 to 412. Let's say a prayer and launch into today's reading. Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for bringing us to this day. We ask you to please send your Holy Spirit to enlighten our hearts.

Send your Holy Spirit that we can belong to you fully, not just for 20 minutes every day, but belong to the let every minute of every day belong to you. Lord God, we find ourselves in a hard battle. And yet you have not abandoned us in the middle of the battle. You're with us in the midst of this battle. And so we just call out to you, Lord God, we find ourselves in a hard battle. And yet you've not abandoned us in the middle of the battle. You're with us in the midst of this battle. And so we just call out to you. We call upon the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, to send your Holy Spirit to be with us, to guard us,

to fight in us, and to fight for us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. As I've said like 12 times today, it is day 58. We are reading paragraphs 407 to 412. A Hard Battle The doctrine of original sin, closely connected without a redemption by Christ, provides lucid discernment of man's situation and activity in

the world. By our first parent's sin, the devil has acquired a certain domination over man, even though man remains free. Original sin entails captivity under the power of him who henceforth had the power of death that is the devil. Ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature inclined to evil gives rise to serious errors in the areas of education, politics, social action, and morals. The consequences of original sin and of all men's personal sins put the world as a whole in the sinful condition aptly described in St. John's expression, the sin of the world.

This expression can also refer to the negative influence exerted on people by communal situations and social structures that are the fruit of men's sins. This dramatic situation of the whole world, which is in the power of the evil one, makes man's life a battle. As Gaudium Metzpez stated, the whole of man's history has been the story of dour combat with the powers of evil stretching so our Lord tells us from the very dawn of history until the last day. Finding himself in the midst of the battlefield, man has to struggle to do what is right, and it is at great cost to himself and aided by God's

grace that he succeeds in achieving his own inner integrity. You did not abandon him to the domain of death. After his fall, man was not abandoned by God. On the contrary, God calls him, and in a mysterious way heralds the coming victory over evil and his restoration from his fall. This passage in Genesis is called the Proto-Evangelium, the first Gospel, the first announcement of the Messiah and Redeemer of a battle between the serpent and the woman and of the final victory of a descendant of hers. The Christian tradition sees in this passage an

announcement of the new Adam, who, because he became obedient unto death, even death on a cross, makes amends super abundantly for the disobedience of Adam. Furthermore, many fathers and doctors of the Church have seen the woman announced in the proto-Evangelium as Mary, the mother of Christ, the new Eve. Mary benefited, first of all, the mother of Christ, the new Eve. Mary benefited, first of all, and uniquely from Christ's victory over sin. She was preserved from all stain of original sin and by a special grace of God committed no sin of any kind during her whole earthly life. But why did God not prevent the first man from sinning?

St. Leo the Great responds, Christ's inexpressible grace gave us blessings better than those the demon's envy had taken away. And St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, There is nothing to prevent human natures being raised up to something greater, even after sin. God permits evil in order to draw forth some greater good. Thus St. Paul says, Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, and the exalted sings, O happy fault that earns so great, so glorious a redeemer.

Okay, so here we are finding ourselves towards the end of this section today about Original Sin. You know, tomorrow we're going to go over the bullet points. It'll be nugget day once again. But today we find ourselves reminded that because of original sin, we find ourselves in a hard battle. And one of the things we need to remember when it comes to original sin is we cannot forget that we are good but broken. Because if we forget this, you know, there was one of the thinkers of the more recent era, I guess, Jean-Jacques Rousseau. I remember hearing about someone

like Jean-Jacques Rousseau who had this idea, and this is a paraphrase of his idea, so it's really simplified, is that, you know, we would be born as blank slates, right? So you could find the noble savage, someone who hasn't been corrupted by their society, they haven't been corrupted by civilization or modern human beings, and you'd find them, and they're a tabula rasa, right? They're a blank slate, and they're the noble savage where it's only culture that corrupts a person. Now, the Catechism does say very, very clearly in paragraph 408 that we exert a negative influence on the world.

Here's what it says. It says, this expression, the sin of the world, can also refer to the negative influence exerted on people by communal situations and social structures that are the fruits of men's sins. So what it's saying is, yes, broken people create broken structures, right? So people who are unjust in ourselves,

like we've lost original justice, we can create social systems that are also unjust. But the sin, the personal sin, the brokenness, that came first. And that was what created like social sin, right? If that makes any sense. But see people like Rousseau and others, they would say, no, no, no, it's our society that created the brokenness. So if we can just tweak, if we can just fix society, then we fix the brokenness. And the church has a more sober.

I think the church has a more realistic view. And that is, oh, no, no, we arrived broken. We made good, right? But then because of original sin, we come on the scene as human beings now, broken. And because of that brokenness, we create more brokenness. Now we can also create good things, right? There's beauty, there's justice that we can fight for. We can still love, and that's the thing. It's always holding these things in tension.

And that is just the challenge every one of us gets to experience. But if we forget the fact that there is original sin, and in that line, as I want to highlight this once again, the last line of paragraph 407, ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature and clinging to evil gives rise to serious errors in all these different areas of life. And so just we have to keep on mind that original sin also remembering If we forget original sin then the redemption that was given to us by Jesus Christ is is kind of rendered somewhat meaningless If we weren't dead in our sins then Christ dying for our sins is kind of like well hey

Hey, bro. Thanks, but we recognize that this is not a hey bro to the Lord himself. This is oh my goodness, Lord, if you had abandoned me, if you had not come and died for me, if you had not come and lived in human nature and rescued us from slavery to the evil one, we would be dead in our sins. And so we have to, we have to understand and never can ever forget the reality of original sin and the fact that Christ has transferred us from the power of darkness to his own glorious kingdom. We've been brought into baptism. We have brought into that new kingdom. Now, at the same time, paragraph 409 highlights this fact. This dramatic situation, right? The dramatic situation that is quoted in 1 John chapter 5, verse 19. The whole world, which is in the power of the evil one,

means our life is a battle. And that is, I think that's encouraging. I think that's a really encouraging word. Why? Because if life was a cruise ship, and all of a sudden you were under attack, that would be really difficult. It'd be really difficult.

It'd be crushing. But if life is a battleship and you're under attack, you kind of expect that, don't you? I mean, does that kind of make some sense? Where if I thought that all of me out on this field for a picnic, why are all these people shooting at me? That's chaotic. But if you know, oh no, no, I'm on a battlefield.

I know why these people are shooting at me. I expected this, to know that life is a battle It's not I don't think doesn't contribute to having a negative attitude towards life. I think it helps us I think it helps us have a prepared attitude I think it gets our hearts ready for the battle and so as God he must be as it says The whole of man's history has been the story of our combat with the powers of evil Stretching so our Lord tells us from the very dawn of history, right? Genesis chapter 3 until the very last day. We find ourselves in the midst of the battlefield and we have to struggle to do what is right. And it is at great cost to ourselves and native by God's grace that we succeed in achieving our own inner integrity. That's remarkable.

The struggle to do what is right, it's a great cost. I mean, think about this. This is just, the church is reminding us, it is gonna come at great cost to you. But also, you will have God's grace. You'll be able to succeed at achieving your own inner integrity, which is incredible.

What a great promise. What a great reality that we can experience this inner integrity in our lives today. Not on our own, but with God's grace and with great cost to ourselves. Now the very last three paragraphs as we mentioned before paragraph 410. After the fall man was not abandoned by God. In fact, there in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15 there is the what is called the proto-evangelium, or the first gospel, right?

So, evangelium, gospel, good news, proto first, right? So, the proto-evangelium is Genesis chapter three, verse 15, in which the Lord God is speaking to the snake and the serpent, right? And he says, I will put enmity between you, the evil one, between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers. They will strike at your head while you strike at their heel,

is one of the translations of this. But here is God's promise, God's promise. And the passage in Genesis announces the Messiah, right? Who's gonna have a battle between the serpent and also the woman. And the church has an ancient, ancient tradition. The fathers, doctors of the church have seen that woman announced in the Proc to Evangelium as Our Lady, as Mary. And she's called the New Eve. You know, St. Paul refers to Jesus Christ as the New Adam. And the church's

fathers and doctors of the church, we refer to Our Lady as the New Eve. Because not only is she the one in so many ways who crushes the head of the serpent because of her son Jesus, right? Because of God's grace in her life. But here is this powerful, powerful affirmation of the Immaculate Conception in paragraph 411, where it states, "...Mary benefited, first of all, and uniquely from Christ's victory over sin." How? It says,

"...She was preserved from all stain of original sin. And that part of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was at the moment of her conception. Mary was preserved from all stain of original sin by the future merits of her son's life, death, and resurrection, or the merits of her son's future life, death, and resurrection. And she also had a special grace of God. Because of that, she committed no sin during her whole or through life and so there's this recognition that here in the Procurement of Angelium as God is

promising that there'll be enmity between the evil one and between the woman between the offspring of Satan and the offspring of the woman that Satan's head would ultimately be crushed and so so just like in Genesis chapter two and three, there's the fall team, right? You have Adam and Eve as the fall team, they disobey God. You have in the New Testament, you have the redemption team. You have the new Adam, Jesus, and the new Eve, Mary, who obey God and by obedience, by trust,

they restore what was lost in the fall, which is incredible. Now, at the same time, the last question, this section of the Catechism asks is paragraph 412, but why did God not prevent the first man from sinning? God could have done this. Why didn't He just step in? Why didn't God show up early

and get in the way between the serpent and the woman? Why didn't God just do something? And that, the answer of course is going to be a mystery. But St. Leo the Great and St. Thomas Aquinas, they show us and the answer is more. The answer is greater, meaning. St. Leo the Great says, Christ's inexpressible grace gave us blessings better

than those the demons envy had taken away. Something better there, something more there. And Salmos Aquinas also said, there's nothing to prevent human nature is being raised up to something greater, even after sin. That God permits evil in order to draw forth some greater good. Remember, remember, one of the reasons why we know

that we believe we have faith, we declare that God allows evil in the world is to preserve our freedom, right? So that we can truly love. And secondly, because we believe, we trust that God allows sin because he knows he can bring about a greater good. And that's every Easter we sing this thing. The word is the exultant. And we sing, oh, happy fault that earned so great, so glorious every demer. You know, St. Paul also, he says, where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. And so I know that's an article of faith.

That's an area where we just have to lean into this and say, I really God, is it true that you could have stopped the sin from happening? You could have stopped the evil from happening, but you didn't because you knew you'd bring about a greater good. If that's the case, then please help me to trust you. That is so critical. And that's part of the battle. You know, we mentioned that it is a hard battle.

This life is a hard battle. Part of that is not just the battle against evil and the battle against the, you know, the brokenness and suffering in the world. It also means it's a battle of trust. And also it's a hard battle to be able to say, okay, God, I hear what you're saying and I'm going to trust you. I hear what you're declaring to me

and I'm gonna trust you. I wish that you had taken away all sin, but you didn't. I wish you took away all suffering, but you didn't. You did transform it though. You made sin able to be forgiven. You made sin able to be forgiven. You made suffering able to be redeemed and transformed to something more powerful. And so that part of the battle, man, oh man, that is, that's real. And that maybe might be the

battle where you find yourselves today. It might be the case that you find yourselves in the middle of that battle that just says, okay, God, maybe things aren't the worst they've ever been in my life. But can I still trust you? Or maybe this day is the day where it's, this is the worst season of your entire life. And in this day, God's saying, I know, and I haven't abandoned you to this. It may be today is a day where you've lost loved ones, or maybe a season where you've lost loved ones, or you're losing them right now. It's a day maybe to be reminded that in the midst of that brokenness, in the midst of that

suffering, the God did not abandon you to the domain of death, but he came in mercy to the aid of all. He's coming in mercy to your aid and my aid as well. That is why we need each other. That is why we need to 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.