Day 116: The Church Is Holy (2025) - The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)

Transcript

Fr. Mike Schmitz (0:05)

Hi, my name is Fr. 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. This is day 116. We are reading paragraphs 823 to 8 29. As always, I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the Foundations of Faith approach. You can follow along, of course, 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 ciy and lastly, you can click Follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. Today, day 116, we're reading about the fact that the Church is holy. Yesterday we talked about oneness, and the day before that too. Yesterday was also the wounds to unity, but the call we have to strive for unity. Today, the second mark of the Church. Remember the four marks of the Church. One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic. These are these four marks of the Church. Today the Church is holy, and tomorrow the Church is Catholic. But today we have to recognize, you know, maybe I've even said this yesterday, many, many times. We'll point out the fact that, yep, the Church is broken, Church is made up of sinners. And so there is, you know, there's sin. At the same time, one of the clear marks of the Church is the fact that the Church is holy. The Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church. And because of that, because the Church comes from the Trinity, the heart of the Trinity, because Jesus Christ Himself founded the Church, the Church is holy. In fact, paragraph 823 will kick us off today. And it says this. The Church is held as a matter of faith to be unfailingly holy. And that's really important. That's a bold statement, but at the same time it is 100% a true statement. Why it goes on to say this is because Christ the Son of God, who with the Father and the Spirit is hailed as alone holy. Remember, God is the only one who's holy, truly holy. Because Jesus Himself loved the Church as His bride, giving Himself up for her so as to sanctify her. He joined her to Himself as His body and endowed her with the gift of the Holy Spirit for the God. And there you go. If there's any reason why we would say the Church is holy, it's that it is because of God's gracious gift. That's it. 100%. Now going on to say that united with Christ, the Church is sanctified by Jesus, and through Jesus she becomes sanctifying. Right? So we're sanctified by the action of Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, but also through Jesus. And with Jesus, we're meant to actually bring that holiness to the world. So that's what we're going to talk about again in 8, 24. You know, I love there's this long quote here. There's two long quotes, actually. The one long quote is from Saint Therese of Lisieux. The second long quote is from Pope Paul VI. The first long quote from St. Therese is about how love is the soul of the holiness to which we are all called. It says the word charity, but I'm just translating into love. So charity is the soul or love is the soul of the holiness to which all are called. That love is governs, shapes and perfects all the means of sanctification. We're going to hear about that today. And just in fact, if you have your catechism with you, you note that in this quote, there's italics, there are all caps. I mean, it is kind of intense. And then we have the other quote by Pope Paul VI where he writes that the Church is holy, even though having sinners in her midst, because she knows no other life but the life of grace. So we realize that if we live her life, the life of the Church, then we become sanctified. We're going to talk about that today. But that's the whole goal, to become sanctified and to actually participate with the Lord and through the Lord in sanctifying the world. So let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you. Thank you for being the source of holiness. Thank you for being you. Lord God, we praise you and we give you thanks that you are the only thrice holy God. You're the only one who is holy, Holy, holy Lord. So we lift up your name and we praise you this day. We thank you for the gift of your church. We thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit. We thank you that you have never, ever given up on us and that you've declared you never, ever will give up on us. We ask you to please help us to not give up on you. Help us to not stop choosing you, Lord. God, we ask you to please send your Holy Spirit into every area of challenge in our lives so that we can face every challenge with your strength. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. It is day 116. We're reading paragraphs 823 to 8 29. The church is holy. The Church is held as a matter of faith to be unfailingly holy. This is because Christ, the Son of God, who with the Father and the Spirit is hailed as alone holy, loved the Church as his bride, giving Himself up for her so as to sanctify her. He joined her to Himself as His body, and endowed her with the gift of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God. The Church, then, is the holy people of God, and her members are called saints, united with Christ. The Church is sanctified by him through him, and with him she becomes sanctifying. All the activities of the Church are directed as toward their end, to the sanctification of men in Christ and the glorification of God. It is in the Church that the fulness of the means of salvation has been deposited. It is in her that by the grace of God we acquire holiness. The Church on earth is endowed already with a sanctity that is real, though imperfect, in her members. Perfect Holiness is something yet to be acquired, strengthened by so many and such great means of salvation. All the faithful, whatever their condition or state, though each in his own way, are called by the Lord to that perfection of sanctity by which the Father himself is perfect. Charity is the soul of the holiness to which all are called. It governs shapes and perfects all the means of sanctification. As Saint Therese of Lisieux stated, if the Church was a body composed of different members, it couldn't lack the noblest of all. It must have a heart, and a heart burning with love. And I realized that this love alone was the true motive force which enabled the other members of the Church to act. If it ceased to function, the apostles would forget to preach the Gospel. The martyrs would refuse to shed their blood. Love, in fact, is the vocation which includes all others. It's a universe of its own, comprising all time and space. It's eternal. Christ, holy, innocent and undefiled, knew nothing of sin, but came only to expiate the sins of the people. The Church, however, clasping sinners to her bosom, at once holy and always in need of purification, follows constantly the path of penance and renewal. All members of the Church, including her ministers, must acknowledge that they are sinners in everyone. The weeds of sin will still be mixed with the good wheat of the Gospel until the end of time. Hence the Church gathers sinners already caught up in Christ's salvation, but still on the way to holiness. As Pope Paul vi. The Church is therefore holy, though having sinners in her midst, because she herself has no other life but the life of grace. If they live her life, her members are sanctified. If they move away from her life, they fall into sins and disorders that prevent the radiation of her sanctity. This is why she suffers and does penance for those offenses of which she has the power to free her children through the blood of Christ and and the gift of the Holy Spirit. By canonizing some of the faithful, that is, by solemnly proclaiming that they practiced heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God's grace, the Church recognizes the power of the Spirit of holiness within her and sustains the hope of believers by proposing the saints to them as models and intercessors. The saints have always been the source and origin of renewal in the most difficult moments in the Church's history. Indeed, holiness is the hidden source and infallible measure of her apostolic activity and missionary zeal. But while in the Most Blessed Virgin the Church has already reached that perfection whereby she exists without spot or wrinkle, the faithful still strive to conquer sin and increase in holiness. And so they turn their eyes to Mary. In her, the Church is already the all Holy. Okay, day 116, paragraph 823 to 829. Incredible. You know, let's go back to the very beginning. 8:23. We noted this at the very beginning. But as a matter of faith, the Church is unfailingly holy. Why? Not because of herself, not because of us. The Church is holy because of God. God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, are alone holy. And here's Jesus, the Son of God, with the Father. And the Spirit loved the Church as His bride. Remember this? Ephesians, chapter 5. He loved the Church and poured Himself out for her, gave Himself up for her so as to present her to Himself without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. That's the. That's the gift here. That's the goal here. That's the heart of what we're talking about here. The point is, God is the One who makes the church Holy. Paragraph 824 highlights this. I love this first line. United with Christ, the Church is sanctified by him, through him, and with him she becomes Sanctifying if you ever wonder what is the heart? What does the Church do? What are all the activities of the Church, all the work of the Church, what are they oriented towards? Well, it says here in paragraph 8, 24, it says, all the activities of the Church, all of them. Everything we do, everything we exist, everything we are, everything we accomplish, they're directed as toward their end to two the sanctification of men in Christ and the glorification of God. Think about that. The sanctification of human beings in Christ, the salvation of the world and the glorification of God. If you ever wonder, like, what's the point of the Mass? And jumping over to, you know, I know. In a few weeks we'll talk about liturgy, we'll talk about the sacraments. If you ever wonder what the point of the Mass is, well, you. You know, the point of the Mass. The point of the Mass is stated at the middle of every single Mass, where the priest turns to the people and he says, pray, my brothers and sisters, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God the Almighty Father. And all the people respond, may the Lord accept this sacrifice at your hands for the praise and glory of his name, for our good and the good of all his holy Church. That's the point. The two points. For the praise and glory of his name, of the Father's Name, that all that God may be glorified, and for the salvation of the world. This is the entire point. Why does the Church exist? Well, first of all, to sanctify her members, that Jesus Christ may present himself to Himself, his bride. And also that through the Church, the Father will be glorified and the world will be sanctified. It's amazing. Now, 8:25 highlights this. The Church on earth is endowed already with a sanctity that is real. And again, there's a real holiness the Church has, though it's imperfect and I love this. It just. It's the call to keep on going, and the call to keep on going and to continually and constantly repent. To continually and constantly recognize that, okay, I am a sinner. In fact, paragraph 827 says this so clearly. All members of the Church, including her ministers, must acknowledge that they are sinners. Because why? Because the Church, in the beginning of 8:27, the church, clasping sinners to her bosom, at once holy and always in need of purification, follows constantly the path of penance and renewal. That recognition of, you know, remember the Gospel story, where there's the Master of the field and he plants wheat, and in the course of the night, the enemy plants weeds, and the harvesters. When the weeds and the wheat grow together, the harvesters say, should we take out the weeds? And the master of the field says, no. Or else if you pull up the weeds, you'll pull up the wheat too. Let them grow together. And at the end, yes, they'll be separated, but we're not at the end yet. And so we have to recognize that there is great wheat that the Lord God himself has planted, and the enemy remember the causes of division. It's sin. The enemy has planted weeds that we find in our own hearts, even the weeds of sin. And so we just ask the Lord to continue to purify us, because the heart is the heart. If we say it like that, the heart is the heart. Paragraph 8, 26. This extended quote, as I mentioned, from Saint Therese of Lisieux, saying that the love is the soul of holiness. Now, if you know anything about St. Therese, in her book Story of a Soul, which is basically her spiritual autobiography, she talks about how she was trying to discern her vocation, trying to discern her call, even though she was a religious sister already. She's like, but where do I fit in the body of Christ? And so she wanted to do everything right. She wanted to serve in any way possible, a missionary, as a priest, all these ways, but those ways were not open. And so she's like, well, how do I discern this? How do I figure this out? And so as she continued to pray, she realized what she shared with us today. If the church was a body composed of different members, it couldn't lack the noblest of all. It must have a heart, and a heart burning with love. This is the key. You know, so often we can look at the different roles in the church and say, this role is really important. This role is less important. This role is glorious, and this role is not glorious. And. And yet St. Therese, she discovered the core. Remember what St. Paul says. St. Paul talks about, if I can speak in words, of men's tongues, of men and angels, but don't have love, then I'm nothing. If I can heal and do miracles, but don't have love, I'm nothing. If I can do all these things, raise the dead, even, I imagine he could say, but don't have love, I am nothing. And so here's Therese, who recognizes what I want to be, that if you're looking at members of the church, not just a hand or a face or a voice or feet, I want to be the heart and heart burning with love. Because without the heart, again, this is the key. And this is where every one of us is called to live. You know, because so many of us, we can. We can do checkbox Christianity, Checkbox Christianity. We can do this where we're just like, yep, I'm doing the things I'm pressing play every day when that's great that you're doing this. And we need to continue to press play. But the heart of this is love. St. Therese continues. And I realized that this love alone was the true motive force which enabled the other members of the church to act. If it ceased to function right, if the heart stopped working, if we stopped loving, the apostles would forget to preach the gospel. You know, that sometimes happens. That sometimes happens for people like me, for priests, for bishops, for deacons. It happens for all these people who maybe even their job is to preach the Gospel. But if we forget the love of Jesus, if we forget that we're called to be the heart, just forget. It's not even a matter of rejecting the call. It's just, you forget. You forget to preach Jesus. We forget to preach the gospel because we've lost that first love. The martyrs. She goes on to say, the martyrs would refuse to shed their blood. There's other things to live for. And if the heart of Jesus is inside of us, the love of God in our heart, martyrs will continue to exist, and in fact, saints will continue to exist. She ends this. She says, love, in fact, is the vocation which includes all others. It is a universe of its own, comprising all time and space. It's eternal. Love, in fact, is the vocation which includes all others. You know, paragraph 828 says that the saints have always been the source and origin of renewal in the most difficult moments in the Church's history. Saints aren't saints because they did tough things or because they did great things. Saints are saints because they loved. This is the measure. They loved and did what God asked of them. They had heroic virtue and they lived in that spirit, the Holy Spirit of holiness. You know, at the end, we'll be judged. We know this already. We're going to talk about that soon. But if you want to say it simply, St. John of the Cross once said it like this. He said, in the twilight of life, we will be judged on love alone. There's a lot packed into that. Because love isn't just an emotion. It's not just a feeling, it's not just an affection. Love has to be effective, right? It has to move us to do the works of love. To love God with everything we have and to love our neighbor as ourself. But in the twilight of our lives we will be judged on love alone. And that's why it's so powerful that the Church has to become holy. Well is holy by the Holy Spirit, her source being the Trinity and her founder being Jesus. But the Church we have to continue to choose to be holy. You and I get to choose to say yes to the Lord, say yes to his grace, to say yes to his Holy Spirit and to say yes to love. To be love, to be the heart. The Church is one and the Church is holy. So be holy. In the twilight of our lives we will be judged on love alone. And I know that I don't love like I should so please pray for me. I'm praying for you. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.

Podcast Summary: The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – Day 116: The Church Is Holy

Introduction In Day 116 of Ascension’s The Catechism in a Year podcast, Fr. Mike Schmitz delves into the profound truth that "The Church Is Holy." This episode, released on April 26, 2025, explores paragraphs 823 to 829 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, unraveling the Church's inherent holiness despite its imperfections. Fr. Mike guides listeners through understanding the sanctifying role of the Holy Spirit, the foundational mark of holiness, and the indispensable role of love within the Church's mission.

Understanding the Church’s Holiness Fr. Mike begins by reiterating the four marks of the Church: Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, and Unity. Today's focus is on the first mark—Holy. He emphasizes that while the Church is composed of sinners, it remains holy because it is founded by Jesus Christ and sustained by the Holy Spirit.

[08:23] Fr. Mike Schmitz: "The Church is held as a matter of faith to be unfailingly holy... Jesus... loved the Church as His bride, giving Himself up for her so as to sanctify her."

This foundational belief underscores that the Church's holiness is not a product of its members but a divine gift from the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Sanctification Through Christ and the Holy Spirit Fr. Mike explains that the Church's sanctity is a dynamic process facilitated by its union with Christ and the Holy Spirit. This sanctification empowers the Church to become a vessel of holiness to the world.

[08:24] Fr. Mike Schmitz: "United with Christ, the Church is sanctified by him, through him, and with him she becomes sanctifying."

All activities within the Church are directed towards two ultimate ends: the sanctification of humanity in Christ and the glorification of God. This dual purpose is evident in every liturgical celebration, charitable act, and mission undertaken by the Church.

The Centrality of Love in Holiness A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to exploring the essence of holiness through love, drawing inspiration from Saint Therese of Lisieux and Pope Paul VI.

[08:26] Fr. Mike Schmitz: "Charity is the soul of the holiness to which all are called. It governs, shapes, and perfects all the means of sanctification."

Saint Therese beautifully illustrates that love is the core motive force of the Church’s actions. Without love, even the most noble endeavors lose their purpose.

[08:26] Saint Therese of Lisieux (as quoted by Fr. Mike): "If the Church was a body composed of different members, it couldn't lack the noblest of all. It must have a heart, and a heart burning with love."

This perspective aligns with Saint Paul’s teachings, emphasizing that without love, all other virtues are rendered meaningless.

The Role of Saints and Renewal Pope Paul VI’s insights further enrich the discussion by highlighting the enduring sanctity of the Church despite the presence of sinners.

[08:27] Pope Paul VI (as quoted by Fr. Mike): "The Church is therefore holy, though having sinners in her midst, because she herself has no other life but the life of grace."

Saints play a pivotal role in this sanctifying mission. They serve as models of heroic virtue and intercessors, fostering renewal even in the most challenging times.

[08:28] Fr. Mike Schmitz: "The saints have always been the source and origin of renewal in the most difficult moments in the Church's history."

Living Out Holiness Today Fr. Mike challenges listeners to embody holiness through active love and participation in the Church’s mission. He underscores the necessity of continual repentance and the pursuit of sanctity.

[08:29] Fr. Mike Schmitz: "In the twilight of our lives, we will be judged on love alone."

This call to action invites believers to align their hearts with Christ, ensuring that their love drives all actions within and beyond the Church community.

Conclusion and Prayer Fr. Mike concludes the episode with a heartfelt prayer, thanking God for the gift of the holy Church and seeking strength to remain steadfast in faith and love.

[End of Transcript] Fr. Mike Schmitz: "We will be judged on love alone... I know that I don't love like I should so please pray for me. I'm praying for you."

He encourages listeners to actively choose holiness, embracing the Church’s mission to sanctify the world through the love of Christ.

Key Takeaways

Holiness of the Church: The Church is inherently holy because it is founded by Jesus Christ and sustained by the Holy Spirit, despite the presence of sinners.
Role of Love: Love is the central virtue that drives the Church’s actions and sanctification efforts.
Sanctification and Glorification: The Church’s activities aim to sanctify humanity and glorify God, manifesting the Church’s divine purpose.
Inspiration from Saints: Saints exemplify heroic virtue and inspire ongoing renewal and holiness within the Church.
Personal Call to Holiness: Believers are urged to actively participate in the Church’s mission, embodying love and seeking continual sanctification.

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

Fr. Mike Schmitz [08:23]: "The Church is held as a matter of faith to be unfailingly holy."
Saint Therese of Lisieux [08:26]: "If the Church was a body composed of different members, it couldn't lack the noblest of all. It must have a heart, and a heart burning with love."
Pope Paul VI [08:27]: "The Church is therefore holy, though having sinners in her midst, because she herself has no other life but the life of grace."
Fr. Mike Schmitz [08:29]: "In the twilight of our lives, we will be judged on love alone."

Final Thoughts Day 116 of The Catechism in a Year invites listeners to deepen their understanding of the Church's holiness and their role within it. Fr. Mike Schmitz eloquently ties theological teachings to practical living, encouraging believers to let love be the driving force in their journey toward sanctity. This episode serves as a profound reminder of the divine foundation of the Church and the transformative power of love in fulfilling its mission.