← The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 127: Consecrated Life (2026)
00:21:36
There are many ways that God calls people to lives of holiness. Just as he calls lay people to holiness, he also calls individuals to consecrated life, including hermits, consecrated virgins, widows, and religious. In a very intentional, specific, and lifelong way, those in consecrated life commit themselves to the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Father Mike helps us see how all the different kinds of consecrated life are a great gift to the Church and the world. Despite the many ways the Lord calls his children to holiness, the goal of each human life remains the same – intimacy with Christ. Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 914-924.
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Foreign. 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. This is day 127. We reading paragraphs 9 14, 9 24. 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 ciy and also you can click follow or subscribe on your podcast for daily updates and daily notifications. Today is day 127. We're reading paragraphs 914 to 924 about the consecrated life. You know, yesterday we talked about, and the day before, the lay faithful, how the vocation of lay people is to be holy and to bring that holiness into the world by participating in Christ's priestly office, his prophetic office, his kingly office. Today we're talking about consecrated life. So a couple things to keep in mind. One is we're going to start by talking about the evangelical councils. Now, you might say, I wonder what those are. And the answer is evangelical councils are poverty, chastity and obedience. So every one of us is called in some way to live poverty, chastity and obedience. And so every Christian, every baptized person, is called to live poverty, chastity and obedience in some particular way. So those are the evangelical councils. But those who are in consecrated life, they live them. They profess them, right? So they're not just called to live up to those virtues and to embrace them with their whole lives. They actually profess these councils. That's paragraph 9:15. It's the profession of these councils in 9:15 says this within a permanent state of life recognized by the Church that characterizes the life consecrated to God. So that consecration, moving beyond this, the normal call that all of us experience, the consecrated person, consecrated religious sister, the consecrated man, they would have this profession in which they would have a permanent state of poverty, chastity and obedience. So what's the goal of that? Well, the goal in paragraph 916 is one way of experiencing a more intimate consecration rooted in Baptism and totally dedicated to God. That's the reality, is that this person has recognized a call in their life that the Lord has placed on them to live this call. We all experience, right? To live in union with Jesus, to have that poverty, chastity and obedience, to unite our hearts and our lives to the heart and the life of Jesus. They recognize that in a unique way. And so there's many, many different communities that have done this. In fact, in those communities, they're happening right now. There are some communities that date back hundreds and hundreds of years, and there are some communities that date back only a year. Some date back a handful of years. In fact, in our diocese, we have a really young community of young women who, by and large, they're young women who have dedicated their lives to the profession of poverty, chastity and obedience. Incredible. Just remarkable. Now, the other couple things we want to highlight is the aromatic life. I say, why do we want to highlight it? Because it's a word that you probably have not necessarily heard every single day of your life. Aromatic. The aromatic life is essentially the call to be separate from the world in a unique way. So typically, the hermit is that. That's what this is referring to. Typically referring to the life of the hermit, the one who goes and devote their lives, paragraph 9, 20, says this. Devote their life to the praise of God and the salvation of the world through a stricter separation from the world, the silence of solitude and assiduous prayer and penance. So the person who removes themselves from the world, the hermit, they do this in response to what they've experienced as a call to serve the world by removing themselves from the world. And in that removal, they've dedicated themselves to the praise of God and the salvation of the world by this entering into silence, entering into penance, entering into prayer. So they're not leaving the world because they hate the world. They're leaving the world because they believe, and we believe as Catholic Christians, that it's actually doing something through God's grace in a mysterious way. Lastly, we have consecrated virgins and widows. Tomorrow we'll talk about religious life and secular institutes. But today, the last thing we're highlighting is consecrated virgins and widows. We're talking about those who have committed their whole lives, right? They committed their, as it says here, their heart, body and spirit decided to live. Those counsels of poverty. Check whether that would be before they were ever married and then would never be married or after they were married and their spouse had passed away. And so that's what we're talking about today. Oh, man, what an incredible opportunity we have to talk about this reality in the church that so many people don't get to experience because of the fact that we don't always see religious sisters, we don't always see religious brothers walking around. And so. And you also rarely see hermits because they've kind of left the world. So let's pray not only for them, but let's take a moment and pray for ourselves that the Lord just guides this time we have together today. Father in Heaven, thank you so much. Thank you for the gift of your church, which has so much variety. Thank you for the gift of your church that honors the great gift, the great call of marriage and family. We thank you for your church that honors a great call of chastity for the sake of the kingdom. We thank you for the great gift of your church that just meets every one of us in whatever state in life we find ourselves. Because you, Lord God, you want to meet us in every state in life we find ourselves, every circumstance we find ourselves. We know that you can find us. And so we ask you right now, for the sake of all religious sisters, all consecrated virgins, right now, all widows right now, we ask you for all religious brothers. We ask you to please find them and meet them with your grace today. For all those who have dedicated their lives in this unique profession of the Evangelical Councils, we ask that you please give them your Holy Spirit, give them your grace right now that they can continue to bear witness to you in the world, even if they are separated from the world, and bless all of us. Lord God, help us to recognize and to regularly pray for these sisters and these brothers of ours. Help them, help us and be with us this day. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. As I said, it's day 127. Reading paragraphs 914 to 9 24. The consecrated life, the state of life which is constituted by the profession of the Evangelical Councils, while not entering into the hierarchical structure of the Church, belongs undeniably to her life and holiness. Evangelical Councils Consecrated life Christ proposes the Evangelical councils in their great variety to every disciple. The perfection of charity to which all the faithful are called, entails for those who freely follow the call to consecrated life, the obligation of practicing chastity and celibacy for the sake of the kingdom, poverty and obedience. It is the profession of these councils, within a permanent state of life recognized by the Church, that characterizes the life consecrated to God. The state of consecrated life is thus one way of experiencing a more intimate consecration. Rooted in baptism and dedicated totally to God. In the consecrated life, Christ's faithful, moved by the Holy Spirit, propose to follow Christ more nearly to give themselves to God, who is loved above all and and pursuing the perfection of charity in the service of the kingdom, to signify and proclaim in the Church the glory of the world to come. One great tree with many branches from the God given seed of the councils, a wonderful and wide spreading tree has grown up in the field of the Lord, branching out into various forms of the religious life lived in solitude or in community. Different religious families have come into existence in which spiritual resources are multiplied for the progress and holiness of the members and for the good of the entire body of Christ. From the very beginning of the Church, there were men and women who set out to follow Christ with greater liberty and to imitate him more closely by practicing the evangelical councils. They led lives dedicated to God, each in his own way. Many of them, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, became hermits or founded religious families. These the Church, by the virtue of her authority, gladly accepted and approved bishops, will always strive to discern new gifts of consecrated life granted to the Church by the Holy Spirit. The approval of new forms of consecrated life is reserved to the Apostolic see. The aromatic life without always professing the three evangelical councils, publicly hermits devote their life to the praise of God and salvation of the world through a stricter separation from the world, the silence of solitude and assiduous prayer and penance. They manifest to everyone the interior aspect of the mystery of the Church, that is personal intimacy with Christ hidden from the eyes of men. The life of the hermit is a silent preaching of the Lord to whom he has surrendered his life simply because he is everything to him. Here is a particular call to find in the desert, in the thick of spiritual battle, the glory of the crucified One. Consecrated virgins and widows from apostolic times. Christian virgins and widows, called by the Lord to cling only to him with greater freedom of heart, body and spirit, have decided, with the Church's approval, to live in their respective states of virginity or perpetual chastity for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Virgins who committed to the holy plan of following Christ more closely, are consecrated to God by the diocesan bishop according to the approved liturgical rite, are betrothed mystically to Christ the Son of God, and are dedicated to the service of the Church. By this solemn rite, Consecratio Virginium, the Virgin is constituted a sacred person A transcendent sign of the Church's love for Christ and an eschatological image of this heavenly bride of Christ and of the life to come. As with other forms of consecrated life, the order of virgins establishes the woman living in the world, or the nun in prayer, penance, service of her brethren, and apostolic activity according to the state of life and spiritual gifts given to her. Consecrated virgins can form themselves into associations to observe their commitment more faithfully. Okay, there we. So there we have it. Day 127, paragraphs 914 to 9 24. As I mentioned. Okay, the evangelical councils, those are the things. Poverty, chastity and obedience. Again, paragraph 9:15. To be reminded of this, Christ proposes the evangelical councils. Poverty, chastity, obedience in their great variety to every disciple, that's every one of us are called. In fact, it says the next line in 9:15 says, the perfection of charity, charity being another word for love. The perfection of charity, to which all the faithful are called, entails for those who freely follow the call to consecrated life, the obligation of practicing chastity and celibacy for the sake of the kingdom. So that's long term. How do you live chastity? Well, through celibacy, poverty and obedience. So let's make a distinction here. Quick. Maybe it might be helpful for us to hear this. So chastity is living sexuality correctly ordered. Right? So rightly ordered. So a married couple that was following chastity, they would enter into the sexual embrace with one another in a particular way. Right. So their call to chastity would not mean celibacy. Celibacy means essentially forsaking sexual activity for the sake of the kingdom. I mean, that's what celibacy for the sake of the kingdom is. Forsaking sexual activity for the sake of the kingdom. Chastity is entering into or refraining from that sexual activity according to one's state in life. So for a consecrated virgin, that would mean, obviously celibacy. That would mean avoiding this. For a priest, that means avoiding this. That would mean for a married couple entering into this. So keep that in mind. Hopefully that makes sense. Poverty and obedience are the other two evangelical councils. So it's the profession of these councils. Like, meaning, like you're an amateur, I'm a professional. It's like the profession, like I'm taking a vow or taking an oath, taking a promise of these councils within a permanent state of life recognized by the Church that characterizes what it is to be in the consecrated life. So that's, that's a very I think it's an important note to make. All of us are called to follow the three evangelical councils, Poverty, chastity and obedience in accordance with our state in life. The consecrated folks, they are doing this in a very intentional and specific and lifelong way. Okay, so moving on from there. This is just really, really good. Paragraph 917 talks about one great tree with many branches. So here is the God given seed of the councils. That's incredible. Poverty, chastity, obedience. From that a wonderful and wide. This is like the poetic. A wonderful and widespreading tree has grown up in the field of the Lord, branching out into various forms of the religious life lived in solitude or in community. And so different religious families have come into existence in which spiritual resources are multiplied for the progress and holiness of their members. So, or one would say progress of holiness and their members and for the good of the entire body of Christ. So you realize that all these different families, let's look at some different families. You know, tomorrow we'll talk about religious life specifically, but let's look at some of those religious families or religious communities. We have like, you know, St. Benedict and St. Scholastica founding the Benedictine order. You have the Carmelite order, you have the Jesuits, you have Franciscans, you have Dominicans, you have all these people who live in a certain kind of community. And they all have a different spiritual character to them. So the Benedictines are different than the Franciscans, and the Franciscans are different than the Dominicans, and the Dominicans are different than the Jesuits. All of those different families, those different ways of living out. The evangelical councils bring a new uniqueness, they bring a new giftedness, they bring a variety to the church. And so whereas Benedictines would have this, you know, vow of stability and this promise of just, you know, what they've done throughout history is in so many ways, like you can see this, they where they have maintained culture in this powerful, powerful way by simply living faithfully to work and to prayer, by living faithfully to the Gospels, by living faithfully to this call to poverty, chastity, obedience and stability, so that there is some stability there. Whereas the Franciscans have brought about renewal as they go out into the world and bring the simple gospel of Jesus Christ to all, from the richest person to the most poor person. You have the missionary Sisters of Charity, that again, similar kind of thing that just they bring the gospel of Jesus and the love of Jesus, the body of Christ to those that the rest of the world has forgotten. And so all these different families have different characters. This big tree, right, that the catechism describes, and not only the members themselves grow in holiness through their living out of these councils, but the world becomes sanctified through their living out of these councils, which is just remarkable. I mentioned the aromatic life, right? So the hermits. I just think this is so cool. Paragraph 9, 21 talks about how hermits manifest to everyone. Even if they don't see them, they manifest to everyone the interior aspect of the mystery of the Church. What's the interior aspect of the mystery of the church? That is personal intimacy with Christ. Now we can see the exterior aspect of the mystery of the church, which is, here's the church and its structure, here's the church and its teaching, here's the church and it's going out into the world and again, bringing the gospel, bringing healing through medicine, bringing science, bringing teaching, education, all these things. But the interior aspect of the mystery of the church is always going to be personal intimacy with Christ. This is going to be so important. No matter what we do externally, there's always going to be the necessity of personal intimacy with Christ. So that's what hermits do. They manifest to everyone. This core of what it is to belong to Jesus goes on to say, hidden from the eyes of men. The life of the hermit is a silent preaching of the Lord, to whom he has surrendered his life simply because he is everything to him. Oh, my gosh, this is so good. He surrendered his life to the Lord. The hermit does, because why? Simply because Jesus is everything to him. Here's a particular call to find in the desert, in the thick of spiritual battle, the glory of the Crucified One. There is an incredible book that I've never read the whole thing. I've prayed with it for, literally for years. It's called the Hermitage within, and it's written by a monk, it's written by a hermit, and it's all about, okay, when you go into the desert, when you go to the, you know, go to the desert of Mount Sinai, you go into the desert of the Promised Land, you go into the desert of Gethsemane, you go into all these different deserts that we find ourselves or the hermit finds themselves. Oh, my gosh. If you can get your hands on a copy of that book, I'm telling you, you probably have enough to pray with for the rest of your life. I, again, as I said, I will pray with this on a regular basis, and I've never read the entire thing because I'll go pray like the same paragraph over and over again for weeks on end because it's just so, so rich. But it's all about this in particular call to find in the desert, in the thick of spiritual battle, the glory of the crucified One. Why do you go there? Because, simply because Jesus is everything to the person. So, last thing here is consecrated virgins and widows, which is going all the way back to apostolic times. Paragraph 9, 22 says this all the way back from the very, very beginning. Apostolic times. You even have this in 1 Corinthians, chapter 7. This call of those who just simply dedicate their whole lives, right? Their heart, their body, their spirit, so they can love Jesus freely. Now, that doesn't mean that people who are married can't love Jesus freely. It just means that, as St. Paul says, there is someone else you're responsible for when you get married. And that's a good thing. That is a very good thing. Marriage is a great gift. It is a sacrament. It is a means of becoming holier and holier means of becoming a saint. And Saint Paul even says that. But it's gonna be a tough road. It's a really tough road. That's why all those married couples who are listening to this, who are joining us for this whole thing, recognize that you have discerned a phenomenal call, a call to holiness, and a call to holiness that is challenging. Not to say that becoming a virgin or a widow, a consecrated person, is not challenging. But all the roads to follow Jesus are roads to do what? They're all roads to pick up our cross, deny ourselves, and to follow after Jesus. And so just today, we're talking about how consecrated virgins do this or how consecrated widows do this. Paragraph 9, 23 says, Virgins who committed to the holy plan of following Christ more closely, are consecrated to God by the diocesan bishop according to the approved liturgical rite. So they would. They wouldn't just say, I'm consecrating myself to Jesus right now. They would actually go through a rite that would be presided at by the diocesan bishop. It goes on to say, when that happens, they are betrothed mystically to Christ the Son of God, which is beautiful. They stand as an image of the Church, to Christ the bridegroom, an image of the Church, the bride, to Christ the bridegroom, and are dedicated to the service of the Church. Incredible. It goes on to say, by the solemn rite, the virgin is constituted a sacred person, a transcendent sign of the Church's love for Christ and an eschatological image of this heavenly bride of Christ and of the life to come. That Person just becomes, again, meant to be a sign for us when we see her that we realize, oh, there is more to this life than just this life. And their whole life actually becomes a witness to that. Just like. Again, back to married couples. Married couples are meant to be an image of the Trinity. Here is the husband who pours out his whole self to his wife in love, and she receives that love and pours that whole life back out to him. And the love between them is so real, you have to name it nine months later, right? That kind of. That image of marriage as an image of the Trinity. Well, the image of the consecrated virgin in the world is meant to be that sign for all of us who see her to realize, okay, there's more to this life than just this life. Especially. Especially in a world where, you know, we can be so obsessed. We. So. We can be so preoccupied with romantic relationships, we can be so preoccupied with sex, we can get preoccupied and say that this is the meaning of life. That those consecrated virgins who forsake marriage for the sake of the kingdom, not because marriage is bad, but they do it because they're pointing to us. They're pointing for us to the reality that there's more to this life even than the best human love. And there are some. There is. Human love is incredible. Human love actually, in marriage, is a sacrament because of Jesus. And there's also another call, and that call is to forsake that. To forsake the good thing for the sake of Jesus Christ. You might be called to that. You also might be called to marriage. You also might be called to any other, you know, vocation. But the reality, of course, is that the Church has variety. And so we want to, in one breath, want to acknowledge the goodness of all the various ways of following after Jesus in the Church. Married life through family, through priesthood, you know, consecrated life through religious life. We'll talk about that tomorrow. All of these have to do with this great tree with branches where all of the birds of the air can find a home. Does that make sense? Hope it does, because, you know, the church was very pretty poetic when it came to paragraph 9, 17. So I thought it'd be a little poetic when it comes to the last minute of this day's episode. I am so grateful. I'm so grateful for you. I'm so grateful for all of the religious sisters and brothers, all the consecrated virgins, all the consecrated widows, all of those who have left the world for the sake of the world. And right now, in this moment, they are praying they're doing penance. And they're assigned to us. They're assigned to us of God's unfailing and unstoppable love for all of us. I hope that we can all see that. I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.