Day 151: The Seven Sacraments (2025)

Sat May 31 2025

The Catechism introduces the seven sacraments that Christ offers the Church: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony. The Catechism highlights the fact that the sacraments are “by the Church” because the Church is “Christ’s action at work”, and they are “for the Church” because they “manifest and communicate to men…the mystery of communion with the God who is love.” Fr. Mike focuses on the fact that while ministerial priests administer many of the sacraments, their priesthood is at the service of the baptismal priesthood, into which all of the baptized are ordained. Today’s readings are from Catechism paragraphs 1113-1121.

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)

Episode: Day 151: The Seven Sacraments (2025)
Release Date: May 31, 2025
Host: Father Mike Schmitz
Produced by: Ascension

Introduction

In Day 151 of Ascension’s The Catechism in a Year podcast, Fr. Mike Schmitz delves into Paragraphs 1113 to 1121 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, focusing on Article 2: The Paschal Mystery in the Church's Sacraments. This episode explores the foundational understanding of the Seven Sacraments, their origin in Christ, and their role within the Church.

Opening Prayer

Fr. Mike begins the episode with a heartfelt prayer, inviting listeners to seek God's presence and strength:

"Father in Heaven, you are good, you are God. We love you and we ask you to please send your Holy Spirit to be with us in this moment."
[00:59]

Overview of the Seven Sacraments

Fr. Mike outlines the seven sacraments recognized by the Catholic Church:

Baptism
Confirmation (Chrismation)
Eucharist
Penance (Reconciliation)
Anointing of the Sick
Holy Orders
Matrimony

These sacraments are central to the liturgical life of the Church, revolving around the Eucharistic sacrifice and serving as conduits of God's grace.

Sacraments as Instituted by Christ

Fr. Mike emphasizes that all seven sacraments were instituted by Jesus Christ, making them sacraments of Christ:

"They're the sacraments of Christ. What it means is that these sacraments were all instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord."
[04:30]

He explains that Jesus’ words and actions, both during His hidden life in Nazareth and His public ministry, were salvific, anticipating the power of the Paschal Mystery—His suffering, death, and resurrection.

"The mysteries of Christ's life are the foundations of what he would henceforth dispense in the sacraments."
[12:15]

Fr. Mike shares insights from St. Ambrose, highlighting how sacraments make Christ's presence and actions visible and tangible to the faithful:

"You've shown me your face, O Lord. I've seen you in the sacraments. I've seen your action, I've seen your work, I've seen your life, your love."
[16:45]

The Church's Role in the Sacraments

Fr. Mike discusses the dual nature of sacraments: they are both by the Church and for the Church.

"They're by the Church in the sense that they're the sacrament of Christ's work through the Church, but they also build up the church. So they're by the Church and for the Church."
[10:10]

He explains that over centuries, the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, has discerned and formally recognized the sacraments, much like the gradual canonization of Sacred Scripture and the development of doctrinal teachings.

"The Church, by the power of the Spirit who guides her into all truth, has gradually recognized this treasure received from Christ and as faithful steward of God's mysteries, has determined its dispensation."
[20:25]

Fr. Mike draws parallels to the development of the biblical canon and creedal statements, illustrating how understanding deepens organically over time:

"There is an organic growth that the acorn becomes the oak tree. The acorn does not become corn."
[24:40]

Priesthood: Baptismal and Ministerial

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to explaining the distinction and relationship between the baptismal/priesthood of the laity and the ministerial/priesthood of the ordained.

Baptismal Priesthood

Fr. Mike introduces the concept of the baptismal priesthood, referring to the laity’s participation in Christ’s priesthood:

"If you've been baptized, you have been anointed to share in Christ's priesthood, you've been anointed to share in Christ's mission of prophecy, and you've been anointed to share in Christ's kingship."
[28:15]

He describes this as the "kingdom priesthood", empowering the faithful to celebrate the liturgy and participate actively in the Church’s mission.

Ministerial Priesthood

Contrastingly, the ministerial priesthood—comprised of ordained priests and deacons—serves the baptismal priesthood:

"The ordained priesthood guarantees that it really is Christ who acts in the sacraments through the Holy Spirit for the Church."
[35:50]

Fr. Mike stresses that ordained priests are not meant to lord over the laity but to serve them, echoing Jesus’ teaching on servant leadership:

"Priests are meant to lay down their lives and be at the service of the baptismal priesthood."
[43:30]

He underscores the cooperative relationship, where the ministerial priesthood supports and facilitates the laity's participation in the sacraments and the Church’s mission.

Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders

Fr. Mike highlights that these three sacraments confer both grace and a sacramental character:

"These sacraments can never be repeated."
[49:20]

This sacramental character is an indelible mark that signifies the individual's unending vocation to divine worship and service within the Church.

Historical Perspective on Sacraments

Addressing questions about the early Church, Fr. Mike affirms the existence of sacraments like Reconciliation even in the apostolic age, albeit in different forms:

"They did have the sacrament in its germinal form. It was given to the apostles."
[26:00]

He cites James 5, referencing the role of priests in the early Church in granting forgiveness of sins, illustrating the enduring presence and evolution of sacramental practices.

Conclusion and Encouragement

Fr. Mike wraps up the episode by anticipating the next day's discussion on the sacraments as sacraments of faith and salvation. He encourages listeners to embrace their baptismal priesthood and actively participate in the Church’s sacramental life.

"Here you are able to exercise your baptismal priesthood, able to exercise your kingdom priesthood now united with the priests in your parish."
[58:10]

He concludes with a personal touch, expressing his prayers and looking forward to the next session:

"I hope that makes sense. Anyways, I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless."
[59:50]

Key Takeaways

Seven Sacraments: Central to Catholic faith, instituted by Christ.
Dual Nature: Sacraments are both instituted by and serve the Church.
Priesthood: Distinction between baptismal (laity) and ministerial (ordained) priesthood, emphasizing service over authority.
Historical Continuity: Sacraments have evolved organically, maintaining their foundational role since the early Church.
Indelible Mark: Sacramental characters in Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders are permanent, signifying eternal vocation.

Notable Quotes

"The sacraments are powers that come forth from the Body of Christ, which is ever living and life-giving."
[07:10]
"Priests are meant to be the same, that they're meant to lay down their lives and be at the service of the baptismal priesthood."
[42:15]
"The mysteries of Christ's life are now visible to us in the sacraments."
[14:05]

This episode offers a profound exploration of the sacraments, deepening the listener’s understanding of their significance and the intertwined roles of the faithful and the ordained within the Catholic Church.

Transcript

Father Mike Schmitz (0:05)

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 151, rereading paragraphs 1113 to 1121. 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 you can click Follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. Today is day 151. As I said, we're reading paragraphs 1113 to 1121. We're on Article 2, the Paschal Mystery in the Church's Sacraments. What does that mean? Quote Great question, camper. What that means is it means that we're going to highlight today, there are seven sacraments. They're the sacraments of Christ. What it means is that these sacraments were all instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord. So they're the sacraments of Christ. And they flow out of the work, the action, the saving words of Jesus Christ. They're the powers that come forth from the body of Christ, and they're actions of the Holy Spirit at work in his body. So they're the sacraments of Jesus, right? He instituted them. Now they're also the sacraments of the Church. And so over the course of many, many years, the Church has come to a better understanding of, okay, there are these seven sacraments. Here's how they are to be exercised. Here's how they are to be understood. Here's how they are to be lived out. Also, I love this in paragraph 1118, they're both by the Church and for her. Meaning they're by the Church in the sense that they're the sacrament of Christ's work through the Church, but they also build up the church. So they're by the Church and for the Church. And also we're going to highlight today, I mentioned it yesterday, but the baptismal priesthood, so that all of those who are baptized are baptized obviously into Christ, but have a share in Christ's priesthood. At the same time, there's such a thing as the ministerial priesthood that guarantees and ensures the presence of Jesus Christ through action of Jesus Christ in all of the sacraments. And so we're going to talk about that today without anything further. Let's open up with a prayer as we pray. Father in Heaven, you are good, you are God. We love you and we ask you to please send your Holy Spirit to be with us in this moment. We know that we have access to your fatherly heart by the work of your Son Jesus, by the gift of your Holy Spirit, and by the fact that you have called us and made us into your sons and daughters through baptism. Lord, you continue to pour out your Holy Spirit upon us, and we ask that you in this moment, come to us in our weakness, come to us in our need, come to us in our brokenness and give us healing. Come to us in our frustration and give us peace. Come to us in our weakness and give us strength. Come to us in our fear and give us courage. Lord God, we do not ask for you to make this world safer. We do ask you to help us be more brave, to be more courageous and to be strong. Help us to love you the way you love us. 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 151. We are reading paragraphs 1113 to 1121. Article 2 the Paschal Mystery in the Church's Sacraments the whole liturgical life of the Church revolves around the Eucharistic sacrifice and the sacraments. There are seven sacraments in the Baptism, Confirmation or Chrismation, Eucharist, penance, anointing of the sick, Holy orders and matrimony. This article will discuss what is common to the Church's seven sacraments from a doctrinal point of view. What is common to them in terms of the celebration will be presented in the second chapter, and what is distinctive about each will be the topic of section 2. The sacraments of Christ Adhering to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, to the apostolic traditions, and to the consensus of the Fathers, we profess that the sacraments of the New Law were all instituted by Jesus Christ, our Lord Jesus. Words and actions during his hidden life and public ministry were already salvific, for they anticipated the power of His Paschal mystery. They announced and prepared what he was going to give the Church when all was accomplished. The mysteries of Christ's life are the foundations of what he would henceforth dispense in the sacraments through the ministers of His Church. For what was visible in our Savior has passed over into his mysteries. Sacraments are powers that come forth from the Body of Christ, which is ever living and life giving. They are actions of the Holy Spirit at work in His Body, the Church. They are the masterworks of God in the new and everlasting covenant. The sacraments of the Church. As she has done for the canon of Sacred Scripture and for the doctrine of faith, the Church, by the power of the Spirit who guides her into all truth, has gradually recognized this treasure received from Christ and as the faithful steward of God's mysteries, has determined its dispensation. Thus the Church has discerned over the centuries that among liturgical celebrations there are seven that are, in the strict sense of the term, sacraments instituted by the Lord. The sacraments are of the Church in the double sense that they are by her and for her. They are by the Church, for she is the sacrament of Christ's action at work in her through the mission of the Holy Spirit. They are for the Church in the sense that the sacraments make the Church, since they manifest and communicate to men above all in the Eucharist, the mystery of communion with the God who is love. One in three persons, forming, as it were, one mystical Person with Christ the Head. The Church acts in the sacraments as an organically structured priestly community. Through baptism and confirmation, the priestly people is enabled to celebrate the liturgy, while those of the faithful who have received holy orders are appointed to nourish the Church with the word and grace of God in the name of Christ. The ordained ministry or ministerial priesthood is at the service of the baptismal priesthood. The ordained priesthood guarantees that it really is Christ who acts in the sacraments through the Holy Spirit. For the Church, the saving mission entrusted by the Father to His incarnate Son was committed to the apostles and through them to their successors. They received the Spirit of Jesus to act in his name and in his person. The ordained minister is the sacramental bond that ties the liturgical action to what the apostles said and did, and through them, through the words and actions of Christ, the source and foundation of the sacraments. The three sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders confer, in addition to grace, a sacramental character or seal by which the Christian shares in Christ's priesthood and is made a member of the Church according to different states and functions. This configuration to Christ and to the Church brought about by the Spirit is indelible. It remains forever in the Christian as a positive disposition for Grace, a promise and guarantee of divine protection, and as a vocation to divine worship and to the service of the Church. Therefore, these sacraments can never be repeated. Okay, so there we are, day 151, paragraphs 1113 to 1121 is so good. Okay, right off the bat at paragraph 1113, we get the review. We know this, and maybe it didn't until right now. There are seven sacraments in the Church. And we jump right into the fact that we know the sacraments are sacraments of Christ. They're all instituted by Jesus Christ, our lord. But paragraph 1115 highlights that the words and actions of Jesus, both during his hidden life right in Nazareth, those first 30 years that we only have a couple glimpses of, and his public ministry. So what he did and said during that time, those words and actions were already salvific because they anticipated the power of the paschal mystery, right? So yes, Jesus teachings were already salvific, right? His healings were already salvific because they're connected and anticipated the power of the paschal mystery, his suffering, death and resurrection. And what they do that those words and actions announced and prepared what he was going to give the Church when all was accomplished. And the mysteries of Christ's life are the foundations of what he would then dispense in the sacraments. What was visible in the Savior has passed over into his mysteries. You guys, when we encounter the sacraments, when we participate in the sacraments, we're not just, again, we're not just remembering the anamnesis. It's a remembrance that brings us there. We're given the Holy Spirit and it's made present to us. And the mysteries of Christ's life are now visible to us in the sacraments. And then think about that. The mysteries of Christ's life are now visible in the sacraments. That's one of the reasons why St. Ambrose, back in like, what, the third, fourth century, he said, you've shown me your face, O Lord. I've seen you in the sacraments. I've seen your action, I've seen your work, I've seen your life, your love. I've seen this power in the sacraments. And that's why the sacraments are the power that comes forth from the Body of Christ. They're the actions of the Holy Spirit that work in and through the Church. And this is just incredible. Now, keeping this in mind, now some people will say, okay, at the sacraments, though I hear that, you know, they didn't really have the sacrament of reconciliation in the early Church. Well, they did have the sacrament of reconciliation in the early Church, but they wouldn't necessarily have it exactly the way that we have it. Right. They wouldn't necessarily have confessionals and they wouldn't necessarily have. Here's the rubrics and whatnot. But they did have the sacrament in its germinal form. Right. It was given to the apostles. When Jesus says, receive the Holy Spirit, those whose sins you hold bound are held bound. Those whose. Those whose sins you forgive are forgiven them. Like that's already been handed over. James chapter five talks about calling for the priests of the Church, and by their work your sins will be forgiven. Okay, so the seed is there. Now, paragraph 1117 highlights this. It says, just as she has done for the canon of Sacred Scripture and for the doctrine of the faith, the Church, by the power of the Spirit who guides her into all truth, has gradually recognized this treasure received from Christ and as faithful steward of God's mysteries, has determined its dispensation. So think about, you know, we don't have like a comprehensive list of all 73 books of the Old and New Testaments. I mean, there are some lists. But when does the Church officially establish. This list was probably, you know, we have the Council of Rome in 350. We have the Council of Carthage in 398. And it's over the course of time. And also when it comes to the doctrine, when it comes to the Apostles Creed or the Nicene Creed. Right, The Nicene Creed, that's solidified in the year 325 in the Council of Nicaea. And it's also not just the Nicene Creed. We know this. It's the Nicaeo Constantinopolitan Creed. Right. It comes from the Council of Constantinople as well, in 381. So over the course of time, what's been given to us in this deposit of faith, we've come to a deeper understanding of it. And so the same thing is true not just with Scripture, not just with doctrine, but also with our understanding of the sacraments. And so what we understand now is not necessarily what they knew then, but it is an organic growth. And that's the most important part. There's an organic growth that the acorn becomes the oak tree. The acorn does not become corn. Right. Organic growth is essential. And that's what we see both in Scripture and also in doctrine and in the development of the sacraments as we understand them. Hope that makes some sense. One thing to keep in mind, I mentioned this a little bit or alluded to this yesterday, but we recognize that in paragraph 1119, through baptism and confirmation, the priestly people is enabled to celebrate the liturgy. And so we recognize that if you've been baptized, you have been anointed to share in Christ's priesthood, you've been anointed to share in Christ's mission of prophecy, and you've been anointed to share in Christ's kingship. Now, that's so important because that means you have a baptismal priesthood. I like to call it the kingdom priesthood. Paragraph 1120 highlights that there are those who are ordained to the ministerial priesthood, and that ministerial priesthood, like myself, is at the service of the baptismal priesthood. So the ordained priesthood is not meant to be lords over the baptismal priesthood. Right. So the priests aren't meant to be the lords over the lay faithful. That's not it at all. Just like Jesus telling his apostles, the greatest of all will be the one who makes themself the least, the one who's the servant of all. And so the ministerial priests are meant to be at the service of the baptismal priesthood, not the other way around. Yes, of course, we help each other as a family of God, and we take care of each other, we serve each other. But it's very, very important to understand that priests are not lords, not at all. Priests are. If they had any word, it would be servant leaders. You might even say, maybe. Best word is priests are meant to be fathers. And the Father's not meant to dominate his family. The Father's not meant to lord it over his family. The Father is there to lead his family. How does he do this? He does this by laying down his life for his family. He does this by. By serving his family. Every father is the servant or the slave of his family, and that is a gift. So priests are meant to be the same, that they're meant to lay down their lives and be at the service of the baptismal priesthood. And that ordained priesthood, though, is so important because it guarantees that it really is Jesus Christ who acts in the sacraments through the Holy Spirit for the Church. And just that's very important because Jesus passed that on. Right? The saving mission that the Father entrusted to the Son was committed to the apostles and through them, to their successors. Remember what Jesus had said? He said, as the Father sent me, so now I send you, breathes on them and sends them out forgiveness of sins. He gives them the ability to confect the Eucharist. And so we recognize that as part of the Body of Christ, the sacraments come to us, obviously by Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. But they come to us through that ministry over the ordained priesthood and then all of the faithful participate in them in. In their baptismal priesthood. Hopefully that makes sense. Tomorrow we're going to talk about the fact that the sacraments are sacraments of faith. And so we just. Mm. And then sacraments of salvation, sacraments of eternal life. It's all coming. It's all coming in hot, it's coming in fast. And so, man, what a gift because here you are able to exercise your baptismal priesthood, able to exercise your kingdom priesthood now united with the priests in your parish. Here we are a priestly people able to offer sacrifice to the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit. And what sacrifice? The great sacrifice of the Son of God. And we unite ourselves to that sacrifice. I hope that makes sense. Anyways, I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.