← The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 154: Sacraments of Eternal Life (2025)
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We’ve seen how the sacraments re-present what Christ worked for us in his Passion and death, but the Catechism also explains to us how the sacraments prefigure our eternal inheritance in heaven. Fr. Mike uses this “nugget day” as an opportunity to ensure we understand what the sacraments are and what they’re for. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1130-1134.
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Father Mike Schmitz
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 154, where reading paragraphs 1130 to 1134, there's some nuggets buried in there at the end of the day. Today, 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 also click follow or subscribe in your podcast app to receive daily updates and daily notifications. Today is day 154. We were reading paragraphs 11:30 to 11:34 actually is just one paragraph and then four little nuggets at the end here. And so we're coming to the conclusion. Well, the conclusion of kind of an introduction, basically the conclusion of chapter one, the mystery we're talking about. You know, yesterday we talked about how these are sacraments of salvation. That they're efficacious, right? They're powerful, that they act by the very act of the action, right? By the very work of the work. Work, worked. And also that they're necessary for salvation. Today we're talking about the fact that these are the sacraments of eternal life. So they bring heaven to earth right now. But they also are fulfilled in the kingdom of God. They're also fulfilled in eternity. And so there's this remarkable way in which the sacraments, again, we say this when it comes to the Mass where heaven and earth kiss, where time and eternity touch. And so that's what we experience now. We experience that right now whenever we encounter our Lord in the Mass, but also in the sacraments. But also there are foreshadowing of eternal life that we are going to share with our Lord. And so we keep praying in that. So every one of the sacraments really calls upon the Lord and asks the Lord to let his kingdom come, right? Let the Father's kingdom come. That we ask the Spirit and the bride say, come, Lord Jesus. So we're talking about that and then our. In brief, our nuggets at the end are just going to be a good recap of what we've talked about in this first chapter. So as we get started, let's say a prayer. Father in heaven, we praise you and we glorify you. We thank you so much. We thank you for the gift of your son. We thank you for the gift of life. Lord God, often we can overlook the fact that you have given us life. You've called us out of nothing, and you have made us your children. And so often we can overlook the fact that you gave us new life today. You originally gave us a life that we didn't deserve. And you sustain this life that we don't deserve. And we thank you because this life is good even in the valley of tears. This life is good because even in the midst of this valley of tears, you come and meet us with your grace. You come and meet us with your word. You share with us your very life. And even when we carry heavy burdens, Lord God, you have not abandoned us and you will not abandon us. You are here. And so we ask you, please come, Lord Jesus, come and be with your people. Come, Holy Spirit. Come, Father, so that you may be all in all. 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 154. We are reading paragraphs 1130 to 1134. The sacraments of eternal life. The Church celebrates the mystery of her Lord until he comes, when God will be everything to everyone. Since the Apostolic age, the liturgy has been drawn toward its goal by the Spirit's groaning in the Church. Moronatha. The liturgy thus shares in Jesus. I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. In the sacraments of Christ. The Church already receives the guarantee of her inheritance and even now shares in everlasting life while awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Christ. Jesus. The Spirit and the Bride say come, come, Lord Jesus. St Thomas sums up the various aspects of sacramental signs, saying, therefore a sacrament is a sign that commemorates what precedes. It demonstrates what is accomplished in us through Christ's Passion, grace and prefigures what what that Passion pledges to us future glory. In brief, the sacraments are efficacious signs of grace instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated, signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions. The Church celebrates the sacraments as a priestly community structured by the baptismal priesthood and the priesthood of ordained ministers. The Holy Spirit prepares the faithful for the sacraments by the word of God and the faith which welcomes that word in well disposed hearts. Thus, the sacraments strengthen faith and express it. The fruit of sacramental life is both personal and ecclesial for every one of the faithful. On the one hand, this fruit is life for God in Christ Jesus, for the Church. On the other, it is an increase in charity and in her mission of witness. Okay, as I said, really short, we got some nuggets today. And also, let's look at this in paragraph 1130 again, highlighting this fact that, you know, the Lord is made present, right? His passion, His Paschal mystery is made present, right? The life, death and resurrection, ascension into heaven that is made present to us through the sacraments, we are presented to them and they are powerful. They do something and, and also paragraph 1130, they celebrate the mystery of the Lord until He comes. So we recognize that the liturgy shares in Christ's desire. Again, he says to his apostles in Luke's Gospel, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. So in the sacraments, we already receive the guarantee of our inheritance, and we even now share in that grace. Right? Right. In every sacrament, we share in this thing that Jesus Christ has established and won for us. What he's done for us, we participate in. And at the same time, there's more. I don't say there's more to be done, but it's like this. There's more to be entered into. We'll say it like that. There is a veil that still is to be removed, that the sacraments, they mediate the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to us. You know, think about that. They mediate the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to us. The day will come in heaven in the beatific vision, when there is no mediation, right? When it's just we see the Lord as He is face to face, that we actually get to behold him as he is face to face. Right? Now he comes to us through signs, right now he comes to us through sacraments. And that's one of the things I think is so powerful. In paragraph 1131, one of the nuggets at the end, it says the visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. So, you know, again, let's go back to this. There is a way of approaching the sacraments that reduces them to just ritual, mere ritual. It reduces them to, yep, you go to Mass and you stand and you sit and you kneel and you stand and you sit, all that kind of thing. And then people say certain words, the person at the altar says certain words, we say certain words, and it's all just ritual. But these visible rites, that they're celebrated in, the sacraments, yeah, they do signify something, but they also have power. They also make present the graces proper to each sacrament. As often as you and I go to confession, go to the sacrament of reconciliation. Yes. The priest says the same words every time. Those words of absolution. And in that, in our confession, in our contrition and in the priesthood, the priest's words of absolution, that isn't just a ritual. It's not just an empty ritual. It is a powerful, efficacious ritual that makes present the graces that Jesus Christ has won for us on the cross. The graces of forgiveness, the grace of mercy, the grace of reconciliation with God himself. And this is so powerful to recognize how powerful the sacraments are. And again, I keep using this word efficacious because it's just. Just it's the right word to recognize that sacraments are symbols. But they are not mere symbols. They are incredibly powerful. In fact, I love the quote from St. Thomas Aquinas where he says, therefore a sacrament is a sign that commemorates what precedes it, AKA Christ's passion. Okay, it commemorates what precedes it. So it's representing Christ's passion, but also demonstrates what is accomplished in us through Christ's Passion. Grace isn't what Jesus won for us in his passion, death and resurrection. Grace. Grace, yes. And also the sacraments prefigure what that Passion pledges to us, which is future glory. Remember we talked about this at the end of the section on the Creed, the pillar on the Creed, about how it is that all of this is oriented not only to give us life here on this earth, to bring us into relationship with the Lord on this earth, but because the Lord wants to bring us into his glory. He wants to bring us into his presence in heaven. And this is what the Holy Spirit does, right? This is what the sacraments are doing. They're giving us the grace that Jesus Christ won for us right now, here and now, so that we can also be more and more drawn into his life now and ultimately into his life in eternity, which I think is just. It's bananas, it's bonkers. It's incredible. Last two things. One is in the third to last nugget. I keep reiterating this, and I think it's so important. The Church celebrates the sacraments as a priestly community structured by the baptismal priesthood and the priesthood of the ordained ministers. So we're priestly people. And what do priests do? Priests offer sacrifice. This is the key thing, right? Priests offer sacrifice. That is the primary role of the priesthood. We're a priestly community. And you, if you're baptized, you participate in the kingdom priesthood or the baptismal priesthood, and united with, of course, the ordained priesthood, you know, ministerial priesthood that I get to participate in. Of course, it all comes from Jesus Christ, the great high priest. But at the heart of all of this is the reality that you have been baptized. If you've been baptized, you've been brought into a share in Christ's priesthood, which means you have been given a share of the ability to offer up the great sacrifice to the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit. And so, as we launch into the next section, as we keep talking about the sacramental celebration of the Paschal mystery, keep this in mind. You're not simply learning about something that someone else does, although there are some times when we learn about something someone else does. You're also learning about, okay, how am I being called to enter into this? How am I being called into this? Full and active participation in the liturgy because you have been baptized and anointed a Kingdom priest. And baptismal priesthood is what you share in. I'm going to keep drilling that in, because if there's anything Catholics miss, it is this. When it comes to the sacraments, when it comes to the Mass, there are so many Catholics who get it. They understand Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist at every Mass. Yes. That's amazing. It's incredible. It blows the mind. But they forget this. They forget that when they show up to Mass. They're not simply there to get the Eucharist, they're there to offer. They're there to offer the Eucharist, offer the body and blood of Jesus Christ, soul and divinity of our Lord and Savior to the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit. Keep that in mind. And of course, as I said, there are two things. This is the last thing. The Holy Spirit in 1133 prepares the faithful for the sacraments by the word of God and the faith that welcomes that Word. And so a reminder invitation once again, here we are learning about the catechism, learning about what it is that we believe and how we worship. But we're also always keen to remember. Okay, God, speak. Lord, your servant is listening. Let that Word of God be an ever present, active, real part of your life. And I need to do that myself, to meditate on God's Word on a regular basis. This is important, right? Of course it's important to meditate on the teachings of the Church. But always, always we can enter more deeply into the sacraments, into the sacramental life of the Church, into the moral life, when we listen to the word of God attentively and receive that with faith. So give God our amen, right, our consent, and give him our commitment. Okay, here's what I'm going to do with the word. You've spoken to me. That's what I got for today. This is awes day 154, you guys. What a gift it is to be able to journey with you. We are not yet halfway through, but when we get that halfway mark, definitely we'll point it out. I think it's coming in a few days from now, but we're on day 154 and it's incredible. I'm so, so grateful for all of you who just keep pressing play. Again, if this is like way after day 154 of the new year, no worries. It's your day 154 and that's all that counts. All that matters is that you just keep pressing play. I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.