← The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 167: The Baptism of Christ (2025)
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Together, with Fr. Mike, we continue our examination of the sacrament of Baptism. Fr. Mike emphasizes that each and every one of the Old Covenant prefigurations are fulfilled in Christ Jesus. He also unpacks Christ’s own Baptism in the Jordan, explaining that when Christ is baptized by John the Baptist, he brings the “mess of humanity” into the Jordan with him and makes the waters of Baptism holy. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1223-1228.
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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 pure 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 and God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is day 167. We're reading paragraphs 1223 to 1228. 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 or wherever you're listening to this podcast for daily updates and daily notifications. Because Today is day 167, reading paragraph 1223-1228, we're continuing our journey into baptism. So yesterday we talked about what's the sacrament called? Prefigurations of Baptism in the Old Covenant. Now we have Christ's baptism and also baptism in the Church. So what is that? So how did Jesus fulfill all the prefigurements and how did Jesus give it to us now? And so we're going to talk about that today, right? We know John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan. Okay. Why? What happened there? We'll talk about that also. Now Jesus has given us the power through the power of the Holy Spirit, Baptism in the Church. In fact, from the very beginnings of the church, as soon as people were cut to the heart that Jesus Christ has died and is risen from the dead, they asked, what must we do? And St. Peter said, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. So that's what we're talking about today. That's what we're praying for today, for renewal in that gift of the Holy Spirit in every one of our lives. So let's take a moment and come before the Father and pray for that gift right now. Father in heaven, we praise you and we ask you. Well, no, we thank you, Father. We thank you for the gift of baptism. We thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit that has washed away our sins. We thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit that has made us into your children, into your sons and into your daughters. Thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit that enables us to cry out abba Father, only by the Spirit can we cry out abba Father, only by the Spirit can we be your children. We thank you, Jesus. We thank you for being baptized and extending that baptism, transforming that baptism and making it into something entirely new. We thank you, Holy Spirit, for coming to us, for sanctifying the waters of baptism, coming close to every one of us, so close that you have made us into temples of this Holy Spirit. So God, we just praise you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. May you be glorified and loved, adored and worshiped for all time and into eternity. In Jesus name we pray in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. It is day 167. We're reading paragraphs 1223 to 1228. Christ's baptism all the Old Covenant prefigurations find their fulfillment in Christ Jesus. He begins his public life after having himself baptized by St. John the Baptist in the Jordan. After his resurrection, Christ gives this mission to his. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. Our Lord voluntarily submitted himself to the baptism of St. John intended for sinners in order to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus gesture is a manifestation of his self emptying. The Spirit who had hovered over the waters of the first creation, descended then on the Christ as a prelude of the new creation. And the Father revealed Jesus as his Beloved Son. In his Passover, Christ opened to all men the fountain of baptism. He had already spoken of his passion which he was about to suffer in Jerusalem as a baptism with which he had to be baptized. The blood and water that flowed from the pierced side of the crucified Jesus are types of baptism and the Eucharist, the sacraments of new life. From then on it is possible to be born of water and the Spirit in order to enter the kingdom of God. As Saint Ambrose See where you are baptized. See where baptism comes from, if not from the cross of Christ. From his death there is the whole mystery. He died for you. In him you are redeemed in him you are saved. Baptism in the Church from the very day of Pentecost the Church has celebrated and administered holy baptism. Indeed, St. Peter declares to the crowd, astounded by his preaching, repent and be Baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The apostles and their collaborators offer baptism to anyone who believed in Jews, the God fearing and pagans. Always. Baptism is seen as connected with faith. Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. You and your household. St. Paul declared to his jailer in Philippi and the narrative the jailer was baptized at once with all his family. According to the Apostle Paul, the believer enters through baptism into communion with Christ's death, is buried with him and rises with him as he wrote to the Romans. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death. So that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. The baptized have put on Christ through the Holy Spirit. Baptism is a bath that purifies, justifies and sanctifies. Hence baptism is a bath of water in which the imperishable seed of the Word of God produces its life giving effect. St. Augustine says of baptism, the word is brought to the material element and it becomes a sacrament. All right, so there we are, paragraph 1223-1228. My gosh, how incredible is this? Just okay, we have all the prefigurations in the Old Covenant, but We recognize paragraph 1223 immediately states all of the Old Covenant prefigurations find their fulfillment in Christ Jesus. That's not just true about baptism. That is true about all of the Old Covenant prefigurations. That Jesus is the fulfillment of every of one of God's promises, essentially. And we recognize that here is Jesus, he himself gets baptized. Remember that John's baptism, St. John the Baptist, his baptism was a baptism intended for sinners, right? It was a baptism of repentance. Jesus allows himself to be baptized in this baptism of repentance. He didn't need to repent, so why does he get baptized? He gets baptized to fulfill all righteousness. He manifests where he reveals his self emptying. I remember there was something. I'm going to get the paraphrase wrong, but Pope Benedict had talked about the mess of humanity that was along the Jordan river when Jesus got baptized. I think of all the people who had come out to see John the Baptist, to be baptized by John the Baptist. These were some of the great people of the old 1st century. These were some of the worst people in the first century. And they all came out to be baptized by John in the Jordan. And here is Jesus, who is the righteous one, right? Here is Jesus, who is the word of God made flesh, and he gets baptized. And it's Pope Benedict reflects on this and he points out he doesn't get baptized because he needs it. He gets baptized because they need it. That. That when Jesus is baptized, he's bringing that mess of humanity, right? The best and the worst of us, bringing them into the waters with him. In fact, I've heard many people say that when Jesus gets baptized, the waters don't make him holy. He makes the waters holy. And now the waters of baptism make us holy, right? So Jesus completely, he takes this incredible image, this incredible symbolism, this incredible reality of baptism that John was doing, and he gives it new meaning and gives it new power. Remember we talked a couple days ago about the ways in which when the church encounters other cultures, it sometimes embraces some symbols and signs of those cultures that actually point to the. Point to the gospel. Well, here is a reality that existed, the reality of baptism that existed. Jesus took it and transforms it again. He gives it a new meaning. He gives it a new reality. He gives it a new power. Because now, from now on, baptism saves us. This is remarkable, right? First Peter, chapter three, Baptism now saves you. And so what happens in the church, from the very first day of the church, right? The first day of Pentecost, as these people, they're cut to the heart. What must we do to be saved? And. And St. Peter responds with power and with clarity. And he says, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And this is just. Let's come back to this again and again. Baptism, like all of the sacraments, actually does something. It is not merely a symbol. It is not merely an express, an outward expression of an inward faith. It actually is power, right? It's efficacious. It does something. And what it does is it saves us. What it does is it washes away original sin and actual sin. What it does is it makes us into God's children. What it does is it brings us into the family of God, all of these things. It gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit, makes us into temples of the Holy Spirit. We're going to talk about that as the days go on. But it's just so important to realize that Jesus Christ himself has transformed and made powerful, given a new power to the old covenant, baptism. And then in the church, from the Very, very beginning, the Christians understood that baptism is what saves us. Remember Jesus speaking in John, chapter three. You must be born of water, born again of water and the Spirit. And if you want to enter the kingdom of God. And so we recognize that this is so not just important. It is absolutely. It's necessary. Now, we're going to talk about in days to come as well. What about those who don't get a chance to get baptized? What about that? Well, that's coming. But don't get ahead of us yet. Today we're just talking about the reality, the power and the efficacy. Right. Of baptism. If you have been baptized just again, to stop and give God praise for this, you haven't to say, God, please give me the chance to be baptized, to receive this new life that you promised to all those who are baptized. And also this. Here's the last little note. I'll talk about this later on, too. But just as a little teaser, remember that baptism and faith go hand in hand. Paragraph 1226 says this. Always, baptism is seen as connected with faith. Yet when you were baptized, when I was baptized, you might have been just an infant. You might have just been someone who didn't have any faith, because you couldn't have had any faith as an infant. Yet it was the faith of your parents and godparents that spoke for you. At one point, though. We need to embrace our own faith. We need to embrace our own baptism. We need to at some point say yes to that baptism. Yes to that, to that thing that was done to us. And this is our chance to do that. Even now, if you've never said yes to the grace of baptism in your life, if you've never just kind of like, yeah, I just went along because I was baptized, I was raised Christian, or I was baptized, I was raised Catholic. And I never really intentionally said yes to that. That yes, with my whole heart, mind, soul and strength to Jesus Christ and what he's done in your life. In baptism. I invite all of us right now to just renew that commitment, to renew those baptismal promises, to be able to say, lord God, by the power of your Holy Spirit, through the working of Jesus Christ, you have made me a son or a daughter of God the Father. I say yes to faith in you. I say yes to your church. I say yes to your grace. I say yes to your truth. I say yes to you in all things. Help me to walk as a child of God this day and every day. You guys, I'm just praying for you. Please pray for me, my name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.