Day 17: The Canon of Scripture (2026) - The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)

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

Episode: Day 17 - The Canon of Scripture (January 17, 2026)

Main Theme & Purpose

In this episode, Fr. Mike Schmitz explores the “canon of Scripture”—the divinely inspired list of books that make up the Bible—focusing on both the Old and New Testaments. He explains how the Church discerned the canon, discusses the enduring value of the Old Testament (and the heresy of rejecting it), unpacks the unique place of the Gospels, and clarifies the three stages of Gospel formation. With engaging insights and references to Church history and saints, Fr. Mike helps listeners understand the foundations of the Catholic Faith rooted in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to the Episode and Scope

Fr. Mike highlights the episode’s focus:
- The canon of Scripture—what it is, how the Church recognizes it, and why both the Old and New Testaments are indispensable.
- The three stages in the formation of the Gospels.
  ([01:30])

“Today what we're going to look at is the canon of Scripture... and the ways in which we need both the Old Testament and the New Testament.” — Fr. Mike

2. What Is the Canon?

The canon is the complete, inspired list of biblical books.
The Church, by apostolic tradition, discerned and defined which books belong.
- 46 books in the Old Testament (45 if Jeremiah and Lamentations are counted as one), 27 in the New.
Fr. Mike reads aloud the full list of books ([03:10–04:40]).

3. The Old Testament: Permanence, Value & Heresy of Rejection

The Old Testament is divinely inspired and permanently valuable; “the Old Covenant has never been revoked” ([05:00–06:00]).
The Church has always opposed the idea that the Old Testament is rendered void by the New, especially the heresy called Marcionism.
- Marcionism claimed the Old Testament was null and void after Christ—a heresy rejected by the Church ([09:30]).

“The Church has always vigorously opposed the idea of rejecting the Old Testament under the pretext that the New has rendered it void, as in Marcionism.”
— Fr. Mike, reading the Catechism [06:00]

The Old Testament is a “storehouse of sublime teaching” and “sound wisdom,” containing both timeless and provisional (for a time) rules.

“God has to reveal that, no, I am good. I'm just, I'm true, I love you. But he has to start someplace... God’s divine pedagogy.” — Fr. Mike [11:30]

Some Old Testament practices are provisional (e.g., temple purity laws to prepare for worship in the New Covenant), while core teachings like the Ten Commandments are permanent ([12:00]).

4. The New Testament & The Gospels: Heart of Scripture

The New Testament reveals the ultimate truth of God’s revelation; its focus is Jesus Christ—his acts, teachings, Passion, glorification, and the beginnings of his Church ([13:10]).
The Gospels are the “heart of all the Scriptures” ([13:40]).
Three stages in the Gospels’ formation ([14:10]):
1. Life and teaching of Jesus.
2. Oral tradition by the Apostles.
3. Written Gospels by sacred authors, “telling us the honest truth about Jesus.”

“The Gospels are at the heart of all of our lives. They should be...” — Fr. Mike

5. Sacred Tradition Precedes Scripture

The Church established the canon—it did not appear “out of nowhere.”
- The canon was formally codified only in the late 4th century (Council of Rome, 382 AD; Hippo, 393; Carthage, 397), then reaffirmed later ([07:55 and 16:20]).
- The Council of Trent (1546) solemnly and definitively defined the canon in response to challenges from Reformers like Martin Luther ([08:55]).

“Sacred Tradition is what gives us Sacred Scripture, and that is so remarkable.” — Fr. Mike [08:10]

6. Personal Invitation & Prayerful Reading

Saints have kept the Gospels close—some carried the books and read them in moments of downtime.
Fr. Mike suggests having Scripture accessible (even in digital form) to make the Gospels part of daily life ([15:30–16:30]).

“Wouldn’t it be great if on our device we had the Word of God… Maybe an app that we could just open up and read the readings of the day?” — Fr. Mike

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Scripture’s Canon and Tradition:

“The books of the Scriptures... have been established by the Church, given to us from the very beginning... The Church precedes the written word. The oral tradition precedes the written tradition.” — Fr. Mike ([07:40])

On Marcionism and the Old Testament’s Value:

“The Church has always vigorously opposed the idea of rejecting the Old Testament under the pretext that the New has rendered it void, as in Marcionism.” — Fr. Mike ([09:30], quoting Catechism 123)

On Divine Pedagogy:

“God takes a raw people... and God has to reveal that, ‘I am good. I’m just, I’m true, I love you.’ But He has to start someplace… these are provisional things… just for a time, for a place, and for a season.” — Fr. Mike ([11:30])

On the Gospels as Heart of Scripture:

“The Gospels are the heart of all the Scriptures because they are our principal source for the life and teaching of the Incarnate Word, our Savior.” — Fr. Mike, quoting Catechism ([13:40])

Wisdom of the Saints:
- St. Caesarea the Younger:
  
  “There is no doctrine which could be better, more precious, and more splendid than the text of the Gospel.” ([14:50])
- St. Thérèse of Lisieux:
  
  “But above all, it’s the Gospels that occupy my mind when I’m at prayer… I’m always finding fresh lights there, hidden and enthralling meanings.” ([15:00])

Important Timestamps for Key Segments

[01:30] – Episode focus: canon of Scripture, Old Testament, New Testament, Gospels.
[03:10–04:40] – Complete reading of the biblical canon.
[06:00] – The Old Testament’s permanent value; rejection is heresy.
[07:40] – Tradition gives us the canon; the Church precedes the Bible.
[08:55] – History of canon definition; Councils of Rome, Hippo, Carthage, Trent.
[09:30] – Heresy of Marcionism; Church’s rejection.
[12:00] – Provisional vs. constant Old Testament teachings.
[14:10] – The three stages of Gospel formation.
[14:50–15:00] – Quotes from St. Caesarea the Younger and St. Thérèse of Lisieux.
[15:30] – Saints and the practice of carrying the Gospels.

Episode Tone

Warm, encouraging, and instructive; Fr. Mike blends catechetical clarity with personal encouragement, historical references, and practical invitations—rooted in the life of the Church and the wisdom of the saints.

Takeaways for the Listener

The Bible’s canon is rooted in apostolic tradition and settled by the living Church.
The Old Testament is forever valuable, not replaced or voided by the New.
The Gospels occupy a unique and central role for Christians; immersing oneself in them is transformative.
Faithful Catholics are inheritors of both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition—one can’t be separated from the other.
Carrying the Word of God into daily life, through whatever medium, follows the pattern of the saints.

“I am so, so proud of you for getting through to this place. We're gonna... keep picking up speed, keep moving forward. I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Fr. Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.”
— Fr. Mike Schmitz ([16:50])

Transcript

A (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 sure 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. It is day 17. We are reading paragraphs 120 to 127, seven short paragraphs. A few reminders before we get started. As we get started, I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the Foundations of Faith approach. You can follow along with that catechism or any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Also, if you want to download your own catechism into your reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com ciy and lastly, you can click Follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily notifications. Like today it is day 17. You guys, I am so grateful, so grateful that you are journeying with us in this catechism. I don't know if you noticed this, but things are kind of picking up speed in the sense they're not going to take off, they're not going to get beyond you. Again, we're only doing a couple paragraphs today, but I think it's maybe closer to the stuff that's on our minds, right? So today what we're going to look at is the canon of Scripture. We're going to look at both the Old Testament and the New Testament and the ways in which we need both. Right? We need the Old Testament. There are people in the past who have said that when Jesus came along, the Old Testament was rendered void, was rendered moot. It was completely unnecessary. In fact, some people, they're called heretics. But some people would even say that we can completely dismiss and not even pay any attention to the Old Testament because of the New Testament. In fact, some people would even say that there are two different gods, one in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament. Again, that's rejected by the church, and we'll see how that's rejected today. We also have the New Testament and how the Gospels are the heart, the core of the New Testament. And so I'm really excited about this. We're also going to look at, lastly, that we distinguish three stages in the formation of the Gospels. There's first, the life and teaching of Jesus on the ground. Then there's the oral tradition, and then finally the written Gospels, because. And that's how the Gospels were formed. That's how the new covenant, New Testament has been formed. So we're going to look at all three of those aspects. The Old Testament with a canon of Scripture, Old and New Testament, and the formation of the Gospels, which is just again, exciting in only, what, seven paragraphs? Something like that. It is day 17. We're reading paragraphs 120 to 127. Before we do that, let's say a prayer right now. I think that'd be a good idea. Father in heaven, we thank you, we give you praise. You enter into time with us. You enter into this space that we occupy, and you enter into our lives in a very real, in a very, very true way. Lord God. Our lives are messy. And even the way in which we've discovered who you are, you've revealed yourself to us, has been messy. But we trust in you. We trust that you are in the mess. You're in the mess of our lives, you're in the mess of history, you're in the mess of our culture, because that's where you want to be, where we are. That's where we live. And so we ask that you please into the mess, bring clarity into the brokenness, bring healing into our confusion, bring illumination and bring light so that we can understand who you are more clearly, who we are more clearly, and that we can love you with all of our hearts. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. As I said, it is day 17. We're reading paragraphs 120 to 127. The canon of Scripture. It was by the apostolic tradition that the Church discerned which writings are to be included in the list of the sacred books. This complete list is called the Canon of scripture. It includes 46 books for the Old Testament, 45 if we count Jeremiah and Lamentations as one, and 27 for the New. The books of the Old, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Ruth, 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1 and 2 kings, 1st and 2nd Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, Tobit, Judith, Esther, 1st and 2nd, Maccabees, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. The books of the New Testament the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, Luke and John the Acts of the Apostles the letters of St. Paul to the Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians 1 and 2, Thessalonians, 1st and 2nd Timothy, Titus, Philemon the letter to the Hebrews the letters of James 1 and 2 Peter, 1st, 2nd and and 3rd, John and Jude and Revelation, also known as the Apocalypse. The Old Testament the Old Testament is an indispensable part of Sacred Scripture. Its books are divinely inspired and retain a permanent value, for the Old Covenant has never been revoked. Indeed, as de verboum, the economy of the Old Testament was deliberately so oriented that it should prepare for and declare in prophecy the coming of Christ, Redeemer of all men. Even though they contain matters imperfect and provisional, the books of the Old Testament bear witness to the whole divine pedagogy of God's saving love. These writings are a storehouse of sublime teaching on God and of sound wisdom on human life, as well as a wonderful treasury of prayers. In them, too, the mystery of our salvation is present in a hidden way. Christians venerate the Old Testament as true Word of God. The Church has always vigorously opposed the idea of rejecting the Old Testament under the pretext that the New has rendered it void, as in Marcionism. The New Testament, the Word of God, which is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, is set forth and displays its power in a most wonderful way in the writings of the New Testament, which hand on the ultimate truth of God's revelation. Their central object is is Jesus Christ, God's incarnate Son, his Acts, teachings, passion and glorification, and his Church's beginnings under the Spirit's guidance. The Gospels are the heart of all the Scriptures because they are our principal source for the life and teaching of the Incarnate Word, our Savior. We can distinguish three stages in the formation of the first, the life and teaching of Jesus. The Church holds firmly that the four Gospels, whose historicity she unhesitatingly affirms, faithfully hand on what Jesus, the Son of God, while he lived among men, really did and taught for their eternal salvation until the day he was taken up. Second, the oral tradition. For after the ascension of the Lord, the apostles handed on to their hearers what he had said and done, but with that fuller understanding which they instructed by the glorious events of Christ and enlightened by the Spirit of truth, now enjoyed. Third, the Written Gospels, the sacred authors in writing the four Gospels selected certain of the many elements which had been handed on either orally or already in written form. Others, they synthesized or explained with an eye to the situation of the churches, while sustaining the form of preaching, but always in such a fashion that they have told us the honest truth about Jesus. The fourfold Gospel holds a unique place in the Church, as is evident both in the veneration which the liturgy accords it and and in the surpassing attraction it has exercised on the saints at all times. Saint Caesarea the Younger once there is no doctrine which could be better, more precious and more splendid than the text of the Gospel. Behold and retain what our Lord and Master Christ has taught by his words and accomplished by his deeds. Saint Therese of Lisieux once. But above all, it's the Gospels that occupy my mind when I'm at prayer. My poor soul has so many needs, and yet this is the one thing needful. I'm always finding fresh lights there, hidden and enthralling meanings. Okay, so not only do we get to end with these two quotes by these great saints, Saint Cesarea the Younger, Saint Therese of Lisieux, highlighting the fact that the Gospels have had a massive role in their own personal understanding of our Lord and God, but also in their prayer life. So that's just a great way to just kind of end that this whole section or this piece we're reading today. But also, let's go back to the beginning, because at the beginning, we talk about the canon of Scripture, then the Old and New Testament, and then of course, the importance of the Gospels in that canon of Scripture in the New Testament. It's important for us to understand that the books of the Scriptures, The Bible, all 73 books, have been established by the Church, given to us from the very beginning. So one of the things we have been trying to establish is that the Church, in a true and real way, precede the Bible. I mean, the Old Testament obviously existed before the time of Christianity, but the books of the New Testament come out of the Church. And so we realize that the Church precedes the written word. The oral tradition precedes the written tradition. And it's actually out of the oral tradition, it's out of that living tradition of the Church that we even get to know which are the books of the New Testament. In fact, there wasn't really a canon. Canon simply means rule, or like you can say, like the list of Scriptures, list of the books of the Bible. The Church has given us this list, right? This canon of Scriptures, all 73 books. And so as, again, as we've said before, I say it again, as I said maybe five times already today, sacred tradition is what gives us sacred scripture. And that is so remarkable. In fact, we realize that for the first generations of Christianity, the first couple centuries of Christianity, there was no official list of here are the texts of the sacred scriptures. It was the church. You'd come to church and you'd have these texts proclaimed to you. And this is so powerful. It wasn't until basically the late three hundreds that the books of the New Testament were codified, right? Basically there were some challenges. People were saying they were offering other books and they were challenging some of the books that were being read and considered to be scripture. Now keep this in mind. Even though it wasn't until the late three hundreds that we have the canon right, the, the list of books being codified. We had the New Testament, right? We had the books of the New Testament. Those were written there in the mostly, I think pretty much Everything in the first century before 100 A.D. the last book of the New Testament is understood to be the Book of Revelation. And John, the author of Revelation had written that before 100 A.D. and so we recognize that yes, all those texts already existed, but the official list wasn't really again codified until the late three hundreds. You have in 382, you have the Council of Rome under Pope Damasus that promulgated that 73 book scriptural canon. And that's also reaffirmed later on in, you know, 393, the Council of Hippo, in 397, the Council of Carthage. And then it was definitively reaffirmed by the Ecumenical Council of Florence in 1442. Of course, the Council of Trent, which came about in 1546. All these dates, you guys, you loving them. Of course you are. The Council of Trenton, 1546 had their what you might say they solemnly defined the canon of Scripture. Then why? Obviously the Council of Trent was a response to Martin Luther and the first Protestant leaders. And what were they doing? What was Martin Luther doing? He was challenging that 73 book canon of Scripture. And so the Church had to definitively for in the first time, you might say, had to solemnly define that same canon in 1546. But that same canon was already defined by the Council of Rome in 382. It wasn't as if these books were, were added later. These 73 books of the Old and New Testament were already accepted by the Church and then again were Simply defined in 382 by Council of Rome and having to be definitively solemnly defined in 1546 after someone challenged it. In fact, that's one of the reasons why church councils, councils even exist. Basically, here's what Christians believe. At some point it's being challenged. And so we have to have a church council to say, okay, there's a challenge out there to what everyone already believes, that the living faith of the Church, the living tradition of the Church, we have to define this and defend it against those who would challenge it. And that's why we get to this section of paragraphs 121, 122 and 123, talking about the Old Testament. Now, 121 states, the Old Testament is an indispensable part of Sacred Scripture. This is really important. I don't know how many people I heard from over the course of the last couple years as they were going through the Bible in the air, as they were going through the Old Testament, that they were saying, why do we have to read this? This seems so foreign. This seems like unnecessary. And yet the Church has heard that before. In fact, paragraph 123even mentions the primary person who began this heresy called Marcionism. His name was Marcion. And Marcion claimed that with the arrival of the New Covenant, with the arrival of the New Testament, with the arrival of Jesus, all those books of the Old Testament are rendered useless, that they are no longer in effect, that they are null and void. And yet that was seen as a heresy because why? Because the Old Testament is an indispensable part of Sacred Scripture. It goes on to say in paragraph 121, its books are divinely inspired and retain a permanent value. For the Old Covenant has never been revoked. Now, obviously we talked about divine pedagogy over the course of the last years. What's that mean? That means that God takes a raw people, right? He takes people who don't know who he is. They don't know goodness, they don't know justice or truth yet. And God has to reveal that, no, I am good. I'm just, I'm true, I love you. But he has to start someplace. And so we recognize that, as De Verbum states here in paragraph 122, it says, Even though they contain matters imperfect and provisional, the books of the Old Testament bear witness to the whole divine pedagogy of God's saving love. So again, it has matters imperfect and provisional. What's that mean? Well, that means that here is God who's teaching at a first grade level who he is. Here's God teaching at a second grade level about what justice is. Here's God creating teaching at a third grade level. And so these are like provisional things. Like for example, the rules regarding temple purity. Because why? Because the temple was to prepare us for true worship, of worshiping Jesus Christ in spirit and in truth in the new covenant. And so those were provisional teachings just for a time, for a place and for a season essentially to get us ready to have this new and everlasting covenant that we celebrate and enter into in the Mass. Again, it doesn't render those things useless, doesn't mean that they're no longer divinely inspired. It just means we understand them as, oh, this was a provisional teaching. But there's other teachings that are not provisional in any way, shape or form. Like something like, I don't know, the Ten Commandments. Like those are not provisional, those are constant. Those are teachings that are true at all times in all places, for all people. And so again, we venerate the Old Testament as the true word of God and we vigorously oppose the idea of rejecting the Old Testament under the pretext that the New has rendered it void. That's a quote from paragraph 1:23. Now going on to the New Testament though, it's just so, so powerful. I love this quote from Dave Vraboom that actually has Romans chapter 1, verse 16 in its quote as well. It's paragraph 124. The word of God, which is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, is set forth and displays its power in a most wonderful way in the writings of the New Testament. And that's so, so powerful for us to understand that here is God's revelation of himself to us. Now how the New Testament was formed is then talked about in the next paragraph126 in three stages of formation of the Gospels. The heart, the, the heart of the New Testament. First is the life and teachings of Jesus, what he did and what he taught, his words and his actions, his words and his deeds. Then oral tradition, right? People talked about this, who the apostles. And they were given light of the Holy Spirit and then the written Gospels. So you have these stages. Obviously here's Jesus living and witnessing, speaking and acting. You have the apostles talking about this and proclaiming Jesus and then you have finally the written Gospels. And this is so, so powerful because the Gospels are at the heart of all of our lives. They should be, in fact. I don't know how many saints. This is the last thing I don't know how many saints I have read about over the course of my life who would. At the very least, they would keep a copy of the Gospels on them at all times. And just whenever they had downtime, you know, we pull out our phones and we, you know, flip through whatever social media, we scan the news, they would have this little book of the Gospels and they, in their downtime, as they're waiting in line, as they're, you know, just sitting there, they would pull out the Gospels and just allow the Lord to speak to them through the writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, inspired by the Holy Spirit. I think there's something that we could learn from that. Now, you might still have your phone, you might still have your device, but wouldn't it be great if on our device we had the Word of God yet? We have it in podcast form, obviously. But also, wouldn't it be great if we just had maybe an app that we could just open up and read the readings of the day? Or an app we could open up and just again read Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John and do what those great saints of the past have done, or they just kept. Kept that. That heart of the heart of the Scriptures, the four Gospels before their eyes and in their hearts always. I don't know, just an invitation. I'm excited about this day. This day. 17. I am so, so proud of you for getting through to this place. We're gonna again, keep picking up speed, keep moving forward. I am praying for you. Please pr. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.