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

Episode: Day 260: Summary of the Moral Law (2025)
Host: Fr. Mike Schmitz
Date: September 17, 2025

Episode Overview

Day 260 of "The Catechism in a Year" podcast guides listeners through a concise summary of the Catholic understanding of moral law, using paragraphs 1975–1986 of the Catechism. Fr. Mike Schmitz unpacks these "nuggets" to clarify the role of moral law in human life, its foundation in Scripture and tradition, and how it reflects God’s fatherly care. The episode aims to help listeners recognize the depth, universality, and practical significance of the moral law, and to invite a renewed commitment to living it out with the help of God’s grace.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Nature and Origin of the Moral Law

Scriptural Foundation:
Fr. Mike emphasizes that "the law is a fatherly instruction by God which prescribes for man the ways that lead to the promised beatitude and proscribes the ways of evil." (See 04:40)
Law as Ordinance of Reason:
Law is described as “an ordinance of reason for the common good, promulgated by the one who is in charge of the community.”
Christ as Fulfillment:
Christ not only teaches the law but empowers believers to live it out. "Christ is the end of the law only. He teaches and bestows the justice of God." (05:18)

2. Natural Law: Written on the Human Heart

Participating in God’s Wisdom:
“The natural law is a participation in God’s wisdom and goodness by man, formed in the image of His Creator.” (05:30)
Universality and Permanence:
“The natural law is immutable, permanent. Throughout history, the rules that express it remain substantially valid.” (06:08)
- This means moral law is universal across cultures and time periods.
Foundation for Society:
Natural law serves as the necessary foundation for moral rules and civil law—“all of our civil law, [our] moral rules… come from this Judeo-Christian background.” (10:06)

3. The Old Law and the New Law

Old Law as Preparation:
The Old Law (Mosaic Law) is the “first stage of revealed law” and prepares humanity for Christ.
Accessibility to Reason:
The Law of Moses contains many truths that are naturally accessible to human reason, but God revealed them because humans often failed to “read them in their hearts.” (06:24)
The New Law (Law of the Gospel):
- Essence: "The new law is the grace of the Holy Spirit, received by faith in Christ, operating through charity." (06:58)
- Expression: The new law is fully realized in the Sermon on the Mount and through the sacraments.
- Qualities: "It’s a law of love, a law of grace, a law of freedom." (07:45)

4. The New Law and Evangelical Counsels

Beyond Commandments: The new law includes the evangelical counsels (poverty, chastity, obedience), by which the Church's holiness is particularly fostered.
Reformation of the Heart:
“The law of the Gospel… brings it to perfection, its promises, through the beatitudes… by reforming the heart, the root of human acts.” (07:16)

5. The Practical Importance of God’s Law

A Gift for Human Flourishing:
Fr. Mike stresses that God's law is a gift:

"God has always been very interested in us living right, in us choosing the good. Why is he interested…? Because when we choose the good, we experience joy.” (11:30)
Analogy of the Owner’s Manual:
The law is like an owner’s manual for a vehicle—it’s not restrictive but is intended to allow us to function at our best. Ignoring it might lead to unnecessary “breakdown” (13:05).
Results of Dismissing the Law:
Many of our deepest heartaches, Fr. Mike notes, come from “dismissing God’s instruction, his fatherly instruction.” (14:05)

6. Renewal and Dependence on Grace

Invitation to Renew Commitment:
Listeners are invited to renew their commitment:

“God, not only reveal once again your law to me, but also help me to open myself up to faith, which gives me that grace to live these commandments.” (15:00)
Role of Sacraments and Holy Spirit:
The sacraments equip us with the power to live out the commandments today and every day.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On the Universality of Conscience:
“We know that there's such a thing as right and wrong. And we largely agree… our common humanity reveals that we all have consciences and that there is something in our hearts that we know when we violated the good.” (09:30)
On Law as a Foundation:
“It is a necessary foundation for the erection of moral rules and civil law.” (10:06, quoting Catechism 1979)
On God’s Intent:
"God gives us these commandments because he wants us to have life. He wants us to have freedom. He wants us to have joy." (13:35)
On the Connection to Society:
“You don't have to be Christian, you don't have to be Jewish in order to be an American. Not at all. But we have to recognize that there's a depth in our hearts where God's law has already been written and that unites us.” (11:01)
On Grace and Sacraments:
“Help me to go back to your sacraments, which give me the power to live out these commandments. God, give me the grace and the Holy Spirit to live this new law, this day and every day.” (15:20)

Important Timestamps

04:40 — Scriptural foundation of the moral law; “fatherly instruction”
06:08 — Natural law’s universality and permanence
07:16 — The New Law and perfection “by reforming the heart”
10:06 — How civil and moral law are rooted in natural law
11:01 — Reflections on the American experiment and religious foundation
13:05 — Analogy of the owner’s manual (why God gives commandments)
14:05 — Personal and societal consequences of ignoring God’s law
15:00–15:20 — Renewal in faith, grace, and the sacraments

Conclusion

Fr. Mike’s summary of paragraphs 1975–1986 offers a hopeful and convicting reminder of the moral law’s centrality in human life—written on the heart, clarified through revelation, fulfilled in Christ, and made possible through grace. He urges listeners to view God’s commandments not as restrictions, but as a path to authentic freedom and joy. The episode closes with a prayerful call to embrace, trust, and live out the moral law, relying on the continual help of the Holy Spirit and the sacraments.

Host’s Final Words:
“Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.” (16:00)

Transcript

A (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 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. This is day 260. We are reading paragraphs 1975 to 1986. Each one of those paragraphs is a little nugget. It's In Brief Day. And so as always, I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes a 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 lastly, you can click Follow or subscribe on your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. Also, here's the real last one. Just a quick thank you for all those who have supported the production of this podcast with your prayers of financial gifts. Again, we couldn't, literally couldn't do this without you. So thank you very much for doing this for us. It's day 260. You know the temptation to talk with some kind of accent. I face it every day and so you're welcome. I'm sparing you from my Scottish accent or my English British accent or whatever accent it is, because it's day 260. We are reading paragraphs 1975 to 1986. We're going to summarize what it is to talk about the moral law. The moral law. Remember talking about this days ago, written on the human heart, revealed to us by the Lord God in the old covenant and fulfilled in Jesus Christ, where not only he fulfills the law, but also gives us the capability, right, the power to live out the new law in our lives. That's the in brief. Today, from 1975 to 1986, let's say a prayer. Because man nugget days are good days, but they're days. We need some prayers, that's for sure. So we pray. Father in heaven, we give you praise and we ask that you please receive our thanks. Receive our praise because you are good because of who you are. Not merely for what you've done in our lives, but most of all for who you are. Lord God, you deserve our praise. You deserve all glory. You deserve our hearts, our love, our yes. Help us to give you our yes. Today and every day. In Jesus name we pray. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. It is day 260. We are reading paragraphs 1975 to 1986. In brief. According to Scripture, the law is a fatherly instruction by God which prescribes for man the ways that lead to the promised beatitude and proscribes the ways of evil. Law is an ordinance of reason for the common good, promulgated by the one who is in charge of the community. Christ is the end of the law only. He teaches and bestows the justice of God. The natural law is a participation in God's wisdom and goodness by man. Formed in the image of His Creator. It expresses the dignity of the human person and forms the basis of his fundamental rights and duties. The natural law is immutable, permanent. Throughout history, the rules that express it remain substantially valid. It is a necessary foundation for the erection of moral rules and civil law. The old law is the first stage of revealed law. Its moral prescriptions are summed up in the Ten Commandments. The law of Moses contains many truths naturally accessible to reason. God has revealed them because men did not read them in their hearts. The old law is a preparation for the Gospel. The new law is the grace of the Holy Spirit, received by faith in Christ, operating through charity. It finds expression above all in the Lord's Sermon on the Mount and uses the sacraments to communicate grace to us. The law of the Gospel fulfills and surpasses the old law and brings it to perfection, its promises, through the beatitudes of the kingdom of Heaven, its commandments, by reforming the heart, the root of human acts. The new law is a law of love, a law of grace, a law of freedom. Besides its precepts, the new law includes the evangelical councils. The Church's holiness is fostered in a special way by the manifold counsels which the Lord proposes to his disciples in the Gospel. Alright, there they are. All the nuggets. 1975 to 1986 just a quick review of what we've been hearing for the last number of days. And just, you know, I'm going to say it. What a gift. Why? Why is this a gift? Well, we recognize that again, yes, God has written the law in our hearts, and God has given us the old law because we did not read those hearts. And yet at the same time, we have this common shared reality about the fact that we know that there's such a thing as right and wrong. And we largely agree. This is the remarkable thing. We largely agree. And that's a great sign. Why? Because it points to the fact that, yes, our common humanity reveals that we all have consciences and that there is something in our hearts that we know when we violated the good. We know that when we've done the bad. And that is what can unite us too. In fact, it says very, very clearly Here in paragraph 1979, it says the natural law is immutable, permanent, throughout history, right? That's. That's always there. It's always written on the human heart. Across time, the rules that express it remain substantially valid in there, at the heart of it, they are still true. It is a necessary foundation for the erection of moral rules and civil law. You know, in the west, all of our civil law, moral rules, they all come from this Judeo Christian background. And they resonate. Even if someone doesn't profess faith in the Old Testament, they don't profess faith in the New Testament. It resonates with us because it resonates with that deeper law, you know, older law, in some ways, you could say, in the human heart. And so there's something that unites us here in this. Where I recognize, yes, our principles here in the west, especially here in the United States of America. You know, the. I think it was John Adams who said that United States is a religious country in the sense that he pointed out that this constitutional republic will only work if we remain a religious people. Right. It will only work if we continue to not only listen to our conscience, but also recognize that there is a lawgiver that's not the government. Right. There's a lawgiver that wasn't the founding Fathers. There's a lawgiver that is greater than all of us. And he stated that, yes, this country will only survive if we remain a religious people. Because this constitution and this whole country was built for a religious people. Not to say that America is a religion, but to say that America is made up of people originally who had some degree of faith, some degree of knowledge of this law that God had given, not only in our human heart, but also through the Old Testament and the New Testament. And so you don't have to be Christian, you don't have to be Jewish in order to be an American. Not at all. Not at all. But we have to recognize that there's a depth. There's a depth in our hearts where God's law has already been written and that unites us Right. Does that make sense? That unites us, you know? And again, we say a depth in our human heart where God's law has been written. Because in paragraph 1975, it says that these words that just like they just hopefully it speaks to your heart like it speaks to my heart. It says this. According to scripture, the law is a fatherly instruction by God which prescribes for men the ways that lead to the promised beatitude and proscribes the ways of evil. That first line, according to scripture, the law is a fatherly instruction by God. It's a fatherly instruction by God. This is not just kind of some arbitrary whim, some merely the process of some biological evolution where, okay, this is good because it propagates the species, and this is bad because it works against propagation of the species. But no, written on the heart, written in scripture is a fatherly instruction by God, which means God has always been very interested in us living right in us choosing the good. Why is he interested in us choosing the good? Because when we choose the good, we experience joy. God's interested in giving us the law. Why? Because when we choose to live by the law, we have human flourishing. God wants us to flourish. Again, he doesn't give us the law to restrict us. He gives us the law because it's. Again, you've heard this analogy a thousand times. I'm sure you have your vehicle and you have the operating instructions, the manual, right? For your vehicle. That's not meant to restrict your use of your vehicle. That's meant to say, okay, this is the owner's manual written by the person who created your vehicle. If you use your car like this, you treat your car like this, it will run the best it possibly can. If you dismiss the user's manual, right? If you dismiss these instructions by the creator of your vehicle, you can do whatever you want with your car. You're right. But it will stop running or it will stop running as well as it's supposed to. For us. Here is God who made us. Why does he give us his commands? He gives us his commands because he is a father who loves us. This is a fatherly instruction for the people he's created and made in his image and likeness that if we actually live this way, we will have freedom, we will have joy, we will have love. Think about this. How many of the heartaches that we normally experience in our daily lives are the result of us ignoring God's commands? How many of our heartaches, yes, there's natural heartaches of loss and sickness and pain and death. But how many of those heartaches we experience because of betrayal? How many of the heartaches we experience because we weren't loved the way we should have been loved or we didn't love the way we should have loved? How many of our heartbreaks are because, for a moment at least, I dismissed God's instruction. His fatherly instruction again. God gives us these commandments because he wants us to have life. He wants us to have freedom. He wants us to have joy. And so let's just renew that. Renew that commitment. Renew that commitment to. Okay, God, not only reveal once again your law to me, but also help me to open myself up to faith, which gives me that grace to live these commandments. Help me to go back to your sacraments, which give me the power to live out these commandments. God, give me the grace and the Holy Spirit to live this new law, this day and every day. That's what I'm praying for. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.