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

Episode: Day 264 – Man’s Merit (2025)

Date: September 20, 2025
Reading: Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 2006–2011

Episode Overview

Main Theme:
This episode explores the concept of "merit" in the Christian life according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Fr. Mike Schmitz discusses what it means for a human being to "merit" before God, emphasizing that all true merit derives from God’s grace and our freely chosen cooperation with it. The episode tackles common misconceptions around merit and its relationship to grace, reiterating that even our good works and merits are ultimately God’s gifts.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Definition and Nature of Merit

• [02:00] The Catechism begins by defining merit as recompense owed by a community for one’s actions—reward or punishment—tied to justice and equality.
• [02:40] However, in relation to God, “there is no strict right to any merit on the part of man” due to our complete dependence on Him as Creator. (“Between God and us there is an immeasurable inequality, for we have received everything from him, our Creator.”)

2. God’s Initiative and Our Free Cooperation

• [03:00] Merit in the Christian life arises “from the fact that God has freely chosen to associate man with the work of his grace.”
• [03:35] Our good actions are only possible through God’s initiative: “The merit of good works is to be attributed in the first place to the grace of God, then to the faithful.”

3. All Good We Do is Rooted in God’s Gift

• Fr. Mike uses analogies to deepen understanding:

  • The Guitar Gift Analogy ([06:15]): Just as a parent may give a child a guitar, lessons, and inspiration yet the child must freely choose to participate, so God gives us both the grace and even the desire to do good.
  • The Father’s Gift Analogy ([08:10]): Like a child buying a gift for his father with money the father gave him, everything we offer to God comes first from Him.

• Notable Insight ([09:25]): “There’s very little in life that we can point to and say ‘mine’. In so many ways, the only thing I can point to in life and say ‘mine’ is my sin.”

  • All good comes from God’s grace; our cooperation is necessary but always preceded and enabled by God.

4. The Mystery of Divine Adoption and True Merit

• Through baptism, we become “co-heirs with Christ” and partakers in divine nature. Hence, our actions, prompted and aided by grace, are made truly meritorious before God (“the full right of love, making us co-heirs with Christ and worthy of obtaining the promised inheritance of eternal life” [11:22]).
• The Council of Trent and St. Augustine are cited:
  • “The merits of our good works are gifts of the divine goodness. Grace has gone before us; now we are given what is due. Our merits are God’s gifts.” ([12:10])

5. Limits of Merit—The Primacy of Grace

• [13:00] Stresses that no one can merit the initial grace of conversion, forgiveness, or justification (“Justification, salvation, sanctification, all that—is all God’s free gift…”).
• Once converted, moved by the Holy Spirit and charity, we may merit for ourselves and others the graces needed for sanctification and eternal life.

6. Grace and Free Will—A ‘Both/And’ Reality

• Fr. Mike reiterates Catholic teaching:
  • “Grace or free will? Both. Grace or merit? Yes.”
  • Cooperation is real, but in the realm of salvation and holiness, God’s initiative is always primary.

7. St. Thérèse of Lisieux and the Spirit of Spiritual Childhood

• [14:30] St. Thérèse is quoted extensively as a model for living this paradox, recognizing her own limitations, her total dependence on God, and her wish to “appear before you [God] with empty hands.”

• Notable Quote ([15:20]), Thérèse:

  “After earth’s exile, I hope to go and enjoy you in the Fatherland, but I do not want to lay up merits for heaven, I want to work for your love alone. In the evening of this life, I shall appear before you with empty hands… for I do not ask you, Lord, to count my works. All our justice is blemished in your eyes. I wish then to be clothed in your own justice and to receive from your love the eternal possession of yourself.”

• Fr. Mike highlights her "spiritual poverty":

  • Even the saints, recognized for their holiness, attribute all merit to God’s prior gift.

8. Takeaway: Everything is Gift

• [17:10] The Christian life means embracing the reality that “Everything is gift—even our merit … In crowning their merits, you crown your own gifts.”
• Our life’s answer is gratitude and praise for all God provides, recognizing our poverty and His generosity.

Memorable Moments & Quotes

• “In crowning their merits, you crown your own gifts.” (Prayer from the Roman Missal, cited at [01:30] & [17:15])
• Fr. Mike ([09:35]): “The only thing I can point to in life and say ‘mine’ is my sin.”
• Fr. Mike, explaining Thérèse ([15:50]): “Why did Saint Therese want to have empty hands? So that she could just receive Him … When we have empty hands, those empty hands can be filled.”
• Final encouragement ([18:05]): “Just to be able to say God, everything. Everything is gift. Even our merit.”

Important Timestamps

• 00:05: Opening prayer and context
• 02:00: Definition of merit and justice in the Catechism
• 03:00: God's initiative in merit
• 06:15: Guitar gift analogy
• 08:10: Father’s gift analogy
• 09:25: Only thing “mine” is my sin
• 11:22: Co-heirs with Christ; “right by grace”
• 12:10: Council of Trent/St. Augustine on merits
• 13:00: No one can merit initial grace
• 14:30: St. Thérèse of Lisieux’s example and quote
• 15:20: Direct quotation from St. Thérèse
• 17:10: Summary—everything is gift and our response
• 18:05: Closing encouragement and invitation for tomorrow

Tone & Language

Fr. Mike’s tone is warm, approachable, and pastorally enthusiastic. He combines deep theological teaching with relatable analogies, showing joy and humility in his explanations. The tone is inviting, focused on gratitude and humility before God’s gifts.

Summary for the Listener

This episode provides a thorough, heartfelt explanation of what “merit” means for Catholics: while we are truly called to collaborate with God and that collaboration is meaningful, ultimately all good—including our own ability to do good—is God’s gracious initiative. We can be assured that our cooperation with grace is transformed by God into something truly meritorious, but we are always called to humility, gratitude, and spiritual poverty, as exemplified by St. Thérèse of Lisieux. The lesson concludes that the only thing we can truly “claim” on our own is our sin, while all our “merits” are crowned as God’s own gifts to us.