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

Episode: Day 299: Respect for Health (2025)

Date: October 26, 2025 | Host: Fr. Mike Schmitz, Ascension

I. Episode Overview

In this episode, Fr. Mike Schmitz explores paragraphs 2288–2291 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, focusing on what the Catechism teaches about respect for health. He explains that health is a gift from God and a good that requires reasonable care—but it is not an absolute value. Fr. Mike discusses the balance between caring for one’s health and avoiding the “cult of the body,” the significance of temperance, and the Church's strong warnings against substance abuse. The episode connects physical well-being to virtue and our broader moral responsibilities as individuals and as members of society.

II. Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Health as a Precious, but Not Absolute, Gift

• Catechism Reading (2288): Life and physical health must be reasonably cared for, both for oneself and others.
• Societal Concern: Society should help provide conditions (food, shelter, healthcare, etc.) that support public health ([06:15]).
• Important Distinction: Health is a good, but not an absolute good—echoing teachings about family and even life itself.

2. Warning Against the “Cult of the Body”

• Paragraph 2289: Morality rejects the idolization of physical perfection and the “cult of the body," which elevates appearance or strength above moral character ([10:13]).
• Cultural Context: Fr. Mike identifies modern culture’s paradoxical approach: dismissing the body’s significance on one hand, while obsessing over physical perfection and youth on the other ([11:10]).
• Impact: Obsession with the body distorts human relationships by fostering preference for the strong over the weak, young over old, and healthy over sick.

3. The Virtue of Temperance

• Catechism Reading (2290): Temperance calls us to avoid excess—particularly in food, alcohol, tobacco, or medicine.
• Fr. Mike’s Definition: “Temperance is using the right thing at the right time in the right way" ([13:55]).
• Modern Application: Overuse of substances—even “good” things like food or medicine—harms the body and endangers self and others, especially highlighted in the context of distracted driving (e.g., phone use) as a modern example of endangering health and life ([16:35]).

4. Substance Abuse: A Grave Offense

• Catechism Reading (2291): Drug abuse inflicts "very grave damage" unless used for strictly therapeutic reasons.
• Grave Offense: The Catechism underscores that non-therapeutic drug use, and especially the production/trafficking of drugs, is gravely immoral and cooperation in evil.
• Prescription Drug Misuse: Fr. Mike connects the teaching to the opioid epidemic, noting that even legal substances can be misused—“it may not only be illegal drugs that the Church is highlighting... It could also be the misuse and abuse of prescription medication” ([18:43]).

III. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Life and physical health are precious gifts entrusted to us by God. We must take reasonable care of them."

  • — Catechism 2288, read by Fr. Mike (05:45)

• "Physical health is a good, but it's not an absolute good... if we do treat the body, if we do treat health as an absolute good, there is an incredibly grave danger we can fall into."

  • Fr. Mike Schmitz (09:45)

• "The virtue of temperance disposes us to avoid every kind of excess... I like defining temperance as 'doing the right thing at the right time in the right way.'"

  • Fr. Mike Schmitz (13:55)

• "Those incur grave guilt who by drunkenness or a love of speed endanger their own and others’ safety on the road, at sea, or in the air."

  • — Catechism 2290, read by Fr. Mike (15:30)

• "By intentionally distracted driving, [we] endanger their own and other's safety... This is the Church basically highlighting that, spotlighting that and letting us know this is very, very important."

  • Fr. Mike Schmitz (16:55)

• "Their [drugs'] use, except on strictly therapeutic grounds, is a grave offense. Clandestine production of and trafficking in drugs are scandalous practices. They constitute direct cooperation in evil."

  • — Catechism 2291, read by Fr. Mike (17:10)

• "It may not be only illegal drugs that the Church is highlighting... It also could be the misuse and abuse of prescription medication."

  • Fr. Mike Schmitz, referencing the opioid epidemic (18:43)

IV. Important Segment Timestamps

• 05:45 – Reading from the Catechism: Paragraphs 2288–2291
• 09:45 – Fr. Mike explains health as a good, not an absolute good
• 11:10 – Commentary on culture’s contradictory attitudes toward the body
• 13:55 – Temperance defined and explained
• 15:30 – Grave guilt incurred by endangering self/others (drunkenness, speeding, distraction)
• 17:10 – Reading and discussion on drug abuse and trafficking
• 18:43 – Reflection on prescription drug misuse and the opioid epidemic’s moral implications

V. Concluding Thoughts

Fr. Mike closes by emphasizing the Church’s call to hold health, the body, and physical well-being in proper esteem: as gifts to be cared for, not idolized or abused. The Catechism’s teaching connects our personal choices—ranging from eating and exercise to medicinal use and driving behavior—to the virtue of temperance and concern for the common good. The episode calls listeners to gratitude, moderation, and a nuanced appreciation of their bodies as both good and not ultimate.

“Any excessive use of this thing [food, alcohol, tobacco, medicine] is a direct assault on the goodness of the body, the goodness of health, and the goodness of life.”
— Fr. Mike Schmitz (19:23)

Next episode: Celebrating Day 300!
Fr. Mike promises more insights as the Catechism journey continues.