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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 sheer 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 341. We're reading paragraphs 2656 to 2662. 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 lastly, I don't know if you know this, it's a little secret. I haven't mentioned it before, but you can click Follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. Because Today is day 341, we are reading paragraphs 2656 to 2662. Yesterday we talked about the fact that prayer can't be reduced to simply, you know, spontaneous outpouring of interior impulse. We have to have the will to pray. That's paragraph 2650, so important for us. Also, it's not just enough to know what the Scriptures teach about prayer, we have to learn how to pray. And it's through the transmission of sacred tradition within the living, believing church. The Holy Spirit teaches us how to pray. And so yesterday we talked about two of the wellsprings of prayer. Of course we know this. We heard this yesterday that the Holy Spirit is the living water welling up to eternal life in the heart that prays and the source is Christ. Now, there are several wellsprings. The four we have yesterday and today. Yesterday was the Word of God, so Sacred Scripture and also the Liturgy of the Church. And there was this powerful thing we heard of yesterday that obviously in the Mass, in the Sacramental Liturgy of the Church, the mission of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit proclaims, makes present and communicates the mystery of salvation which is continued in the heart that prays, which is just. It's awesome. I used that term yesterday afterburn, which again, I don't know if that's an actual thing that is in the physiological world, but it is a thing in the spiritual world that the graces that are in our lives, in the Mass are brought out into the world in the heart that prays. Now again, the word of God and the liturgy of the Church yesterday, today we're talking about the theological virtues, so faith, hope and love, as well as today is another one of those wellsprings. That's recognition that we only have been given today. And God is found only in this moment and in this place, where you are and where I am. And so, as we launch into this day, let's launch into prayer, recognizing today is the day God has given us. So let us rejoice and be glad in it as we pray in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. Thank you so much for bringing us to this day. Thank you so much for nourishing us with your word and inviting us to worship you in the liturgy. We ask that you please, through the power of your Holy Spirit, help us have hearts that pray. Help us have heart that is an altar, that every moment of every day, every breath, every heartbeat, every thought, every everything we do and everything we think and everything we say can be offered to your name as an act of worship to glorify, to bless you. We ask, Lord God, that you fill our hearts with the virtues of faith and hope and love. By the power of your Holy Spirit. Help us to be true witnesses in this world, but help us first of all to be true sons and true daughters of you, God our Father. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Today's day, 341. We are reading paragraphs 2656 to 2662.
