← The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 354: The Prayer of the Church (2025)
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Through the Catechism, we learn more about the Lord’s Prayer and how it should be included in our personal prayers as well as in community during the liturgy of the Mass. In giving us the Our Father, Jesus models how we are to use this prayer to speak directly with the Father. Fr. Mike drives home that we receive the words to pray and also receive the Holy Spirit when saying this prayer. Together, the words and the Holy Spirit enable us to pray like Christ and become more like him. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 2765-2772.
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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 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 this is day 354. We're reading paragraphs 2765 to 2772. 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 you can click Follow or Subscribe. What what can you click? You can click Follow or Subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. Today is the we're continuing to talk about the Our Father. In fact, we will continue to talk about the Lord's Prayer until the last day of this year, until day 365. Today, though, we're talking about what do we call this prayer? We call it the Lord's Prayer, or Oratio Dominica. It means that the prayer to Our Father is taught and given to us by the Lord Jesus. So this is the prayer that comes from Him. That's why we call it the Lord's Prayer. We also call it the Our Father because we're talking to the Father. But we realize that Jesus, when He gave us this prayer, he didn't just give us a formula to repeat mechanically. He gave us this is a prayer that gives us access to to the Father in this really mysterious and unique way. We're meant to pray, though in spirit and in truth. It's also we're going to hear today the prayer of the Church. And it belongs in the context not only of your private prayer and my private prayer, but also belongs in the context of liturgical prayer in the context of the Church. And so we're looking at that right now. Let's call upon Our Father, call upon the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit and pray, Father in Heaven, in the name of Jesus Christ, in the power of your Holy Spirit, we ask that you please, please renew in us a spirit of adoption. Renew in us that that spirit that enables us to cry out abba Father. Lord God, in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, we ask that you please renew that in us. So that when we pray, we can pray not only with our words and our lips, but also in the depths of our heart, in our very lives. Lord God, in this moment we give you this moment. In this moment, we give you the rest of our day. In this moment, we give you the rest of this week, the rest of this month, the rest of this year. In this moment, Lord God, we give you the rest of our lives. In this moment, we entrust to you everything. Our cares, our worries, our work, our family, our friends, everything that battles for our attention. Lord God, we entrust them to you and we trust you with them. Lord God, come and meet us in our need, teach us to pray and help us to live in such a way that you are known, that you are loved and that your children, that your children will come to know and love you as well. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. It's day 354. We're reading paragraphs 2765 to 2772. The Lord's Prayer the traditional expression, the Lord's Prayer Oratio Dominica means that the prayer to our Father is taught and given to us by the Lord Jesus. The prayer that comes to us from Jesus is truly unique. It is of the Lord. On the one hand, in the words of this prayer, the Only Son gives us the words the Father gave him. He is the master of our prayer. On the other, as as word incarnate. He knows in his human heart the needs of his human brothers and sisters and reveals them to us. He is the model of our prayer. But Jesus does not give us a formula to repeat mechanically as in every vocal prayer. It is through the word of God that the Holy Spirit teaches the children of God to pray to their Father. Jesus not only gives us the words of our filial prayer, at the same time he gives us the Spirit, the by whom these words become in us spirit and life. Even more, the proof and possibility of our filial prayer is that the Father sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying, abba, Father. Since our prayer sets forth our desires before God, it is again the Father, he who searches the hearts of men, who knows what is the mind of the Spirit. Because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God, the prayer to our Father is inserted into the mysterious mission of the Son and of the Spirit, the prayer of the Church. This indivisible gift of the Lord's words and of the Holy Spirit who gives life to them in the hearts of believers, has been received and lived by the Church from the beginning. The first communities prayed the Lord's Prayer three times a day in place of the 18 benedictions customary in Jewish piety. According to the apostolic tradition, the Lord's Prayer is essentially rooted in liturgical prayer. As St. John Chrysostom the Lord teaches us to make prayer in common for all our brethren, for he did not say My Father who art in heaven, but Our Father offering petitions for the common body. In all the liturgical traditions, the Lord's Prayer is an integral part of the major hours of the divine office in the three sacraments of Christian initiation. Its ecclesial character is especially in evidence in baptism and confirmation. The handing on of the Lord's Prayer signifies new birth into the divine life, since Christian prayer is our speaking to God with the very word of God. Those who are born anew through the living and abiding word of God learn to invoke their Father by the one word he always hears. They can henceforth do so, for the seal of the Holy Spirit's anointing is indelibly placed on their hearts, in ears, lips, indeed their whole filial being. This is why most of the patristic commentaries on the Our Father are addressed to catechumens and neophytes. When the Church prays the Lord's Prayer, it is always the people made up of the newborn who pray and obtain mercy. In the eucharistic liturgy, the Lord's Prayer appears as the prayer of the whole Church and there reveals its full meaning and efficacy. Placed between the anaphora, the Eucharistic prayer, and the communion, the Lord's Prayer sums up, on the one hand, all the petitions and intercessions expressed in the movement of the epiclesis, and on the other, knocks at the door of the banquet of the kingdom, which sacramental communion anticipates in the Eucharist. The Lord's Prayer also reveals the eschatological character of its petitions. It is the proper prayer of the end time, the time of salvation that began with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and will be fulfilled with the Lord's return. The petitions addressed to Our Father, as distinct from the prayers of the old Covenant, rely on the mystery of salvation already accomplished once for all in Christ, crucified and risen. From this unshakeable faith springs forth the hope that sustains each of the seven petitions which express the groanings of the present age, this time of patience and expectation, during which it does not yet appear what we shall be the Eucharist and the Lord's Prayer. Look eagerly for the Lord's return until he comes. All right, there we have it. Paragraphs 2765 to 2772. Let's go back to this, we reckon. I like the fact that it just describes why we call the Our Father the Lord's Prayer, because it comes to us from the Lord Himself. And the prayer that comes to us from Jesus is truly unique. I love it. In paragraph 2765, it highlights, on the one hand, in the words of this prayer, the Only Son gives us the words the Father gave Him. He's the master of our prayer, which is incredible. He's telling us this is what to do. This is the ma. He's the master. He gets to tell us, on the other hand, because he is the Incarnate Word, right? Because he is God made man. He has a human heart, and in his human heart he knows the needs of your human heart and reveals them to us. So he's not only the master of our prayer, he's also the model of our prayer, which is amazing to realize that here is Jesus, who spent his whole life, life on earth, praying in his human heart, praying in his human nature. And that's just. It's incredible to realize that because of that human heart, I mean, as it says here in 2765, he knows in his human heart the needs of your human heart, essentially, and reveals them to us in prayer. He's not only the master of our prayer, he's the model of our prayer. And yet, of course, 2766 highlights what we all know. We know what it's like to pray words mechanically. We know it's like to just repeat rather than actually pray. Jesus does not give us a formula to repeat mechanically. We know that we need the Holy Spirit. Jesus goes on to say, jesus not only gives us the words of our filial prayer, at the same time he gives us the Spirit, by whom these words become in us spirit and life. And so again, of course, anyone could pray the prayer to Our Father, but only by the power of the Holy Spirit can we say this. And A, it be true, and B, allow it to transform our lives. Remember when we talked about the sacraments, how the sacraments aren't magic, that they require faith, it requires God's actions. This is not an abracadabra kind of a thing. And neither is the Lord's Prayer. It's never one of those things where if you pray this prayer, just say these words as an incantation that is not even remotely close to what we're doing. We are given these words by Jesus, but we're also given his Holy Spirit. And it's both of these, the words of Christ and the Spirit of Christ, that enables us to actually pray like Christ. And I love this. It goes on to say, since our prayer sets forth our desires before God, it is again in the Our Father, he who searches the hearts of men, who knows what is mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And this is so important. We have the Holy Spirit every time we pray. So that's one of the things. I've mentioned this before, I think, but I'm so moved by our students. Whenever they pray, it's like, hey, you know, John, would you mind leading this prayer? Or, hey, Kathy, can you lead this prayer? They'll pause and they'll say, come, Lord Jesus, come, Holy Spirit, teach me how to pray. And I just think, that's amazing. And whenever they do that, I'm just so proud that they know. Yes, come, Holy Spirit, teach me how to pray. Teach us how to pray. Because we know we need the Holy Spirit because it's the Father who sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, abba, Father. Okay, so not only do we need the Holy Spirit in order to truly pray the Lord's Prayer, but the Lord's Prayer is the prayer of the Church. And as it says in 2767, it says, this indivisible gift of the Lord's words and the Holy Spirit, remember, we need both. Who gives life to them in the hearts of believers has been received and lived by the Church from the beginning. And so we realize from the very, very beginning, it was customary to pray the Lord's Prayer at least three times a day. And not only that, but to pray this in common, like as part of a liturgical prayer. So it wouldn't just be our individual prayer that we'd pray the Lord's Prayer or the Our Father, but we would pray the Our Father in common. And I love how St. John Chrysostom highlights. He says, the Lord teaches us to make prayer in common for all our brethren. For he did not say, my Father who art in heaven. He could have, right? We know this. Jesus could have said, my Father who art in heaven, because he is the only begotten Son, but he said, our Father, whenever you pray, say Our Father, offering petitions not only for oneself, but for the common body. And I think that's just remarkable. If you ever participated in a baptism or a confirmation, if you ever participated in the Mass, which I think we all have, hopefully, God willing, you know, the role of the Lord's Prayer, it says, in 2769, handing on the tradition of the Lord's Prayer signifies new birth into the divine life. What does that mean? Well, go back to a baptism, and if you have a baptism, say, let's say just a baptism of the child. Outside of the context of Mass, one of the things that happens is this whole rite of baptism. But after the actual baptism and then after, like the handing on of these certain sacramentals, right, These things that are reminders, like the. The white garment, the. The candle that's lit, that's a sign of this new life, the person presiding at the baptism, the bishop, priest, or deacon, will then invite all those who are gathered to, in the name of this child, if it's a baptism of an infant in the name of the child, to pray the Lord's Prayer together, to pray the Our Father together, knowing that, okay, right now there are words that this child cannot pray, but one day this child will stand with us and not only will receive the Holy Spirit in confirmation and will receive our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, but one day this child will stand with us and will pray the words of the Lord's Prayer. And so right now, let us who can speak, who have been anointed by the Holy Spirit and transformed and made into God, sons and daughters, let us together, and in the name of this child or on behalf of this child, right, Pray the Lord's Prayer together. And it's just this beautiful. I love it. It's just a beautiful moment in the rite of baptism that just highlights the fact that now this child can actually truly say Our Father, because now that the child is baptized, they truly are an adopted son or daughter of God the Father, which is just incredible in the Eucharistic liturgy, then this is remarkable. You know, where we pray the Our Father is in between the Eucharistic prayer and actually receiving Our Lord Jesus in communion. And there's something incredible about this because it says Here in paragraph 2770, the Lord's Prayer sums up, on one hand, all the petitions and intercessions expressed in the movement of the epiclesis, right. That we've been doing in the Eucharistic prayer. But also, on the other hand, knocks at the door of the banquet of the Kingdom, which sacramental communion anticipates. So it's on the one hand, it's like this summarizes everything we've been interceding for every offer of praise to God we've been lifting up. But also. And now, before we receive the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, let's just. I love this. Knock on the door of the heavenly banquet, ask to be led in. There's something so beautiful in this. And so that's my invitation is the next time you get to Mass and you get to participate in the Mass in the Eucharist and you're standing and you get to pray the Our Father, not only are you summarizing all the prayers that came before this, all the petitions, all the intercessions that came before this, but also in this moment, this is the moment where you're knocking on the door of the heavenly banquet. And when you get your next step, your next step is to receive the body, blood, soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. So amazing, man. It's so cool. I. I hope that the next Mass you go to, you remember this, and if not, remember it at the one you go after that. What a gift it's been. This is amazing to be able to journey with you on this. And not only that, but also to be taught how to pray and taught how to pray by the Master himself, by the model himself, by our Lord Jesus himself. There's no greater master, no greater model, and no greater Lord than Jesus Christ. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.