Episode Overview

Episode Title: Day 45: Summary of Creation (2026)
Podcast: The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Date: February 14, 2026
Host: Fr. Mike Schmitz

In this “nugget day” episode, Fr. Mike recaps the key Catechism teachings on the doctrine of creation. Drawing from paragraphs 315–324, he summarizes what has been covered in recent episodes—God’s free act of creation, His continual providence, the problem of evil, and the nature of trust in God. The episode distills these core doctrines into memorable insights meant to anchor listeners as they transition to learning about angels in the next episode.

Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. God’s Free and Purposeful Act of Creation

• God created the world alone, without help.
  • “God created the world on his own without any help. He didn’t need any help and didn’t take any help, didn’t ask for any help.” (01:38)
• Creation is an act of love, not need or boredom.
  • “God didn’t create this world arbitrarily. Right? God didn’t create this world because he was bored. God created this world because he desired, because he is love. He desired to be able to share that love with free creatures he made in his image and likeness.” (02:20)
• The universe is a testimony to God’s glory and goodness.
  • “The whole universe is meant to proclaim God’s glory and communicate his divine life to us.” (02:36)

2. God’s Ongoing Providence and Presence

• God sustains creation at every moment.
  • “God didn’t just, again, remember deism, he didn’t just make the universe like a clockmaker makes a clock, winds it up and then leaves it. He’s present to us and he holds us into existence. That’s how close God is, how transcendent.” (03:06)
• God’s transcendence and immanence.
  • “He exists outside of time and outside of space, but he also is present to every moment. He’s present in every place at the same time.” (03:23)

3. The Trinity and Creation

• Creation attributed to the Father, but is the work of the whole Trinity.
  • “Though the work of creation is attributed to the Father in particular, it is equally a truth of faith that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit together are the one indivisible principle of creation.” (04:34, quoting the Catechism)
  • Fr. Mike explains with reference to Scripture (Colossians and John 1) that all things were created through the Son and are upheld by the Spirit.
    • “Where the Father is, there is the Son and the Holy Spirit. Where the Son is, there is the Father and the Holy Spirit. And where the Holy Spirit is, there is Father and the Son.” (10:01)

4. Creation "Ex Nihilo"—Out of Nothing

• Only God creates in the true sense.
  • “No creature has the infinite power necessary to create in the proper sense … to call into existence out of nothing.” (04:52, Catechism)
  • “The Hebrew word bara...to create essentially out of nothing. Or the Latin term would be ex nihilo, right? Out of nothing.” (11:23)
• Human creativity differs from divine creation.
  • “We all create using stuff that previously exists. But God creates in that unique way, right? God creates out of nothing. And so that’s, again, incredible.” (11:38)

5. God’s Glory, Truth, Goodness, and Beauty

• All of creation is for God's self-communication.
  • “God created the world to show forth and communicate his glory, that his creatures should share in his truth, goodness and beauty.” (04:57, Catechism)
  • “Look around and realize this is the universe that God created. And he created that tree. Why? To show forth and communicate his glory. And he wants us to share in his truth, his goodness and his beauty. That’s the glory for which God created you, which is, again, just incredible.” (13:09)

6. Divine Providence and Human Freedom

• Divine providence directs all creatures to their end in wisdom and love.
  • “Divine providence consists of the dispositions by which God guides all his creatures with wisdom and love to their ultimate end.” (05:16, Catechism)
  • “Divine providence works also through the actions of creatures. To human beings, God grants the ability to cooperate freely with his plans.” (05:32, Catechism)

7. Filial Trust and God’s Care

• God calls us to childlike confidence.
  • “Christ invites us to filial trust in the providence of our heavenly Father. And St. Peter, the apostle, repeats, ‘Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you.’” (05:21, Catechism; 15:04 Fr. Mike reflection)
  • “Filial trust means like the trust of a son to the Father, right? The trust of a child to their parent.” (15:23)
  • “Cast all your anxieties on Him. Cast all your cares on Him because he cares for you.” (15:41)

8. The Mystery of Evil and Suffering

• God permits physical and moral evil, but only for a greater good.
  • “The fact that God permits physical and even moral evil is a mystery that God illuminates by His Son, Jesus Christ, who died and rose to vanquish evil. Faith gives us the certainty that God would not permit an evil if he did not cause a good to come from that very evil—by ways that we shall fully know only in eternal life.” (05:37, Catechism)
• Jesus transforms and redeems suffering; He does not make evil good, but brings good from it.
  • “God illuminates that mystery in Jesus Christ, who entered into our suffering. He allowed physical evil to afflict him. He allowed moral evil to destroy him. And in the Resurrection, he conquered that, transformed it, redeemed it—didn’t remove it, didn’t take it away, but transformed and redeemed.” (18:34)
  • “Even though God can bring good out of evil, that in no way makes evil itself good. That’s so important for us to understand, right? Even though God can bring good out of evil, that does not mean that evil thing is no longer evil. It is always evil. It has been redeemed.” (19:50)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “God created this world because he desired, because he is love. He desired to be able to share that love with free creatures he made in his image and likeness. And that’s just remarkable.” — Fr. Mike Schmitz (02:22)
• “God didn’t just make the universe like a clockmaker makes a clock, winds it up and then leaves it. He’s present to us and he holds us into existence.” — Fr. Mike Schmitz (03:09)
• “There is not a single aspect of the Christian message that is not in part an answer to the question of evil. And that is consoling to me.” — Fr. Mike Schmitz (03:53)
• “Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you.” — St. Peter quoted by Fr. Mike Schmitz (14:54)
• “You’ve entered into what hurts us. You allowed it to overwhelm you. You allowed it to kill you. And then you took it and transformed it. So now it is power.” — Fr. Mike Schmitz (19:16)
• “It’s one thing to hear about it right now, now it’s another thing to live it. It’s another thing to live in it. And so that’s my invitation, just to pick up your cross today, like I’m trying to pick up my cross today and follow after the Lord and just say, okay, God, I’m going to trust you in the midst of this world that is good, you created good, but is broken. I trust you.” — Fr. Mike Schmitz (20:14)

Key Timestamps

• 00:05 — Introduction and context for the episode (“It is day 45…”)
• 01:38 — Introduction to “nugget day”; overview of what will be summarized
• 02:22 — Explanation of God’s motivation for creation: love, not boredom or need
• 03:09 — God’s ongoing presence vs. deistic “clockmaker god”
• 04:34 — The Trinity’s role in creation
• 05:16 — Reading Catechism paragraphs 315–324, “in brief”
• 11:23 — Explaining the Hebrew and Latin for “creation out of nothing” (bara, ex nihilo)
• 13:09 — Creation as self-communication of God's glory
• 14:54 — “Cast all your anxieties on him…” (St. Peter quote), trust in providence
• 18:34 — Jesus enters, redeems, and transforms evil and suffering
• 19:50 — Important clarification on God’s redemption of evil
• 20:14 — Final exhortation: “Pick up your cross,” trust in a good but broken world

Episode Takeaways

• Creation is a gift, not a necessity—God made us out of love.
• The Trinity is active in creation, upholding all things in existence.
• We are called to trust in God’s providence, even amid suffering and evil.
• God does not cause evil, but can and does bring good out of it—this is a mystery illuminated, but never fully explained, by Christ.
• Our response can only be childlike trust (“filial trust”) and fidelity, especially in life’s difficulties.

For further exploration, tomorrow’s episode will address the topic of angels in the Church’s teaching on creation.