← The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 69: Born of the Virgin Mary (2026)
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Fr. Mike helps us to understand Mary’s role in the history of salvation. Through her belief and obedience, Mary becomes the Mother of God, and she cooperates in the redemption of the entire world. God’s glory is manifested when he uses weak and powerless people to show forth his faithfulness. What we believe about Mary is based on what we believe about Christ, and what the Church teaches about Mary illuminates our faith in Christ. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 484-489.
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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 is day 69. We're reading paragraphs 484, 489. As always, I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the Foundations of Faith approach. You can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Also, you can download your own catechism and a year Reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com ciy and lastly, you can click Follow or subscribe your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. As I said, it's day 69. We're reading paragraphs 4449. We're in a new section we just concluded yesterday talking about Christ's human will, his true body, the heart of the Incarnate Word, which just moves us so much. Remember paragraph 478 that says Jesus knew and loved each of us and all each and all loved us each and all during his life, his agony and his passion, and gave Himself up for each one of us. Ah, he has loved us with a human heart. So we kind of concluded yesterday with that. Now going to the next paragraph of this section, and that is, here's Jesus, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. So this section is going to be a lot about Mary. But as is Highlighted in paragraph 487, this is one sentence in paragraph 487. That's all it is. And it states this. What the Catholic faith believes about Mary is based on what it believes about Christ and what it teaches about Mary illumines in turn its faith in Christ. So for the next couple days, we will be talking about Mary and how the Holy Spirit came upon her and fecundated. That's the fancy word that we're going to be using in paragraph 485. The Holy Spirit came upon the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary and divinely fecundated it, which is to make fecund, right? Fruitful, fertile, that kind of thing. Just a fun word to note here. We are getting to hear it and I don't want it to be. I don't want it to be buried in paragraph 485. And you're like, wait. And divinely fecundate it. Yep. To make it fecund. To make it fertile. To make it. Yeah, alive. So anyways, we're talking about Mary and the Holy Spirit, who makes Christ the word of God incarnate in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Now, because of this, Mary has a role where she's at the center without being the center. Right? She's part of this mission of God's intention to save the world, to redeem the world. And so here is in Mary's basically predestination. Now, when we hear the word predestination, we need to understand that there is such a thing as predestination, meaning that God has a destiny for everyone that he wants us to say yes to, that he wants us to arrive at. So to have a destiny, basically, to have a destination. So God creating Mary for a particular mission, for a particular destination means that she was predestined. Right. But that doesn't mean that she was fated. That didn't. Doesn't mean that she had to say yes to the Lord. She had a free, free choice. In fact, it's really incredible. In paragraph 488, there is a quote from Lumen gentium, remember that's documented in the Second Vatican Council, that says the Father of mercies willed that the incarnation should be preceded by assent on the part of the predestined mother. Remember that? So it would be preceded by the ascent that he wouldn't save the world without her ascent, which is remarkable to think about. We're also going to look at a little bit today. Throughout the whole covenant, the mission of many holy women prepared for that of Mary. And so we're going to hear about the women that we know if we've read the Bible, Eve, who even though she sinned, she still received the promise of that her prosperity would be victorious over the evil one. Also we have Sarah, remember the wife of Abraham. You have people like Hannah, the mother of Samuel, Deborah, Ruth, Judith, Esther, many other women. And here is Mary, who is in that long line of these incredible women who, yeah, prepared the way essentially for her. And so in many ways they can be types, right? They can be pre figures of what ultimately Mary would do in the new Covenant and bringing Jesus into the world. Now, of course, she doesn't do this on her own. And for the next couple days, we're going to unpack a lot of how. Here is what God does through this human being, Mary. And that's the most incredible thing. Here is what God has done through the human being. Now, we talked about for the last couple days, here is Jesus, who's one divine person with a human and divine nature. So he's fully human. Mary has only a human nature, so she is merely, purely, completely human. And God reveals through her. Not only does he work through her to bring the Redeemer of the world into the world, but also reveals through her and through her, yes, what God can do in each of us if we simply give God our yes. And so today, as we just read these paragraphs 484 to 489, we're going to see, here's what God has done with Mary, here's what we believe about Jesus in relationship to Mary. So it illumines what we believe about Mary, again, is based on what it believes about Jesus. What the Church believes about Jesus and what it teaches about Mary illumines in turn its faith in Christ. We also recognize that every one of us, God, wants to work in our lives. That every one of us has a destiny. Every one of us has a destination that God has created us for, and that is eternal life with him forever in heaven, but also to say yes to him here on earth. So to prepare ourselves for this whole day, day 69. Let's say a prayer. Let's turn to our Father and call out to him in the name of his Son. Father in heaven, we trust in you, Father in heaven, we call upon your Holy Spirit that came upon the blessed Virgin Mary and she conceived your Word made flesh in her womb. Send that Holy Spirit in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ into our lives. That we can be fruitful, that we can say yes to your call. That we can, even when we don't know what it is you're calling us to, that we can say yes to you, the one who is calling us. Help us to have the courage of Mary, the humility of Mary and the joy of Mary to say yes to you, that your will may be done in our lives this day and every day. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Like as I said, it's day 69. We're reading paragraphs 484 to 489, paragraph two. Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit. The annunciation to Mary inaugurates the fullness of time, the time of the fulfillment of God's promises and preparations, Mary was invited to conceive him, in whom the whole fullness of Deity would dwell bodily. The divine response to her question, how can this be, since I know not man was given by the power of the Spirit? The Holy Spirit will come upon you. The mission of the Holy Spirit is always conjoined and ordered to that of the Son, the Holy Spirit. The Lord, the Giver of life, is sent to sanctify the womb of the Virgin Mary and divinely fecundate it, causing her to conceive the eternal Son of the Father in a humanity drawn from her own. The Father's only Son, conceived as man in the womb of the Virgin Mary, is Christ, that is to say, anointed by the Holy Spirit from the beginning of his human existence. Though the manifestation of this fact takes place only to the shepherds, to the Magi, to John the Baptist, to the disciples. Thus the whole life of Jesus Christ will make manifest how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power born of the Virgin Mary. What the Catholic faith believes about Mary is based on what it believes about Christ. And what it teaches about Mary illumines in turn its faith in Christ. Mary's Predestination God sent forth His Son. But to prepare a body for him, he wanted the free cooperation of a creature. For this, from all eternity, God chose for the mother of his Son, a daughter of Israel, a young Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee, a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. As Lumen gentium states, the Father of mercies willed that the incarnation should be preceded by assent on the part of the predestined mother, so that just as a woman had a share in the coming of death, so also should a woman contribute to the coming of life. Throughout the Old Covenant, the mission of many holy women prepared for that of Mary. At the very beginning, there was Eve. Despite her disobedience, she receives the promise of a posterity that will be victorious over the Evil One, as well as the promise that she will be the mother of all the living. By virtue of this promise, Sarah conceives a son in spite of her old age. Against all human expectation, God chooses those who are considered powerless and weak to show forth his faithfulness to his Hannah, the mother of Samuel, Deborah, Ruth, Judith and Esther, and many other women. Mary stands out among the poor and humble of the Lord, who confidently hope for and receive salvation from him. After A long period of waiting. The times are fulfilled in her, the exalted daughter of Zion. And the new plan of salvation is established. So that's it. Those, those couple paragraphs today, but wow, they're just so action packed. One of the things we recognize, of course, of course, is that when it comes to the mission of the Redeemer, right, the mission of salvation of the world, it is God's initiative. It is what? It's God's work. But here is what God has done. It says this. It says in paragraph 488, God sent forth his Son, but to prepare a body for him, he wanted the free cooperation of a creature. Now, this is remarkable. Like, how humble is the Lord. Now think about this. But this is not. This is not out of the ordinary. In fact, we even have a reference to Mary. Sorry, we even have reference to Eve. And the reference to Eve and Adam, of course, is that here is God, who makes this incredibly beautiful good world, and then he in some ways, places that world in the hands of human beings. Human beings who, while we can love, while we can choose the good, can also. Sin can also break things. We can also say no, just as well as we can say yes. And that's what they did. Here's Eve and here's Adam, who become like the Fall team. There is, as we know, there's an angel of light, like Lucifer, right? The light bearer angel of light who comes to Eve. This woman conceived without sin and speaks words to her that cause her to disobey in disbelief. She in turn, hands that disbelief and disobedience to her husband, who hands it on to all of humanity. Now, in Mary, here is God, who sends an angel of light, Gabriel, to a woman without sin. We'll talk about that more tomorrow. And he speaks words to her that cause her to believe and obey. And by her, yes, she hands that belief and obedience to her incarnate Son, who hands then freedom and redemption to the whole world. And this is one of the reasons why we do believe in the Immaculate Conception, that from the moment of her conception. We'll talk about this tomorrow. As I said, from the moment of her conception, Mary was conceived without original sin. Why? Because she is the new Eve. And just as the old Eve cooperated in our Fall, the new Eve cooperates in the redemption of the entire world again through, in some ways, no goodness of our own, but all the goodness that comes from the Lord God, which is just so, so remarkable. One thing we recognize is the role of the Holy Spirit here in paragraph 485. The mission of the Holy Spirit is always conjoined and ordered to that of the Son. And that is remarkable. I mean, we know that though already, of course, we can never separate the Incarnation from the work of the Holy Spirit. And also we never want to, because we've. We've heard it declared many times in the course of this catechism in a year that where the Son is, the Holy Spirit and the Father are. Where the Holy Spirit is, the Son and the Father are. Where the Father is, the Holy Spirit and the Son are. Right? So they're not. They're separate, distinct, but not divided. They're also not mixed. Right? So where one is, they all are. So of course, the mission of the Holy spirit in paragraph 485 is always conjoined in order to that of the son. Now, paragraph 486. The father's only Son, conceived as man in the womb of the Virgin Mary, is Christ, that is to say, anointed by the Holy Spirit from the beginning of human existence, right? So he wasn't anointed just by John the Baptist in the Jordan river, that from the very moment of his conception, here is the Holy Spirit that came down upon Mary, the womb of Mary. So from his moment of his conception, he was eternally or truly right, truly the Lord God. And then the manifestation of this anointed one takes place progressively. And I love it. It just goes to the shepherds, remember the angels singing, glory to God in the highest, then to the Magi, then to John the Baptist, and then to the disciples, now to the whole world and thus the whole life of Jesus. This is still paragraph 486. Thus the whole life of Jesus will make manifest how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Now, last little thing, as we move forward, one of the things we're going to talk about for the next few days is what do we believe about Mary? So we're going to talk about some of the dogmas that are connected to Mary, like, for example, the Immaculate Conception or that fact that Mary is the Mother of God. She's the Theotokos. Theotokos, Theotokos. I've heard it always. But whenever we talk about what we believe about Mary, it's based on what we believe about Jesus. And this is paragraph 487. I already quoted it maybe three times already. And what the Church teaches about Mary illumines in turn its faith in Christ. As we already noted, when it comes to say, Mary's divine motherhood, that she is the Mother of God, truly the Theotokos, Right? Mother of God. That's not because we're trying to exalt Mary. It's because we're trying to make it very clear. The Church is making it very clear that from the very moment of his conception, that being the person in the womb of the Virgin Mary was fully God and fully man. Therefore, the child, the person that Mary gave birth to, is the divine person of the second Person of the Trinity. Right? So that's why we can rightly and justly say that Mary is the Mother of God, because from the moment of his conception, Jesus was God. So that's a really important thing. Just so we know that when we say all these different dogmas about Mary, we recognize that we're really talking about Jesus. Because really, ultimately, everything we do points back to the Lord. Weeks from now, we're going to talk about the sacraments. They all point back to. They all come from the Lord. They all point back to the Lord. We're going to talk about the role of the Church. Well, it comes from God. He established it. And it leads us back to God, who is its source in its origin and its ultimate summit. When we talk about the divine life or like the moral life, I mean, how we follow after Jesus, again, that's all meant to lead us to Jesus. And even we talk about prayer, what is that all about? It always leads us closer and closer to God. Therefore, all of these dogmas, everything we're going to teach in the next few days about the role of Mary and the identity of Mary and what she did, all of it points back to her son, Jesus, the second person of the Trinity. And it's remarkable. You know, it's so funny how people can get divided over the role of Mary, and yet we realize without Mary's role, we wouldn't have the Messiah. Without her, yes, we wouldn't have Christ incarnate. And here's something to keep in God was not too proud to allow himself to count on the answer of this young girl in Nazareth of Galilee. He was not too proud to work through her yes. He was not proud to make himself in some ways dependent upon the yes of this simple girl from Nazareth. And so for us, we can't be too proud than to turn to her and learn from her. We can't be too proud than to say, okay, what about this girl? What about this woman who has become in some ways the new mother of all the living, the mother of all the redeemed? In some ways we can't be too proud to like John. When from the cross, Jesus said to John, there's your mother. And he said to his mother, behold, your son. And he said, from that moment on, he took her into his home and cared for her. We can't be too proud to take Mary into our home and to care for her. So as we continue to learn about Mary, just what a great. What a great gift. Because everything God gives us, everything God gives us is for our holiness. It's for our salvation. It is for our getting close to him. And his mom is no different. So again, we move forward boldly. We move forward with gratitude. We move forward with joy as we hear today that here is Mary, who was overshadowed by the power of the Holy Spirit, became the mother of Jesus Christ. Tomorrow we'll talk more about the Immaculate Conception. From then on, we'll talk more about Mary's divine motherhood. From there on, we talk about Mary's virginity, all these other, other pieces that are so important in our faith. But today, I just want to let you know that God worked through this woman, Mary, and he also wants to work through you. You will never be asked to do more than Mary was asked to do. And all she was ever asked to do was simply say yes. So let's say yes. It's not as easy as it sounds, so let's keep praying. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name's Father Mike, and I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.