← The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 72: Mary’s Motherhood (2025)
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For those with any lingering doubts or questions, the Catechism offers five reasons for Mary’s perpetual virginity. Fr. Mike digs into each reason and explains what each of them means for us as spiritual sons and daughters of our Immaculate Mother. Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 502-511.
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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. It is day 72. We're reading paragraphs 502 to 511. 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. Also, you can download your own for free Catechism in a Year Reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com ciy if you haven't done that yet, that's fine, no problem. Also, I don't know if you know this. You can click Follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. It is day 72 reading paragraphs, as I said, 502 to 511, which you would know if you had the reading plan. Anyways, it's the last little section here on the Blessed Virgin Mary where we talk about Mary's virginal motherhood in God's plan. That's the subtitle of today's section. Now it's interesting because what is the reason? Like what's the purpose of we talk about the Virgin Mary, right? Or the Blessed Virgin Mary or the ever Virgin Mary. So what? Right? Why is that important Now? There are reasons that touch on both the person of Christ and His redemptive mission and on the welcome that Mary gave that mission on behalf of all, all human beings. That's the end last line in paragraph 502. And then what we have in paragraphs 503 to paragraph 507 are the reasons. So for example, paragraph 503, the first reason why would she have to be ever virgin? Well, Mary's virginity manifests God's absolute initiative in the Incarnation. So that sense of this is not a human invention. This is God's initiative. He's the one who wants this to happen. Paragraph 504, 4 it says Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary's womb because he is the new Adam who inaugurates a new creation. So here's God's absolute initiative in paragraph 503. Here's God inaugurating a new creation in the new Adam in paragraph 504 and paragraph 505 by his virginal conception, Jesus. The new Adam, as we just said, ushers in the new birth of children adopted in the Holy Spirit through faith. And so again, it keeps building on each other. In paragraph 506, says Mary is a virgin because her virginity is the sign of her faith, unadulterated by any doubt, and of her undivided gift of herself to God's will. And this is again one of those high markers. And then paragraph 507 says that at once virgin and Mother Mary is the symbol and the most perfect realization of the Church. So she becomes an image or a symbol of the Church as well in her virginity, just freely and fully receiving the grace of the Lord. Again, this is just incredible. Incredible in the sense that there are reasons that make it fitting for the virginal conception of Jesus. We already had some other reasons we've talked about, for example, making it very clear that Jesus is truly the Son of the Eternal Father, that he is the second Person of the Trinity, the Divine Person who has a human and a divine nature. That is really critical. But these other reasons that the Church offers are worth our reflection, right? They're worth us just kind of hovering over for a while. So that's why I wanted to kind of go over them before we pray and before we read them is just so, you know, so number one, Mary's virginity manifests God's absolute initiative in the Incarnation. Number two, Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary's womb because he is the new Adam who inaugurates the new creation. Number three, by his virginal conception, Jesus, the new Adam, ushers in the new birth of children adopted in the Holy Spirit through faith. Number four, Mary is a virgin because her virginity is a sign of her faith. And number five, at once virgin. And Mother Mary is the symbol and most perfect realization of the Church. And so these are some of the reasons why the Church offers. Why was it part of God's plan for Mary to be ever virgin? Now we also have it's nugget day. Little nuggets. We have four little nuggets at the end. The in brief from paragraph 508 to 511. But that just summarizes everything we've talking about for the last few days. Here we are, day 72. Let's say a prayer. Father in Heaven, we give you praise. We love you and we thank you. We thank you for the mystery of the Incarnation. We thank you for the mystery of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And we thank you for making us your adopted children. We ask that you please, just like for Mary, you gave her everything she needed for her mission, we ask that you please remember to give everything that we need for our mission and give us the trust, give us the faith to count on you, to know that you have not and will not ever abandon us, but you will always provide exactly what we need. Give us this day our daily bread. Give us this day everything we need and help us to use it. Help us to use it for your glory according to your purposes and according to your will. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. As I said, it's day 72. We're reading paragraphs 502 to 5. 11. Mary's Virginal Motherhood and God's Plan the eyes of faith can discover in the context of the whole of revelation the mysterious reasons why God, in his saving plan, wanted his son to be born of a virgin. These reasons touch both on the person of Christ and his redemptive mission and on the welcome Mary gave that mission on behalf of all men. Mary's virginity manifests God's absolute initiative. In the incarnation. Jesus has only God as Father. The Council of Friuli stated he was never estranged from the Father because of the human nature which he assumed. He is naturally Son of the Father as to his divinity and naturally Son of his Mother as to his humanity, but properly son of the Father in both natures. Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary's womb because he is the new Adam who inaugurates the new creation. The first man was from the earth a man of dust. The second man is from heaven. From his conception, Christ's humanity is filled with the Holy Spirit, for God gives him the Spirit without measure from his fullness as the head of redeemed humanity. We have all received grace upon grace. By his virginal conception, Jesus, the new Adam, ushers in the new birth of children adopted in the Holy Spirit through faith. How can this be? Mary asked. Participation in the divine life arises not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. The acceptance of this life is virginal because it is entirely the Spirit's gift to man. The spousal character of the human vocation in relation to God is fulfilled perfectly in Mary's virginal motherhood. Mary is a virgin because her virginity is the sign of her faith, unadulterated by any doubt, and of her undivided gift of herself to God's will. It is her faith that enables her to become the mother of the Savior. As St. Augustine stated, Mary is more blessed because she embraces faith in Christ than because she conceives the flesh of Christ at once virgin and mother, Mary is the symbol and the most perfect realization of the Church. As Lumen gentium stated, the Church, indeed, by receiving the word of God in faith, becomes herself a mother. By preaching in baptism, she brings forth sons who are conceived by the Holy Spirit and born to God to a new and immortal life. She herself is a virgin who keeps in its entirety and purity the faith she pledged to her spouse. In brief, from among the descendants of Eve, God chose the Virgin Mary to be the mother of his Son. Full of grace, Mary is the most excellent fruit of redemption. From the first instant of her conception, she was totally preserved from the stain of original sin, and she remained pure from all personal sin throughout her life. Mary is truly Mother of God, since she is the mother of the eternal Son of God made man who is God himself. According to St. Augustine, Mary remained a virgin in conceiving her son, a virgin in giving birth to him, a virgin in carrying him, a virgin in nursing him at her breast. Always a virgin with her whole being, she is the handmaid of the Lord. The Virgin Mary cooperated through free faith and obedience in human salvation. She uttered her yes in the name of all human nature. For her obedience she became the new Eve, Mother of the living. Okay, so as I said, the Church gives us some reasons, some reasons for why God's saving plan. In his saving plan, he wanted his Son to be born of a virgin. And again, the those reasons. Remember, whatever we believe about Mary are things we believe about Jesus. What we teach about Mary illumine what we believe and teach about Jesus. So to review a little Here, paragraph 503 highlights this. Mary's virginity manifests God's absolute initiative in the incarnation. Jesus has only God as his Father. This is so critical because again, it highlights the fact that Jesus is naturally son of the Father as to his divinity and naturally son of his Mother as to his humanity, but properly son of the Father in both natures. And this is just the work of God so that no human being may Boast right. Paragraph 504 talks about how Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary's womb, because he is the new Adam who inaugurates the new creation, which is really, really Critical. The first man was from earth, a man of dust. The second man is from heaven. Right? Of course. That's A quote from First Corinthians, chapter 15. We recognize that from his fullness as the head of redeemed humanity, we have all received grace upon grace. And because his conception is virginal, because his conception is the initiative of God, because he is the new Adam, from his fullness as the head of redeemed humanity, we have all received grace upon grace. Just like Adam as the head of fallen humanity, we receive that brokenness. Because Jesus is the head of redeemed humanity, we've all received grace upon grace. By paragraph 505. I love this. By his virginal conception, Jesus, the new Adam, ushers in the new birth of children adopted in the Holy Spirit through faith. So when we. We get to participate in the divine life, not of blood or of will, of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. I love this because here's the quote. The acceptance of this life is virginal because it is entirely the Spirit's gift to man. There's something about receiving, right? The acceptance of this life is virginal because it's entirely the Spirit's gift. We merely have to receive it. Paragraph 506 and 507, right? Mary's a virgin because her virginity is a sign of her faith, which basically enables her to be the mother of her son. And St. Augustine, I love that quote where he says, Mary is more blessed because she embraces faith in Christ than because she conceives the flesh of Christ. Now, obviously, that is kind of a paraphrase from Luke's Gospel, chapter 11, where in all these things a woman from the crowd raises her voice and cries out, blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts at which you nursed. And Jesus says, blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it. So we recognize here, St. Augustine is highlighting this. Mary's more blessed because she embraces faith in Christ than because she conceives the flesh of Christ, which is remarkable. But also paragraph 507, which reminds us that Mary is the symbol and most perfect realization of the Church. Because here's the Church that just again, through no gift of our own, no blessing or power or strength or beauty of our own, received the Holy Spirit. And in that receiving the Holy Spirit by preaching in baptism, she brings forth sons. That's what the Church does. We're conceived by the Holy Spirit and born to God to a new and immortal life. And this is just, you know, that sign that in Revelations, chapter 12, that sign of a woman that is with child and gives birth to that child. And the Church has always said that. Yeah, the symbol is, that's Mary giving birth to Jesus. It's also the Church giving birth. And there's that recognition that Mary symbolizes the Church. And what we can learn about the church is some ways we learn about Mary. Why? Because, well, here's Mary that brought forth the Son of God into the world. And here's the Church. Through the church, Son of God comes into the world. Right. Is that all those things make sense again? Sometimes they're just analogies. Sometimes they're really, really deep and profound images and symbols. But the truth is, here we are having a couple days of just being able to dive deeply into this thing we always say, we say it again and again, who is conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. And now we know even a little bit more deeply, a little more clearly about that article that we say every single time we pray the rosary, every single time we utter the Apostles Creed, and maybe sometimes even every single time we go to Sunday Mass and state the Apostles Creed. Now, tomorrow we're going to dive to the next thing, the mysteries of Christ's life. And the first mystery of Christ's life is. Well, the first thing we're going to look at is how Christ's whole life is a mystery. And so again, we're not leaving Mary behind, because that's a powerful thing. We're not leaving the Holy Spirit behind, the Holy Spirit overshadowing Mary so she can conceive and give birth to the Son. We're not leaving anything behind. We're adding to everything. And again, tomorrow, as we dive into Christ's whole life is a mystery. And what are some of the characteristics common to Jesus Mystery. So it's going to be exciting and we get to dive deeply. I just, I love the fact that we get to meditate and reflect tomorrow and the next few days on these mysteries of Christ's life. These, these moments of Christ's life that just reveal something deep and profound about who he is. So I can't wait for tomorrow. I am praying for you. Please pray for me and I'll see you tomorrow. My name is Father Mike. God bless.