Day 366: The End of the Journey?

The whole concern of doctrine and its teaching must be directed to the love that never ends. Whether something is proposed for belief, for hope or for action, the love of our Lord must always be made accessible, so that anyone can see that all the works of perfect Christian virtue spring from love and have no other objective than to arrive at love. [Roman Catechism, Pref 10] CCC 25

As I sit down to close this journey through the Catechism in a Year with Fr. Mike Schmitz, the paragraph quoted above keeps coming back to me.

Everything I’ve read, prayed, and reflected on this year has pointed to that: love. Not abstract ideas, not rules for the sake of rules, but love. The love of God and the love we are called to share with others.

It reminds me of what St. Paul wrote:

"So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." (1 Cor 13:13)

I love God, wretched sinner I may be. I see His love in the sacraments, in Scripture, in the moral teachings, in prayer, and in the life of the Church. Even on the (many) days I felt distant, distracted, or weak, God’s love never left me. Those struggles themselves have been part of His grace, teaching me patience, humility, and trust.

I began this journey at the end of June 2024 and, despite some bumps and hiccups along the way, have now reached an end of sorts. For those who have read or followed this online journal, please forgive my sometimes incoherent rambling, as well as my occasional lack of understanding. I am a simple man who loves God, with a finite mind attempting to touch the Divine the best I can. If you find anything useful here for your own journey, that pleases me. I stand by the recommendations I made back in January for anyone else on this journey, except I'd add Vol III as well.

As I finish this journey, my prayer is simple: let love be what I see, what I say, and what I do. Let it guide my thoughts, my actions, my heart. May everything I have learned become not just knowledge, but my life as a Catholic.

Amen.

Something more I'd like to add is my deepest gratitude to Fr. Mike Schmitz and the Ascension Press team. Their work, building on what St. John Paul II and his team began, has made this second go-round very rewarding.

Finally, what's next? The journey is never really over, as I will go back to the Catechism to mine it for more insights and expand into other readings. I probably won't blog daily on this, but next on my list is re-reading St. Augustine's Confessions using the Catholic Classics podcast with Frs. Gregory Pine and Jacob Bertrand Janczyk, followed by Bible in a Year podcast and then Rosary in a Year. After all these, who knows?

God bless.

Day 365: So Be It

By the final "Amen," we express our "fiat" concerning the seven petitions: "So be it". CCC 2865

In this final day's readings from the Catechism, it most appropriately finishes this journey with an In Brief reviewing what has been covered on the Seven Petitions of the Lord's Prayer over the past few days. 

The Catechism Compendium uses a good quote from that saintly Doctor of the Church, Cyril of Jerusalem, to finish out:

“At the end of the prayer, you say ‘Amen’ and thus you ratify by this word that means ‘so be it’ all that is contained in this prayer that God has taught us.” (St.  Cyril of Jerusalem) (#598)

The Catechism Companion Vol III has a final good commentary on this:

We pray these petitions out of a desire for God's name to be known, loved, and adored... By asking for what we need, we show a childlike trust in God as a Father who provides what is good for us. In praying "Amen," we are assenting to the plan of God to save us from sin. Studying the Catechism is meant to bring about a conversion in how we see God, worship him, live out our faith, and pray. We do not study the Catechism for information but for transformation. We have to apply its wisdom to our lives for it to have a meaningful impact... The transformative journey of faith is a response to the understanding that we matter to God. We each have profound worth and importance in the eyes of God. (p. 246)

And thus, the official program with Fr. Mike Schmitz comes to an end. I will be wrapping up my final thoughts on this journey tomorrow. God bless.

Day 364: Deliver Us From Evil

When we ask to be delivered from the Evil One, we pray as well to be freed from all evils, present, past, and future, of which he is the author or instigator. In this final petition, the Church brings before the Father all the distress of the world. Along with deliverance from the evils that overwhelm humanity, she implores the precious gift of peace and the grace of perseverance in expectation of Christ's return By praying in this way, she anticipates in humility of faith the gathering together of everyone and everything in him who has "the keys of Death and Hades," who "is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." CCC 2854

In today's reading, the Catechism discusses the final petitions of the Lord's Prayer in asking God to spare us from the evils of Satan, the Great Deceiver. In this, we ask for the grace to resist evil and persevere, for "God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one" (Jas 1:13).

The Catechism Compendium summarizes what “Lead us not into temptation” means and why we conclude by asking “But deliver us from evil”:

We ask God our Father not to leave us alone and in the power of temptation. We ask the Holy Spirit to help us know how to discern, on the one hand, between a trial that makes us grow in goodness and a temptation that leads to sin and death, and, on the other hand, between being tempted and consenting to temptation. This petition unites us to Jesus, who overcame temptation by his prayer. It requests the grace of vigilance and of final perseverance. “Evil” indicates the person of Satan who opposes God and is “the deceiver of the whole world” (Rev 12:9). Victory over the devil has already been won by Christ. We pray, however, that the human family be freed from Satan and his works. We also ask for the precious gift of peace and the grace of perseverance as we wait for the coming of Christ, who will free us definitively from the Evil One. (#596-97)

The Catechism Companion Vol III has some good commentary on this:

This petition seeks the Spirit of discernment and strength. If we are not challenged, we cannot grow. We have to face some kind of opposition in order to become stronger... God wants us to freely choose the good... It is good to pray daily for the grace of final perseverance - the grace to say yes to God with our last breath. The petition "Deliver us from evil" refers not only to avoiding temptation but also to being delivered from the Evil One, Satan. Jesus defeated the Devil when he died and rose again. (p. 244)

Tomorrow is the last day in this program. I'm going to add one more day after that for my final thoughts on this journey.

Day 363: Forgive Us Our Trepasses

This petition is so important that it is the only one to which the Lord returns and which he develops explicitly in the Sermon on the Mount. This crucial requirement of the covenant mystery is impossible for man. But "with God all things are possible. CCC 2841

In today's reading, the Catechism discusses the next petition of the Lord's Prayer: "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." Interestingly, I hadn't noticed the connection between the two in the Lord's Prayer that are conditioned upon each other. I guess this is one of those things that is right there in "black and white" but unless you are looking for it can miss one's attention. Christ even explains immediately afterwards that unless we forgive others that the Father will not forgive us (Mt 6:14-15). He further stresses that our forgiveness must be limitless (Mt 18:21-22), just as that of God for us, and He also gives the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (Mt 18:23-45). So I guess I should say, "duh". It's pretty clear what Scripture teaches that is echoed in the Lord's Prayer: our forgiveness from God is conditioned not only by our faith, but also by our forgiveness of others who sin against us.  

The Catechism Compendium summarizes why we say “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” and how forgiveness is possible:

By asking God the Father to pardon us, we acknowledge before him that we are sinners. At the same time, we proclaim his mercy because in his Son and through the sacraments “we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col 1:14). Still, our petition will be answered only if we, for our part, have forgiven first. Mercy can penetrate our hearts only if we ourselves learn how to forgive – even our enemies. Now, even if it seems impossible for us to satisfy this requirement, the heart that offers itself to the Holy Spirit can, like Christ, love even to love’s extreme; it can turn injury into compassion and transform hurt into intercession. Forgiveness participates in the divine mercy and is a high-point of Christian prayer. (#594-95)

The Catechism Companion Vol III has some good commentary on this:

We live in this world that is so broken, and we are so quick to hurt each other. In asking for forgiveness, we are acknowledging our own shortcomings and failures. We admit that we have fallen short... It is true that we sin and fail. But it is false to say that we are not good. The whole truth is that we are broken and sinful but essentially good, and we are loved. Asking God to forgive our trespasses is not only an acknowledgement of our sins but a proclamation of God's merciful willingness to heal and forgive. We have to see that we have sinned and that we have a Savior who loves us... Forgiveness - love -overcomes evil. We see that love depicted on every crucifix. (p. 242) 

Day 362: Our Daily Bread

"Give us": the trust of children who look to their Father for everything is beautiful. "He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." He gives to all the living "their food in due season." Jesus teaches us this petition because it glorifies our Father by acknowledging how good he is, beyond all goodness. CCC 2828

In today's reading, the Catechism discusses the next line in the Our Father prayer: "Give us this day our daily bread". In praying this, as children of God, we ask in complete trust of the Father for our daily needs and also the grace to give to others for their needs whenever possible. Finally, we can see our need for the Word of God fulfilled in this petition, as well as reception of the Holy Eucharist, which fills us with His Body and Blood for our daily needs.

The Catechism Compendium summarizes what specifically is the Christian sense of this petition:

Since “man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4), this petition equally applies to hunger for the Word of God and for the Body of Christ received in the Eucharist as well as hunger for the Holy Spirit. We ask this with complete confidence for this day – God’s “today” – and this is given to us above all in the Eucharist, which anticipates the banquet of the Kingdom to come. (#593)

The Catechism Companion Vol III has some good commentary on this:

Asking God for anything, even if the answer is no, is an act of acknowledging that God is good. We should come before God with our needs and not avoid prayer due to a fear of seeming selfish. Jesus ' teachings stress relying on God's care as his children. By faith, we are set free from anxiety. We have a responsibility to help others with their needs, reflecting a heart like the Father's... The fourth petition of the Our Father extends beyond physical needs to desiring the Word of God. It stresses our responsibility for bringing others the Gospel... Both Catholics and non-Catholic Christians should recognize the significance of praying for the Eucharist in the Lord's Prayer and allow this realization to deepen their desire for communion with Jesus. (p. 240)

Day 361: The Kingdom and Will of God

By prayer, we can discern "what is the will of God" and obtain the endurance to do it.108 Jesus teaches us that one enters the kingdom of heaven not by speaking words, but by doing "the will of my Father in heaven." CCC 2826

In today's reading, the Catechism discusses the next parts of the Lord's Prayer, that is, "thy kingdom come, thy will be done." For the first part, we pray for the Lord Christ's return in glory and the final victory of His Kingdom. We also pray that while we tarry here on earth, the increase of those who come to know Him and greater sanctification of His own through the spread of the Gospel, as well as commitment to justice, peace, and following the Beatitudes. Marana tha (Rev 22:20)! For the second part, that is the most challenging for us: following the will of the Father. Christ ultimately is our model in doing so, but so are the Blessed Theotokos and the holy saints.

The Catechism Compendium summarizes why we pray “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”:

The will of the Father is that “all men be saved” (1 Tim 2:4). For this, Jesus came: to perfectly fulfill the saving will of his Father. We pray God our Father to unite our will to that of his Son after the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints. We ask that this loving plan be fully realized on earth as it is already in heaven. It is through prayer that we can discern “what is the will of God” (Rom 12:2) and have the “steadfastness to do it” (Heb 10:36). (#591)

The Catechism Companion Vol III has some good commentary on this:

The Eucharist is more than a worship service, praise, or gathering; it is where the Kingdom is particularly present, and God's reign is acknowledged... Our call to live forever in heaven underscores that we must work for righteousness in the world... As humans, we cannot, on our own, completely join our will with God's... There is a distinction between recognizing what God wants and having the perseverance to act on it. Both are needed to live out the Christian life. We should pray for the wisdom to know what God wants, the courage to start doing it. and the perseverance to continue doing it with the help of God's grace. (p. 238)

Day 360: Hallowing God's Name

In the decisive moments of his economy, God reveals his name, but he does so by accomplishing his work. This work, then, is realized for us and in us only if his name is hallowed by us and in us. CCC 2808

In today's reading, the Catechism discusses what hallowing god's name is in the "Hallowed be thy Name" part of the Lord's Prayer. Man cannot "hallow" God, that is, make His Name holy, for He is the Creator and is quintessentially holy by His very nature. With Moses He revealed His name, essentially desiring the Ancient Israelites to be His people. 

The Catechism Compendium summarizes how the Name of God is made holy in us and in the world:

To make holy the Name of God, who calls us “to holiness” (1 Thess 4:7), is to desire that our baptismal consecration animate our whole life. In addition, it is to ask –with our lives and our prayers – that the Name of God be known and blessed by every man. (#589)

The Catechism Companion III has some good commentary on this:

The first petition of the Lord's Prayer acknowledges the holiness of God's name. The petition is presented expressing our yearning and what we look for. This petition plunges us into what God is and how he saves us. The revelation of God's name is a slow process in the Bible and salvation history. There is an inseparable connection between God's name and his acts. What he does is accomplished in us only if we revere and keep holy his name... We are meant to reveal the name of God through our words and deeds.(p. 236)