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Fr. Mike begins his examination of the Paschal Mystery of Christ’s passion, death, and ultimate Resurrection. He emphasizes that all of Scripture points to this Paschal Mystery, and that through our faith, we can try to examine the circumstances of Jesus’ life to fully understand our own redemption. We also explore Jesus’ relationship with Israel and our own relationship with our Jewish forefathers. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 571-576.
This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB.
For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy
Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
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 81,
we're reading paragraphs 571 to 576, we're in a new section. The new section is Article 4,
which is Jesus Christ's suffered under Pontius Pilate, who's crucified, died and was
buried, we're entering into the mystery of Christ's passion and death. But before we get started,
I want to remind you that I'm using the ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes
the foundations of faith approach, but you can use any recent version. You know any official
version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church? You can also download your Catechism in a year
reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash cyy and lastly, you can. I don't know if I
mentioned this yesterday. Did I forget to mention that you can click follow or subscribe in this
podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications? I have the sense that I might have forgotten.
I don't know and that's I'm bothered. I couldn't sleep at all last night thinking about the
fact that I might have forgotten to let you know that you can click follow. You can click subscribe
in order to follow in order to subscribe. It's day 81. As I said, paragraphs 571 to 576.
Last few days, we've been talking about the mysteries of Christ's life, right? Everything from
the prophecy of his birth to his infancy, to his hidden life, to the public ministry,
all the way up to this moment where we're going to dive deeply into the mystery of his suffering
and his crucifixion and his death and his burial. I mean, you know, we're going to get to this place,
but what is it to say that Christ descended into hell? Because we're going to say that at some point,
what is it to say that he suffered under Pontius Pilate? You know, we're going to highlight this
today. paragraph 571 highlights it very, very clearly. It says the Paschal mystery. So when we talk
about Paschal mystery, think of it in this term, like Passover, right? So the Passion of Jesus,
these are words that they don't all mean the same thing, but they all kind of reference the same
reality. And so they all come from the same root, right? So we have this reality that the Paschal
mystery of Christ's cross and resurrection. If you want to know what the Paschal mystery is,
it is the mystery of Christ's suffering death and resurrection. That's the Paschal mystery.
So the Paschal mystery of Christ's cross and resurrection, paragraph 571 says,
stands at the center of the good news. The Paschal mystery, Christ's cross and resurrection,
stand at the center of the good news. Not only this, stand at the center of the good news,
the apostles and the church after the apostles are to proclaim to the world that we know this.
God's saving plan was accomplished once for all by the redemptive death of his son, Jesus Christ.
That's where we're going to highlight. And we're also going to highlight in paragraph 572
that were faithful to the interpretation of all the scriptures that Jesus gave both before
and after his Passover when we, you know, on the road to Emmaus, he's talking to those, the couple
that they don't recognize that it's Jesus. And they're downcast, they're heartbroken because
they thought they had hoped that Jesus would be the one to restore Israel. And Jesus says,
was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?
So we recognize that Jesus is suffering his death and ultimately his resurrection.
They take their historical concrete form from the fact that he was rejected by the elders
and that she priests and the scribes who handed him over to Gentiles, right? The Romans
to be scourged and mocked and crucified. Now in this, we also have paragraph 574 to 576.
We're going to talk about Jesus and Israel. And it's very important for us to never forget
that Jesus was Jewish, right? That also the whole Old Testament is the story of how God lovingly
and faithfully chose the Jewish people as his own, as the first born, right? He chose the Jewish
people and entered into covenant with them in a powerful and remarkable way. Again,
that Jesus is the fulfillment of all of the Old Testament. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Jewish
religion. So it's not a distinction of like, well, are you Christian or Jewish? Well, now in this case,
right? There's this distinction. But we remember from the very beginning, all of those early
Christians, they simply saw themselves as this is the fulfillment of everything we've been praying for,
hoping for, waiting for. Everything we've been promised here is now in Jesus. So they did not
necessarily see themselves as a new religion at all. What they saw themselves is this is the
fulfillment of everything that God has done because God has done this. And so, you know, we're going
to talk about here, paragraphs 574 to 576. Jesus and Israel, we recognize that there has been a
tense relationship at times between Jews and Christians. But we want to do our best as we're
walking through this catechism to have a good understanding of what their relationship really is.
What that relationship ultimately could be for us as well. So just keep that in mind as we can move
forward. As we start this day, let's start this. Yeah, this episode, let's continue to pray with
pray Father in heaven. We give you praise and glory. Thank you so much for the gift of your son.
Thank you so much for the Jewish people. We praise you and glorify you. We thank you for the
giving us the Hebrew scriptures, the Old Testament. Thank you for calling us into a relationship with
your son, Jesus Christ, through baptism and giving us your Holy Spirit and making us into your sons
and daughters. Father, send your Holy Spirit right now so that we can hear your wisdom, hear the truth
and say yes to it with all of our hearts. 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 is day 81. We're reading paragraphs 571 to 576.
Article 4 Jesus Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
The Paschal mystery of Christ's cross and resurrection stands at the center of the good news that the
apostles and the church following them are to proclaim to the world. God's saving plan was
accomplished once for all by the redemptive death of his son, Jesus Christ. The church remains
faithful to the interpretation of all the scriptures that Jesus gave both before and after his Passover.
See himself said, was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his
glory? Jesus' sufferings took their historical concrete form from the fact that he was rejected by
the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, who handed him to the Gentiles to be mocked and
scourged and crucified. Faith can therefore try to examine the circumstances of Jesus' death,
faithfully handed on by the gospels and illuminated by other historical sources, the better to understand
the meaning of the redemption. Paragraph 1 Jesus and Israel
From the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, certain Pharisees and partisans of Herod together
with priests and scribes agreed together to destroy him because of certain of his acts,
expelling demons, forgiving sins, healing on the Sabbath day, his novel interpretation of the
precepts of the law regarding purity and his familiarity with tax collectors and public sinners,
some ill-intentioned persons suspected Jesus of demonic possession. He is accused of blasphemy
and false prophecy, religious crimes which the law punished with death by stoning.
Many of Jesus' deeds and words constituted a sign of contradiction, but more so for the religious
authorities in Jerusalem whom the gospel according to John often calls simply the Jews than for
ordinary people of God. To be sure, Christ's relations with the Pharisees were not exclusively
polemical. Some Pharisees warned him of the danger he was courting. Jesus praises some of them,
like the scribe of Mark 12, verse 34, and dines several times at their homes.
Jesus endorses some of the teachings imparted by this religious elite of God's people,
for example, the resurrection of the dead, certain forms of piety, like almsgiving,
fasting and prayer, the custom of addressing God as Father and the centrality of the
commandment to love God and a neighbor. In the eyes of many in Israel, Jesus seems to be acting
against essential institutions of the chosen people, for example, first, submission to the whole
of the law in its written commandments and for the Pharisees the interpretation of oral traditions.
Second, the centrality of the temple at Jerusalem as the holy place where God's presence
dwells in a special way, and third, faith in the one God whose glory no man can share.
Okay, so here we are, and entering into the mystery, right? The mystery of Christ's suffering
is death and is burial, and in order to enter into this, the church begins once again in this article
for by just kind of giving us a reset, and that reset is, okay, Christ's death, his mystery of his
cross and resurrection, is the center of the good news, is the central mystery of the good news.
Remember that every part of Jesus' life not only reveals the mystery of his life, and
teaching wants to give us, every part of his life is part of that redemptive work of God.
But of course, the paramount, the preeminent work of redemption occurs in his
paschal mystery, in the passion, death, and ultimately, resurrection of Jesus. And we have to
continually, others, we have to continually proclaim this over and over again.
Now, because the church remains faithful to the interpretation of all the sicker's scriptures,
we realize that all of the Old Testament truly does, in some mysterious way, point to the life
and the passion, the death, and ultimately, resurrection of Jesus. This helps us to understand
what is the happened. Now, paragraph 573, that's a summary of vives into 1572.
paragraph 573 says, faith can therefore, because all these things, right? Faith can therefore
try to examine the circumstances of Jesus' death, faithfully handed on by the Gospels,
and illuminated by other historical sources, the better to understand the meaning of the redemption.
So again, since the paschal mystery stands at the center of the Christian mystery, right,
the mystery of our redemption, and since so much, you know, all the scripture points to this,
all that the law in the prophets had foretold Jesus fulfills. Because of this, our faith can
try to examine the circumstances of Jesus' life and find out even more depths, even more
richness of what is truly happening in the meaning of our redemption. So then that's kind of the
golf ball on the tee, and then we start launching into this. In paragraph 574 to 576 talks about,
again, as I said at the beginning of this, the relationship between Jesus and Israel,
and it says from the basically beginning of Jesus' public ministry, there were certain Pharisees
and partisans of Herod together with priests and scribes that agreed together to destroy him.
Now, this is limited. This wasn't everybody. This wasn't also the Jews in the sense of like
all Jewish people. Remember, how many thousands of Jews came out to hear Jesus as teaching thousands
came out to be fed by him, thousands came out to be healed by him, hundreds were his disciples,
and we have, of course, the core of the apostles, those all of them were Jewish. And so to recognize
that there were some who rejected some of them, especially some of the elite who rejected Jesus,
and there's some reasons why, right? Some of them say that the reasons why were, well, they
some ill intentioned persons that says in paragraph 554, suspected Jesus of demonic possession,
because he's doing incredible things, expelling demons. He's forgiving sins, claiming to forgive sins,
and doing it. He's healing on the Sabbath day. He is a novel interpretation of the precepts of
the law regarding purity. He's familiar with tax collectors and public sinners that gave rise
to some people saying, well, he has to be. He has power. So maybe that power must come from somewhere
else, right? This conclusion that some of the religious authorities came to know, not all of the
religious authorities. But again, paragraph 555 said this, Jesus is a sign of contradiction.
He's a sign of contradiction. And so there were some religious authorities, remember,
scribes and Pharisees who rejected him. But there were many who did not. Some warned him of the
danger that he was courting. Jesus praised some of them. He dined several times at their homes.
He endorses some of the teachings imparted by the religious elite as it says in paragraph 575.
And there's something that's very core. Jesus is a Jewish rabbi. Keep this in mind. Jesus,
again, divine person with a human and divine nature is a Jewish rabbi. He is teaching in this line
of teachers. At the same time, he has unique authority, has unique teaching. And this is remarkable.
Now, it's worthwhile to note what the Catechism points out in paragraph the last paragraph for today.
This is the last thing. paragraph 576 says this, in the eyes of many in Israel, Jesus seems to be
acting against the essential institutions of the chosen people. I want to emphasize the word
seems to be because these next three things, for example, submission to the whole law in its
written commandments and for the Pharisees' interpretation of the oral tradition. Remember,
the Pharisees had this whole other, they did not just follow all the, tried to follow all the
commandments written down in the Bible, but also the oral tradition tried to follow all of those
as well. Secondly, the centrality of the temple at Jerusalem as the holy place where God's
presence dwells in a special way. Thirdly, faith in the one God who's glory, no man can share.
So keep this in mind. Jesus, by and large, I mean, you're pretty safe to say that he would
uphold virtually all of those. Yes, there are sometimes when Jesus is saying like, you know, you
have rejected the tradition or the teaching of the Lord, further traditions of men, though
we some of those oral traditions, but by and large, Jesus, he was not rejecting the whole of the
law. He's not rejecting the law. In fact, he even says that not a speck of the law essentially
will be done away with anyone who rejects the law and teaches others to reject it. That's a
bad deal. So Jesus, yes, he upheld the law in a unique but also, according to what he knew
as truth because he is the truth. Secondly, the centrality of the temple at Jerusalem, of course,
Jesus recognized that God's presence 12th in the temple in a unique way. But also he realized,
I mean, he realized, and he taught that he was greater than the temple, which is not not wrong.
And yet he did not reject the centrality of the temple. He just knew there was something
greater than the temple. And lastly, faith in the one God who's glory, no man can share.
Absolutely right. But here is Jesus who is fully man, but it's also fully God. And so
there's a lot that hangs on that word seems in paragraph 576. Jesus seems to be acting against
essential institutions of the chosen people. Is he? Well, I don't think so. I don't think so.
But he seems to be because of this. There's this rejection because of this. There is this hostility
and ultimately because of this, there's a hand him over to the Gentiles. Now, for all of us today,
as we can finish today's reading, one of the things we get to do is we get to ask about ourselves
is what is our perspective on Jesus's origins? When I mean by Jesus's origins, I mean his human
origins. What is our perspective on the Jewish people? In our perspective, we will talk about this
more as we go further. Our perspective is of gratitude. Our perspective is that we would not have
Jesus without the Jewish people that in so many ways, we, I think it was Pope Pius VI who said,
spiritually, we are all semites. Like spiritually, we're all Jewish. And that's not meant to be
claiming something that doesn't belong to us. That's not meant to be diminishing someone else.
What is meant to be is the fact that we owe the Jewish people. And what God has done in the Jewish
people is the life of history of Israel. We owe them more than we can never repay. And so we constantly
pray for the Jewish people. We constantly pray gratitude to the Lord for the Jewish people.
We also pray that Jesus, who was Jewish, the apostles, who were Jewish? We pray that our brothers
and sisters now who are Jewish. Again, not brothers and sisters and baptism yet, but our brothers
and sisters and humanity who are Jewish. We pray that they come to know the truth of who Jesus is as
well. That they come to that place of being able to say yes to Jesus with their whole heart,
mind, soul, and strength. Because Jesus is the is the fulfillment of everything in the Old Testament.
And so we pray for for our friends, our older brothers and sisters, the children of Abraham,
we pray for them and ask the Lord to enlighten their minds and lighten their eyes so they can see
the Lord. They can know him and they can love him with their whole heart just like we ask God
to open our eyes so we can see him, our minds we can know him and our hearts we can love him even
better. Let's pray for them, our friends, let's pray for those people who are among us,
who God loves so much and wants to embrace them and adopt them as His own through baptism as well.
Let's pray for each other as well. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike.
I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.
The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
