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[00:06] I'm 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, this is day 112, we're reading paragraphs 792 to 796. As always, I'm reading from 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. You can also download your own Catechism in a Year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com/ciy. And lastly, you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. Today is day 112, we're reading paragraphs 792 to 796. Yesterday, we talked about how the Church essentially is one body. The Church is the body of Christ. And today, we're going to continue to talk about that, how Christ is the head of this body. Yesterday, we ended by talking about how all believers are united, that even though we're diverse, even though the Holy Spirit's gifts are diverse, since the Holy Spirit is one, therefore, the Church is one. Now, today, we're emphasizing even more powerfully, I guess, that Christ is the head of this body. And that's so, so important because he unites us with him in his Passover, that's paragraph 793. Christ provides for our growth, right? So the head provides for the growth of the body, and that's 794. And then also in paragraph 795, Christ and his Church make up the whole Christ. And that's something really, really important to recognize, that yes, the head, that's truly Jesus, and the body, that's truly Christ, of course. But there's this reality that the most profound depths of who or what essentially the body of Christ is, is head and body united, that's the whole Christ. In fact, in paragraph 795, we're gonna have a number of different quotes from different saints. We have a quote from St. Augustine, and a quote from Pope St. Gregory the Great, as well as a quote from St. Thomas Aquinas, and a quote from St. Joan of Arc. So paragraph 795, we'll have a bunch of quotes that are incredible. And then in paragraph 796, the last paragraph today, it's kind of a longer one, but we'll talk about how the Church is the Bride of Christ. We've referenced that in the past, but I think it's important to recognize that, as paragraph 796 states, the Lord God himself prepared for his people to recognize that his people would be considered his bride. I mean, think about how in the Old Testament, idolatry was akin to adultery, right? To turn away from this covenant relationship with the Lord God was akin to adultery. And so, it makes sense that here is Jesus, the bridegroom, and here is the Church, the bride. Therefore, when we're faithful, we're living this faithful covenantal relationship. And when we're unfaithful, it's not just kind of like, oh, we slipped up. It is that depth of, I guess you might even say it, of personal betrayal against our bridegroom. Because since we are his bride, if that makes any sense, today, we have these two images, Christ, the head of the body, the body of Christ as the Church, and the Church as the bride of Christ. We're praying about that, talking about that today, reflecting on that today. So let's say a prayer. Father in heaven, we praise you and give you glory in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ. We ask you to please receive our praise, receive our thanksgiving. And also, Lord God, hear our prayers. Hear our prayers as a broken body. Hear our prayers as a hurting body. Hear our prayers as your bride, who so often, we have fickle hearts so often, we don't live as your faithful bride. And yet you keep calling us back to yourself. You keep being a faithful bridegroom. You keep being a faithful God and Father, brother and lover. We thank you so much, God. Thank you so much for loving us and for being faithful, even when we are not. Help us to choose you this day and every day of our lives in Jesus name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. As I've said a couple of times now, it is day 112, we're reading paragraphs 792 to 796. Christ is the head of this body. Christ is the head of the body, the Church. He is the principle of creation and redemption. Raised to the Father's glory in everything, he is preeminent, especially in the Church, through whom he extends his reign over all things. Christ unites us with his Passover. All his members must strive to resemble him until Christ be formed in them. For this reason, we are taken up into the mysteries of his life associated with his sufferings as the body with its head, suffering with him, that with him we may be glorified. Christ provides for our growth. To make us grow toward him our head, he provides in his body the Church, the gifts and assistance by which we help one another along the way of salvation. Christ and his Church thus together make up the whole Christ, Christus Totus. The Church is one with Christ. The Saints are acutely aware of this unity. St. Augustine once wrote, Let us rejoice then, and give thanks, that we have become not only Christians, but Christ himself. Do you understand and grasp, brethren, God's grace toward us? Marvel and rejoice, we have become Christ. For if he is the head, we are the members. He and we together are the whole man. The fullness of Christ, then, is the head and the members. But what does head and members mean? Christ and the Church. St. Gregory the Great said, Our Redeemer has shown himself to be one person with the Holy Church whom he has taken to himself. St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, Head and members form as it were one and the same mystical person. A reply of St. Joan of Arc to her judges sums up the faith of the Holy Doctors and the good sense of the believer when she said, About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know, they're just one thing, and we shouldn't complicate the matter. The Church is the Bride of Christ. The unity of Christ and the Church, head and members of one body, also implies the distinction of the two within a personal relationship. This aspect is often expressed by the image of bridegroom and bride. The theme of Christ as bridegroom of the Church was prepared for by the prophets and announced by John the Baptist. The Lord referred to himself as the bridegroom. The Apostle speaks of the whole Church and of each of the faithful members of his body as a bride betrothed to Christ the Lord so as to become but one spirit with him. The Church is the spotless bride of the spotless lamb. Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her. He has joined her with himself in an everlasting covenant and never stops caring for her as for his own body. St. Augustine wrote, This is the whole Christ, head and body, one formed from many. Whether the head or members speak, it is Christ who speaks. He speaks in his role as the head, expersona capitis, and in his role as body, expersona corporeis. What does this mean? The two will become one flesh. This is a great mystery and I am applying it to Christ and the Church. And the Lord himself says in the Gospel, So they are no longer two, but one flesh. They are, in fact, two different persons, yet they are one in the conjugal union. As head, he calls himself the bridegroom. As body, he calls himself bride. Okay, so there we are, paragraphs 792 to 796. Again, just let's finish up this, this recognition of Christ as the head of this body. There is something so powerful. I love this paragraph 792, where it says that, of course, Jesus is the principle of creation. He's a principle of redemption, raised to the Father glory in everything. He is preeminent. Of course, that is, you know, quoting scriptures, quoting Colossians Chapter 1, verse 18. In everything he is preeminent. It goes on to say, especially in the church, through whom he extends his reign over all things. Why is that the case? Let's just highlight this for one second. It says, of course, raised to the Father's glory, Jesus in everything is preeminent. But then it goes on to say, especially in the church, through whom he extends his reign over all things. Well, because remember what Jesus announced, especially in Matthew's Gospel. In Matthew's Gospel, the refrain Jesus constantly, constantly is proclaiming is, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. What is that? That's the reign of God is at hand. How does the grace of Jesus Christ that he won for us in his life, death and resurrection come to us? Well, it comes to us through his church. It comes to us through his body on earth. It comes to us through the Holy Spirit that he's given to us to become that body of Christ on earth. And so, in everything Jesus is preeminent, especially in his church, through whom he extends his reign over all things. So, as often as the church continues to grow and continues to bring God's grace to the world, Christ's preeminence, right, his reigning is made present. It's made real on this earth. And so, that's the reason. That's what's so important that we're talking about the church as the body of Christ. We go on to say in paragraph 793, Christ unites us with his Passover. And this is the challenge, oh my gosh. All his members must strive to resemble him until Christ be formed in them. And it goes on to say, For this reason, we are taken up into the mysteries of his life, associated with his sufferings as the body with its head, suffering with him, that we may be glorified. And that is, wow, what a massive call. That, again, our lives need to be patterned after the life of Jesus. And again, not to say we have to all live in Middle East, but it is to say, we have to live those virtues that he lived. We have to have the same kind of heart that Jesus had. We have to unite our sufferings with him. Because here is the body of Christ. When we suffer, it gives God glory, right? It does. This is the mystery here. We're going to talk about the mystery of suffering later on. But today we can recognize, once again, remember, Jesus Christ accomplished the salvation of the world through his suffering, and through dying, and through conquering death, through his resurrection. If we're the body of Christ, then of course we would suffer with him. Of course, we've experienced glory with him as well. But, you know, it's often been said, no cross, no crown, right? There's no glorification, no resurrection, unless there's a suffering, unless there's that death. And we're called, if we're members of his body, to not just say, I belong to this institution, the Church. What we're called to do is enter into his life, death, and resurrection in our lives. It's just incredible. And, paragraph 794, we don't do this on our own. It says, Christ provides for our growth, right? To make us grow toward him, our head, he provides in his body, the Church, the gifts and assistance by which we help one another along the way of salvation. Again, so, so important for us to recognize that here is this massive call, not just, I'm members of the club, you know, I'm part of the Church, that's not it. It's, I've been brought into this relationship where we have been configured to Jesus so fully that we've not just made Christians, as St. Augustine says in Paragraph 795, we're not just made Christians, in this mysterious way we've been made Christ himself. Again, this is so incredible that going all the way back, you know, to the early centuries of Christianity, here are those first Christians that saw an unbreakable and indispensable union between belonging to Christ and belonging to the Church. I love the fact that they included a quote from St. Joan of Arc here in Paragraph 795, it's the last quote of Paragraph 795, because, you know, St. Joan of Arc's story is that she was on trial by, like, Church officials, Church officials and government officials, it was all a mix, it was all a mess, and that's why I love the fact that they included this, because we recognize that, you know, the Church is not guiltless, right? Yes, the Church is the Bride of Christ, we're going to talk about that in a second, Church is the Body of Christ, of course, and those who hear the Church hear Jesus Christ, we know this, at the same time, there has been some great messiness in the Church, and here is St. Joan of Arc, who is on this, you know, quasi-Church trial, quasi-civil trial, and she's being investigated, examined, cross-examined, and they asked her about the Church and Jesus, and I love it she said this, again, in this moment where, here's this woman who's being unjustly tried by this unjust Church court at the moment, and she says, about Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they're just one thing, and we shouldn't complicate the matter. There's something so simple about that, but also so powerful, and especially for anyone who's ever been hurt by members of the Church, or even been hurt by the institution of the Church, to be able to have that same kind of faith as Joan of Arc, as she's facing execution and death, she's still able to simply declare about Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they're just one thing, and we shouldn't complicate the matter. What a great witness to faith because, man, at the cost of her own life, but she still recognized that even when the Church is broken, the Church is still the body of Christ and the bride of Christ. And this is so powerful and beautiful. Paragraph 796, this is kind of the last stuff we're gonna talk about. I love how paragraph 796 highlights that the theme of Christ as bridegroom of the Church was prepared for by the prophets and announced by John the Baptist. As I mentioned at the beginning of this episode, go back to the ancient prophets. Why did they talk about the relationship between the Covenant People of God and God himself was that relationship of marriage? Think about the Book of the Prophet Hosea. Hosea would talk about how he married Gomer, that prostitute who was unfaithful to him, but she was still his bride and he was still her groom. And so that's laying the foundation. Of course, John the Baptist and then the Lord himself referred to himself as the bridegroom. And then the apostle, that's Paul. Whenever you hear the term the apostle, that means Paul. He speaks of the whole Church and of each of the faithful members of his body as a bride betrothed to Christ the Lord, so as to become but one spirit with him. Of course, later on in Ephesians chapter 5, St. Paul says, Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her so that he might sanctify her, that she's that spotless bride of the spotless lamb. It was just so, so important and so incredible for us. Because why? Because we can maintain, this is the last thing, I apologize, we can maintain, again, an argument for the veracity or the truthfulness, the reality of the Institutional Church and yes, of course, we can do that. But let's kind of get past that for just even one second. Maybe you can say, Fr Mike, you get past that for one second. Okay, here I am getting past it for one second. You can get past that for one second and recognize the depth to which God himself loves you by calling you and me more deeply into his Church, which is the call of love, the call to be even more conformed to him as his body, and the call to allow ourselves to be loved by him as his bride. That truly, as St. Paul said, he's loved us and poured himself out for us as a bridegroom laying down his life for his bride. And that's you and that's me and that's right now. And so in this moment, I just invite all of us once again to just recognize, oh my goodness, Lord, as you have made me a Christian, you, you made me another Christ, you've made me part of your body, but also you have betrothed yourself to me. Here is the Lord God who has chosen you out of all eternity, who has chosen you to be his bride and loves you with a unique and eternal and infinite and incredible love. And just we just ask God to help us receive that love today and to live in that love today. Let's pray for each other in that way. We are the body of Christ, we are the bride of Christ. And we pray for each other. Pray for each other as brothers and sisters, pray for each other as fellow travelers, pray for each other as fellow strugglers and sinners. I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Fr Mike, I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.