0:07 hi my name is father Mike Schmitz and
0:08 you're listening to the catechism in a
0:10 year podcast where we encounter God's
0:12 plan of sheer goodness for us revealed
0:13 in scripture and passed down through the
0:15 tradition of the Catholic faith the
0:16 catechism in year is brought to you by
0:19 Ascension in 365 days we'll read through
0:21 the catechism of the Catholic Church
0:23 discovering our identity in God's family
0:24 as we journey together toward our
0:26 Heavenly home this is day 213 we're
0:29 reading paragraphs 1554 1561 as always
0:31 I'm using the Ascension edition of the
0:32 catechism which includes the foundations
0:34 of Faith approach but you can follow
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0:53 today is day 2113 reading paragraphs
0:56 1554 to 1561 as I said um yesterday we
0:58 started talking not um yesterday just
1:00 yesterday yesterday we started we
1:02 continued yesterday talking about the
1:03 sacrament of holy orders and the
1:05 recognition that the ways in which the
1:08 priest represents Christ the head he
1:10 acts in Persona christe capitis also
1:12 he's been given a power but that power
1:14 is to serve and that's highly highly
1:16 important the priest continues to be
1:18 flawed the priest continues to be broken
1:20 in many ways but at the same time he's
1:22 given the spirit of God in a unique way
1:25 to act in Persona chrisy capitis in the
1:27 person of Christ the head now today
1:28 we're going on to talk about the begin
1:30 talking about the three degrees of the
1:32 sacrament of holy orders so the
1:34 episcopate the presbyterate and the
1:36 diaconate today we're just going to talk
1:39 about the episcopate the the B basically
1:41 being Bishops we're going to talk about
1:43 the fullness of the sacrament of holy
1:45 orders Episcopal ordination so the
1:48 bishop in the bishop he participates
1:51 fully in that one great High priesthood
1:53 of Jesus we're talk about that today
1:54 tomorrow we'll talk about the
1:57 presbyterate the next day the diaconate
2:01 but today fancy word episcopate and so
2:03 how the bishop participates in the
2:05 fullness of Christ's priesthood so let's
2:07 as we launch into today let us just
2:09 gather ourselves in the power of the
2:11 Holy Spirit the name of Jesus Christ and
2:12 present ourselves to God the father as
2:14 we pray Father in heaven we give you
2:16 praise and glory thank you thank you so
2:17 much for bringing us to this day thank
2:20 you for bringing us into your church and
2:22 for giving us the gift of holy orders
2:24 thank you for giving us the gift of our
2:26 local bishop and the universal Bishop
2:28 our Holy Father the pope we ask that you
2:32 please on this day please bless this man
2:34 in a powerful and unique way you've
2:36 called him to serve you've called him to
2:39 participate fully as fully as possible
2:42 in your great priesthood your high
2:44 priesthood please preserve and protect
2:48 him give him Zeal and love Lord God make
2:52 up for what he lacks and give him every
2:56 good gift that he can teach sanctify and
2:59 govern your church as you would teach
3:02 sanctify and govern your church we pray
3:05 for him and all Bishops in jesus' name
3:07 Amen in the name of the father and of
3:09 the son and of the holy spirit amen it
3:17 1561 The Three Degrees of the sacrament
3:20 of holy orders the divinely instituted
3:23 ecclesiastical Ministry is exercised in
3:25 different degrees by those who even from
3:27 ancient times have been called bishops
3:30 priests and deacons Catholic Doctrine
3:33 expressed in the Liturgy the magisterium
3:34 and the constant practice of the church
3:37 recognizes that there are two degrees of
3:38 ministerial participation in the
3:41 priesthood of Christ the episcopacy and
3:43 the presbyterate the diaconate is
3:46 intended to help and serve them for this
3:48 reason the term sacros in current usage
3:51 denotes Bishops and Priests but not
3:54 deacons yet Catholic Doctrine teaches
3:55 that the degrees of Priestly
3:56 participation episcopate and
3:59 presbyterate and the degree of service diaconate
4:00 diaconate
4:02 are all three conferred by a sacramental
4:04 act called ordination that is by the
4:06 sacrament of holy
4:09 orders as St Ignatius of Antioch wrote
4:12 let everyone rever the deacons as Jesus
4:14 Christ the bishop as the image of the
4:17 father and the presor as the Senate of
4:20 God and the Assembly of the Apostles for
4:23 without them one cannot speak of the
4:26 church Episcopal ordination fullness of
4:27 the sacrament of holy
4:30 orders amongst those various offices
4:31 which have been exercised in the church
4:34 from the earliest times the chief Place
4:36 according to the witness of tradition is
4:38 held by the function of those who
4:39 through their appointment to the dignity
4:41 and responsibility of Bishop and in
4:43 virtue consequently of The Unbroken
4:45 succession going back to the beginning
4:47 are regarded as transmitters of the
4:50 apostolic line to fulfill their exalted
4:52 Mission the apostles were endowed by
4:54 Christ with a special outpouring of the
4:56 Holy Spirit coming upon them and by the
4:58 imposition of hands they passed on to
5:01 their auxiliaries the gift of the spirit
5:03 which is transmitted down to our day
5:04 through Episcopal
5:06 consecration the second Vatican Council
5:08 teaches that the fullness of the
5:11 sacrament of holy orders is conferred by
5:13 Episcopal consecration that fullness
5:15 namely which both in the lurgical
5:16 tradition of the church and the language
5:19 of the fathers of the church is called
5:22 the high priesthood the ammi Suma of the Sacred
5:23 Sacred
5:26 Ministry Episcopal consecration confers
5:28 together with the office of sanctifying
5:31 also the offices of teaching and ruling
5:33 in fact by the imposition of hands and
5:35 through the words of the consecration
5:37 the grace of the holy spirit is given
5:39 and a sacred character is impressed in
5:41 such wise that Bishops in an eminent and
5:44 visible manner take the place of Christ
5:48 himself teacher Shepherd and priest and
5:51 act as his representative in Aus Persona
5:54 aant by virtue therefore of the Holy
5:56 Spirit who has been given to them
5:58 Bishops have been constituted true and
6:00 authentic teachers of the faith faith
6:02 and have been made pontiffs and pastors
6:04 one is constituted a member of the
6:06 Episcopal body in virtue of the
6:08 sacramental Consecration and by the
6:10 hierarchical communion with the head and
6:13 members of the college the character and
6:15 collegial nature of the Episcopal order
6:17 are evidenced among other ways by the
6:19 church's ancient practice which calls
6:20 for several Bishops to participate in
6:23 the consecration of a new bishop in our
6:25 day the lawful ordination of a bishop
6:27 requires a special intervention of the
6:30 bishop of Rome because he is is the
6:32 Supreme visible Bond of the communion of
6:33 the particular churches in the one
6:36 church and the guarantor of their
6:39 freedom as Christ's vicer each Bishop
6:41 has the pastoral care of the particular
6:43 Church entrusted to him but at the same
6:45 time he bears collegially with all his
6:47 brothers in the episcopacy the
6:50 solicitude for all the churches the wi
6:52 Bishop is the lawful Pastor only of the
6:54 portion of the flock entrusted to his
6:56 care as a legitimate successor of the
6:59 Apostles he is by Divine institution and
7:01 precept responsible with the other
7:04 Bishops for the apostolic mission of the
7:07 church the above considerations explain
7:08 why the Eucharist celebrated by the
7:11 bishop has a quite special significance
7:13 as an expression of the church gathered
7:15 around the altar with the one who
7:16 represents Christ the Good Shepherd and
7:19 head of his church
7:22 presiding right there we are day 213
7:26 paragraphs 1554 to 1561 just this is I
7:27 don't know I don't know if you're
7:29 approaching this like I'm approaching
7:31 this this is just just one of those as
7:33 we unpack the sacrament of holy orders
7:35 it is kind of kind of like anointing of
7:37 the sick maybe like matrimony coming up
7:40 soon one of those sacraments that maybe
7:41 you don't do a lot of thinking about
7:43 maybe I don't do a lot of thinking about
7:44 at least not in this particular way I
7:46 reflect on my own priesthood a lot but
7:48 not necessarily on here is the way in
7:52 which God has established established
7:54 his church in this in this way and also
7:57 these details that just I'm reminded of
7:58 many of the details some of them I I
8:00 learned at some point in school but I'm
8:02 reminded of them in such a way they just
8:04 kind of get my heart on fire a little
8:06 bit and just as an example you know in
8:08 paragraph 1554 it highlights that yeah
8:11 from ancient times this ecclesial
8:13 Ministry divinely instituted right God
8:17 did this is exercised in bishops priests
8:19 and deacons and so this recognition that
8:21 here are two degrees of ministerial
8:23 participation in the priesthood of
8:24 Christ the episcopacy and the
8:27 presbyterate so the two degrees of
8:29 participation in priesthood are the bishop
8:30 bishop
8:31 and the priest like that and then the
8:34 diaconate the deacons are intended to
8:36 help and serve them now why why why does
8:37 they set my heart on fire not because
8:40 I'm like yeah man I made it not that at
8:43 all it it just get starts doing
8:44 something because I start making these
8:47 connections and or just I'm reminded of
8:49 the connections between what I just read
8:52 here is these degrees of holy orders and
8:53 here's this participation in the
8:55 ministerial priesthood of Jesus Christ
8:57 and here's the call to service by going
9:00 back to the Bible and remember when the
9:03 tribe of Levi was made the priests
9:06 essentially it wasn't the entire tribe
9:08 that was called to serve at the altar it
9:11 was yeah some of the people those of the
9:14 household of Aaron they were going to be
9:15 the priests they were going to be the
9:18 ones who offer the sacrifice the other
9:20 Levites who had different degrees right
9:22 different families and some of them were
9:24 in charge of the vessels some of them
9:26 were in charge of the tent some of them
9:28 were in charge of service right so all
9:30 of these different degrees that were
9:31 there even in the old Covenant
9:33 priesthood and here we have in this new
9:35 covenant priesthood these different
9:36 degrees and it's just one of those
9:39 things just reminds me of wow even back
9:41 when God himself established the
9:43 levitical priesthood there were those
9:44 who would offer the sacrifice and there
9:46 were those who would serve those who are
9:49 offering the sacrifice and I just think
9:50 wow this is amazing you know just really
9:52 incredible I don't know if that's if
9:55 that's something exciting for you it is
9:57 very exciting for me just to recognize
10:00 that this is something something the
10:02 priesthood that Jesus Christ gives to us
10:05 the New Testament priesthood has its
10:09 root and seeds in the old Covenant and
10:11 this is the Fulfillment you know Jesus
10:13 is the absolute fulfillment but he gives
10:15 the priesthood to us to continue to
10:17 serve the church in fact as this quote
10:20 from St Ignatius of Antioch is is so
10:23 clear about now St Ignatius of Antioch
10:25 he died roughly around the year 107 1110
10:27 somewhere in there so right away I mean
10:29 this is St Ignatius anoch the tradition
10:32 says that he's a disciple of St polycarp
10:34 and St polycarp is a disciple of St John
10:36 the Evangelist so the one who wrote the
10:38 Gospel of John in the Book of Revelation
10:42 was taught polycarp who taught Ignatius
10:44 and here's what Ignatius says let
10:45 everyone rever the deacons as Jesus
10:47 Christ the bishop as the image of the
10:49 father and the presbyter as the Sant of
10:51 God in the Assembly of the Apostles okay
10:54 so you have deacons Bishop priests in
10:56 this last sentence he says for without
11:00 them one cannot speak of the church
11:03 this is kind of a big deal without them
11:04 one cannot speak of the church without
11:07 Bishop priest and Deacon you don't have
11:09 a church why because you need the bishop
11:10 priest and Deacon well you need to the
11:12 bishop and priest at least to have the
11:15 Eucharist you cannot speak of the church
11:18 without talking about the episcopacy the
11:19 presbyterate and the
11:22 diaconate and this is you know year 107
11:24 give or take and that is I don't know
11:25 about you but that that's pretty
11:27 remarkable for me because it reminds us
11:29 that yeah the priesthood was not a
11:32 latter invention this has its roots in
11:34 the old Covenant it's fulfilled in Jesus
11:36 and from the very very beginning is
11:38 given to us and not just because of the
11:40 Eucharist although that's a that's a
11:42 really clear Point really clear exercise
11:44 and function of the sacrament of holy
11:46 orders but the other two degrees too
11:48 right so here's the bishop he has the
11:51 fullness of holy orders and what is his
11:53 his triple primary Mission trary we'll
11:56 say TR new word trymary Mission his
11:58 triple mission is the office of
12:01 sanctifying teaching and governing in
12:03 paragraph 1558 it says this so clearly
12:05 and we're reminded of this because this
12:07 is kind of a thing that hopefully we all
12:09 know about but the bishop is supposed to
12:11 be the one who's given this office of
12:15 sanctifying right so you know bringing
12:17 the people of God to God and bringing
12:18 God to the people of God right
12:20 sanctifying teaching that that one of
12:23 his jobs is to continue to teach and and
12:24 there are so many great great Bishops
12:26 who do that so well they they try to
12:29 communicate in such a way that just
12:31 brings God's word to people brings God's
12:33 word alive to people I have a bishop
12:34 like that right now who's just so
12:36 incredible about just teaching and
12:39 reminding all of the people in our dasis
12:40 of the fact that no this is the mission
12:43 of Jesus it is alive and well right now
12:45 so sanctifying teaching and also
12:47 governing and that that's the thing the
12:48 it's the role of priest prophet and King
12:50 right so priest sanctifying Prophet
12:53 teaching and governing King and we have
12:55 to recognize that that when when the
12:56 bishop exercises those things when he
12:58 actually makes a declaration in our
13:00 dases and says okay y'all we're going to
13:03 do this or he has to make hard statement
13:05 about you know I don't know a public
13:08 figure who's who's making a public sin
13:10 or even a movement in our culture that
13:12 goes contrary to the gospel and calling
13:14 Catholics away from that movement and
13:16 towards the gospel like he has to do
13:18 that that is that's the task he's been
13:20 given to do as part of that primary task
13:22 right the the triple office of
13:24 sanctifying teaching and governing he
13:27 has to do this and if he doesn't do that
13:29 if he doesn't do that he does doesn't do
13:32 it at the risk of his own soul and at
13:35 the risk of Every Soul entrusted to him
13:37 you know the bishop is responsible for
13:41 every soul in his dasis it goes on to
13:43 say here in paragraph 1560 it does talk
13:45 about the fact that as Christ vicker
13:47 each Bishop has the pastoral care of the
13:49 particular Church entrusted to him so
13:51 yeah he has to take care of the dases of
13:53 Sacramento or the dases of Omaha or the
13:55 dases of duth he has take care of that
13:57 but he's not just responsible for the
13:59 Catholics in that dicese he's actually
14:03 spiritually responsible for every person
14:04 in that
14:06 dicese now that is that's one of the
14:08 reasons why I I believe it's one of the
14:09 reasons why scripture
14:12 says one should not aspire to be a
14:16 teacher my brethren that that sense of
14:18 in James chapter 3 I think it is don't
14:20 aspire to be a teacher because You' be
14:22 liable to a a more strict
14:24 judgment and there's something about the
14:26 office of Bishop that triple office of
14:29 sanctifying teaching governing that
14:31 carries a lot of
14:33 responsibility and so yes I mean if he
14:35 says yes to that then that's the
14:37 responsibility he said yes to just like
14:39 man the the office of parent right the
14:41 office of father or mother that carries
14:44 so much responsibility and yet here are
14:45 these moms and dads all throughout the
14:47 world all throughout our country all
14:48 throughout the church that have said yes
14:51 to this and so it's like oh okay all of
14:52 us saying yes to responsibility all of
14:54 us saying yes to the call of Jesus and
14:57 that's the crazy thing is that in this
14:59 first you know most full participation
15:01 in Christ priesthood of the episcopacy
15:04 right being a bishop as well as the
15:05 priesthood and diaconate as well as
15:07 being a mom or a dad husband and wife as
15:09 well as being a true teacher if you want
15:11 to be if you're a teacher or anyone who
15:12 is responsible for other people in any
15:15 whatever state in life we recognize that
15:17 wow we're liable to a greater judgment
15:19 if you're responsible for anyone we're
15:21 liable to a greater judgment which is
15:23 one of the reasons why we're just so so
15:25 grateful to the Lord for having called
15:28 these men to be Bishops to be our Bishop
15:30 and that's also one of the reasons why
15:31 not only do we have to pray for each
15:33 other pray for moms and dads who are
15:34 responsible for their kids pray for
15:36 deacons and Priests who are responsible
15:38 for their parishes but also pray for our
15:40 Bishops who are responsible for their
15:42 entire dases responsible for for every
15:44 soul in the borders and boundaries of
15:47 their dases we we have to pray for them
15:49 because this is a dangerous world and
15:52 this world needs we need holy Shepherds
15:53 that's that's the fact of the matter
15:55 every one of us could probably name
15:57 here's here's a a bad a deacon who you
15:59 know hurt us a priest to hurt us uh
16:01 Bishop who hurt us sometimes in small
16:04 ways sometimes in massively massively horrible
16:05 horrible
16:08 ways but we all need each other we all
16:10 need God's grace that's one of the
16:12 reasons why at the end of every episode
16:14 I ask for your prayers because I'm also
16:16 in need of God's grace I'm also in need
16:19 of prayers and so is your Bishop so
16:21 let's make a commitment today to pray
16:22 for our local Bishop to pray for our
16:25 Holy Father and pray for each
16:28 other I am praying for you please pray
16:29 for me my name is father Mike I cannot
