Day 116: The Church Is Holy (2026)
4/26/202618 min
Fr. Mike examines the next characteristic of the Church, the Church is holy, and he emphasizes two important ideas. The first is that the Church is unfailingly holy only because of God’s gracious gift to us. The second is that each and every one of the activities of the Church are for two purposes: the sanctification of men in Christ and the glorification of God. We conclude with a reminder from St. Therese on the importance of charity, that love of God is the “vocation which includes all others.” Today’s readings from the Catechism are paragraphs 823-829.
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.
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsFather Mike Schmitz· Host0:00
[gentle piano music] Hi, my name's 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 three hundred and sixty-five 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 one hundred and sixteen. We are reading paragraphs eight twenty-three to eight twenty-nine. As always, I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the Foundations of Faith approach. You can follow along, of course, 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, [chuckles] you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. Today, day one sixteen, we're reading about the fact that the Church is holy. Yesterday, we talked about oneness, and the day before that too. Yesterday was also the wounds to unity, but the call we have to strive for unity. Today, the second mark of the Church. Remember the four marks of the Church, one, holy, catholic, apostolic. These are these four marks of the Church. Today, the Church is holy, and tomorrow the Church is catholic. But today we have to recognize... You know, and maybe I even said this yesterday, many, many times we'll point out the fact that, yep, the Church is broken, the Church is made up of sinners, and so there is, you know, there's sin. At the same time, one of the clear marks of the Church is the fact that the Church is holy. The Holy Spirit is the soul of