Day 119: The Church’s Missionary Mandate (2026)
4/29/202617 min
Together, with Fr. Mike, we explore the many aspects of the Church’s missionary mandate. Fr. Mike emphasizes the importance of engaging and living out Christ’s great commission. We conclude today with a reflection on the fact that it is the love of Christ that urges us on in our mission of patience in bearing witness to the Gospel. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 849-856.
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 secondsMike Schmitz· Host0:00
[gentle 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 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 119. We're reading paragraphs 849 to 856. As always, I'm using 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. Also, you can download your own Catechism in a Year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com/ciy, and you can also click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. Today is Day 119. We're reading paragraphs 849 to 856. Yesterday, we talked about, uh, Catholicity, the Church's relationship with non, non-Catholics or non-Christians, and we asked the big question: What is, what is that relationship, and is it true that outside the Church there's no salvation? What does that mean? And we looked at this. We looked at what? Looked at outside Jesus there's no salvation, and yet is it possible? Is it possible that the Lord can save those who, uh, through no fault of their own, don't know Him? Is it possible that, moved by His grace, they can actually choose Him? And the Church says, "Yes, that's possible," but, 'cause here's the thing we need to understand and affirm and assert and be reminded of this so many times: We are only and always