Day 201: The Confessor’s Role (2026)
episode
The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
16 min
1 speaker
3 chapters
transcribed 2 months ago
Transcript
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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 201, day 201. We're reading paragraphs 1461 to 1467. As always, I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes a Foundations of Faith approach, You can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
You can also download your own catechism and a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com. And I think day 201 would be a great day to follow or subscribe or something like that to receive daily updates and daily notifications in your podcast app. Today is day, as I said, 201. You know, yesterday we were talking about the fact we need confession of sins. We need satisfaction. The three elements that we bring to confession are contrition, confession, and satisfaction. If we talked about that today, we're in a new little mini section in confession on Sacrament of Reconciliation about the minister of the sacrament. Who is it that is the minister of reconciliation? Who is the one who forgives us? Now, we're going to hear this, that Jesus is the one who forgives sins.
It's always Jesus. but he forgives sins through the ministry, that's why the ministry question is there, the ministry of the priests. And we're gonna talk about that today, that this is a gift that Jesus intended to give and did give when he established the church. And so we're gonna talk about that as well as some of the responsibilities that that priest has as the minister of the sacrament. For example, He is not the master of God's forgiveness, but he is the servant of God's forgiveness. And so there's a responsibility. It's not just an authority thing. There's a responsibility that's been placed upon each priest who hears confessions and they have to live up to those. We're gonna hear about some of those today.
So as we launch into today's reading, let's just call upon our father, call upon the name of Jesus Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit as we pray. Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. Thank you so much for bringing us here. Thank you for giving us your mercy. Thank you for giving us the priesthood. Lord God, I thank you for every priest who has ever heard my confession. I thank you for every priest who has ever been patient with me in confession and with all those who are listening. I thank you for every priest who has ever administered your mercy to all of us in our worst moments. Lord God, I ask you to please bless all those men, all those priests who have given their lives so that your mercy can touch our lives.
I ask you to please bless them wherever they are right now. Lord God, I ask you to please be with those priests who have been mean in confession, have been cruel in confession, have been short, brief, curt, or even worse in confession. I ask you to please heal them, heal their hearts, help them become more like you, help them be servants of your mercy, not masters of forgiveness.
Help us all to be patient with each other.
Because Lord, on our own, none of us is enough. On our own, all of us fail. And so we make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. And we trust in you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Today's day 201, we're reading paragraphs 1461 to 1467. the minister of this sacrament. Since Christ entrusted to his apostles the ministry of reconciliation, bishops who are their successors and priests, the bishop's collaborators, continue to exercise this ministry. Indeed, bishops and priests, by virtue of the sacrament of holy orders, have the power to forgive all sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Forgiveness of sins brings reconciliation with God, but also with the church.
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