Day 214: Priests and the Presbyterate (2026)
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What is the focus of Day 214: how are priests defined in the Catechism (paragraphs 1562–1568)?
Hi, my name is 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 214. We are reading paragraphs 1562 to 1568. I am using, as always, the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes a 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 slash CIY. And you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. Yesterday, we talked about the bishops. the episcopacy, as it were. Today, we're talking about the presbyterate or the presbyteracy, the priesthood, essentially. And tomorrow, obviously, you can see where we're going with this, deacons. Today, we recognize that here are the ordination of priests, co-workers of the bishops. And so what is the role? I'd say it like this. What's the dignity of the priesthood? Meaning like, what is its most sacred character? That's what we're talking about here. What's the most sacred character, the special character of the priesthood?
And then in many ways, like how are priests expected in some ways, how are they expected to live? And we talked about this a couple of days ago, that they're expected to exercise the divinely given power. in a way that they imitate jesus in everything how did jesus live out this priesthood how did jesus live out this this ministry in this mission well you know he obviously he spoke the truth he was powerfully he powerfully taught obviously he he bound up the sick and so he healed he had this this mission of sanctifying and making holy making whole again He had a mission of establishing and leading people, right? Jesus, from the very beginning, he called people to himself and he led them. So like we said yesterday with the office of bishop, this triple office, right?
The primary office. I don't know if that's going to catch on. The triple office of the bishop, which is to sanctify, to teach, and to govern. The priest also participates in that. So remember, priests are the co-workers of the bishops. And so they form a special kind of a unique kind of brotherhood in the church that And yet, what's that brotherhood for? What is that ministry for? It is at the service of the people of God. That teaching, that sanctifying, that governing is always at the service of the people of God for the glory of God the Father. So as we're going to talk about that today in paragraphs 1562 to 1568, let's just call to mind, not just call to mind, let's call upon our Father in heaven by praying in the name of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.
We pray, Father in heaven. Thank you. Thank you for bringing us to this day. Thank you for giving us the gift of your grace. Thank you for continuing to bind up the weak. Thank you for continuing to heal our wounds. Thank you for continuing to forgive our sins. Lord God, thank you for continuing to give us yourself in the Eucharist, pouring out your Holy Spirit upon us. Whenever we pray, whenever we ask you, Father, for your Holy Spirit, you hear the prayer of your children and you respond with love because you are a good father. We ask you in this day, when we talk about priests, we ask you to please help these priests be good fathers, help these priests be men after your own heart, help them to govern, to teach, to sanctify in the way that you would.
And we ask you to please, please bless our local priests, make them holy, help them where they need help, strengthen them where they need strengthening, heal them where they need healing, forgive them of all their sins.
How does the presbyterate relate to the episcopacy and deacons?
And Lord God, help them to be the kind of man that we need.
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