Day 350: Persevering in Prayer — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)

What this episode is about

This entry focuses on the importance of persevering in prayer, exploring how prayer can be effective and transformative in one's life. It delves into the teachings of the Catechism regarding the nature of prayer, encouraging believers to remain steadfast in their spiritual practices as they approach their journey toward a deeper relationship with God.

Key takeaways

• Prayer isn't a vending machine; it's a partnership with divine Providence, requiring humility, trust, and perseverance.
• St. Paul reminds us: bold trust in prayer is like placing a call to heaven—don't hang up too soon!
• Persevering in love doesn't mean praying hard, it means praying often, turning our hearts toward God daily.
• Even Jesus needed to pray! His model shows us prayer is less about words and more about transformation.
• Prayer can happen anywhere—cooking, shopping, or while strolling—proof we can connect with God in the most mundane moments.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Brother Mike Schmitz (Host)

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: Brother Mike Schmitz, Ascension
2. 3:00 – 6:00: St. Paul, St. Alphonsus Liguori
3. 6:00 – 9:00: St. John Chrysostom, St. Alphonsus Liguori, Blaise Pascal
4. 12:00 – 15:00: St. Alphonsus Liguori
5. 15:00 – 16:29: Brother Mike Schmitz, St. Alphonsus Liguori

Notable quotes from "Day 350: Persevering in Prayer — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)"

• 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…

  about Ascension · at 0:35

• Of his son Christian prayer is cooperation with his Providence his plan of love for men for St Paul this trust is bold founded on the prayer of the spirit in us and on the…

  about St. Paul · at 3:47

• Christ who is with us always no matter what tempests may arise our time is in the hands of God St John chrisam stated it is possible to offer fervent prayer even while walking…

  about St. John Chrysostom · at 5:42

• For the man who prays eagerly and invokes God ceaselessly ever to sin St alonsus Lori stated those who pray are certainly saved those who do not pray are certainly damned…

  about St. Alphonsus Liguori · at 6:28

• Means that God is so good and I remember hearing this great quote from Blaise Pascal he said God loves us so much that he extends us the Dignity of being causes what does that…

  about Blaise Pascal · at 8:18

• Jesus so my brothers and sisters what are we going to do we're going to pray I'm praying for you please pray for me my name is father Mike I cannot wait to see you tomorrow God bless.

  about Brother Mike Schmitz · at 15:56

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Brother Mike Schmitz — Person · Host · 2 mentions · first at 0:05
  He leads the episode’s reading of the Catechism paragraphs and provides the main commentary on why prayer is efficacious and how to persevere in prayer.
• St. Paul — Person · Referenced authority (Scripture author) · 2 mentions · first at 3:52
  Cited as an authoritative voice on persevering prayer (“pray constantly…”, “pray at all times…”) to support the episode’s argument that prayer is continual and rooted in love.
• St. John Chrysostom — Person · Referenced expert (Church Father) · 1 mention · first at 6:15
  Quoted to emphasize that prayer is always possible in ordinary life and that persistent prayer combats sin, reinforcing the episode’s theme of persevering prayer.
• St. Alphonsus Liguori — Person · Referenced authority (moral/spiritual teacher) · 4 mentions · first at 5:59
  Quoted for a stark maxim about salvation and prayer, used to underline the claim that prayer is a vital necessity in Christian life.
• Blaise Pascal — Person · Referenced thinker (illustrative quote) · 1 mention · first at 8:20
  Referenced for a quote about God granting humans the “dignity of being causes,” supporting the episode’s explanation that God invites human cooperation through prayer.

Sponsors

• Ascension — Company · Sponsor · 1 mention · first at 0:15
  Sponsor of the podcast, providing the platform and resources for the catechism study

Full transcript with timestamps

0:05 hi my name is father Mike schmidtz 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 year is brought to you by Ascension in 365 days we'll read through the catechism of the Catholic Church discovering our identity and God's family as we journey together toward our Heavenly home this is day 350 we're reading paragraphs 2738 to 2745 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 you can also download your own catechism in a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com Cy and you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates daily notifications today is day 350 you

0:48 guys I am so grateful thank you so much for all of you who have supported the production of this podcast we have not including today not including today 15 days left is that good math I'm not sure including today 16 but thank you you so much if you've supported this podcast your prayers I promise you I pray literally pray every day for y'all and I know you're praying for me and for each other as well thank you for praying for the whole team that's part of this I mean they put so much time into this to make sure that all of us can have access to this catechism like this and also those of you who have supported us with your financial gifts again this podcast is free and it's not free to make though so thank you so much for saying hey this blessed my life I want to I want to keep it going so thank you so much we're here at day three 50 reading paragraphs 2738 to 2745 man this is this is it this is we

1:36 get to he one last time about the Battle of prayer we're going to hear a little bit about it tomorrow too but so good we're asking the question today how is prayer efficacious what does it do right but we're also reminded of those three aspects of prayer that we need to have because the big question that comes up is what good does it do to pray and so we need to have humility we need to have trust and we we need that perseverance so we're going to ask the question how is prayer efficacious and then we're going to talk about that perseverance how do we persevere in love because that's critical for every one of us we can't we don't just pray once or once in a while we are called to pray without ceasing to persevere in prayer and also to persevere in love so that's what we're talking about today let's say a prayer as we hear what the Lord God has to say to us through his church today in the name of the father and of the son

2:27 and of the holy spirit amen Father in heaven we give you thanks and praise in the name of your son Jesus Christ I ask you to please receive the praise that we offer you today receive the thanks that we offer you today we know God you are good and we thank you in the name of your son receive our thanks be glorified Lord God let every tongue profess Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father in this day and every day for all eternity send down your Holy Spirit father in the name of your son Jesus Christ so that we can trust you more so that we can persevere in prayer till the day that we spend eternity spend eternity with you thank you help us to be faithful and when we're not meet us with your grace and mercy in Jesus name we pray Amen in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen it is day 350 we are reading paragraphs 2738 to 2745 how is our prayer efficacious the revelation of Prayer in

3:37 the economy of Salvation teaches us that Faith rests on God's action in history our filial trust is enkindled by his Supreme act the passion and resurrection of his son Christian prayer is cooperation with his Providence his plan of love for men for St Paul this trust is bold founded on the prayer of the spirit in us and on the faithful love love of the father who has given us his only son transformation of the praying heart is the first response to our petition the prayer of Jesus makes Christian prayer an efficacious petition he is its model he prays in us and with us since the heart of the son seeks only what pleases the father how could the prayer of the children of adoption be centered on the gifts rather than the giver Jesus also prays for us in our place and on our behalf all our petitions were gathered Ed up once for all in his cry on the cross and in his resurrection heard by the father this is

4:35 why he never ceases to intercede for us with the father if our prayer is resolutely United with that of Jesus in trust and boldness as children we obtain all that we ask in his name even more than any particular thing the Holy Spirit himself who contains all gifts persevering in love pray constantly always and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father St Paul adds pray at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication to that end keep alert with all perseverance making supplication for all the saints for we have not been commanded to work to keep watch and to fast constantly but it has been laid down that we are to pray without ceasing this tireless fervor can come only from love against our dullness and laziness the Battle of prayer is that of humble trusting and persevering love this love opens our hearts to three enlightening and life-giving facts of Faith about prayer

5:38 it is always possible to pray the time of the Christian is that of the Risen Christ who is with us always no matter what tempests may arise our time is in the hands of God St John chrisam stated it is possible to offer fervent prayer even while walking in public or strolling alone or seated in your shop while buying or selling or even while while cooking prayer is a vital necessity proof from the contrary is no less convincing if we do not allow the spirit to lead us we fall back into the slavery of sin how can the Holy Spirit be our life if our heart is far from him St John chrism further States nothing is equal to prayer for what is impossible it makes possible what is difficult easy for it is impossible utterly impossible for the man who prays eagerly and invokes God ceaselessly ever to sin St alonsus Lori stated those who pray are certainly saved those who do not pray are certainly damned prayer and the Christian Life are

6:44 inseparable for they concern the same love and the same renunciation proceeding from love the same filial and loving Conformity with the father's plan of love the same transforming Union in the Holy Spirit who conforms us more and more to Christ Jesus the same love for all men the love with which Jesus has loved us whatever you ask the father in my name he will give it to you this I command you to love one another origin stated he prays without ceasing who unites prayer to works and good works to prayer only in this way can we consider as realizable the principle of praying without ceasing all right there we have it paragraphs 2738 to 2745 man so good question how is prayer efficacious here's the big question you just have to ask okay if God is good and God knows everything then he already knows what we need before we ask we we we know this the scripture says this very very clearly in Matthew's gospel

7:44 chapter 6:8 we know that God already knows this and if he's already good then he's already going to do it right isn't that isn't that just the the case so how in the world is prayer efficacious if God already wants to give us good things why would what's the point what's the point of praying and asking God if again let's say this again he already knows and he's so good that he already wants to give us this there are number of reasons and one of those reasons is back in paragraph 2736 from yesterday where it says God awaits our petition because the Dignity of his children lies in their freedom what does that mean it means that God is so good and I remember hearing this great quote from Blaise Pascal he said God loves us so much that he extends us the Dignity of being causes what does that mean well what it means is that here's God who yes he is good but he doesn't always want to do the good without our participation

8:38 without our cooperation that in so many ways I always think about it like this way back in the day my dad built a shed in our backyard and right now it's this massively heavy wooden green shed and my dad probably could have gotten some of his buddies he maybe could even done it himself really really quickly but he did it with all of us kids I think there was five or six of us working on this shed including my dad at one point and it was one of those situations I remember just like the chaos of building this shed with my dad and thinking like he could get this he could get this done so quickly without us but the truth is he didn't want to do it without us yes he could do it without us he didn't want to do it without us he wanted us to be able to look in the backyard and say I built that shed with my dad I built that shed with my siblings like we built that shed he didn't just want us to look in the

9:26 back shed and say my dad built that shed he wanted to be part of it in some similar way here is God who extends us the Dignity of being causes saying yes God can do it on his own he doesn't want to do it on his own this is the mystery so yes God Wills the good always always because God is good right he can't other than will the good but often times he waits right he he waits for our participation for our cooperation in what he wants to accomplish and he does this because then we get to be again we have this Freedom we get to participate we get to be the kind of person who gets to say oh man that shed in the backyard I did that with my father so there's this this great dignity but also think about the time think about what happens when I got to spend that time with my dad now it wasn't always Pleasant I'll tell you that and when building that shed I remember I made a lot of mistakes and I remember hearing about it hearing

10:19 about those mistakes I had made but you get closer to the person that is true when it comes to prayer we spend time in prayer and we get to know the heart of our father just like when I spent that time building that shed or doing other things with my dad I got to know the heart of my dad and something's happening in that time just remember the quote from yesterday it was a quote from a vagarious ponus in paragraph 2737 where he said do not be troubled if you did not immediately receive from God what you ask him for he desires to do something even greater for you while you're cling to him in prayer that yes the shed wasn't built for a long time but during that time the process during the process I was getting to know my dad during the process I was learning how to do what my dad does and something very very similar is true when it comes to our prayer in the process we get to know the heart of our father and in the

11:09 process we get to become like him so these are couple of key reasons God extends us the Dignity of being causes and that he wants to get close to us we get to know the heart of our father when we when we pray when we intercede on behalf of others this is efficacious prayer it actually does something I remember hearing this from CS Lewis who who was describing how prayer is efficacious and he said there the people you know this is a paraphrase obviously but the people who complain and say well no if you really trusted in God then you wouldn't pray you just would God will just do it he says those people they never they never walk outside the front door in a rainstorm without an umbrella saying well if God wants me to stay dry he'll make the rainf around me those people they don't say well if God wants me to be fed he'll give me food today no they get up and they go out and they and they go to work and they buy food from

11:55 themselves see it's so many ways we recognize that in other areas of Our Lives God is involved in every area of our life that we realize it don't make sense that yeah God does what he does but we also have to cooperate with this and so yeah I don't just wait for God to bring me food I go get it I don't just say if God wants me to be dry in a rainstorm he's going to make the rainfall around me like no I bring an umbrella in similar ways we'd say well if God wants me to have this thing he'll just bring it to me I'm not going to pray no we pray because that's part of the process that's part of how it goes does that make sense because believe that the prayer of Jesus makes Christian prayer an efficacious petition he's its model he prays in us and with us and therefore because of that because of that we have to Center our hearts on The Giver remember because here's Jesus who even begs his father he begs his father

12:48 that father let this cup pass from me yet not my what I will but your will be done he knew what he wanted to to be spared the cross yet what he wanted ultimately was to do the father's will that's why it's so so critical paragraph 2741 highlights this it says if our prayer is resolutely United with that of Jesus in trust and boldness as children then we obtain all that we ask in his name even more than any particular thing we get the Holy Spirit who contains all gifts remember that's what Jesus had promised that if you pray in my name anyone who asks will give the Holy Spirit and not just any one gift or any particular thing but you get the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit contains all gifts now lastly how do we have persevering prayer this is beautiful it says this love the love we have remember the humble trusting persevering love this love opens our hearts to three enlightening and life-giving facts of

13:43 Faith about prayer first it's always possible to pray second prayers is of vital necessity and third prayer in the Christian Life are inseparable so it's always possible to pray one of my favorite quotes from from St John christm because it's just St John christm had some powerful words I mean he he he was a incredibly articulate eloquent fiery preacher and I love this word of encouragement he gives he says it's always possible to offer fervent prayer even while walking in public or strolling alone or seated in your shop while buying or selling or even while cooking I just love that last one or even while cooking so chefs you're not off the hook you can still pray at any given moment it is always possible to pray number two paragraph 27:44 prayer is a vital necessity this is so important if we do not pray if we do not allow the spirit to lead us we fall back into the slavery of sin and this quote

14:35 from St alonsus Lori isof it is strong it is powerful those who pray are certainly saved those who do not pray are certainly damned it's it's very similar to a quote I remember hearing a priest say years ago who is also he I don't know if he'll be canonized someday he might be but he he's canonized I'll tell you that he said serious prayer and serious sin cannot coexist there's some people out there right who really struggle with serious sin and they keep falling back into the serious sin so he said okay here's what you need to know serious prayer and serious sin cannot coexist one will kill the other and so if you find yourself struggling with this serious sin and repeated sin out of weakness or habit or whatever the thing is keep praying because you can't do both at some point at some point you'll get so discouraged you'll stop praying or at some point the grace will win and you'll stop sinning

15:29 so make your choice those who pray are certainly saved those who do not pray are certainly damned thirdly prayer and the Christian Life are inseparable and it's so important right we have to we have to pray of whether or not we pray it's only an option of when we pray and as we heard in 2743 it's always possible to pray so we need to have both the Christian Life and prayer if we don't pray we're not living the Christian Life and we cannot be walking in the way of Jesus so my brothers and sisters what are we going to do we're going to pray I'm praying for you please pray for me my name is father Mike I cannot wait to see you tomorrow God

16:25 bless

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Day 350: Persevering in Prayer — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)"?

Brother Mike Schmitz (Host).

What is "Day 350: Persevering in Prayer — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)" about?

This entry focuses on the importance of persevering in prayer, exploring how prayer can be effective and transformative in one's life. It delves into the teachings of the Catechism regarding the nature of prayer, encouraging believers to remain steadfast in their spiritual practices as they approach their journey toward a deeper relationship with God.

What is mentioned in this The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) episode?

6 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Brother Mike Schmitz, St. Paul, St. John Chrysostom, St. Alphonsus Liguori, Blaise Pascal. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Day 350: Persevering in Prayer — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)"?

The episode runs 16 min; the transcript is about 3,194 words in 19 timestamped sections.

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