Day 363: Forgive Us Our Trespasses — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)

What this episode is about

The discussion centers on the theme of forgiveness as presented in the Lord's Prayer, specifically focusing on the relationship between receiving God's forgiveness and extending it to others. The content includes a reading of the catechism, detailing the significance of forgiveness within the Catholic faith and its implications for personal and communal relationships.

Key takeaways

• Forgiveness isn’t just requested; it’s the price of receiving mercy—an astonishing catch in the Lord's Prayer.
• The Ascension app: where Bible exploration meets digital age convenience, turning scandalous scriptural truths into daily snacks.
• Forgiving others is like spiritual gym training; uncomfortable but essential for growing into the likeness of Jesus.
• In the dance of faith, every step toward forgiveness leads us closer to the harmonious heart of God.
• Struggling with forgiveness? Join the club—it's the ultimate test of faith that even saints wrestled with.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Father Mike Schmitz (Host) · 25 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 5:00: Ascension, Ascension app, Brother Mike Schmitz, The Lord's Prayer
2. 5:00 – 10:00: The Lord's Prayer, Eucharist
3. 10:00 – 15:00: The Lord's Prayer, CS Lewis, Mere Christianity
4. 20:00 – 25:00: Eucharist
5. 25:00 – 25:52: Brother Mike Schmitz

Notable quotes from "Day 363: Forgive Us Our Trespasses — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)"

• Again for being part of this community and God bless hi my name is father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the catechism in year podcast where we encounter God's plan of…

  about Brother Mike Schmitz · at 0:46

• Astonishing in fact those are the first words of paragraph 2838 it says and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and the first line here this…

  about The Lord's Prayer · at 1:46

• Because you're saying that essentially how dare you ask me to forgive the person who hurt me in fact in that same talk in that same chapter in Mere Christianity Lewis says…

  about CS Lewis · at 10:36

• Forgiveness of our sins and it's incredible because I love this last line of 2839 it says we find the efficacious and undoubted sign of his forgiveness in the sacraments of his…

  about Eucharist · at 17:34

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Brother Mike Schmitz — Person · Host / main speaker · 2 mentions · first at 0:54
  He introduces the episode, leads the prayer, and delivers the teaching on forgiveness while reading and explaining the Catechism passages.
• CS Lewis — Person · Referenced author / quoted authority · 1 mention · first at 10:06
  Schmitz cites Lewis to illustrate how difficult forgiveness is in practice, using a well-known line from 'Mere Christianity' to support the episode’s theme.

Books & papers

• Mere Christianity — Book · Referenced work · 1 mention · first at 10:42
  Referenced to discuss the challenge of forgiveness, highlighting its importance and difficulty in Christian life.
  Christianity he said I declared that Chastity was the least popular of all the Christian virtues but he said I don't think that's right I think that forgiveness is the least…
• The Great Adventure Bible — Book · Referenced work · 1 mention · first at 0:14
  Mentioned as part of the content available in the Ascension app, contributing to the religious resources provided.
  Also includes transcripts of each episode the full text of the Great Adventure Bible and the Ascension catechism over 1,000 answers to tough Bible questions we couldn't get to…

Companies & orgs

• Ascension — Company · Business focus · 3 mentions · first at 0:08
  The company behind the Ascension app and the catechism in a year podcast, providing religious content and resources.
  App really enhances the experience of the podcast and helps you get more out of the Bible and catechism I highly encourage you to check it out in the App Store just search…

Products & tech

• Ascension app — Product · Primary recommendation · 2 mentions · first at 0:06
  A digital product recommended for listening to Bible in a year and catechism in a year podcasts, enhancing the religious learning experience.
  Of the Bible and catechism I highly encourage you to check it out in the App Store just search Ascension app or text the letters a p to the number 71391 to get a download link…

Concepts & topics

• The Lord's Prayer — Concept · Core topic · 3 mentions · first at 1:45
  Central theme of the episode, discussing the profundity and challenges of the Lord's Prayer, especially the aspect of forgiveness.
• Eucharist — Concept · Key argument · 3 mentions · first at 9:35
  Discussed as a sign of God's forgiveness and love, central to Christian faith and practice.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:01 hi there I just wanted to hop in real quick to tell you about a great way to listen to both Bible in a year and catechism in a year it's called the Ascension app not only does the app contain the entirety of both podcasts it also includes transcripts of each episode the full text of the Great Adventure Bible and the Ascension catechism over 1,000 answers to tough Bible questions we couldn't get to in the podcast bonus content from the Bible and your companion and so much more this app really enhances the experience of the podcast and helps you get more out of the Bible and catechism I highly encourage you to check it out in the App Store just search Ascension app or text the letters a p p to the number 71391 to get a download link sent directly to your phone thank you so much again for being part of this community and God bless hi my name is father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the catechism in

0:57 year podcast where we encounter God's plan of your 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 in God's family as we journey together toward our Heavenly home this is day 363 we're reading paragraphs 2838 to 28:45 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 a men press.com Cy and you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates for the next two days you know or whatever and daily notifications today is day 363 we're reading paragraphs 2838 to 28:45 and man this

1:45 part of the Lord's Prayer it's astonishing in fact those are the first words of paragraph 2838 it says and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and the first line here this petition is astonishing I was thinking this morning I was just praying about this and praying about I know that when it came to the life in Christ it came to the third pillar morality right how we live I know there was a lot of challenge there's a lot of challenge for a lot of people because we have our pet things right right we have our our stuff that I don't want to let go of this I don't want to surrender this to the Lord I think this is how it should be or I don't understand how this teaching could possibly be lived out I don't know if there's a more difficult teaching than this teaching forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us it asks a lot not only does it ask the

2:33 Lord God to forgive us fully but it Demands a lot on us it demands that we are forgiven to the degree that we are willing to forgive those who have hurt us and uh that's a lot and so as we talk about this teaching today this teaching that sometimes might have gone under the radar maybe actually in our lives we might have even kind of just glazed over this this petition or maybe even we've been convicted by this petition and it's been one of those things that's painful every time we pray it I think oh Lord please don't forgive us our trespasses as I would like to or as someone else has forgiven you I I don't know if I can do this and so in order to open ourselves to the profundity and the depth of this teaching we need God's help we truly need God's help so let's pray in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen Father in heaven give us your help Father in Heaven you are the god of

3:28 Mercy you are The God Who has revealed your mercy to us in your son Jesus Christ you've extended your mercy to us in your son and by pouring out your Holy Spirit to us you not only have made us new not only have you taken away our sins you've also given us the strength to be like you you've given us the strength to pray like your son to love like your son and to forgive like your son Lord God you have you've invited us to pray that you forgive us the way we forgive others oh God this is this is dangerous this is high this is daunting this is difficult and yet this is how you have told us that we are to pray and so Lord God please help us to not only pray this way help us to live this way help us not to only live this way with our outward actions but help us to love this way and when we do that Lord God we pray like your son Jesus when we do this we live like your son Jesus and when we do this

4:31 we love like your son Jesus who prayed for his persecutors even as they were killing him Lord God give us that same heart give us the Heart of Jesus this day and every day that we can pray for those who hurt us that we can forgive those who hurt us and that we can truly trust in your forgiveness in our own lives Lord forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us we make this prayer in the mighty name of the one who who taught us this prayer Jesus Christ Our Lord amen in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen it is day 363 we're reading paragraphs 2838 to 2845 and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us this petition is astonishing if it consisted only of the first phrase and forgive us our trespasses it might have been included implicitly in the first three petitions of the Lord's Prayer since Christ's sacrifice is that sins

5:31 may be forgiven but according to the second phrase our petition will not be heard unless we have first met a strict requirement our petition looks to the future but our response must come first for the two parts are joined by the single word as and forgive us our trespasses with bold confidence we began praying to our father in begging him that his name be hallowed we were in fact asking him that we ourselves might be always made more holy but though we are clothed with the baptismal garment we do not cease to sin to turn away from God now in this new petition we return to him like the prodigal son and like the tax collector recognize that we are sinners before him our petition begins with a confession of our wretchedness and his Mercy our hope is firm because in his son we have Redemption the Forgiveness of sins we find the efficacious and undoubted sign of his forgiveness in the sacraments of

6:28 his church now and this is daunting this outpouring of Mercy cannot penetrate our hearts as long as we have not forgiven those who have trespassed against us love like the body of Christ is indivisible we cannot love the God we cannot see if we do not love the brother or sister we do see in refusing to forgive our brothers and sisters our hearts are closed and their hardness makes them impervious to the father's merciful love but in confessing our sins our hearts are open open to his grace this petition is so important that it is the only one to which the Lord returns and which he develops explicitly in The Sermon on the Mount this crucial requirement of the Covenant mystery is impossible for man but With God all things are possible as we forgive those who trespass against us this as is not unique in Jesus's teaching you therefore must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect be merciful even as your

7:31 father is merciful a new commandment I give to you that you love one another even as I have loved you that you also love one another it is impossible to keep the Lord's commandment by imitating the Divine model from outside there has to be a vital participation coming from the depths of the heart in the Holiness and the mercy and the love of our God Only The Spirit by whom we live can make ours the same mind that was in Christ Jesus then the unity of forgiveness becomes possible and we find ourselves forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave us thus the Lord's words on forgiveness the love that loves to the end become a living reality the parable of the merciless servant which crowns the Lord's teaching on ecclesial communion ends with these words so also my heavenly father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart it is there in fact in the depths of the heart that everything

8:28 is bound and loosed it is not in our power not to feel or to forget an offense but the heart that offers itself to the Holy Spirit turns injury into compassion and purifies the memory in transforming the hurt into intercession Christian prayer extends to the Forgiveness of enemies transfiguring the disciple by configuring him to his master forgiveness is a high point of Christian prayer only Hearts attuned to God's compassion can receive the gift of prayer forgiveness also Bears witness that in our world love is stronger than sin the martyrs of yesterday and today bear this witness to Jesus forgiveness is the fundamental condition of the reconciliation of the children of God with their father and of men with one another there is no limit or measure to this essentially Divine forgiveness whether one speaks of sins as in Luke or debts as in Matthew we are always debtors owe no one anything except to

9:25 love one another the communion of the Holy Trinity is the s SCE and Criterion of Truth in every relationship it is lived out in prayer above all in the Eucharist St cian wrote God does not accept the sacrifice of a serwer of disunion but commands that he depart from the altar so that he may first be reconciled with his brother for God can be appeased only by prayers that make peace to God the better offering is peace brotherly Concord and a people made one in the unity of the Father Son and Holy Spirit all right there we have it paragraphs 2838 to 28:45 as I said you know one of the greatest challenges I think it was C Lewis who once said in the book M Christianity he said I uh declared that Chastity was the least popular of all the Christian virtues but he said I I don't think that's right I think that forgiveness is the least possible he says everyone thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea until you have something to

10:25 forgive that's it right everyone thinks that forgiveness is a lovely idea until you have something to forgive and then to ask for forgiveness or to require forgiveness he says you're met with howls of people are getting mad at you because you're saying that essentially how dare you ask me to forgive the person who hurt me in fact in that same talk in that same chapter in Mere Christianity Lewis says people would ask and say how would you feel if you were a pole or a Jew and had to forgive the gestapo and LS responds he says I I I wonder too I wonder very much I don't know what I would do if I had that much to forgive and yet we cannot escape this we cannot escape the command of Jesus that we pray this in paragraph 2838 it highlights how remarkable this is how astonishing this prayer is it goes on to say this petition is astonishing paragraph 2838 if it consisted only of the first phrase and forgive us our

11:17 trespasses it might have been included implicitly in the first three petitions of the Lord's Prayer right of course but according to the second phrase our petition will not be heard unless we have first met a strict requirement our petition look to the future but our response must come first for the two parts are joined by the single word as and that is forgive us as we forgive those who sin against us or trespass against us it's remarkable because we man we live in this world that's so broken and we are we are so quick to break each other right we're so quick to hurt each other we're so quick to turn away from the Lord we turn away from God so easily and our Petition of course forgive us our trespasses that that begins with a confession we're confessing that I have fallen short Lord God I I I have failed one thing important for all of us maybe you've heard priests talk about this when it

12:10 comes to confession one of the you know the actual sacrament of reconciliation sacrament of confession one of The Temptations people face and this might not be something you face but it's a Temptation that a lot of people face and it's the temptation to confess other people's sins that some people go to confession and and they'll say well you know their spouse my spouse is kind of short- tempered my spouse does this my spouse doesn't do that that kind of thing or my kids are like this and my kids are like that the people I work with are are in basically here's a list of the sins of other people and sometimes that is the person's trying to you know set the context and so you my husband was was cranky and so I was really short with them and I need to confess that that kind of thing but a lot of times it's because it's much easier to not the sins of others than it is to recognize my own sins yet inherent

12:58 in the prayer forgive us our trespasses is the reality that oh I need to confess the fact that I have trespasses right I need to confess the fact that I love how he even says this our petition begins with a confession of our wretchedness let's pause on that word for a second do I believe that I have wretchedness I think a lot of us would say no no no no no no I'm good I'm good enough that kind of thing because I don't know we kind of live in a culture right now that if you were to say no Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a Wretch like Me like no you're not a Wretch like don't don't think so poorly of yourself that's not healthy but if I was honest with myself if we if we were honest with ourselves we'd be able to look at ourselves and say actually there's plenty of wretchedness there's there's there's plenty of ugliness in my soul ugliness in my heart in fact I remember I'm talking with a student for a long time

13:50 and she was really concerned because she was pretty convinced that she wasn't a good person but she felt stuck in that she was convinced that she wasn't n't a good person and she felt stuck in that even talking with her for a long time I realized that this is one of the one of the lies that happens one of the lies that that the evil one will use typically is a lie that has a Barb on it like you know right like so it's it's it's pointy it's like a pin but a pointy lie that's just like a pin it just goes in and goes out right it it hurts a little bit but it doesn't stick around if I I know this is a lie it might hurt the LIE might hurt for a moment but then it leaves but there are some lies that are are like hooks like like a fishing hook that has a Barb on it and so it goes in but the reason it sticks is because there's some kind of degree of truth to it sometimes we get assailed by lies and sometimes the evil one will

14:40 attack us with his lies and almost always the lies that come up at us from the evil one or even the lies that we tell ourselves that we believe ourselves are lies that have barbs on them meaning there's a degree of truth and that's why it sticks in there that's why it's not like a pin just goes in and comes out because I realize it hurt but there's no truth there when there's a little bit of Truth it could stick there and I real I start to believe the whole thing instead of just believe the Barb right so what I mean by that is here's this young woman and she saw her Brokenness she saw this her sin she saw her failure and that's true that was the Barb though it was a small part of this because what she ended up believing was that oh I'm not good at all like there there's nothing good in me and that's a lie because if I were to argue with her and say no look at you I mean you're you're amazing all

15:28 these kind of and she'd say no but I only did that good thing because I thought it would look good for other people or I only treat people nicely because that because I'm lonely it makes them like me you or whatever the kind of thing is right and so there's there was an argument because that lie had just a degree of truth to it the truth is that yeah we're wretched or we have wretchedness we're not fully wretched we're not we're not fully corrupt we're deprived of that fullness but we're not depraved she was believing that she was depraved cved right because she could point to this Brokenness in her she could point to a wretchedness in her because of that it was getting stuck she was getting stuck she wasn't believing the whole truth the whole truth is oh yeah I'm broken yes I have wretchedness and I'm loved yeah I'm I'm broken but yeah I'm also blessed and for her yep there are some Darkness there is Shadow she's there is

16:24 shadow in her heart in Her speech and her thoughts and her in her actions but there was also a lot of light and this is true for all of us we need to have this confession of our wretchedness and believe that but also also a confession of God's mercy and that's why we need that double conviction the conviction of yeah I know I'm a sinner and the conviction of and the Lord is merciful and he loves me he loves you we all have to have to recognize he we're Sinners and we have a savior who absolutely loves us so we need that confession of wretchedness that was a little side tangent but I know we're coming to the end of this and I just wanted to share don't believe the lies and also don't give that little Barb that little small part of Truth don't give that more power than it deserves yes we have to acknowledge the Barb we have to acknowledge the part that's true but that doesn't mean that the rest of it

17:19 true so our Petition of this forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us it begins with a confession of our wretchedness yeah I need God's mercy and we get God's mercy and our hope is firm because in Jesus Christ we have Redemption the Forgiveness of our sins and it's incredible because I love this last line of 2839 it says we find the efficacious and undoubted sign of his forgiveness in the sacraments of his church think about the sacrament of reconciliation the efficacious and undoubted sign of his forgiveness in the sacraments of his church that you go to confession and you know you don't have to feel it you know that the Lord God has forgiven you through the ministry of is his church it's amazing it's incredible and so goes on to say 2840 now and this is daunting this outpouring of Mercy cannot penetrate our hearts as long as we have not forgiven those who have trespassed

18:10 against us this is daunting the outpouring of Mercy cannot penetrate our hearts as long as we have not forgiven those who have trespassed against us love like the body of Christ is indivisible we cannot love the God we cannot see if we do not love the brother or sister we do see and so in refusing to love our brothers and sisters in refusing to love people around us our hearts are closed and that hardness makes them impervious to the father's merciful love but when we confess our sins our hearts are open to his grace this is so important his teaching is so important I mean think about the parable of the merciless servant right we know this where there's a king a master he's going to settle his accounts and he brings a servant before him who owes him a huge amount it says actually the original Greek says it owes him 10,000 talents and the servant begs the master to forgive him he says give me time and

18:58 I'll pay back what I owe you no this is kind of fascinating 10,000 talents what's 10,000 talents well one Talent is equal to 6,000 days wages so 6,000 dinari adds up to one talent and the guy owes 10,000 talents which means I think he owes something like 160,000 years of service it's like 60 million days of work he he owes the master he owes the king the the person in charge here think about that I'll give me time I'll pay back what you owe what I what I owe okay 60 million 60 million uh days of service 160,000 years of service I that's a lot of time basically he can't he can't pay it back and yet what happens the master says I release you from your debt goes on you know the mercil that servant who's just forgiven there's another servant who was a much smaller amount and that fact the original Greek there is 100 dinari so you go from 60 million dinari to 100 dinari and he doesn't forgive him he's not

20:00 willing to forgive him and that's why that Parable ends with the word so also my heavenly father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart and this is so critical what is it to forgive from the heart it's not I feel fine it's not I'm no longer hurt it's not I trust you now it's not we're reconciled there's a difference between forgiveness and Reconciliation there's a difference between forgiveness and restoration of the relationship forgiveness can be very very simp and it's from that Parable the parable of the merciless servant or the forgiving master who says I release you from your debt so we know this we we've heard this before probably is that God is just and Justice is what Justice is giving someone what they're owed giving someone their due and so God is not ignoring Justice he he's not disregarding justice justice is a good God is just giving someone what they're

20:53 owed that's that's just and so the call here to forgive those who have sinned against us is not the call to be a doormat right it's not the call to be someone's in punching bag it is the call to say okay this person has hurt me they've cost me something they owe me something Justice would declare they owe me something and forgiveness is merely saying what that merciful Master said I release you from your debt I'm simply not going to make you pay me back in some many way say the heart of forgiveness it's one of the reasons why I am grateful that it says 10,000 talents he knows exactly what this man owes him he knows exactly what the man owes him and that's one of the steps I think when it comes to forgiveness very very important for us to be able to say okay I have this these bad feelings towards this person because they've hurt me okay but what have they cost you this is the big question what have they cost you and

21:48 it's I think it's important to do this like this to actually take that person take that situation whatever the thing is take that wound that hurt into the chapel into your church in front of our Lord in the Eucharist and in front of the image of Jesus on the cross and to be able to in that safe place that place of the holy spirit that place of Christ's presence to be able to say okay let me add up what they've cost me again not for a vendetta not for Revenge but so that I can say okay this is this is what they owe me this is what they owe they owe me my innocence they owe me the ability to trust what they did it affected relationships like this this and this like that's what they owe me just in the same way that if you lent someone your car and they got into an accident and there were $900 worth of damage on your car they would owe you $900 cuz that's what they cost you now if you were to forgive them it's not

22:38 you're not saying ah no big deal you're not if you were to forgive them you're not like oh here's the keys again if you were to forgive them what that means is I'm not going to make you pay me back you owe me $900 I release you from your debt doesn't mean I trust you again doesn't mean I'm going to lend you my car again doesn't mean we're best friends it just means I'm not going to wait to make you pay me back back similarly how has this person hurt you what have they cost you to be able to as best we can to Total that up and then with God's help right this can only be done with the strength of Jesus Christ then we say I release you from your debt that's it in the sense of I'm not going to make you pay me back and to do this as it says in paragraph 28:43 to do this in the depths of the heart it says goes on to say it is not in our power not to feel or to forget an offense so don't worry about it if you

23:33 still feel upset still feel hurt if you still remember it and you're like oh forgive and forget like but I can't forget just forgive it's not in our power not to feel it's not in our power to forget but the heart that offers itself to the Holy Spirit turns injury into compassion and purifies the memory and transforming the hurt into intercession because that's the next step it's it's the first step is adding it all up right the second step is I release you from your debt the next step is now I need to transform that hurt into intercession because Christian prayer extends to the Forgiveness of enemies we're actually commanded by our Lord to pray for those who have hurt us we have to transform that hurt into intercession and that's it's a high call as well it is a high high call but forgiveness as it says in 28:44 forgiveness Bears witness that in our world love is stronger than sin forgiveness Bears witness that in

24:36 our world love is stronger than sin it is a love that you've seen lived out you've seen that love depicted on every crucifix you've seen that love lived out above all in the Eucharist what does Jesus do he comes to us sinners he comes to us sinners with his love forgiveness Bears witness than in our world love is stronger than sin God's love for us is stronger than sin and we have to love with the love with which we have been loved and it's impossible it's impossible without God's grace without God's help without prayer so please pray for each other pray for those who have hurt you I praying for you please pray for me my name is father Mike I cannot wait to see you tomorrow God

25:48 bless

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Day 363: Forgive Us Our Trespasses — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)"?

Father Mike Schmitz (Host).

What is "Day 363: Forgive Us Our Trespasses — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)" about?

The discussion centers on the theme of forgiveness as presented in the Lord's Prayer, specifically focusing on the relationship between receiving God's forgiveness and extending it to others. The content includes a reading of the catechism, detailing the significance of forgiveness within the Catholic faith and its implications for personal and communal relationships.

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

8 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including The Lord's Prayer, Brother Mike Schmitz, Ascension app, Ascension, Eucharist, CS Lewis. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Day 363: Forgive Us Our Trespasses — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)"?

The episode runs 26 min; the transcript is about 4,959 words in 29 timestamped sections.

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