I'm 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

to 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 217. We are reading paragraphs 1581, 1589. As always, I am using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes a foundation 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 C-I-Y, and you could, if you wanted, click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily

updates and daily notifications because we made it all the way to today, day 21-189. This is the last little section before

we talk about holy matrimony. Well, we have nuggets coming up, you know, but from 1581 to 1589,

we're talking about the effects of the sacrament of holy orders, that there is an indelible character

that is imprinted essentially, kind of like baptism, kind of like confirmation.

That is once a priest, always a priest. In fact, scripture says you are a priest forever. And so we have that. Secondly, we talk about the grace of the Holy Spirit. What is that? Is it a grace of strength? Yes, it is. Is it a grace of wisdom and all those gifts of the Holy Spirit? yes, there's a special strength that God is given to

those ordained deacons, a strength to serve, which is remarkable. And there's something really

powerful. There is a quote at the very end of, actually two quotes at the very end of our

section today, one by St. Gregory of Nazianzus and the other by St. John Marie, St. John Marie Vienni,

St. John Vienny, and both of them remarkable. One is a quote that St. Gregory of Nazianz,

it was a very young priest exclaimed, and then St. John Vienn. St. John Vienn is the patron saint of

parish priest, and so he has a quote at the very end of this

where he says, the priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus. So as we enter into this last little

section before our nuggets tomorrow, let's just call upon our father in the name of his son,

Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit and pray.

Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory.

We thank you so much for giving us, for giving us yourself, forgiving us your son,

forgiving us your love and giving us access to your heart, Father in heaven.

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