Day 297: The Cross of Suicide (2025)

The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)

Ascension

Spirituality, Tradition, Catechism Of The Catholic Church, Scripture, Catholic Faith, Father Mike, Bible, Catechism In A Year, Fr Mike, Catholicism, Christianity, Catechism, Catholic Teachings, Foundations Of Faith, Ascension, Fr Mike Schmitz, Father Mike Schmitz, Catholic Doctrine, Catholic, Catholic Church, Religion & Spirituality

4.9 • 11.6K Ratings

🗓️ 24 October 2025

⏱️ 21 minutes

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Summary

"The cross of suicide is a violation of the fifth commandment that, tragically, many of us have been impacted by in our world today. Fr. Mike explains that we are stewards of the life that God has entrusted to us, not owners. Our lives are precious gifts, and we have a responsibility to care for them. He also emphasizes that we should not lose hope for the eternal salvation of those who take their own lives. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 2280-2283.

Listener discretion advised. This episode contains references to suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, please contact someone you can trust and/or contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 (available 24 hours everyday). You are loved, you are beautiful, and you are absolutely irreplaceable.
"

This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB.

For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy

Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Transcript

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0:00.0	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.
0:15.5	The Catechism in New 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 297, the last number on my checklist of the Catechism in the year reading plan. We're reading paragraphs 2280 through 2283. 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 your reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash CIY. And lastly, you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications today is day 297. As I said, it is on my sheet, at least, my catechism and your reading plan. It is the last day. And so that means we have, I think, two full sheets left. Does that look? That sounds familiar to anyone here? I think so. And we're reading paragraphs 2280, 2283 yesterday. I keep saying this, but yesterday we talked about euthanasia. The day before abortion. Today,
1:11.8	we're talking about suicide. Again, talking about very serious things and the recognition that all
1:16.4	of our lives have been, well, maybe all of our lives, but most of our lives have been marked by or
1:21.2	touched by, affected by suicide. And so we're really going to hear today, what does the church
1:26.2	officially teach with regard to taking one's own life?
1:30.8	It is a serious sin. It is a grave sin. And yet at the same time, not yet, there's no yet. At the same time, the church continues to have compassion. The church has hope. The church prays for all of those who take their own lives.
1:45.4	We're going to talk about that today. So as we prepare ourselves to launch into these four
1:49.1	paragraphs, let us first launch into the Lord, into the Father's heart, and call upon the name of Jesus
1:54.4	Christ. We pray, Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory and thank you. We thank you for your
2:01.7	Son Jesus. We thank you for your Holy Spirit, that you have poured out into our hearts, that we
2:06.4	can call you Abba, Father. We thank you for making us your children through baptism and the power
2:11.2	of the Holy Spirit, through faith. We ask that you please, regardless of where we are right now,
2:16.1	be with us now. Be with us in this moment.
2:18.9	Be with us as we look at this serious and grave issue of suicide. We ask that you please
2:25.3	protect our hearts, especially those hearts that are grieving. Lord God, the hearts that are
2:29.6	grieving, we ask that you please protect them in a unique way, strengthen them in a unique way, and heal them.
2:36.1	Heal all of our hearts that have been wounded by abortion, two days ago, euthanasia yesterday,
2:42.8	and today's suicide.
2:44.1	We ask that you please give us hearts of compassion, hearts of truth, hearts that are courageous
2:49.0	in being committed to living out your will in all things.
2:53.9	Jesus, be with us now.
	...

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