Day 44: The Scandal of Evil (2025)

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

Ascension

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

4.9 • 10.8K Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2025

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If God is a good Father and creates a good world, why does evil exist? The Catechism addresses this profound and often painful question. Fr. Mike helps us understand how to reconcile sin, evil, and suffering with God’s loving Providence. He assures us that while God does not remove evil, he does redeem it, offering himself as the solution. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 309-314.

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's Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast, where we
0:09.9	encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in scripture and passed down through the
0:13.9	tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a year is brought to you by Ascension. In 365 days,
0:19.2	we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church
0:21.2	discovering our identity in God's family as we journeyed together toward a heavenly home.
0:24.7	It is Day 44. We're reading paragraphs 309 to 314. As always, I'm using the Ascension edition
0:29.7	of the Catechism, which includes the foundation of faith approach. You can, of course,
0:32.9	follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I just happen to like this one. You can also download your catechism into your reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com
0:40.8	slash C-I-Y. And also you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates
0:45.7	at daily notifications. You guys, it is day 44. We are hitting yesterday, right? We had God's
0:51.6	providence, his secondary causes, that God is a, he's the primary
0:54.6	cause of all creation, but also we recognize that he allows secondary causes. And today, we recognize
1:02.6	the cost of those secondary causes because in God's providence, there also is this thing called
1:07.8	the scandal of evil. And today that's what we're going to talk about.
1:11.1	It's actually really, believe it or not, it's very deep and profound and sometimes difficult to
1:16.4	talk about. It's even more difficult to live, as we all know, because the question is, if we start
1:21.9	out in paragraph 309, immediately asking the question, give God the Father Almighty, the creator of the ordered and good world
1:29.3	cares for all his creatures,
1:30.7	why does evil exist?
1:32.7	And that's the question we're gonna look at today.
1:34.6	And ultimately, we recognize that,
1:36.9	ha, there's no easy answer.
	...

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