Sacred Tradition

Sacred Tradition The Authority of the Church The Word of God & the Saving Power of God The Word of God is “effective.” It creates and has the power to recreate– the power to redeem, the power to save. And how is that Word, this Saving Help, communicated to the world? Written down? Whispered? Shouted? Pantomimed? Charades? Pictionary? The WORD made FLESH. The Saving Work of God, the Redeeming Work of God has Manhood. The Divine becomes human, and God Saves by becoming Jesus, the God-Man, a name that means ‘God Saves.’ The Dignity, the Nobility of Man. “How admirable the plan, the universal law laid down by Providence, that it is through men, that men are to find the way to salvation.” -Pope Leo XIII, quoted in the Soul of the Apostolate The Principle of the Incarnation The unrealized potency, the untapped power of Humanity, which Jesus saw, nay, which Jesus sees. “Our Lord’s great command was, ‘Follow me!’ By calling others to Himself, He introduced the idea that man should have charge over man. It was a prolongation of the principle of His Incarnation: He Who is God would teach and redeem and sanctify through the human nature which He had taken from Mary... …but He would work also through other human natures, starting with those first twelve whom He called to be His followers… …It was not angels who would administer to men: the government of the Father would be placed in the hands of human beings. Such is the meaning of the apostolic call to the twelve.” -Fulton Sheen The Meaning of the Apostolic Call: A Trip Down Memory Lane Where do you begin? How do you begin? The Prolongation of the Incarnation “Our Blessed Lord intended to prolong His teaching, and His reign and His very life ‘unto the consummation of the world;’ but in order to do this He had to call to Himself a body of men to whom He would communicate certain powers that He had brought with Him to earth. This body would not be a social body such as a club, united only for the sake of pleasure and convenience; nor would it be a political body, held together by common material interest; it would be truly spiritual, the cement of which would be charity and love and the possession of His Spirit. If the society or Mystical Body Our Lord wanted to found was to have continuity, it would need a head and members. If it was a vineyard, as He declared in one of His parables, it would need laborers; if it was a net, it would need fishermen; if it was a field, it would need sowers and reapers; if it was a herd, or a flock, it would need shepherds.” -Fulton Sheen Nothing but the Pentecost: Personal Knowledge of Christ Saves “When the Advocate comes, whom I shall send…you too will be witnesses.” No Epistles, No Gospels– Much Faith, Much Theology The Great Commission “Whenever our civilization wants a library to be catalogued, or a solar system discovered, or any other trifle of this kind, it uses up its specialists. But when it wishes anything done which is really serious, it collects twelve of the ordinary men standing around. The same thing was done, if I remember right, by the Founder of Christianity.” “The great struggle of the [Ancient] Church.” GNOSTICISM Explioit Scripture Claim Secret Apostolic Traditions Combatting the Gnostics Christ is the ultimate source of Christian doctrine—the full revelation. He entrusted the revelation to His Apostles. St. Irenaeus (c180AD): “Through none other than those by whom the gospel reached us have we learned the plan of our salvation.” Tertullian (c190AD): “What we believed is what is preached by bishops appointed by apostles, who came from Christ, who came from God.” Thus the sole authority on earth was the Apostles, which meant “Christians must not pick and choose doctrines according to their whims.” Tradition in the Ancient Church The original message of the Apostles by both men is described as “Tradition.” St. Irenaeus: “However much Christians may differ in language or mental capacity, the force of tradition, the faith and preaching communicated by the apostles, remains one and the same.” Tertullian: “the whole body of apostolic doctrine, whether delivered orally or in epistles, is apostolorum traditio” Tradition per St. Irenaeus Once Christ is gone, we rely on Apostles to transmit the Gospel. They transmitted it orally to the Church—a living tradition independent of written documents; St. Irenaeus points to “barbarian tribes which received this faith without letters.” This communication was entirely public and open (contra Gnostics); he defines tradition in a novel and restricted sense to refer to “the Church’s oral teaching as distinct from Scripture.” He referred to this tradition as the “canon of the truth.” Identity with the Apostles ensures and guarantees the oral tradition. Those successors of the Apostles, the Bishops, are further endowed and guarantors by charisma veritatis certum (infallible charism of truth). The NT for St. Irenaeus was “the written formulation of the apostolic tradition.” Thus, the Apostolicity prong for canonization. Tradition per Tertullian “Tradition” defined more broadly “to cover what had been customary in the Church for long generations.” Includes triple renunciation, triple immersion, reception of Eucharist in early morning, prohibition of kneeling on Sundays and at Easter, the sign of the Cross. There could be variance, even—but what was sure was that the tradition was “the faith delivered by the Apostles.” Tradition can be found in Scripture, which was the written communication of the Apostles or in the doctrine publically proclaimed by the Churches. The unwritten tradition and doctrines were the “rule of faith,” which he used more often than Scripture to defend the Church from Gnostics. The rule of faith “has been handed down by Christ through the apostles…and it can be used to test whether a man is a Christian or not.” Further, the rule points to correct exegesis. The Church’s continued public witness and tradition is “the indispensable key to Scripture.” Inspired Letters or Inspired Men? St. Paul writes first: 50 A.D. to the Church in Corinth (very local, population 400K) In fact, all epistles and Gospels were to local audiences or families, none actually meant for wide distribution. First canons were local. In fact, people copied local letters and Gospels because of Truth therein– but it is important to ask from whence the Truth comes. Is it happenstance that the letter contains Truth, or is it the writer who is inspired– meaning what he writes is inspired, as well, but also what he says, what he does, how he leads, &c. It takes a Foundation to build a Church “But I would not believe in the Gospel, had not the authority of the Catholic Church already moved me.” St. Augustine “It is not from sacred Scripture alone that the Church draws her certainty about which everything has been revealed.” Dei Verbum 9 Traditio & Conserve Traditio: trado; bequeath, the process of handing over. Conserve: com-servare; an intense, maintenance or guard. 2 Thes 2:15: “Stand firm then brothers, and keep the traditions that we taught you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.” 1 Cor. 15:3-4: “In the first place, I taught you what I had been taught myself, namely that Christ died for our sins…” Sacred Tradition Doctrine: what the Church believes, teaches, and confesses on the authority of the will of God. Belief is seen implicitly in the way we pray, worship, & live. Teach in explicit day-to- day lessons. Confess in solemn creeds & dogmas. Dogma: Truth officially proposed by the Church as Doctrinal development seeks to penetrate being part of or necessarily God’s Truth, is ever-ongoing and often connected to Revelation in a jagged. The process and fruits require binding, definitive way. fidelity to the Church & Her teachings. On the Authority of the Will of God Matthew 16:18-19 “So I now say to you, ‘You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.’” On the Authority of the Will of God Matthew 16:18-19 “So I now say to you, ‘You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.’” Petrine Primacy: the Papacy Authority & Unity Peter as the head of the Church & the represents the unity and universality. Christ’s personally trusting Peter with the Keys and the task of feeding His sheep. Apostles recognized (John at the tomb), St. Paul in Gal. 2:11. Peter leads. Election of Matthias, Pentecost address & baptisms, Temple addresses, address to the Sanhedrin, miracles in Acts, baptism of pagans, uncircumcised visits, controversy on the Law, &c. Petrine Primacy: the Papacy “Of Peter the most is known. Peter is mentioned 195 times; the rest of the Apostles only 130 times. The one mentioned next in frequency to Peter is John, to whom there are 29 references. Peter’s original name was Simon, but it was changed by Our Blessed Lord to Cephas (cite Jn 1:42).

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