YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 12
AVE MARIA SERIES “ So that all may be one…” Jn 17:21
How can we tell what belongs to the true faith?
We find the true faith in Sacred Scripture and in the living Tradition of the Church.
The Exhortation to the Apostles by James Tissot Brooklyn Museum. ….. 12
The NEW TESTAMENT developed out of the faith of the Church. Scripture and Tradition belong together. Handing on the faith does not occur primarily through documents. In the early Church it was said that Sacred Scripture was “written on the heart of the Church rather than on parchment”. The disciples and the APOSTLES experienced their new life above all through a living fellowship with Jesus. The early Church invited people into this fellowship, which continued in a different way after the Resurrection. The first Christians held fast “to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers” (Acts of the Apostles 2:42). They were united with one another and yet had room for others. This is part of our faith to this day: Christians invite other individuals to come to know a fellowship with God that has been preserved unaltered since the times of the apostles in the Catholic Church.
MISSION (from Latin Missio=sending): Mission is the essence of the Church and Jesus’ mandate to all Christians to proclaim the Gospel in word and deed, so that all men can freely make a decision for Christ.
APOSTLE (from the Greek apostolos=messenger, envoy): in the New Testament initially the term for the twelve men who were called by Jesus to be his closest collaborators and witnesses. Paul, too, was privileged to consider himself an apostle called by Christ.
[CCC ¶76, 80-82, 85-87, 97, 100]
THE TRANSMISSION OF DIVINE REVELATION
76 In keeping with the Lord's command, the Gospel was handed on in two ways:
ORALLY "by the apostles who handed on, by the spoken word of their preaching, by the example they gave, by the institutions they established, what they themselves had received - whether from the lips of Christ, from his way of life and his works, or whether they had learned it at the prompting of the Holy Spirit";33
IN WRITING "by those apostles and other men associated with the apostles who, under the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit, committed the message of salvation to writing."34
80 "Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely together, and communicate one with the other. For both of them, flowing out from the same divine well-spring, come together in some fashion to form one thing, and move towards the same goal."40 Each of them makes present and fruitful in the Church the mystery of Christ, who promised to remain with his own "always, to the close of the age”.41
Two distinct modes of transmission
81 "Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put down in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit."42
"And [Holy] Tradition transmits in its entirety the Word of God which has been entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit. It transmits it to the successors of the apostles so that, enlightened by the Spirit of truth, they may faithfully preserve, expound and spread it abroad by their preaching."43
82 As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, "does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence."44
The Magisterium of the Church
85 "The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone. Its authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ."47 This means that the task of interpretation has been entrusted to the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome.
86 "Yet this Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God, but is its servant. It teaches only what has been handed on to it. At the divine command and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it listens to this devotedly, guards it with dedication and expounds it faithfully. All that it proposes for belief as being divinely revealed is drawn from this single deposit of faith."48
87 Mindful of Christ's words to his apostles: "He who hears you, hears me",49 the faithful receive with docility the teachings and directives that their pastors give them in different forms.
IN BRIEF
97 "Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God"* in which, as in a mirror, the pilgrim Church contemplates God, the source of all her riches.
100 The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the Magisterium of the Church, that is, to the Pope and to the bishops in communion with him.
Illustration: JT Exhortation to the Apostles by James Tissot
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