137. Jesus and the Apostles

Jesus and the Apostles

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 137

Ave Maria series

137  Why is the Church called apostolic?

The Church is called apostolic because she was founded by the apostles, holds fast to their Tradition, and is governed by her successors.  [857-860, 869, 877]

The Exhortation to the Apostles by James Tissot, Brooklyn Museum. 

The first Christians had no doubts about how to determine which was the true Church and which doctrines the true teachings of Christ. The test was simple: Just trace the apostolic succession of the claimants. Apostolic succession is the line of bishops stretching back to the apostles. All over the world, all Catholic bishops are part of a lineage that goes back to the time of the apostles. …..137

Jesus called the apostles to be his closes collaborators.  They were his eyewitnesses.  After his Resurrection, he appeared to them repeatedly.  He bestowed on them the Holy Spirit and sent them as his authoritative messengers to all the world.  They assured unity in the early Church.  They conferred their mission and authority upon their successors, the bishops, through the laying on of hands.  This process is called apostolic succession.  92

Twelve Apostles: (Greek apostolos=someone sent, messenger)  “The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him” (Matthew 10:2-4).

[857-860, 869, 877]

THE CHURCH IS APOSTOLIC

857 The Church is apostolic because she is founded on the apostles, in three ways:

- she was and remains built on "the foundation of the Apostles,"

(Ephesians 2:20; Revelation 21:14)³⁶² the witnesses chosen and sent on mission by Christ himself;(compare Matthew 28:16-20; Acts of the Apostles 1:8; 1 Corinthians 9:1; 15:7-8; Galatians1:1; etc.)³⁶³

- with the help of the Spirit dwelling in her, the Church keeps and hands on the teaching,(compare Acts of the Apostles 2:42)³⁶⁴ the "good deposit," the salutary words she has heard from the apostles;(compare 2 Timothy 1:13-14)³⁶⁵

- she continues to be taught, sanctified, and guided by
the apostles until Christ's return, through their successors in pastoral office: the college of bishops, "assisted by priests, in union with the successor of Peter, the Church's supreme pastor"(Ad gentes 5)³⁶⁶

You are the eternal Shepherd 
who never leaves his flock untended. 
Through the apostles 
you watch over us and protect us always. 
You made them shepherds of the flock 
to share in the work of your Son. . . .(Roman Missal, Preface of the Apostles I)³⁶⁷ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

The Apostles' mission

858 Jesus is the Father's Emissary. From the beginning of his ministry, he "called to him those whom he desired; . . . . And he appointed twelve, whom also he named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to preach."(Mark 3:13-14)³⁶⁸  From then on, they would also be his "emissaries" (Greek apostoloi). In them, Christ continues his own mission: "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you."(John 20:21; compare Jn 13:20; 17:18)³⁶⁹ The apostles' ministry is the continuation of his mission; Jesus said to the Twelve: "he who receives you receives me."(Matthew 10:40; compare Luke 10:16)³⁷⁰ –CCC

859 Jesus unites them to the mission he received from the Father. As "the Son can do nothing of his own accord," but receives everything from the Father who sent him, so those whom Jesus sends can do nothing apart from him,(John 5:19, 30; compare Jn 15:5)³⁷¹ from whom they received both the mandate for their mission and the power to carry it out. Christ's apostles knew that they were called by God as "ministers of a new covenant," "servants of God," "ambassadors for Christ," "servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God."(2 Corinthians 3:6; 6:4; 5:20; 1 Corinthians 4:1)³⁷² –CCC

860 In the office of the apostles there is one aspect that cannot be transmitted: to be the chosen witnesses of the Lord's Resurrection and so the foundation stones of the Church. But their office also has a permanent aspect. Christ promised to remain with them always. The divine mission entrusted by Jesus to them "will continue to the end of time, since the Gospel they handed on is the lasting source of all life for the Church. Therefore, . . . the apostles took care to appoint successors (Lumen gentes 20 ; compare Matthew 28:20)³⁷³ –CCC

IN BRIEF

869 The Church is apostolic. She is built on a lasting foundation: "the twelve apostles of the Lamb" (Revelation 21:14). She is indestructible (compare Matthew 16:18). She is upheld infallibly in the truth: Christ governs her through Peter and the other apostles, who are present in their successors, the Pope and the college of bishops.

Why the ecclesial ministry?

877 Likewise, it belongs to the sacramental nature of ecclesial ministry that it have a collegial character. In fact, from the beginning of his ministry, the Lord Jesus instituted the Twelve as "the seeds of the new Israel and the beginning of the sacred hierarchy." (Ad gentes 5)³⁹⁵ Chosen together, they were also sent out together, and their fraternal unity would be at the service of the fraternal communion of all the faithful: they would reflect and witness to the communion of the divine persons.(compare John 17:21-23)³⁹⁶  For this reason every bishop exercises his ministry from within the episcopal college, in communion with the bishop of Rome, the successor of St. Peter and head of the college. So also priests exercise their ministry from within the presbyterium of the diocese, under the direction of their bishop.—CCC

JT  Apostles  The

136. Other religions

Other religions

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 136

Ave Maria series

136  How does the Church view other religions?

The Church respects everything in other religions that is good and true.  She respects and promotes freedom of religion as a human right.  Yet she knows that Jesus Christ is the sole redeemer of all mankind.  He alone is “the way, and the truth, and the life”  (John 14:6).  [841-848]

St. Paul delivering the sermon about the Unknown God to the Athenians at the Areopagus (Acts of the Apostles 17:22-28). Painting by Raphael (1515). …..136

Whoever seeks God is close to us Christians.  There is a special degree of “affinity” to the Muslims.  Like Judaism and Christianity, Islam is one of the monotheistic religions.  The Muslims, too, revere God the Creator and Abraham as their father in faith.  Jesus is considered a great prophet in the Qur’an; Mary, his Mother, as the mother of a prophet.  The Church teaches that all men who by no fault of their own do not know Christ and his Church but sincerely seek God and follow the voice of their conscience can attain eternal salvation.  However, anyone who has recognized that Jesus Christ is “the way, and the truth, and the life” but is unwilling to follow him cannot find salvation by other paths.  This is what is meant by the saying, Extra ecclesiam nulia salus (outside of the Church there is no salvation).  199

Religious Freedom:  The right of every man to follow his conscience in choosing and practicing his religion.  Acknowledgment of religious freedom is not saying that all religions are equal or equally true.

[841-848]

The Church and non-Christians

841 The Church's relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."(Lumen gentium 16; compare  Nostra aetate 3)³³⁰ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

842 The Church's bond with non-Christian religions is in the first place the common origin and end of the human race:

All nations form but one community. This is so because all stem from the one stock which God created to people the entire earth, and also because all share a common destiny, namely God. His providence, evident goodness, and saving designs extend to all against the day when the elect are gathered together in the holy city. . . (Nostra aetate 1)³³¹ –CCC

843 The Catholic Church recognizes in other religions that search, among shadows and images, for the God who is unknown yet near since he gives life and breath and all things and wants all men to be saved. Thus, the Church considers all goodness and truth found in these religions as "a preparation for the Gospel and given by him who enlightens all men that they may at length have life." (Lumen gentium 16; compare Nostra aetate 2; Evangeli nuntiandi  53)³³² –CCC

844 In their religious behavior, however, men also display the limits and errors that disfigure the image of God in them:

Very often, deceived by the Evil One, men have become vain in their reasonings, and have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and served the creature rather than the Creator. Or else, living and dying in this world without God, they are exposed to ultimate despair.( Lumen gentium 16; compare Romans 1:21, 25)³³³ –CCC

845 To reunite all his children, scattered and led astray by sin, the Father willed to call the whole of humanity together into his Son's Church. The Church is the place where humanity must rediscover its unity and salvation. The Church is "the world reconciled." She is that bark which "in the full sail of the Lord's cross, by the breath of the Holy Spirit, navigates safely in this world." According to another image dear to the Church Fathers, she is prefigured by Noah's ark, which alone saves from the flood.(St. Augustine, Serm. 96,7,9:Patrologia Latina 38,588; St. Ambrose, De virg. 18 118:Patrologia Latina 16,297B; compare already 1 Peter 3:20-21)³³⁴ –CCC

"Outside the Church there is no salvation"

846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? (compare Cyprian, Ep. 73.21:Patrologia Latina 3,1169; De unit.:Patrologia Latina 4,509-536)³³⁵   Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:

Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.( Lumen gentium 16; compare Mark 16:16; John 3:5)³³⁶ –CCC

847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church:

Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.( Lumen gentium 16; compare Denzinger-Schönmetzer 3866-3872)³³⁷ –CCC

848 "Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men."(Ad gentes 7; compare Hebrews 11:6; 1 Corinthians 9:16)³³⁸ –CCC

Apostle  Saint Paul