Sacred Tradition

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Sacred Tradition

• Where
• Gods Revelation
• is found

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Understanding the Terms

• The word tradition comes from the Latin word
  tradere, which means, to hand on.
• In the Greek New Testament the word used is
  paradosis, which refers to that which is handed
  down.

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WHAT IS SACRED TRADITION?

• Gods revelation is found in SACRED TRADITION,
  understood as Gods revealed word handed down by
  the living teaching authority established by
  Christ in the Church.
• That includes both written tradition and
  unwritten tradition
• received from Christ
• and handed down orally by the apostles and their
  successors.
• The Church founded by Christ on Peter, and only
  that Church, has been empowered by Christ to
  interpret His teaching authoritatively in His
  name (Magisterium)

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Sacred Tradition
Deposit of faith, or the "depositum fidei"
This sacred deposit contains those truths that
God wants us to know for the sake of our eternal
salvation
Tradition
Sacred Scripture
St. Paul seemed to understand it in this way when
he wrote to Timothy to hold to traditions which
you have learned, whether by word or by our
letter (2 Thes. 214).
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Two Aspects of Sacred Tradition

• Passive Aspect
• the revealed doctrines (written unwritten)
  handed down by the apostles and their successors.
• Active Aspect
• the living teaching authority (the magisterium)
  established by Christ to ensure that His teaching
  would be handed down to succeeding ages in its
  integrity and without error.

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To understand the Catholic Church's teaching in
regard to Sacred Tradition, we must consider
several things

• Public revelation ceased with Christ and the
  apostles and the evangelists who recorded His
  teachings
• Christ commissioned His apostles to preach
• Christ established a living teaching authority to
  safeguard the integrity of the gospel message,
  and to apply it with divine authority to
  succeeding ages
• The development of the gospel message is not new
  doctrine.

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I. PUBLIC REVELATION ENDS WITH THE APOSTLES

• God in his goodness and wisdom revealed Himself
  gradually through the prophets and patriarchs of
  the old Testament.
• But the fullness and completion of that
  revelation came through the Incarnation of the
  only-begotten Son of the Father who became man to
  redeem us, and to bring to completion the
  revelation of the Godhead and the divine plan of
  salvation.
• The message that Christ brought to mankind by His
  preaching, His deeds, His death and resurrection
  brings an end to public revelation,
• as opposed to private revelation, such as in the
  apparitions of Our Lord and the saints to various
  persons throughout the Christian era.

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we now await no further new public revelation
before the glorious manifestation of our Lord
Jesus Christ(Verbum Dei, n.4).
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II. CHRIST COMMISSIONED THE APOSTLES TO PREACH

• Our Blessed Lord left no written record behind
  Him, but rather ordered His apostles to hand down
  His teaching orally.
• He told them to preach the gospel to all nations
  Go and make disciples of all nations . . .
  teaching them to observe all I have commanded
  you (Mt. 2819).

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In fidelity to the Lords command

• The first gospel was written some 20 years after
  the death of Christ, and the last gospel (that of
  John) was written at the end of the first
  century.
• That means that a whole generation of Christians
  knew nothing of the teaching of Christ, or the
  duties of the Christian life, except through the
  preaching of the apostles and their
  fellow-workers, - that is to say, except through
  oral tradition.
• Almost four hundred years elapsed before the
  inspired books of the New Testament were
  collected (by the teaching authority of the
  Catholic Church) into one book.
• And even after that, since copies of the inspired
  books were transcribed laboriously by hand, there
  were extremely few copies available.
• And that scarcity lasted for almost another
  thousand years until the coming of the printing
  press in the fifteenth century.

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• Much that Christ said and did is not recorded in
  the Scriptures, as St. John so clearly testifies
  There are still many other things that Jesus
  did, yet if they were written in detail, I doubt
  there would be room enough in the entire world to
  hold the books to record them (Jn. 2124).
• St. Paul, too, testifies that part of his
  teaching received from Christ (Gal. 112) was not
  included in his letters The things which you
  have heard from me through many witnesses you
  must hand on to trustworthy men who will be able
  to teach others (2 Tim. 22).

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• Consequently, while the Sacred Scriptures contain
  a large portion of Gods revelation, some portion
  of it was passed on orally and eventually
  recorded in the writings of the Fathers of the
  Church, those spiritual and intellectual giants
  of those early centuries who further explained
  and developed it.
• Example Didache, the full title of which is The
  Lords Instruction to the Gentiles through the
  Twelve Apostles. That document which dates from
  around the time of the Gospel of St. John tells
  us of the celebration of the Eucharist on Sunday
  (the Lords day) rather than on the Sabbath.

Some of the Fathers of the Church are the
disciples of the Apostles themselves.
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III. CHRIST ESTABLISHED A LIVING TEACHING
AUTHORITY

• Immediately after commissioning the apostles to
  preach the gospel to all nations, Our Savior
  continued Behold I am with you all days, even
  to the end of the world (Mt. 2820).
• By these words He assured the apostles that He
  would be with them (through the Holy Spirit whom
  He would send) so that they could hand down His
  teaching without error until the end of time.
• But since the apostles would not live that long,
  Christs promise is valid for His successors,
  those in charge of the Church in succeeding ages.
  
• Thus until the end of time the successors of the
  apostles will share the teaching authority
  conferred by Christ on the apostles, and the
  guidance of the Holy Spirit that He promised.

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• In the centuries to come the Church would not
  merely refer to the Bible, but would explain and
  interpret it, applying it to the changing
  conditions of the times.
• Just as God provided mankind with the guiding
  light of the Scriptures, so He provided mankind -
  through the continued guidance of the Holy Spirit
  - with an official living authority to interpret
  those divinely inspired books.
• One of the main reasons for the division of
  Christendom into the hundreds of Christian
  religions we have today, is the claim that the
  interpretation of the Scriptures is left to the
  individual Christian.
• Constitution of the Republic of the
  PhilippinesSupreme Court

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The task of authentically interpreting the word
of God, whether written or handed on, has been
entrusted exclusively to the living teaching
office of the Church (the magisterium) whose
authority is exercised in the name of Jesus
Christ
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IV. THE DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE

• After the death of St. John the Apostle, no new
  revelation has been added to the deposit of
  faith.
• However, that does not exclude the development of
  those truths contained in that revelation.
• As time passed on, the Church, with the guidance
  of the Holy Spirit, came to a greater
  understanding of Gods revealed word.

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• Development of doctrine, therefore, does not mean
  a changing or abandoning of a doctrine originally
  taught, but rather the growth of the Churchs
  understanding of it.
• Revealed truths are not fixed or static concepts.
  Their richness is inexhaustible, so that
  succeeding generations have discovered new
  insights into Gods message to mankind.
• The attacks on the revealed truths by those not
  of the Catholic faith and not according to the
  teachings of the Apostles.
• This requires on the part of the Church a fuller
  expression of those truths being challenged.

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Panmutektekan

• The Holy Spirit guides the Church.
• Let us be more trustful, open.
• Do we pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance?
  Liwawa? Understanding?

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Parish of St. Fabian, Pope and Martyr

• http//www.cbcpworld.com/sanfabianparish