Wednesday, September 23, 2020 –
Yesterday I regaled you with an extremely short history of the protestant reformation and Sacred Scripture. Today we are going to look at SACRED TRADITION, that oft forgotten, but equally important pillar of the THREE PILLARS OF THE CHURCH’S AUTHORITY.
It is easy for us in 2020 to pick up a Bible and say, “Ah! There is Sacred Scripture in all its Divinely inspired beauty!” However, there was a time in the very early Church that the New Testament existed only in letters and oral tradition, handed down—along with the example of a good Christian life—from the Apostles. You know, before all of Saint Paul’s numerous letters to everyone about everything (and, of course, all the other books of the New Testament) were codified as the New Testament, he (and the other Apostles) actually went places and told/showed people what it meant to be Christian and wrote letters to everyone about everything.
It is this—the telling and showing of what Christianity is; the TRADITION—that we want to talk about! Pope Paul VI puts the definition of Sacred Tradition very succinctly in Dei Verbum: “the Church, in her teaching, life and worship, perpetuates and hands on to all generations all that she herself is, all that she believes.”
You cannot really make a list of everything in Sacred Tradition. However, we can get a better idea of what Sacred Tradition is and is not by taking a gander at our Catechism:
In the apostolic preaching. . .
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…
. . . continued in apostolic succession
77 “In order that the full and living Gospel might always be preserved in the Church the apostles left bishops as their successors. They gave them their own position of teaching authority.” Indeed, “the apostolic preaching, which is expressed in a special way in the inspired books, was to be preserved in a continuous line of succession until the end of time.”
78 This living transmission, accomplished in the Holy Spirit, is called Tradition, since it is distinct from Sacred Scripture, though closely connected to it. Through Tradition, “the Church, in her doctrine, life and worship, perpetuates and transmits to every generation all that she herself is, all that she believes.” “The sayings of the holy Fathers are a witness to the life-giving presence of this Tradition, showing how its riches are poured out in the practice and life of the Church, in her belief and her prayer.”…
81 …”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.”
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.”
Apostolic Tradition and ecclesial traditions
83 The Tradition here in question comes from the apostles and hands on what they received from Jesus’ teaching and example and what they learned from the Holy Spirit. The first generation of Christians did not yet have a written New Testament, and the New Testament itself demonstrates the process of living Tradition.
Tradition is to be distinguished from the various theological, disciplinary, liturgical or devotional traditions, born in the local churches over time. These are the particular forms, adapted to different places and times, in which the great Tradition is expressed. In the light of Tradition, these traditions can be retained, modified or even abandoned under the guidance of the Church’s Magisterium.
So what is Sacred Tradition? Our Catholic beliefs, our practices, our shared history. In short, it is Catholicism.
It is not praying the Rosary every day. While this is a laudable little “t” tradition you may have as a family, it is not Sacred Tradition. Conversely, the Mysteries of the Rosary are Sacred Tradition. Most are based in Sacred Scripture, but it they were also handed down as part of our Faith. Take the Assumption, for example. It is not explicitly stated anywhere in Sacred Scripture, but our Sacred Tradition holds this dogma.
And if you want to get back to our rousing discussion of Left-field Luther and his crazy hammer, THIS is the stuff he left out: all of the beliefs—the life and worship—of the Church. That is a lot! EEK! Besides, it is kind of short sided to leave out Sacred Tradition. I mean, if you do, then you wouldn’t be going to Church on Sundays…just saying. Moving the Sabbath from Saturday (Jewish) to Sunday (Catholic / Christian) is not found in Sacred Scripture. It is a Sacred Tradition handed down to us by the Apostles who started worshiping the Lord’s day on Sunday because of the Resurrection. But, you know, Sola Scriptura…right!? LOL!
Anyhoo, tomorrow we will cover the last of the three pillars of the Church’s authority: the Magisterium.
Mother of mercy, pray for us!
