THE ONE TRUE CHURCH

X  I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. X I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord, Who was conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, was Crucified, and Resurrected. X I believe in the Holy Spirit.              X I believe in the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.   X  I believe in the resurrection of the body.  X  I believe in life everlasting, Amen.

CC 14 ….          TRADITION AND SUCCESSION

Is not tradition condemned by Christ ?

Tradition has to be understood within the context of Divine Revelation.  In this sense it has nothing to do with popular customs, usages and other practices. Depending on cultural or ‘traditional’ rites, handed down from one generation to another.

In fact, when such popular traditions (like washing of one’s hands, or washing of cups and pots etc.) replace the Commandments of God, they are severely condemned by the Master. See Mark, 7:4; and Matthew, 15:2.

The Oral Transmission of Revelation

Then, what does Tradition mean ?

Tradition, within the context of ‘Faith’ means  ‘the oral transmission of Divine Revelation’ , that is Apostolic Tradition.  Christ never suggested to the Apostles to write anything. Rather He commanded them to preach, that is, to proclaim by word of mouth, His message (the Gospel) to all nations (Mt. 28: 19 – 20; Mk. 16:15)

Therefore in faithful obedience to the mandate of the Lord, on Pentecost Day (Acts 2: 14), the Apostles began to proclaim  (by word of mouth), the sayings and deeds of Jesus Christ, of which they were the official witnesses and who had the sole authority to do this.

When did the New Testament start to be written ?

This oral transmission (by preaching) of the Gospel, went on for about twenty-five years. Then, around the year 52, there appeared the First Letter of St.Paul to the Thessalonians. It was the first written part of the New Testament.

So the Church which was founded personally by Christ, was already over twenty years old when the first written part of the New Testament appeared.

Therefore the Gospel was first a Tradition (that is, handed down by word of mouth: preaching,) before it was ever put into writing (1Cor. 11: 23;  15:3)

St. Luke confirms that he, like the others before him, was going to write “those things which had been delivered to us by those who, from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word (preachers) (Lk. 1:1 – 2)   /15

Extracts by kind permission of  HG Mons. Sylvester Magro ofm, Apostolic Nuncio of Benghazi.