Q. What is Sacred Tradition?
A. The “Constitution on Divine Revelation” (Dei Verbum) from the Second Vatican Council teaches that “in order to keep the Gospel forever whole and alive within the Church, the Apostles left bishops as their successors, ‘handing over’ to them ‘the authority to teach in their own place.’ This sacred tradition, therefore, and Sacred Scripture of both the Old and New Testaments are like a mirror in which the pilgrim Church on earth looks at God, from whom she has received everything, until she is brought finally to see Him as He is, face to face” (§ 7). Sacred Tradition, then, is not a product of human invention, but something given to the Church through the power of the Holy Spirit so that the one Truth of God might be faithfully handed down without error. Our Creator did this so that we might truly know Him, that we might have authentic love for Him, and that we might find salvation in Him. Moreover, the Church exists in Christ so that this “deposit of faith” might be safeguarded “even to the consummation of the world” (Matt 28:16).
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