Christianity began with the life of one man, born in Bethlehem two thousand years ago. His public ministry, which lasted three years, was a fulfillment of the Covenant of Abraham and Judaism and the establishment of a New Covenant between God and Man.
The Catholic Church was established by Christ in the presence of his disciples at the Last Supper. His actions in the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the wine are the Eucharist that continues in the Mass today. There can be no more definitive authority than the words and deeds of Christ himself while he was alive in our world. Thus, anyone who professes to be a Christian today must accept that their faith began with the disciples and their actions, which became the Catholic Church.
It is easy to assume that God established the Church with one stroke: those who followed Jesus somehow received a clear understanding of God’s intentions, and it all just fell into place. But that was not the case at all. We must remember that the Disciples were just as confused, distracted, and human as we are today. Jesus taught them, performed miracles, and even explicitly told them what was happening, and yet in reading the Bible today it is clear that most of the time the disciples did not truly understand Christ.
And we should not expect that they would. Just as we struggle today with understanding the Sacred Mysteries of our faith, the disciples shared the limits of our humanity, and could not grasp the enormity of what was happening around them.
And then, their rabbi, the man whom they had followed for three years, was arrested and brutally put to death. They were a tiny group surrounded by a hostile and turbulent society. if they were to be discovered to be his followers, their fate was likely to be the same as that of Christ.
They had heard the words of Christ and had seen his actions, but now they were lost and alone – understandably anxious about how they would live out the rest of their own lives. Christ had set an example and established the Church, but there was no guidance on the details. How were they to live? How were they to worship? What the Church would become was very much up to them.
And it was definitely not an easy process. Just think about the number of small groups in different villages and cities, often many days travel away, all in hiding due to fear of persecution. How would a common pattern of worship and life be established? Who would decide what Christianity was, and how would it remain united?
The fact that it did can only be attributed to the work of the Holy Spirit.
Revelation and Sacred Tradition
So there is a mystery at the core of Christianity: how does the Church maintain itself and adapt over time in the absence of direct guidance from God himself?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC #72-73) states that God has revealed himself to Abraham and established his covenant with him and his descendants. He conveyed his intent through the prophets and gave his law to them through Moses. And finally, he sent his Son to walk among us as the sacrificial lamb to earn our eternal redemption.
Following His resurrection, Christ sent the Holy Spirit to his apostles at Pentecost. It is the Holy Spirit that guided the fledgling Church – and continues to guide it today. Over the centuries, the collective whole of this guidance, as understood and interpreted by the Church, makes up our Sacred Tradition. This tradition and sacred scripture make up the deposit of faith, which is what defines and guides the Catholic Church (CCC #96-100).
Sacred Tradition is thus an essential part of the Catholic Church. It cannot be ignored and can only be changed incrementally through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Such changes are always taking place, but they are gradual and evolutionary, never changing the true message and meaning of God’s revelation of Himself to us. This process can be likened to the growth of a tree, developing and growing without change to its essential being. This continuity of being is our Sacred Tradition.
Conclusion
We must always remember that the traditions of our Church are not mere nostalgia. They are the living embodiment of the two thousand year process of distillation and assimilation that has been guided by the Holy Spirit, which has formed the Catholic Church. This legacy is a precious resource gifted to us. We abandon that, in whole or in part, at our peril. Ignoring this tradition would make no more sense than to deny the words and life of Christ. We cannot accept the revelation of Christ without first accepting the Sacred Tradition of the Holy Spirit. St. Augustine put it this way: “I should not believe the gospel except as moved by the authority of the Catholic Church.”
Of course, this has serious implications on what the Catholic Church is today. We must protect and maintain the Sacred Traditions of our Church. This means that our liturgy, our prayer lives, and the form of our churches must preserve the continuity of that tradition.
The extent to which that Sacred Tradition can expand to relate to the modern world is our challenge, similar to the way in which the Apostles were faced with defining those traditions so many years ago. Just as they did, so we must rely on the Holy Spirit, not human hubris, to guide us.
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