I’m alive. That is enough.
Somewhere, Anywhere
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JOHN PAUL, BISHOP
SERVANT OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD FOR EVERLASTING MEMORY To my Venerable Brothers the Cardinals, Patriarchs, Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, Deacons, and to all the People of God.
“GUARDING THE DEPOSIT OF FAITH IS THE MISSION WHICH THE LORD ENTRUSTED TO HIS CHURCH, and which she fulfills in every age. The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, which was opened 30 years ago by my predecessor Pope John XXIII, of happy memory, had as its intention and purpose to highlight the Church’s apostolic and pastoral mission and by making the truth of the Gospel shine forth to lead all people to seek and receive Christ’s love which surpasses all knowledge (cf. Eph 3:19).”
This mission given to the Church in Matthew 16, 20, John 20 is seen fulfilled through the Magisterium of our Church.
“The principal task entrusted to the Council by Pope John XXIII was to guard and present better the precious deposit of Christian doctrine in order to make it more accessible to the Christian faithful and to all people of good will. For this reason the Council was not first of all to condemn the errors of the time, but above all to strive calmly to show the strength and beauty of the doctrine of the faith. “Illumined by the light of this Council,” the Pope said, “the Church … will become greater in spiritual riches and gaining the strength of new energies therefrom, she will look to the future without fear.… Our duty is to dedicate ourselves with an earnest will and without fear to that work which our era demands of us, thus pursuing the path which the Church has followed for 20 centuries.” (John XXIII, Discourse at the Opening of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, October 11, 1962: AAS 54 (1962) pp. 788–91.)
Our Church continues the mission entrusted to it by our Lord and it is a source of Truth for all people of good will.
St. John Paul opens the Catechism with an appeal to the mission of the Church.
I wrote this to someone who said that the gospel was the death, burial and resurrection of Christ:
—-
If that were true that the death burial and resurrection were the gospel then all we would need is the passion, death and resurrection narratives. We have more than that. Gospel means the good news and that includes the fulfillment of Old Testament promises such as:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.He has sent me to proclaim release to the captivesand recovering of sight to the blind,to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Luke 4:18 - 19 RSV
This also includes his greatest gift as outlined by Paul:
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way also the chalice, after supper, saying, “This chalice is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the chalice, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
1 Corinthians 11:23 - 26 RSV
While the Gospel does include the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus, it is not just that. To rob the message of Christianity and reduce it a mere slogan is to reduce its value and transformative power to shape our lives so we can become a people of God, his children.
So no, I do not accept your pamphletized incomplete version of the gospel. I reject your saccharine version of Christianity that robs it of the majesty, beauty and richness of Christ’s salvific message for man.
Enjoying those brief moments... retweeted
If that were true that the death burial and resurrection were the gospel then all we would need is the passion, death and resurrection narratives. We have more than that. Gospel means the good news and that includes the fulfillment of Old Testament promises such as:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.He has sent me to proclaim release to the captivesand recovering of sight to the blind,to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Luke 4:18 - 19 RSV
This also includes his greatest gift as outlined by Paul:
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way also the chalice, after supper, saying, “This chalice is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the chalice, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
1 Corinthians 11:23 - 26 RSV
While the Gospel does include the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus, it is not just that. To rob the message of Christianity and reduce it a mere slogan is to reduce its value and transformative power to shape our lives so we can become a people of God, his children.
So no, I do not accept your pamphletized incomplete version of the gospel. I reject your saccharine version of Christianity that robs it of the majesty, beauty and richness of Christ’s salvific message for man.
Since we see recent celebrations of the break in the western Church due to a human centered view of scripture, paragraphs 8 and 9 of the Catechism teaches us how various periods of history call on us to renew and intensify our learning of the deposit of faith.
“Periods of renewal in the Church are also intense moments of catechesis. In the great era of the Fathers of the Church, saintly bishops devoted an important part of their ministry to catechesis. St. Cyril of Jerusalem and St. John Chrysostom, St. Ambrose and St. Augustine, and many other Fathers wrote catechetical works that remain models for us.”
“‘The ministry of catechesis draws ever fresh energy from the councils. The Council of Trent is a noteworthy example of this. It gave catechesis priority in its constitutions and decrees. It lies at the origin of the Roman Catechism, which is also known by the name of that council and which is a work of the first rank as a summary of Christian teaching….’The Council of Trent initiated a remarkable organization of the Church’s catechesis. Thanks to the work of holy bishops and theologians such as St. Peter Canisius, St. Charles Borromeo, St. Turibius of Mongrovejo, or St. Robert Bellarmine, it occasioned the publication of numerous catechisms.”
Read more: scborromeo.org/ccc/ccc_toc.h…
I’m impressed by the triumphalism of Reform day celebrations. I get that people want to be proud of their traditions but this is a bad hill to do so.
Catholics celebrate Pentecost as the start of the Church. We do not celebrate any schism. We are saddened by them.
We celebrate Christ’s victory, not our own. Celebrating Reform Day seems to celebrate division, revolution and revolt.
Can’t see why anyone would celebrate works of men.
As we continue the exploration of the catechism, we get to the heart of the word Catechesis - education. It echoes the encounter of Phillip with the Ethiopian Eunuch and the beginnings of the faith into the heart of Africa and the rest of the world, living out the Command of our Lord in Matthew 28.
“Catechesis is an education in the faith of children, young people, and adults which includes especially the teaching of Christian doctrine imparted, generally speaking, in an organic and systematic way, with a view to initiating the hearers into the fullness of Christian life.”
While not being formally identified with them, catechesis is built on a certain number of elements of the Church’s pastoral mission which have a catechetical aspect, that prepare for catechesis, or spring from it. They are: the initial proclamation of the Gospel or missionary preaching to arouse faith; examination of the reasons for belief; experience of Christian living; celebration of the sacraments; integration into the ecclesial community; and apostolic and missionary witness.
“Catechesis is intimately bound up with the whole of the Church’s life. Not only her geographical extension and numerical increase, but even more her inner growth and correspondence with God’s plan depend essentially on catechesis.”
Read more: scborromeo.org/ccc/ccc_toc.h…
The 4th paragraph of the Catechism begins to highlight the unique mission entrusted to the apostles and their successors. It is the mission still found within the Church Christ established.
“Those who with God’s help have welcomed Christ’s call and freely responded to it are urged on by love of Christ to proclaim the Good News everywhere in the world. This treasure, received from the apostles, has been faithfully guarded by their successors. All Christ’s faithful are called to hand it on from generation to generation, by professing the faith, by living it in fraternal sharing, and by celebrating it in liturgy and prayer.”
Read more: scborromeo.org/ccc/ccc_toc.h…
Continuing with the Catechism we see that Jesus sends out men to commissioning them to continue the mission he inaugurated on earth in this second paragraph of the Catechism.
“So that this call should resound throughout the world, Christ sent forth the apostles he had chosen, commissioning them to proclaim the gospel: ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.’ Strengthened by this mission, the apostles ‘went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it.’”
Read more: scborromeo.org/ccc/ccc_toc.h…
This is how our catechism begins, highlighting God’s majesty as well as His love for His creation and infinite mercy towards us. We, in turn must respond. That response is a community of love, the Church.
“God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son as Redeemer and Savior. In his Son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life.”
Find the real Truth of Catholic devotion to scripture: scborromeo.org/ccc/ccc_toc.h…
The treasure of our church is arranged in a specific way to aid the faithful:
“A catechism should faithfully and systematically present the teaching of Sacred Scripture, the living Tradition in the Church and the authentic Magisterium, as well as the spiritual heritage of the Fathers, Doctors, and saints of the Church, to allow for a better knowledge of the Christian mystery and for enlivening the faith of the People of God. It should take into account the doctrinal statements which down the centuries the Holy Spirit has intimated to his Church. It should also help to illumine with the light of faith the new situations and problems which had not yet emerged in the past. This catechism will thus contain both the new and the old (cf. Mt 13:52), because the faith is always the same yet the source of ever new light. To respond to this twofold demand, the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the one hand repeats the “old,” traditional order already followed by the Catechism of St. Pius V, arranging the material in four parts: the Creed, the Sacred Liturgy, with pride of place given to the sacraments, the Christian way of life, explained beginning with the Ten Commandments, and finally, Christian prayer. At the same time, however, the contents are often presented in a “new” way in order to respond to the questions of our age. The four parts are related one to another: the Christian mystery is the object of faith (first part); it is celebrated and communicated in liturgical actions (second part); it is present to enlighten and sustain the children of God in their actions (third part); it is the basis for our prayer, the privileged expression of which is the Our Father, and it represents the object of our supplication, our praise and our intercession (fourth part). The Liturgy itself is prayer; the confession of faith finds its proper place in the celebration of worship. Grace, the fruit of the sacraments, is the irreplaceable condition for Christian living, just as participation in the Church’s Liturgy requires faith. If faith is not expressed in works, it is dead (cf. Jas 2:14-16) and cannot bear fruit unto eternal life. In reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church we can perceive the wonderful unity of the mystery of God, his saving will, as well as the central place of Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, sent by the Father, made man in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, to be our Savior. Having died and risen, Christ is always present in his Church, especially in the sacraments; he is the source of our faith, the model of Christian conduct, and the Teacher of our prayer.”
Looking into the text will help anyone who seeks to understand more about the faith established by Christ and handed down through the ages by the apostles and their successors, our bishops.
Everyone who seeks understanding and good will within the Christian community is welcome to investigate the richness and beauty of our Catholic faith.
scborromeo.org/ccc/ccc_toc.h…
Question to Protestants out there, do you all hold that Jesus made the waters of Jordan River holy by his immersion in it?
Some people are just there for their narrative. Blocking someone is also low right after you invite the dialog.
Really good talk on doctrinal development, the sufficiency of scripture, ecclesiology, etc.
youtu.be/j4kb-K2hdk0?si=K6Ew…
