Day 10: The Apostolic Tradition (2025)

As we journey together toward our heavenly home. It is day ten today, and we're reading paragraphs seventy-four to paragraph seventy-nine. That is how God has transmitted to us divine revelation through apostolic tradition, continued in apostolic. succession through Apostolic Preaching, and come down to us today. And you once again you guys, I am so grateful.

I I don't know if I've expressed clearly enough how grateful I am that we're walking this journey together. This through the catechism, as I as I kind of mentioned, I think a couple times now, um, it's a little bit like, okay, this is different, right? I mean, I'm sure you got that. that reality, like this is not the same thing as reading the Bible. In fact, today we're gonna talk about that. Uh we're gonna talk about how scripture and tradition go hand in hand for the next couple days. But

Just FYI. I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism. It includes the foundations of faith approach. You can also follow along in that Ascension Catechism, but any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church will be great.

To download your own catechism in your reading plan, visit AscensionPress dot com slash CIY. You can also follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily notifications. Also, again, just a quick thank you to all those who have supported the production of this podcast with prayers and Through your financial gifts. Uh truly we couldn't do this without you. Okay, so back to uh day 10. I I don't know if you've gotten this.

So far. But it's like, okay, we're we're kinda we're kind of taking baby steps. That's what it feels like, I think. Um, you know, when we jumped into the Bible, if you went with us, you're part of that community that walked through the Bible, you know, the first couple days, they're they're the stories we know the best, right? There's Adam and Eve and there's Noah and there's Abraham that call and there's something about and then we jumped into Job. There's something about

here, you know, this these these first steps, these initial steps that are kind of like, Okay, I'm in I'm in new territory. This is a different flow, it's a different feel, but here's the crazy thing. This is the same God, the same spirit, the same community. I just want to emphasize that and just remind us all that here we are journeying together because we wanna know the Lord better. You know, sometimes this is about uh information. I just wanna I wanna learn more. Ultimately though.

The goal is transformation. And it's not just about knowledge, it's about conversion. And so it's sometimes it's sometimes it's like, wow, that was profound and and deep and amazing. And sometimes it's what? I know that we've gotten that experience. You know, so today on day ten, we're reading paragraphs seventy four to seventy nine. It's Article two beg the beginning of Article two here in chapter two of Section one Revelation.

And we're going to be talking about the transmission of divine revelation and a couple things to highlight before we launch in today. One is We're gonna be talking about what's the transmission of divine revelation? Well it's tradition. It's tritzia or tradition means to hand on. And so how have we received revelation? How have we received sacred scripture even? Um we've received it because

It's been handed on tradition. And so it's been handed on in two ways, orally and in writing. So tradition, or we even say this, divine revelation has been handed on in two ways, orally and in writing. We're familiar with the in writing part because here we are. We've all experienced it. We've gone through the Bible at least once. We hear the Bible on a regular basis. That's the in writing part. But also

The divine revelation has been handed over to us, handed on to us orally by the apostles preaching. So we're gonna talk about apostolic tradition today and the next couple days because that's That's how divine revelation has come to us. It's again, it did the Bible didn't just drop out of the sky. It was created in time, right? Just like Jesus.

Here is Christianity. Here is the word made flesh and dwelt among us. This is the great mystery of Christianity. If anyone is a Christian and they try to remove Christ from history, or try to remove divine revelation from history. Try to remove the fact that the Bible was handed to us um in time by certain individuals, in a certain particular place, in a certain particular time.

Because they had encountered the fullness of revelation, which is who is Jesus. Okay, so we're talking about tradition. We're talking about the apostolic succession. We're also gonna refer to in the next number of days, uh, a document called Dei Verbum. Dei Verbum. Um, the Word of God. So, um this is very important for us. During the Second Vatican Council there was one Well there were many uh documents that came out of this.

One of the most important, I think, is the dogmatic constitution on divine revelation. AKA in Latin, de verbum. It's a dogmatic constitution on divine revelation, meaning its weight is almost as weighty as you can get, right? to believe about revelation for for all the faithful. And so today there's gonna be a bunch of times where I'll say something like, Dei Verboom states or as it was written in De Verboom, that's that document that came out in the sixties during the Second Vatican Council.

It is powerful. It's so good, you guys. It is so good that you can actually read through it yourself. Um, and and it wouldn't bog you down. Like it would be one of those things where there might be some challenging sections. But ultimately it's really it's uh accessible. It's so so accessible. And so let's pray. Let's as we launch into today I paragraphs seventy four through seventy nine. Again, it's relatively short, but we're just gonna be exposed to here is the way in which

God has revealed Himself. Here's the way in which divine revelation has come to us and has come to us through the apostolic tradition. Let's pray, Father in heaven. Ah, we give you thanks and praise as we begin this day. We just ask you to please be with us, open our minds and open our hearts so that we can receive what you want to hand on to us, what has been handed down from the very beginning.

That that you, Lord Jesus, that you had revealed yourself in your fullness to the apostles, and they have handed that on to us, that you gave them your Holy Spirit to enlighten and enliven their faith, and they've handed that on to us. Help us to receive that today. Help us to receive what's been handed on so that we can not just know about this, not just know about you.

But that we can live it, and we can love you. We make this prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. As I said, it's daytime we're reading paragraphs seventy-four through seventy-nine, Article 2, the Transmission of Divine Revelation. Saint Paul's letter to Timothy states God desires all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth, that is, of Christ Jesus.

Christ must be proclaimed to all nations and individuals, so that this revelation may reach the ends of the earth. The Verbum states, God graciously arranged that the things he had once revealed for the salvation of all peoples should remain in their entirety throughout the ages and be transmitted to all generations.

The Apostolic Tradition. Dave Erbum further states Christ the Lord, in whom the entire revelation of the most high God is summed up, commanded the apostles to preach the gospel which had been promised beforehand by the prophets, and which he fulfilled in his own person and promulgated with his own lips. In preaching the gospel, they were to communicate the gifts of God to all men. This gospel was to be the source of all saving truth and moral discipline.

In the Apostolic Preaching. In keeping with the Lord's command, the gospel was handed on in two ways. Orally, De Verbum further states, 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.

In writing, Dave Erbum states, by those apostles and other men associated with the apostles who, under the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit, committed the message of salvation to writing.

Continued in Apostolic Succession. Dave Rebom states 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.

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. The Father's self-communication, made through his word in the Holy Spirit, remains present and active in the Church. Dave Erbumstake. God, who spoke in the past, continues to converse with the spouse of his beloved son.

And the Holy Spirit, through whom the living voice of the gospel brings out in the church, and through her in the world, leads believers to the full truth, and makes the word of Christ dwell in them in all its richness. Okay, so uh we're gonna focus on a couple of things. One of the things again

This is all about tradition. Tradition means handing on. So remember, Jesus is the fullness. He's he God has no fuller revelation to give, no more revelation to give. Jesus is the fullness of the re of the revelation. So how did that come to us? That's the big question. How did that revelation come to us? Well um

Remember it's coming from God's love. So the first quote, I love this quote from uh first Timothy chapter two verse four that God desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. You know, there are some people who actually believe that God doesn't want every human being to be saved, and that's

That is not, that goes against what we believe as Catholic Christians. We know that God wants every human being to be saved. And we have proof of that here in the tradition of First Timothy chapter two, verse four. So how did how did this knowledge, how did this truth that That Jesus revealed in himself, in his deeds and in his words, how did that come to us? And the the crazy thing is that came through apostolic preaching.

Came through the preaching of the apostles, and it highlights the fact that this this is handed on in two ways, orally and in writing. Again, as I mentioned at the beginning of this, we're familiar with the in writing part, that's the Bible. And sometimes we'd forget the orally part. But you recognize that that this is

This is just as important. In fact, we recognize that we wouldn't even have the Bible if it weren't for the oral teaching of the apostles, right? So we recognize that that that we need both scripture and tradition as that source of divine revelation for for us. In fact, you know, in I mentioned First Timothy.

two that where he says God desires all men to be saved. Later on, Saint Paul wrote another letter to Timothy. It's called the second letter to Timothy, and it's in chapter two, verse two, that Saint Paul writes, he says, What you've heard from me before before many witnesses Go on and entrust to other faithful men who will be able to teach others also. I I kind of paraphrase that a little bit, so let me just read the text.

What you have heard from me before many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also that what's it what's implied there is that Paul, who has entrusted orally the teaching, divine revelation, to Timothy and saying, okay, now you do that as well. That implies and kind of reveals, in fact, three generations of that handing on. Again, tradition is not a bad word. Tradition simply means

to hand on. And it's so, so important that we get this, because we wouldn't have sacred scripture without sacred tradition. In fact, I'm not sure if you caught this, but in paragraph seventy-eight, it talks about the sayings of the holy fathers. So it says the sayings of the Holy Fathers are a witness to the life giving presence of this tradition. Um so what is that? What do you mean, holy fathers? Well, that's that essence essentially is a reference to the patristic fathers, right? So it's

It's the early church fathers they call them. And so those are people who like Saint Clement, Saint Ignatius, St. Irenaeus, uh Tertullian, Origen, they all these are all people, individuals who are known as the early church fathers. And they've talked about this recognition, the reality, I mean, of apostolic succession. In fact, Pope Clement, right from the year eighty, that's eight zero, in his letter to the Corinthians, he highlights this.

this apostolic succession, that this is expected, that this is normal. In fact, it's the way. It is the way. This is important. The way. that the fullness of God's revelation in Jesus Christ. has been handed on to us. Here's what he says. This is Pope Clement in the year eighty. Again, this is not a

late invention, this is something that happened from the very beginning. He wrote, Through countryside and city, the apostles preached, and they appointed their earliest converts, testing them by the Spirit to be bishops and deacons of future believers. Nor was this a novelty, for bishops and deacons had been written about a long time earlier. Our apostles knew through our Lord Jesus.

that there would be strife for the office of bishop, for this reason, therefore, having received perfect foreknowledge, they appointed those who had already been mentioned and afterwards added the further pizzi provision that, if they should die, other approved men should succeed to their ministry. That wasn't just we replace one, so we have twelve. That's with the death of every one of the apostles, there is the next bishop essentially.

who is called, who is uh ordained, and who is entrusted with that same authority that those original apostles had had. And that's just this is incredible. It's just remarkable. And again, why is this why is this the point? Well, not only because there is a structure, not only because there is like the body of Christ is visible on the in the world.

But like what's the goal of this? And I love this. It's so cool. In paragraph seventy-nine, it talks about how God who spoke in the past continues to converse with the spouse of his beloved son. Which means God, yes, has revealed himself fully in Jesus Christ, but he continues to speak with us. He continues to speak to us even today. And yes, you and I can pick up the Bible and we can read the Word of God and we can hear God speaking to us.

God continues to converse with his church, that with the spouse of his beloved son going on, and the Holy Spirit, through whom the living voice of the gospel rings out in the church and through her in the world, leads believers to the full truth.

And makes the word of Christ dwell in them in all its richness. And that's that's the goal, right? That God wants to communicate to us the full truth. You know, there are there are many of us who have partial truth, right? Many of us have a sliver of the truth. But Jesus Christ has revealed to his church and the church has revealed to us the full truth. Why?

So that the word of Christ can dwell in us in all its richness. I just think this is this is such a gift. It's just incredible. And so one of the things I want to do is I wanna be able to receive that baton, right? So if if tradition is

It's like a relay race and they're handing on the baton the racers that have come before us are handing on divine revelation, handing on scripture, they're handing on um the tradition, they're handing on all of the goodness, the richness that God has given to his people.

I want to take that batana and I want to run with it. I want you to run with it too, so that we can hand it on to the next generation. And that's just that's the that's what's been entrusted to us. It's what it's what it what's been entrusted to the apostles. It's what's been entrusted to the bishops, and here we are. Here we are as the body of Christ, as the bride of Christ. Here we are as the church being invited to live in the fullness. Of Jesus Christ in all his richness.

And that relationship. Uh, it's a high call, it's a high challenge. And so my invitation, take that baton and run with it to be able to hand it on. I'm gonna take that baton. I wanna run with it and hand it on as well. And because of that, I know I'm not strong enough, so I ask, please pray for me. I am praying for you. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.