Dei Verbum paragraph 7
How many human organizations have come and gone on the face
of the planet? They pop up and
disappear. Maybe they last for a year. Maybe even centuries. All kinds of helps are put into place so that
the means and aims of the organization will live on. Officers might be elected, documents written,
rules passed, collections taken, battles fought, membership rallies held,
pamphlets printed (or posted), but the organizations pass or change into
something else. The luckier ones are
studied in history books.
So Christ wished to have his teaching and life carry
on. How does one make this fullness of
revelation foretold by the prophets last for two millennia so far? Mere human institutions fail. So He established a Church under the
direction of the Holy Spirit. (And
really, it must be a Divinely
inspired institution or else how could it survive us?) He taught His disciples and charged them to
teach what He gave them. The disciples
handed on what they learned to others, in particular to men we call
bishops. They in turn hand on what they
have received, teachings, examples, prayer, institutions that exist or develop
under the Holy Spirit, and continue to do so to this day – one generation after
another passing on the faith under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Thus does Scripture and Tradition come to us,
reflecting God’s image to us, not only informing us and keeping us on track,
but keeping each other in line also, Scripture informing Sacred Tradition and
Tradition making sure the proper interpretation of Scripture is handed from one
century to the next.
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