This shows how the written Gospels grew out of oral
tradition, and were composed in view of the concrete “people of God” of the
early Christian communities. Through His inspired Word in Scripture, God
continues to reveal Himself to us today.
83. Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then,
are bound closely together. . . flowing out from the same divine well spring,
moving towards the same goal and making up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God (cf. DV 9, 10). Tradition
can be taken either as the process by which divine revelation,
coming from Jesus Christ through the apostles, is communicated and unfolded in
the community of the Church, or as the content of the revelation so
communicated. Thus the living Tradition of
the Church, which includes the inspired word of God in Sacred Scripture,
is the channel through which God’s self-revelation comes to us.
84. As Sacred Scripture grew from
Tradition, so it is interpreted by Tradition __ the
life, worship, and teaching of the Church. Tradition depends on Scripture as
its normative record of Christian origins and identity, while Scripture
requires the living Tradition of the Church to bring its Scriptural message to
the fresh challenges and changing contexts confronting Christians in every age.
Biblical
Inspiration
85. The Sacred Scriptures are said to be “inspired” in a special
sense __ not just as some artist or author may be
“inspired” to paint or compose. Rather, biblical inspiration means that
the sacred and canonical books of the Old and New Testaments, whole and entire,
were written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so that we can call God
their “author” and the Bible “the Word of God” (cf. DV 11; CCC 105-6).
God chose certain human authors, who as true authors made full use of their
human powers and faculties, yet were so guided by the Holy Spirit who so
enlightened their minds and moved their wills, that they put down in writing
what God wanted written.
86. Biblical inspiration, then, is a charism referring to the special
divine activity, communicated to individual authors, editors, and compilers
belonging to the community, for the sake of the community. It produced the
sacred texts both of the Old Testament and the New. These texts ground the
apostolic Church which remains uniquely authoritative for us and for all
generations of Christians.
87. But the Holy Spirit’s work in Scripture
touches more than its human authors: in some fashion it also touches both the proclaimers
and the hearers of the word. “In the sacred books the Father who is in
heaven comes lovingly to meet His children, and talks with them” (DV 21).
Scripture thus supports and invigorates the Church (cf. CCC 131-33). It
strengthens our faith, offers food for our souls, and remains a pure and
lasting fount for our spiritual lives. Through the Spirit “God’s word is living
and effective” (Heb 4:12).
But we realize that what was written in the Spirit must be proclaimed and heard
in the Spirit.
The
Canon of Scripture
88. Because of disputes, the Church found it necessary to make a definitive
list, a “canon” of the books which have been truly inspired by God and
thus have God for their author (cf. CCC 120). The Canon of Scripture is
divided into the books written before Jesus’ life (the Old Testament) and those
written after (the New Testament). Guided by the Holy Spirit, the Church
determined the inspired and normative NT books in terms of their apostolic
origin, coherence with the essential Gospel message, and constant use in the
Church’s liturgy. After a long development, the Church finally accepted as
inspired, sacred, and canonical, the 46 books of the Old Testament and the 27
books of the New Testament that we find in our Catholic Bible.
Inerrant Saving Truth
89. Since all of Scripture was written, compiled
and edited under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “we must acknowledge that
the books of Scripture, firmly, faithfully and without error, teach that
truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the
Sacred Scriptures” (DV 11; cf. CCC 107). In recognizing the Bible as
normative, the Church confesses that when properly used, Scripture imparts
saving truth that can be relied upon to bring us into deeper communion with
God.
90. But we must recognize that the Bible is a collection of historical
accounts, doctrinal teachings, poems, parables, ethical exhortations,
apocalyptic visions and many other forms. It was written over a period of more
than a thousand years, separated from us by almost twenty centuries. Therefore,
it is not easy to determine precisely what is the “saving truth” which God
wills to impart to us through a particular book or text of Scripture.
In
addition, the Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that
the Christian Faith is not a
‘religion of the Book.’ Christianity is the religion of the Word of God, ‘not a
written word unable to speak, but the incarnate and living Word.’ So that the
Scriptures do not remain a dead letter, it is necessary that Christ, the
eternal Word of the living God, by the Holy Spirit, opens our minds to
understand them (CCC 108).
B. Interpreting
Scripture
91. St. Paul tells us that “all Scripture is inspired by
God and is useful for teaching __ for
reproof, correction, and training in holiness so that the man of God may be
fully competent and equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16-17). But
the problem, of course, is how to faithfully and accurately interpret
Scripture. For the Filipino Catholic, the answer is clear. “The task of giving
an authentic interpretation of the Word of God has been entrusted to the living
teaching office of the Church alone” (DV 10).
Four
Factors
92. At least four factors play a significant part in interpreting
Scripture: (1) the inspired human author’s intention; (2) the text
itself; (3) the reader of the text; and (4) the common horizon
connecting the original community context of the text with our Christian
community reading it today.
93. First, the human author. Common sense
tells us to find out what the inspired human author had in mind when
interpreting a text. This involves some basic idea of the social, economic, and
religious conditions of the authors in their particular historical situations (cf.
DV 12; CCC 110).
94. Second, the text itself. We have to
look at its literary form (e.g., historical narratives, prophetic
oracles, poems or parables) which the author is using (cf. DV 12.)
In
addition, the text must be viewed within the unity of the whole Bible (cf.
CCC 112). Both Old and New Testaments are read by Christians in the light
of the Risen Crucified Christ. The New Testament’s own use of Old Testament
events, persons and things as “types” foreshadowing its own, exemplifies this dynamic
unity of the two Testaments. For example, Adam and Melchisedek are types of
Christ (cf. Heb 6:20-28);
the flood foreshadows Baptism (cf. 1 Pt 3:20-21); manna in the desert is the “type” of the
Eucharist (cf. Jn 6:48-51,
CCC 128-30).
Something
of the history of the text’s interpretations, especially its use in the
Church’s liturgy, can be very helpful.*
95. Third,
the readers/hearers. We are constantly asking Scripture new questions
and problems, drawn from our own experience. Every Filipino Catholic wants to
know what the Scripture means “to me/us.” At the same time we recognize that
the Bible brings its own culture of meanings and framework of attitudes that
help form, reform and transform us, the readers, into the image of Christ. We
must let the Bible “form” us, even while conscious that we are reading it in
the light of our own contemporary experience.
In
seeking what the Scripture text means “for me/us,” we need to consider the
witness offered in the lives of holy men and women in the Church through the
centuries. Any authentic interpretation of the text for the Christian community
today must be in continuity and harmonize with this tradition of meaning that
has grown out of the text’s impact on Christian communities through the ages (cf.
DV 21; CCC 131-33).
96. Fourth, is the common horizon which
first unites all the books of the Bible into a basic unity, and second, links
together the context of the Scriptural text and its tradition with our present
reading context today. This horizon is the new and eternal covenant God has
established with us in His Incarnate Son, Jesus Christ. In
interpreting Scripture, we seek the truth that God wishes to communicate to us
today, through Scripture. In this we are guided by the living teaching office
of the Church which “exercises its authority in the name of Jesus Christ, not
as superior to the Word of God, but as its servant” (DV 10).
97. Thus we see that “in the supremely wise
arrangement of God, Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture and the teaching office
(Magisterium) of the Church are so connected and associated that one of them
cannot stand without the others. Working together, each in its own way under
the action of the one Holy Spirit, they all contribute effectively to our
salvation” (DV 10).
INTEGRATION
98. The danger is that all this “doctrine” about Revelation and its
sources in Scripture and Tradition will remain only as “head knowledge,”
left behind in our daily living. But God is touching us, calling us to relate
to Him in thought, word and deed. It is in and through our daily
life-experiences __ our everyday dealings in family, work
and recreation __ as well as in prayer and the
Sacraments, that God is close to us. Scripture and Tradition illumine our
experiences in two ways: 1) by showing us how to act as disciples of
Jesus Christ, and 2) by helping us discern God’s action in our daily
lives.
99. “Showing us how to act as believers in
Jesus Christ” is the goal of Catholic moral teaching. The
Filipino Catholic’s conscience is gradually formed through Scripture and
the Church’s living tradition. We are drawn to the lifestyle of a son/daughter
of the heavenly Father, following Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son,
strengthened and inspired by the indwelling Spirit, and living in the
Church, Christ’s own community. The Commandments of God and Christ’s
Beatitudes do not impose burdensome obligations that restrict our genuine
freedom. Rather, they reveal and protect our inalienable dignity as human
persons by specifying the moral duties of each and everyone. God’s call to
justice and honesty creates our authentic freedom.
100. “To
discern God’s action in our daily lives” demands a spiritual sensitivity
that comes only from authentic Christian prayer and worship.
This means that our personal prayer is grounded in God’s revelation in
Scripture and the Church’s living tradition. Only then are we sure to worship
“in Spirit and in truth” (Jn 4:24).
All the typical Filipino devotions and forms of religiosity must ultimately be
viewed in the light of the Gospel. For Jesus Christ taught us to pray “Our
Father” (cf. Mt 6:9-13) and gave us the sacrament of his love to be our
sacrificial worship of his Father in the Holy Spirit.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
101. What is “Revelation”?
Revelation
is God’s personal loving communication to us of who He is and His
plan to save us all in His love. It is God’s reaching out to us in
friendship, so we get to know and love Him.
102. How does God reveal Himself?
God
reveals Himself in:
• Creating us and
everything we see, hear and touch __ from the beginning till now
[natural signs];
• His words and deeds in Sacred
Scripture’s record of salvation history, completed and perfected in His
Son-made-man, Jesus Christ [Biblical signs];
• His continuing presence
by the Holy Spirit in His people, the Church; [ecclesial
signs];
• the prayer and sacramental worship, doctrine, and moral
service of the Church; [liturgical signs];
• His interior presence (Grace)
in our conscience and in all the events of our daily lives, world
events, recognized in the “signs of the times.”
103. How can the Infinite, Pure
Spirit, God, communicate Himself to us in this life?
God
reveals Himself to us through the deeds He performed in history and the words
which proclaim the deeds and clarify their true meaning (cf. DV 2.).
These words and deeds show God’s presence among us and His saving purpose for
us.
104. How important is Jesus Christ
in God’s Revelation?
For
Christians, it is Jesus who is:
• the Revealer of God our Father,
• himself the Image and Word of
God; and
• the Final Goal of God’s
revelation, our ultimate destiny.
105. How does Christ reveal God to
us today?
Christ
reveals God to us primarily through the Church, its Sacred Scripture
and living Tradition, through which the Holy Spirit comes
to us.
106. To whom does God reveal
Himself?
God
“wants all men to be saved and come to know the truth” (1 Tim 2:4),
and in ways both hidden and clear, calls all to Christ, who is the goal, the object, and the agent of God’s Self-revelation, and “the real light
which enlightens every man” (Jn 1:9).
107. How are we to understand
God’s inspired Word in Scripture?
Under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Scripture grew from the life, worship and
teaching of the early Church. So the Church is its authentic interpreter, under
the active help of the same Holy Spirit.
108. What do we mean by the
Bible’s inerrant saving truth?
Through
the Holy Spirit’s charism of inspiration, the human authors of the Bible
set down faithfully and without error the truth God wished to convey for our
salvation (cf. DV 11; 2 Tim 3:16-17).
109. How do we Catholics get to
know Sacred Scripture/the Bible?
Catholics
hear the Bible proclaimed at every Mass. Readings from both Old and New
Testaments are carefully selected and arranged according to the Church’s
liturgical year.
In
addition, parishes sponsor Bible study groups and encourage a Catholic Bible in
every home for family reading and prayer.
110. How were the Gospels formed?
The
Gospels were formed in three stages: first, Jesus’ own teaching
in his earthly lifetime; second, the oral tradition in which the
apostles passed on what Jesus had said and done; and third, the putting
into writing of the Gospels that we have till this day.
111. How do we Catholics
interpret Scripture?
In
interpreting Sacred Scripture, we search out: (1) the human author’s
meaning; (2) the context of the text in relation to the whole Bible; 3)
within our own search for meaning; (4) under the guidance of the Holy Spirit
through the authentic interpretation of the Magisterium, the teaching Church.
112. How important is Sacred
Scripture in our daily lives?
God
continues to speak to us personally through His inspired Word in Scripture,
thereby
• helping us to understand the true
meaning of the daily happenings in our lives,
• guiding our moral behavior
toward authentic freedom and loving service of others, and
• drawing us into prayerful
union with Christ, our Way, our Truth and our Life, in his Church.
113. How has the Bible come to
us?
“Bible”
comes from the Greek word “Biblia”, meaning “books.” So the Bible is
really a collection of “books.” The content was first passed on by
oral tradition over a long period of time before it was put in written
form.
The
Old Testament was composed in Hebrew and translated into Greek around the 2nd
and 3rd centuries before Christ. The New Testament was composed in Greek
during the 2nd half of the 1st century A.D.
-
- - - - - - - - -
* Traditionally
four ‘senses’ of Scripture have been distinguished: literal: the
meaning intended by the original author, providing the basis for all other
senses; allegorical: a point by point interpretation of the text’s
series of actions as symbolic of a meaning metaphorically implied but not
expressly stated; moral: the meaning
for our instruction, “as a lesson to us” (1 Cor 10:11); anagogic:
the mystical meaning, interpreted in the light of its eternal
significance. The four senses were summarized: the literal, teaches what
happened; the allegorical, what is to be believed; the moral,
what is to be done, the anagogic, towards what we must strain (cf.
CCC 115-19).
Chapter 3
Our Response: We Believe
Faith is confident assurance concerning what we
hope for, and conviction about things we do not see.
(Heb 11:1)
Faith is a personal relationship with Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior, and through him, with the Father, through the Holy
Spirit, a decision to commit oneself to Christ, follow him, strive to know and
accept the truths he continues to teach through his Church.
(Cf. PCP II 64-65)
OPENING
114. For most people, faith simply means “believing in God.” Christian Faith is believing in the God
revealed by Jesus Christ. Catholic
Christian Faith means believing that Christ reveals God to us in and
through the Catholic Church, the body of Christ, united in the Holy Spirit.
“Believing” here means realizing that God is calling us to share His divine
life __ that is His pagpapakilala to us. Faith is our
personal response as “disciples of Christ”
of accepting him “as Lord and Savior.” “It is our ‘Please come in!’ to
Christ who stands at the door and knocks (Rv
3:20)” (PCP II 64). But how do we come to know
the way to respond to Him? What is this response we call “faith”?
115. We use “faith” today to mean
different things. Sometimes it means our total
response to God’s revelation. “It is to know, to love, to follow Christ in
the Church he founded” (PCP II 36).
Or we can use “faith” to mean the virtue
(believing) as distinct from hoping and loving. Faith in this sense means our personal
knowledge of God in Christ, expressed in particular beliefs in specific truths
by which we adhere to Christ. In this chapter we take faith to mean our whole life in Christ, but with
primary focus on personally knowing
Christ as our Truth. The moral
activity of love will be the focus of
Part II of this Catechism, Christ our Way,
while our Christian hope will be
developed especially in Part III, Christ our Life.
CONTEXT
116. The
Philippines is noted for
being the only Christian country in Asia.
Christian Faith is one of the distinguishing characteristics of our people. Yet
today it is common to hear Filipino Catholics acknowledging how little they
know of their Christian Faith. Many admit they take their Christian Faith for
granted. It enters their lives mostly through religious ceremonies attached to family celebrations such as baptisms,
marriages, funerals, and house blessings. It is a faith of traditional pious practices, and sometimes even of superstitions, drawn from our Filipino
social, religious, and cultural environment. Such a faith is dangerously open
to proselytizing by other religious sects of all kinds, or corrupted by the
attractions of worldly secularism (cf. Mt
13:4-9, 18-23).
117. PCP II describes this situation:
For
most of our people today the faith is centered on the practice of rites of
popular piety. Not on the Word of God, doctrines, sacramental worship (beyond
baptism and matrimony). Not on community. Not on building up our world unto the
image of the Kingdom. And we say it is because the ‘unchurched,’ the vast
majority of our people, greatly lack knowledge of and formation in the faith (PCP II 13).
Often
this is called “Folk Catholicism.”
118. Today many Filipino Catholics
yearn for a more mature Catholic faith and prayer life. But certain divisive
trends and attitudes are also widespread. Some preach Christian doctrine in
such a fundamentalist way that they
ignore the wider demands of Christian charity and service. Others so stress
active ideological commitment to “justice
and the poor” as to practically deny all
value to prayer and worship. Finally, still others’ faith is marked by
an individualistic piety, often accompanied by an
exaggerated bahala na fatalism. These
excesses or distortions give a false picture of authentic Catholic Faith. They
also show how important it is to understand what Catholic Faith really is, and
how it should operate in our daily lives.
EXPOSITION
I. FAITH IN HUMAN RELATIONS
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