Continue reading Dei Verbum. Pope Leo, in the usual Wednesday audience, dedicates the catechesis to the theme “The Second Vatican Council through its Documents – The Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum: A single sacred deposit. The relationship between Scripture and Tradition”. It takes two evangelical scenes as its backdrop: “In the first, which takes place in the Cenacle, Jesus, in his great testament speech addressed to the disciples, states: “I have told you these things while I am still with you. But the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and will remind you of everything that I have said to you. (…) When he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you into all the truth”. After this first scene narrated by John, Leo recalls the second, narrated by Matthew and set on the hills of Galilee. «The risen Jesus shows himself to the disciples, who are surprised and doubtful, and gives them a command: “Go and make disciples of all peoples, (…) teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you”». In both situations, «the intimate connection between the word pronounced by Christ and its diffusion throughout the centuries is evident. This is what the Second Vatican Council affirms using a suggestive image: “Sacred Scripture and sacred Tradition are closely linked and communicate with each other. Since both spring from the same divine source, they form in a certain way a whole and tend towards the same goal.”
Tradition, underlines the Pontiff, «branches along the path of history through the Church which safeguards, interprets and embodies the Word of God. The Catechism of the Catholic Church refers, in this regard, to a motto of the Fathers of the Church: “Sacred Scripture is written in the heart of the Church before on material instruments“, that is, in the sacred text.”
In the wake of Jesus’ words the Council, in number 8 of Dei Verbum, states that «Tradition of apostolic origin progresses in the Church with the assistance of the Holy Spirit». And this, the Pope underlines, «happens with the full understanding through “the reflection and study of believers”through the experience that arises from “a deeper intelligence of spiritual things” and, above all, with the preaching of the successors of the apostles who received “a sure charism of truth”» In summary, “the Church in its doctrine, in its life and in its worship, perpetuates and transmits to all generations everything that it believes”».
He echoes Saint Gregory the Great when he states: «The Holy Scripture grows with those who read it»and Saint Augustine when he says that “there is only one speech of God that develops throughout Scripture and only one is the Word that resonates on the lips of many saints” to explain that “the Word of God, therefore, is not fossilized but is a living and organic reality that develops and grows in Tradition. The latter, thanks to the Holy Spirit, understands it in the richness of its truth and embodies it in the changing coordinates of history.”
The faithful in the Paul VI Hall for the Pope’s general audience
(HANDLE)
And again the Doctor of the Church Saint John Henry Newman, in his work entitled “The development of Christian doctrine” stated that “Christianity, both as a community experience and as a doctrine, is a dynamic reality, in the way indicated by Jesus himself with the parables of the seed: a living reality that develops thanks to an internal vital force”.
And he concludes with the words of the apostle Paul who «exhorts his disciple and collaborator Timothy several times: “O Timothy, guard the deposit that has been entrusted to you”. The dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum echoes this Pauline text where it says: “Sacred Tradition and sacred Scripture constitute a single deposit of the Word of God entrusted to the Church”, interpreted by the “living magisterium of the Church whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ”. The Pontiff explains the word «deposit”, a term which “in its original matrix, is of a legal nature and imposes on the depositary the duty to preserve the content, which in this case is the faith, and to transmit it intact”.
And, therefore, «the “deposit” of the Word of God is also today in the hands of the Church and we all, in the various ecclesial ministries, must continue to guard it in its integrity, like a lodestar for our journey in the complexity of history and existence. In conclusion, dear ones, let us listen again to Dei Verbum, which exalts the intertwining of Sacred Scripture and Tradition: they – it states – are so connected and joined together that they cannot exist independently, and together, in their own way, under the action of a single Holy Spirit, they contribute effectively to the salvation of souls”.
Finally, the Pontiff recalls that «yesterday was the International Day of Commemoration and Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust, which gave death to millions of Jews and numerous other people». And «on this annual occasion of painful remembrance», he asks «the Almighty for the gift of a world with no more anti-Semitism and no more prejudice, oppression and persecution of any human creature».
For this reason he renews his «appeal to the community of Nations to always be vigilant, so that the horror of genocide will no longer befall any people and build a society based on mutual respect and the common good.”
