Thursday, May 1, 2014

Sacred Scripture And The Apostolic Tradition


The Catholic Church follows both Sacred Scripture and the Apostolic Tradition that has been handed down by the Apostles to the Church through the ages.  Much of the Old Testament foreshadows the things that are in the New Testament.  

It was asked, "Did God give us a book?"  The answer to that question would be a "yes."  God gave us Sacred Scripture, and the first Sacred Scripture He gave was the Ten Commandments.  It was God who wrote the Ten Commandments with fire on stone tablets, which He gave to Moses on Mt. Sinai (See Deuteronomy 9:10).  This is a foreshadow of the Holy Bible, and the Catholic  Church teaches that God was the author of the Old and New Testament books.  

CCC 105  God is the author of Sacred Scripture. "The divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of Sacred Scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit........

CCC 2056  The word "Decalogue" means literally "ten words" God revealed these "ten words" to his people on the holy mountain.  They were written "with the finger of God," unlike the other commandments  written by Moses.  They are pre-eminently the words of God.  They are handed on to us in the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy....... 

A person who says that God gave us ONLY the Church and NOT Sacred Scripture is already going against the Church.  The Church teaches that Scripture is the inerrant word of God and the first scripture that God gave was the Ten Commandments.  Jesus and the Apostles used Sacred Scripture of the Old Testament.  The Church follows BOTH Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.

God has also given us the Church.  In the Old Testament, Moses and the elders were a foreshadow of the Pope and the teaching Magisterium, which brings us to what Jesus said in the New Testament: 

Matthew 23:2-3  The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.  So you must be careful to do everything they tell you.  But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 

This "seat of Moses" which Jesus spoke of has been transferred to the "seat of the Apostle Peter."  So, Moses and the elders of the Old Testament was a foreshadow of the Pope and the Magisterium of the Catholic Church while the Ten Commandments written by God with fire on stone tablets was the first sacred scripture.   

Most important of all, Christ instructs His disciples to obey the Pharisees because what they teach is correct, and also because they sit in the chair of Moses.  They are God's chosen ones.  God's chosen ones were not perfect, but Christ tells His disciples to listen to them anyway.  In fact, the Holy Bible tells us to obey the bishops. 

Hebrews 13:17  Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account.  Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.

In addition, the Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us the same thing, so the teachings of the Church is aligned with Sacred Scripture: 

CCC 1269  Having become a member of the Church, the person baptized belongs no longer to himself, but to him who died and rose for us.  From now on, he is called to be subject to others, to serve them in the communities of the Church, and to "obey and submit" to the Church leaders, holding them in respect and affection.  Just as Baptism is the source of responsibilities and duties, the baptized person also enjoys rights within the Church, to receive the sacraments, to be nourished with the Word of God and to be sustained by the other spiritual helps of the Church.

In God's plan of salvation, He puts everyone under authority.  Children are placed under the authority of their parents.  Deacons and priests are placed under the authority of the bishops.  Bishops are placed under the authority of the Pope.  Christ, who is God, also submitted Himself to His mother, Mary and God the Father.  Why does God allow this hierarchical structure?  He allowed it so we can learn obedience and humility.  If one cannot obey those whom God sent, how then can one say they obey God?  

The Archbishop was sent by God.  He may not be the perfect Archbishop as some people in Junglewatch have pointed out.......but then again, neither was the Apostle Peter who denied Christ three times.  St. Peter denied Christ three times, and St. Paul was a persecutor of Christians.....but they were still God's chosen ones anyway.  We are all sinners, but there are some who throw stones as though they have never sinned.      

 

21 comments:

  1. You are right, Diana. These people respect no authority and Holy Order. They are so full of themselves that they don't even hear the words of peace, calm and common sense. Their purpose is not peace, not calm and not common sense.

    They have a vicious agenda to follow, possibly dictated from outside. They are foot soldiers of soured ideologies that infected their minds. It is so clear. They will never respect a church that is different from that one in their own vision. They don't need the Church of Jesus Christ, they only need their own ideas about what the church should be about.

    They dry out the spirit and reject the communities, because communities are alive, well and walking in the Lord. They rather destroy everything around them, even their own souls, because of their jealousy against us deep in their hearts. Because we truly rejoice in the Lord, while they are unable to feel the love.

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  2. Dear Zoltan,

    First of all, their Church is not different from ours. There is only one Catholic Church. They are still our brothers in Christ. Do not lower yourself to their level where they brand us a different church....a non-Catholic church. However, you are correct in that they have no respect for authority or even for God. As I said, God puts everyone under authority. If one cannot obey nor respect those whom God has sent, how then can one claim to obey and respect God?

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  3. Yes, we are in the same Church indeed. I know this, Diana. I imagine we are in the same big House, as we were all invited together with many, many, many other people by our Host, the Lord. The Manager, the Pope also welcomed us with open arms. There are rules of conduct in this house that we all need to follow. We follow the rules, and the staff of the Host and the Manager acknowledged this many times and encouraged us to celebrate our Host in his own house all together. What a bright celebration it is...!

    So why is that Tim and his folks want to kick us out of the House? You see all they do has this aim. Why are they so jealous that they plot against us over and over again by spreading unscrupulous lies that we don't obey the rules of the house? It is not for them to decide. It has already been decided and we were welcomed in this House just as much as they were. Now, Tim comes back once again to his accusation about the contemplated consumption of the Eucharist. I have told him everything about this last December. See at

    http://neocatheart.blogspot.com/2013/12/eucharist-contemplated.html

    You have also explained a few things to him in this blog, dear Diana. But he is at it again, as if nothing has happened. He acts as if we and our arguments are non-existent. He behaves as the is he would be host or the manager. But he is not! His arrogance even overwhelms his intellect in such an ugly way that people start to avoid any contact with him. This is his fruit really. I wish he could realize that we are in the same big House together and we have every reason to celebrate this wonderful thing and the presence of our Host among us without pettiness and jealousy together

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    1. Zoltan,

      Blah, blah, blah...not one statement you made was backed up by factual information. The legitimate questions regarding Neo's blatant disregard for the liturgy and the Archbishops lack of response to put an end to this division. Tim has stated many times that he would drop everyting if the Archbishop would just come out and say that he approves questionable Neo practices. So, at the same time, the Archbishop is responsible for persecution against the Neo community. Anyways, I seriously doubt that Diana would put up this reply on her blog. I'll just take a picture and post it elswhere.

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    2. Here is your comment published on my blogsite. It is not even worth taking a picture of. Tim Rohr can make all the demands he wants. The Archbishop is not subject under Tim Rohr and is not answerable to him.

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    3. Diana,

      There you go again with your deluded perception. It's not a demand, it's a request. All that people are asking is that the Archbishop clears the air.
      The Archbishop answers to nobody, and that's the problem.

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    4. Dear Anonymous at 9:54 p.m.,

      This is what Tim Rohr commented on his blogsite at

      http://junglewatch2.blogspot.com/2014/05/more-from-peace-and-joy.html#comment-form

      According to Tim Rohr he wrote:


      And so should you. Just remember, all this will go away as soon as the Archbishop makes it clear that he personally authorizes the liturgical practices of the Neocatechumenal Way that are not currently authorized in the Statute. It's that easy. BTW, you sure are sounding more and more like the Archbishop. At least that's what people close to you tell me.

      ALL THIS WILL GO AWAY?? What will go away.....the persecutions?? All the persecutions will go away when the Archbishop admits that he personally authorized the liturgical practices that are not in the Statutes? Does this sound like a request or a blackmail? Tim Rohr already has in mind what he wants the Archbishop to say and won't accept anything else.







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  4. Dear Anonymous, we provided all the facts you need. Have you or Tim Rohr ever listened to these facts? Never! He is deaf for all the facts because he has a vicious agenda to carry over on Guam. All I can say is that it will badly damage the Catholic Church of this island if Tim Rohr can succeed with his wicked schemes. He is a fanatic who is driven by a fanatic organization embedded in our Church. We know them very well. This is the same group that buried Erich Priebke, a Nazi war criminal in a most controversial manner. So we know exactly what Tim Rohr wants to do with the Church on Guam. We will make sure he does not succeed.

    "The Archbishop is responsible for persecution against the Neo community."

    What do you mean by this??

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    1. Zoltan,

      I mean the obvious. All he has to do is say that he approves all practices of the Wishy Washy Way, and all practices not aligned with the Liturgy, and half of the Neo problems on island would go away.

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    2. Dear Anonymous at 10:02,

      So, all the Archbishop has to do is say that he approves of all the liturgical practices that are not in the Standards AND........exactly what will go away???? The members of the Way have no problem with the way we have the Eucharist. So, whose the one who has a problem with it? And exactly what is this problem that will go away? Could you be specific?

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    3. Zoltan, what do you mean by Priebke? He was buried in 2013 by the hardcore anti-Vatican II priestly club, the Society of St. Pius X or SSPX. The 3rd order of SSPX was established for lay people in 1980. They have a binding obligation of any member "to combat Liberalism and Modernism, scourges of modern times which are delivering the Church to her enemies." They are free to put the liberal and modernist label on any church group or movement that they don't like.

      http://www.sspx.co.uk/page_movements.htm

      This obligation was set up by their founder and leader, the late archbishop Marcel Lefebvre who excluded himself from the Catholic Church during St. John-Paul II and consequently was excommunicated. It was during Benedict 16th that SSPX was allowed to return to the Mother Church but only on the condition that they follow the Pope and don't create further division and controversy inside the Catholic Church. Your call if they do here on Guam or not...!

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    4. Thank you, this is exactly my point!

      There is reliable information that Tom Rohr's group includes some member(s) of the Third Order of the Pius Society. These are the most adamant enemies of the Archbishop and the Neocatechumenal Way. They label us "modernists", conspire and plot against us by sheer hatred. They even mislead the naive and gullible members of their own traditionalist groups, like the TLM. They will never stop dividing the church because they made an oath to combat the "modernists" by any means possible. We see every day, what they mean by that...

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    5. Diana at 11:13, those outside of the way who question their practices would cease to question if the Archbishop would man up and address these concerns by backing the questionable practices by the neo

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    6. Dear Anonymous,

      I doubt it. There are people who would refuse to believe him regardless of what he says.

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    7. Diana,

      Your doubt does not change the fact that it is his duty and responsibility to do so. He is the leader of the of the Catholic community on our island. He can issue a decree, and those who continue to oppose it would be responsible for their actions. Until then, the Archbishop enables the division within the Catholic Church on Guam.

      Those who are not a part of the way are upset that the Archbishop refuses to address their concerns. His silence does nothing positive for the Church.

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    8. Dear Anonymous,

      The Archbishop's duty is more to God. God comes first before anything. This is something we learned in the Way, and the Bishop is in the Way. This is also Catholic teaching. We are all responsible for our individual behavior, not the other person. It's always easy to place blame on someone or something for our actions, but our actions is our responsibility.

      Our duty as laypersons is to also put God first and listen to what the Church teaches in the situations we find ourselves in. And the Church teaches that we are to obey and respect our Church leaders. So, if anything, the division is caused by those who don't follow the Church teachings of obeying and respecting their Church leader, which in this case would be the Archbishop.

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  5. Once the archbishop puts it in writing that the NCW can celebrate the Eucharist in a different manner than is approved in the liturgical books then he is out of a job. That is why he'll never do it. He kind of did it on the radio and promptly asked for the material to be surpressed immediately.

    In this respect the Archbishop fails both groups, the NCW and the Roman Catholic Proper.

    He doesn't affirm Kiko's statement of being seated in a banquet by backing it up with the Title of His Office.

    And he doesn't affirm the Vaticans request to comply with it's instructions.

    He knows partaking of celebrations and convivances and going through steps won't really get him into trouble
    but once he goes against the issued Vatican letters in his capacity, that's it. ~fini~

    -Catholics United-

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    1. Yes, your right...was just trying to see if Diana could read between the lines.

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    2. Dear Anonymous at 9:36 p.m.,

      You are already assuming that the Archbishop is guilty of authorizing the liturgical practices that you think are not in the Statutes. This is why the Archbishop chose to remain silent. What is the point of trying to explain something to someone who already have made up their mind that they are guilty no matter what is said.

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    3. No Diana, obviously we don't assume that the Archbishop has authorized anything because he has not done so in writing or verbally, to the entire island community

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    4. Dear Anonymous at 7:35,

      The fact that people are already coming out and saying that all the Archbishop has to do to stop all this is to come out and say that he authorized the liturgical practices of the Way that are not in the Statutes. They already have in mind what they expect the Archbishop to say. That is the assumption. He doesn't need to come out when they have already have it in their minds that he made such an authorization.

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