"Without our traditions, our life would be as shaky as a fiddler on the roof!"
In today's Gospel (Matthew 15:1-2, 10-14), Jesus reacts strongly against those who exalt human traditions at the expense of the Divine Law. Since the Catholic Church accepts Tradition as a source of revelation, are we not contradicting this teaching of Jesus?
In the first place, we need to understand that there are traditions and there is Tradition with a capital T. The Catholic Church does not hold that traditions with a small 't' are sacrosanct. They are an expression of the spirit of the community at any one point in time, and should be retained to the extent to which they are helpful or meaningful. One example would be the Latin Mass, which was retained until the 1960s but was displaced by the vernacular liturgy which was found to be more helpful and / or meaningful (not that Latin mass is meaningless).
Secondly, we have Tradition with a capital T, that broad stream flowing from the life and example of Jesus and the apostles. This Apostolic Tradition is of the same value as Scripture itself - since, in fact, we would not have had any scripture if tradition had not passed it on to us. This difference between traditions and Tradition was overlooked by Martin Luther when he said Sola Scriptura - Scripture alone. Scripture itself was created and transmitted by Tradition in this sense.
Tradition can be a source of life and strength if we are able to integrate ourselves into it and feel that we are a part of it. It demands a certain amount of sacrifice - namely our individual expression, which we give up, to a certain extent. But in return, it gives us a hundredfold, as we become part of a community's self-expression which stretches back to the time of the apostles and will continue for as long as the world exists. It helps us to overcome our alienation and our loneliness, and thereby makes us - not just another brick in the wall, but another cell in a living body, the body of Christ.
In today's Gospel (Matthew 15:1-2, 10-14), Jesus reacts strongly against those who exalt human traditions at the expense of the Divine Law. Since the Catholic Church accepts Tradition as a source of revelation, are we not contradicting this teaching of Jesus?
In the first place, we need to understand that there are traditions and there is Tradition with a capital T. The Catholic Church does not hold that traditions with a small 't' are sacrosanct. They are an expression of the spirit of the community at any one point in time, and should be retained to the extent to which they are helpful or meaningful. One example would be the Latin Mass, which was retained until the 1960s but was displaced by the vernacular liturgy which was found to be more helpful and / or meaningful (not that Latin mass is meaningless).
Secondly, we have Tradition with a capital T, that broad stream flowing from the life and example of Jesus and the apostles. This Apostolic Tradition is of the same value as Scripture itself - since, in fact, we would not have had any scripture if tradition had not passed it on to us. This difference between traditions and Tradition was overlooked by Martin Luther when he said Sola Scriptura - Scripture alone. Scripture itself was created and transmitted by Tradition in this sense.
Tradition can be a source of life and strength if we are able to integrate ourselves into it and feel that we are a part of it. It demands a certain amount of sacrifice - namely our individual expression, which we give up, to a certain extent. But in return, it gives us a hundredfold, as we become part of a community's self-expression which stretches back to the time of the apostles and will continue for as long as the world exists. It helps us to overcome our alienation and our loneliness, and thereby makes us - not just another brick in the wall, but another cell in a living body, the body of Christ.
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