20240827 DISTINGUISHING SACRED TRADITION FROM SACRED TRADITIONS
27 August 2024, Tuesday, 21st Week in Ordinary Time
First reading |
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3,14-17 |
Stand firm and keep the traditions we have taught you
To turn, brothers, to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we shall all be gathered round him: please do not get excited too soon or alarmed by any prediction or rumour or any letter claiming to come from us, implying that the Day of the Lord has already arrived. Never let anyone deceive you in this way.
Through the Good News that we brought God called you to this so that you should share the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Stand firm, then, brothers, and keep the traditions that we taught you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. May our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father who has given us his love and, through his grace, such inexhaustible comfort and such sure hope, comfort you and strengthen you in everything good that you do or say.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 95(96):10-13 |
The Lord comes to rule the earth.
Proclaim to the nations: ‘God is king.’
The world he made firm in its place;
he will judge the peoples in fairness.
The Lord comes to rule the earth.
Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad,
let the sea and all within it thunder praise,
let the land and all it bears rejoice,
all the trees of the wood shout for joy
at the presence of the Lord for he comes,
he comes to rule the earth.
The Lord comes to rule the earth.
With justice he will rule the world,
he will judge the peoples with his truth.
The Lord comes to rule the earth.
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Ac16:14 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Open our heart, O Lord,
to accept the words of your Son.
Alleluia!
Or: | Heb4:12 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
The word of God is something alive and active:
it can judge secret emotions and thoughts.
Alleluia!
Gospel |
Matthew 23:23-26 |
Clean the inside of the cup first, so that the outside may become clean
Jesus said: ‘Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who pay your tithe of mint and dill and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the Law – justice, mercy, good faith! These you should have practised, without neglecting the others. You blind guides! Straining out gnats and swallowing camels!
‘Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who clean the outside of cup and dish and leave the inside full of extortion and intemperance. Blind Pharisee! Clean the inside of cup and dish first so that the outside may become clean as well.’
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DISTINGUISHING SACRED TRADITION FROM SACRED TRADITIONS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [2 THESSALONIANS 2:1-3, 14-17; MATTHEW 23:23-26]
In the first reading, St Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, “Stand firm, then, brothers, and keep the traditions that we taught you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.” On one hand, St Paul urged the early Christians to hold on to both the oral and written traditions that they had received from their leaders and the Christian community so that they could remain true to their faith. It is for this reason that the Church has many traditions that have been passed down over the centuries, which we continue to keep them.
On the other hand, in the gospel, Jesus seems to discard the traditions of the Jews. He criticized them for upholding such traditions. This is a similar situation when Catholics are accused of keeping the traditions that are not found in the scriptures. We are often chided for keeping man-made traditions. As Jesus said in the gospel, “You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.” (Mk 7:8) Is this true? Jesus further added, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition!” (Mk 7:9) Surely this cannot not be the case of the Church! On the contrary, we keep the traditions so that we can truly keep the commandment of God.
What is the crux of this divergence? It is the failure to understand what Sacred Tradition is. The latter refers to the transmission of the content of the gospel, that is, the salvific reality as mediated to us in Christ Jesus. The gospel is neither just the written word nor the oral testimonies and practices of Christians over the ages, but the person of Jesus Christ. Transmitting the gospel is more than just transmitting the Words of Jesus but to transmit the person of Jesus, His words and deeds, His entire being. It is for this reason that St John wrote at the end of the gospel, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” (Jn 20:30f) Through oral and written traditions, therefore, we transmit the entire person of our Lord. This is what St Paul sought to do when he reminded the Christians to keep the traditions taught to them by word or by mouth.
Second, it is a failure to make a distinction between Sacred Tradition and Sacred Traditions. The first is singular and the second is plural. When we refer to the traditions of the Church, we are not referring to the gospel, which belongs to Sacred Tradition. Traditions are the means, whether through words, customs or practices, by which we seek to express the Gospel, that is, the person of Jesus in our worship and our daily life. Such traditions would include the various liturgical seasons of the Church, the numerous practices such as making the Sign of the Cross, fasting, abstinence from meat, devotions to the saints, pilgrimages, etc. Such traditions are not compulsory or essential or intrinsic to the faith but are means to help Catholics to appreciate Jesus more in their life, experience Him and to grow in union with Him.
Third, we must never forget that human beings cannot live without traditions. We are human beings and we express ourselves through words, signs and practices. Culture is the expression of the values of the community. So, our faith in God would be expressed according to our cultural symbols of love, reverence and piety. For the Easterners, we bow and kneel as a sign of respect, whereas for the Westerners, they stand in attention. Easterners use joss sticks whereas westerners use incense to express our prayers rising to God. Every human institution, including the different religions and Christian communities, would have their own peculiar traditions. Doing away with traditions is to make religion into an abstract reality. As human beings, we need to express and experience our faith and love concretely through signs.
Fourth, the Church always recognizes that there is a hierarchy of truth and values. Whilst we must maintain that all revealed truths come from God and must be believed with the same faith, yet some doctrines are more central to the faith. The core of our faith is faith in the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Trinity. The summary of the core beliefs of Catholic Faith is found in the Creed. Thus, Second Vatican Council declares, “in Catholic doctrine there exists an order or a ‘hierarchy’ of truths, since they vary in their relation to the foundation of the Christian faith” (Decree on Ecumenism, 11). This holds true as much for the dogmas of faith, including her moral teaching. What is important is to uphold those doctrines that lead us to a true knowledge of Christ. St Paul was clear about the purpose of His preaching. He said, “Through the Good News that we brought God called you so that you should share the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Consequently, Jesus was not against the Jewish customs as such. Their customs were useful to help them keep the Mosaic Covenant. They were means to help them to love God and to love their fellowmen. Jesus made it clear that the heart of religion is “‘… the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mk 12:29-31) This is what the Lord meant when He said, “Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who pay your tithe of mint and dill and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the Law – justice, mercy, good faith! These you should have practised, without neglecting the others. You blind guides! Straining out gnats and swallowing camels!” Indeed, many of us argue and fight over the rubrics, the customs and practices that have been passed down to us and which we observe so meticulously but neglect the weightier things of faith which is love of God, mercy, justice and compassion for our fellowmen. If our faith does not lead us to love God in our neighbours, then we have missed the whole point of faith. St John wrote, “The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.” (1 Jn 4:21)
We must be careful that we do not merely perform the rituals or observe the letter of the laws, particularly the small traditions, the customs and practices and forget the more essential dimensions of our faith which is to love God and neighbour. Whatever we do, we must be led to a deeper relationship with God. Praying and reading the scriptures is to enable us to know Jesus better and to understand Christ from the perspective of Christians who through the ages have come to know Him. The Scriptures are the content and summary of faith. But the scriptures are dead unless it is interpreted by the Christian community for their times. This is true also of customs and practices. Unfortunately, many Catholics practice them without relating to the fundamental truth which is Jesus. When customs and practices are detached from the ultimate goal of where we intend the customs to lead us, then we have missed the point all together. We end up being superstitious, ritualistic and legalistic.
This same principle should be applied particularly in our relationships with not just other non-Catholic Christians but also with people of other faiths and even among ourselves. According to the level of faith we share, we must proceed from what is essential and core to religion and then move further up to more specific beliefs, before we can even come to a common agreement of customs and practices. With non-Christian religions and even secularists and humanists, we must begin on the level of love, compassion, justice and charity. When we are in agreement of these basic aspirations, then we can move on to share the basis of what drives us to live a life of integrity, justice and compassion. This is where the question of religious motivations and beliefs could then be shared. To help others to understand how we believe in the Sacred, God or the Ultimate in life, it behoves us to learn to appreciate each other’s customs and practices which are meant to enhance our faith in God and our devotion to Him. Indeed, at the end of the day, there is only one truth and that truth is authentic love of God and our fellowmen.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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