form part of this overarching plan.
The stages are marked by “covenants” — with Adam and Eve, with Noah, with Abraham, with the People of Israel under Moses, with David and his house — with God preparing people for “a new and everlasting Covenant intended for all, to be written on their hearts” (64).
More than simple agreements, these covenants are God’s pledges of his unwavering gift of himself and his love. When they are broken from the human side, God renews them — “Again and again you offered a covenant to man” (55). God’s plan for the salvation of humanity is thwarted by none of the disfigurements and distortions caused by human pride and sin.
Finally, there are always some, in every age, who respond, who understand something of God’s plan, who keep alive the hope of salvation. The last paragraph in each section of today’s reading (58, 61, 64) speaks of them, of the faithfulness of those who live, often in a hidden way, at the heart of history, responding to God’s loving pedagogy.
Day 17
CCC 65-67
Christ Jesus — “Mediator and Fullness of All Revelation”
God’s plan has a center. It is a stage in the plan so decisive in its impact, so full in its implications, that all subsequent history is simply an unfolding of this supreme act. The beautiful quotation from the Carmelite saint, Saint John of the Cross, speaks of this stage in the plan as being like an immense gathering together: all the parts of God’s plan, all the elements in his revelation, are brought together in one single Word — and the Word is a Person. The divine Person of God the Son appears in history to enact and seal the everlasting covenant, the final expression of God’s faithfulness to his plan of salvation, and the everlastingly fruitful source of grace to bring all the peoples of the world into the happiness and unity of God’s kingdom.
The whole of the Catechism can be seen as an extended meditation and teaching on this appearing of God among us, drawing together how the significance of this event has been grasped “over the course of the centuries” (66). While it is obvious that nothing further can be added to the very words and acts of God himself in human flesh, that this is the decisive point to which we return and the foundation of all meaning in history, CCC 67 writes of the value of what are called “private revelations.” These do not add to the public “deposit of faith,” but they can be helpful in assisting individuals in particular situations and periods of history.
Day 18
CCC 74-79
The Apostolic Tradition
In his self-revelation, God appears in a particular place and to a particular people, for all peoples. He appears in a particular time, for all times. God’s revelation of himself, which is particular, unique, and contained in time and space, is for all times and places. This next section of the Catechism explains how the precious deposit of faith is handed down in history, from one generation to the next, each one receiving and meditating upon the wonder of God’s visiting his people. There are four main points today’s reading makes:
• Because it is the transmission of divine revelation, it is necessarily God’s own continuing work. This transmission to all peoples in all times is the work of the Blessed Trinity themselves (79).
• Because God has revealed himself in order to save us, the transmission of this revelation is for the sake of the salvation of all peoples (74). The purpose of this transmission is to bring all peoples together, in unity as children, around their divine Father.
• Because revelation is of God’s personal nature, the transmission of revelation is centered on persons, those whom he personally called and sent (76-78). It is centered on the apostles and on their successors whom they in turn personally call and send.
• Because the divine Persons act by “deeds and words which are intrinsically bound up with each other” (53), the apostles transmit divine revelation in the same way, through their life and teaching, through the institutions they establish and their writings (76, 78). In the Church, the pedagogy of God is continued, with his revelation and gift of himself being transmitted from age to age in the words of the Holy Scriptures and in the living Tradition of the Church.
Day 19
CCC 80-83
The Relationship between Tradition and Sacred Scripture
Christ promised to remain with his Church until the end of the age. Today’s reading beautifully explains how Christ is made present in his Church and is handed down from generation to generation.
Every new generation receives Christ in a twofold way: from Tradition and from the Sacred Scriptures. The two are intimately connected, since the apostles, and those closely associated with them, not only committed the message of salvation to writing (83), but also handed on the message through their lives, their prayer and worship, and their teaching (see Acts 2:42) — through what is described here as “Apostolic Tradition.”
Christ is fruitfully present in his Church because of this combination of sacred words and holy acts. Holy Scripture and Sacred Tradition are both handed down in the Church, from age to age, under the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, flowing from the witness of those who knew and touched and lived with Christ himself, in the flesh. We have already seen how the Catechism emphasizes that God’s saving work is characterized by the union of words with deeds. This is the unwavering pattern of divine activity. The two come together perfectly in the Person of Christ, who is the Word made flesh. Thus we can rightly expect Christ to be present in his Church today in this dual way.
Day 20
CCC 84-95
The Interpretation of the Heritage of Faith
We have been offered the beautiful image of Tradition and Scripture flowing together from a single source, intercommunicating with each other and making their way to the same goal. Their flow and communication are possible because of the banks that support and enable their movement. Without such necessary containment they would all too easily spill out and waste themselves. The importance of containment, which is, in truth, a service, is the topic of today’s reading: the Church herself receives and hands on the great stream of the Sacred Deposit, and she does so under the authoritative guidance of the Magisterium (from Latin, magister, meaning “teacher”). The great dogmas of the faith are placed like marker-points in the flowing waters — or, as the Catechism puts it, “lights along the path of faith” (89), making the travel secure. These three — Scripture, Tradition, and Magisterium — belong together; they “are so connected and associated that one of them cannot stand without the others” (95).
This portion of the Catechism also deals with growth in understanding the faith (94), or what we might call the “development of doctrine.” This is a matter of the Church making explicit things that were once just held implicitly. The deposit of faith was given once, for all, in its fullness, and the Church has always embraced this fullness and taught it as a whole. She has always grasped what the Catechism calls “the whole of the Revelation of the mystery of Christ” (90). But only gradually does the Bride of Christ make explicit her understanding of different elements in this fullness. The text refers us to Jesus’ promise that the Spirit would guide the Church into all truth (Jn 16:13) — there is always “more truth” to discover. But Jesus also told his disciples that this would not be “new”
