Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Mysticism and Magisterium, Part III

From Spiritual Direction:
The function of Tradition is to transmit the deposit of faith from one generation to the next as Christ delivered it to the Apostles. The apostolic mark of the true Church assures that this function is realized within Catholic ecclesial body that Christ founded. This means that the bishops, especially the bishop of Rome, trace their succession back to the Apostles and have received through their ordination the mandate to teach in Christ’s name. Thus, in the bishops, “the task of authentically interpreting the word of God, whether written or handed on, has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the Church, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ” (Dei Verbum 10).

This does not mean that everything every bishop, or even the pope says is guaranteed to be without error. Nor is there any assurance that every bishop at each moment will fulfill his mandate to teach only as Christ and the Apostles taught. But the working of divine providence is not restricted to the exercise of papal infallibility or the solemn declarations and condemnations of ecumenical councils. Christ is present in the details and His providence is exercised in and through the Church that He founded. (Read more.)
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