What Will You Do with 10 Gold Pieces?
The Catholic Faith Entrusted to you. (CCC 84)
By Bertha Peralta-Rodriguez of DHT
CCC 84 & Lk 19:12-26
I - The apostles entrusted the "Sacred deposit" of the faith (the depositum fidei), contained in Sacred Scripture and Tradition, to the whole of the Church (Lk 19:13 & 2Tim 2:2).
• What is “Sacred Deposit”?
o As we have learned in past sessions, the word sacred means “holy”, and is attributed to everything that pertains to God. In this instance, when the Catechism makes reference to “Sacred Deposit”, it is referring to the holy treasure that is contained within our Sacred Scriptures and Apostolic Tradition. Just like the king entrusted the gold to his servants for trade, so Christ entrusts the Truth (which is the treasure contained in this sacred deposit) to His Church, to be not only safeguarded, but also taught to all.
• How is it entrusted to the whole Church?
o Jesus gave the apostles the mission to make disciples of “…all nations” (Mat 28:18-20), teaching all the doctrine and laws that Our Lord Himself taught them. And so they went to the world and proclaimed and taught what they had learned from Christ. In time, the apostles themselves had disciples who became instrumental in propagating the faith as well. Today, these disciples or successors are what we call Bishops, whom, with the authority that Christ has bestowed upon them in their office, teach the Truth. This is why “the task of giving authentic interpretation of the word of God... has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the church alone” (DV 10). For eg, Jane Austen…
II - "By adhering to [this heritage] the entire holy people, united to its pastors, remains always faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and the prayers…”
• Hence, the role of the Bishops is to teach the faith to the people and help us as laity to understand it.
• We in turn, united with our pastors and Bishops, remain faithful by following the teaching and embedding it into our own day to day life. Our faith is not something that we “do” on Sundays. It is a culture that is rich and alive, and we remain faithful by becoming alive in it, even when we may not feel like it.
“So, in maintaining, practicing and professing the faith that has been handed on, there should be a remarkable harmony between the bishops and the faithful."
• “Without utterance, truth lies mute within us, helping no one but our own self.” (F.J. Sheed, Theology for Beginners) When the servants began trading the gold pieces that they received from the king, I imagine that they had to go somewhere and speak with people. And while one gained more gold coins than the other, it is still undeniable that the fact that they went out and did as their king bid them to do yielded great results, not only for the king, but for the servants as well. The same goes with our faith.
• We need to maintain our faith! We as laity sometimes may fall into the trap that we have no obligations when it comes to the teaching/propagation of the faith. But in reality, we, as laity, are also called to go into the world and evangelize. If only stick with going to Sunday Mass and going to confession, and nothing else, then we become like the servant whose lack of action not only didn’t earn any money, but also ended losing everything he had.
• We need to practice our faith! When we experience a lack of practice of our faith, we also experience spiritual sluggishness. We need to practice in our everyday life the message that we listen to every Sunday at Mass, the exhortation that the priest gives us during confession, and the lessons that we learn. When we put into practice all these things, we not only maintain harmony with the bishops and the rest of the faithful, but we also enter into a deeper communion with Christ.
• We need to profess our faith! Sheed tells us that the Church needs our witnessing! How would you explain to someone you faith, if you are not maintaining it and practicing it. How would you convey the love and faith that you have, if you are not passionate about it as well?! When one is in love, one lets everyone know, not only by words, but also by actions. Our lives themselves need to be a witness of the greatness of the Lord! It is up to us to convey our faith to our family, our friends, our co-workers, our peers, to the world. One step at a time!
By Bertha Peralta-Rodriguez of DHT
CCC 84 & Lk 19:12-26
I - The apostles entrusted the "Sacred deposit" of the faith (the depositum fidei), contained in Sacred Scripture and Tradition, to the whole of the Church (Lk 19:13 & 2Tim 2:2).
• What is “Sacred Deposit”?
o As we have learned in past sessions, the word sacred means “holy”, and is attributed to everything that pertains to God. In this instance, when the Catechism makes reference to “Sacred Deposit”, it is referring to the holy treasure that is contained within our Sacred Scriptures and Apostolic Tradition. Just like the king entrusted the gold to his servants for trade, so Christ entrusts the Truth (which is the treasure contained in this sacred deposit) to His Church, to be not only safeguarded, but also taught to all.
• How is it entrusted to the whole Church?
o Jesus gave the apostles the mission to make disciples of “…all nations” (Mat 28:18-20), teaching all the doctrine and laws that Our Lord Himself taught them. And so they went to the world and proclaimed and taught what they had learned from Christ. In time, the apostles themselves had disciples who became instrumental in propagating the faith as well. Today, these disciples or successors are what we call Bishops, whom, with the authority that Christ has bestowed upon them in their office, teach the Truth. This is why “the task of giving authentic interpretation of the word of God... has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the church alone” (DV 10). For eg, Jane Austen…
II - "By adhering to [this heritage] the entire holy people, united to its pastors, remains always faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and the prayers…”
• Hence, the role of the Bishops is to teach the faith to the people and help us as laity to understand it.
• We in turn, united with our pastors and Bishops, remain faithful by following the teaching and embedding it into our own day to day life. Our faith is not something that we “do” on Sundays. It is a culture that is rich and alive, and we remain faithful by becoming alive in it, even when we may not feel like it.
“So, in maintaining, practicing and professing the faith that has been handed on, there should be a remarkable harmony between the bishops and the faithful."
• “Without utterance, truth lies mute within us, helping no one but our own self.” (F.J. Sheed, Theology for Beginners) When the servants began trading the gold pieces that they received from the king, I imagine that they had to go somewhere and speak with people. And while one gained more gold coins than the other, it is still undeniable that the fact that they went out and did as their king bid them to do yielded great results, not only for the king, but for the servants as well. The same goes with our faith.
• We need to maintain our faith! We as laity sometimes may fall into the trap that we have no obligations when it comes to the teaching/propagation of the faith. But in reality, we, as laity, are also called to go into the world and evangelize. If only stick with going to Sunday Mass and going to confession, and nothing else, then we become like the servant whose lack of action not only didn’t earn any money, but also ended losing everything he had.
• We need to practice our faith! When we experience a lack of practice of our faith, we also experience spiritual sluggishness. We need to practice in our everyday life the message that we listen to every Sunday at Mass, the exhortation that the priest gives us during confession, and the lessons that we learn. When we put into practice all these things, we not only maintain harmony with the bishops and the rest of the faithful, but we also enter into a deeper communion with Christ.
• We need to profess our faith! Sheed tells us that the Church needs our witnessing! How would you explain to someone you faith, if you are not maintaining it and practicing it. How would you convey the love and faith that you have, if you are not passionate about it as well?! When one is in love, one lets everyone know, not only by words, but also by actions. Our lives themselves need to be a witness of the greatness of the Lord! It is up to us to convey our faith to our family, our friends, our co-workers, our peers, to the world. One step at a time!
posted by Arthanius | 7:46 PM
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