![]() ![]() are the four elements which comprise the storehouse of memory which the Church hands down: the profession of faith, the celebration of the sacraments, the path of the ten commandments, and prayer. On the other hand, we also find the dimension which leads from the visible world to the invisible. On the one hand, there is the dimension of history…. In the Eucharist we find the intersection of faith’s two dimensions. The Eucharist is a precious nourishment for faith: an encounter with Christ truly present in the supreme act of his love, the life-giving gift of himself. The sacramental character of faith finds its highest expression in the Eucharist. ![]() No one baptizes himself, just as no one comes into the world by himself. is not an act which someone can perform on his own, but rather something which must be received by entering into the ecclesial communion which transmits God’s gift. An observation of Saint Paul about baptism reminds us that this is not the case (see Romans 6:4). Some might think that baptism is merely a way of symbolizing the confession of faith, a tool for those who require images and signs, while in itself ultimately unnecessary. The transmission of faith occurs first and foremost in baptism. It is the sacraments, celebrated in the Church’s liturgy. There is a special means for passing down this fullness, a means capable of engaging the entire person, body and spirit, interior life and relationships with others. But what is communicated in the Church, what is handed down in her living Tradition, is the new light born of an encounter with the true God…. … For transmitting a purely doctrinal content, an idea might suffice, or perhaps a book, or the repetition of a spoken message. But how does this come about in a way that nothing is lost, but rather everything in the patrimony of faith comes to be more deeply understood? It is through the apostolic Tradition preserved in the Church with the assistance of the Holy Spirit that we enjoy a living contact with the foundational memory. The Church, like every family, passes on to her children the whole store of her memories. By its very nature, faith is open to the “We” of the Church it always takes place within her communion.(§39) Faith is not simply an individual decision which takes place in the depths of the believer’s heart, nor a completely private relationship between the “I” of the believer and the divine “Thou,” between an autonomous subject and God. …The love which is the Holy Spirit and which dwells in the Church unites every age and makes us contemporaries of Jesus…. …Faith’s past, that act of Jesus’ love which brought new life to the world, comes down to us through the memory of others - witnesses - and is kept alive in that one remembering subject which is the Church. But this is not the only way we attain knowledge. I cannot possibly verify for myself something which happened so long ago. But how is this possible? How can we be certain, after all these centuries, that we have encountered the “real Jesus”? Were we merely isolated individuals… a certainty of this sort would be impossible. ![]() …It is through an unbroken chain of witnesses that we come to see the face of Jesus. The transmission of the faith not only brings light to men and women in every place it travels through time, passing from one generation to another. Faith is passed on, we might say, by contact, from one person to another, just as one candle is lighted from another. In the Easter liturgy, the light of the paschal candle lights countless other candles. ![]()
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