The Word of God in Sacred Tradition

May 18th Readings Reflection: Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter - Mass in the Morning

There are also many other things that Jesus did,
but if these were to be described individually,
I do not think the whole world would contain the books
that would be written.

The above quote from today’s Gospel reading teaches us an important, yet often contested, truth of the Catholic Faith: our belief in Sacred Tradition. As Catholics, we hold Sacred Tradition in as much reverence as we possess for Sacred Scripture, for both are the inspired Word of God given to us for our salvation. Sacred Scripture is the written Word of God; Sacred Tradition is the unwritten Word of God that has been passed down unchanged from the Apostles.

As St. John told us in his Gospel, the Apostles heard and saw many things during their time with Jesus that they did not record in writing. Throughout the Gospels, we read of Jesus explaining the Scriptures to His Apostles. They did not forgot what Jesus taught them; by the grace of God, they remembered all His words and taught them to the early Christians by word of mouth. Many of the early Christians were unable to read, so they treasured the words taught to them orally by the Apostles.

The grace of God prevented this oral Tradition from being altered over the years, for such an alteration would have meant the end of the true Faith in its earliest days. The Holy Ghost, “the Spirit of truth” (Jn 15:26 DRB) Who inspired the authors of Sacred Scripture, likewise safeguarded (and indeed continues to safeguard) the teachings of Sacred Tradition as well. In the early centuries of Christianity, the Fathers of the Church wrote down many of the teachings of Sacred Tradition, thereby preserving them in writing. For this reason, the Church has always highly regarded the writings of the Church Fathers and the truths contained therein.

Christ’s words shall never pass away or change (Mt 24:35), and this includes His words that have been passed down through the ages by means of Tradition. The Scriptures are indeed the inspired Word of God, but they are incomplete; we know this from St. John himself, in the passage we hear in today’s Gospel. May this passage lead us to a deeper love for the entire Word of God found in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, which together form the Deposit of Faith, entrusted to the Church and passed down through the ages until Christ comes again.

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