Continuing with the 3rd chapter of the new AC, we are acquainted with a concept that I know was not taught to us as young people studying the Baltimore Catechism. It is this: "All the faithful share in understanding and handing on revealed truth. (p 25)" What the catechism of 1994, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, states, citing Vatican II document Dogmatic Constitutions of the Church [Lumen Gentium]: "The whole body of the faithful cannot err ... in matters of belief. This characteristic is shown in the supernatural appreciation of faith on the part of the whole people, when, ‘from the bishops to the last of the faithful,’ they manifest a universal consent in matters of faith and morals (no. 12)."
What this teaching is proposing for our understanding is this: This is a principle that "the Holy Spirit, dwelling in the Church, draws the whole body of the faithful to believe what truly belongs to the faith (AC, pg 25)." Again in Lumen Gentium we find a clearer explanation of this principle: "By this appreciation of the faith, supported by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit of truth, the People of God, guided by the sacred teaching authority (magisterium), and obeying it, received not the mere word of men, but truly the word of God, the faith once for all delivered to the saints (LG no. 12)."
This principle is, as you can perceive one that requires of us some prayer and reflection to understand fully the power it recognizes in the unification of all believers who allow the Holy Spirit through the magisterium in their understanding of what it is that we actually believe.Okay, all of you theologians out there, here is something you can chew on for a few days!
What this teaching is proposing for our understanding is this: This is a principle that "the Holy Spirit, dwelling in the Church, draws the whole body of the faithful to believe what truly belongs to the faith (AC, pg 25)." Again in Lumen Gentium we find a clearer explanation of this principle: "By this appreciation of the faith, supported by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit of truth, the People of God, guided by the sacred teaching authority (magisterium), and obeying it, received not the mere word of men, but truly the word of God, the faith once for all delivered to the saints (LG no. 12)."
This principle is, as you can perceive one that requires of us some prayer and reflection to understand fully the power it recognizes in the unification of all believers who allow the Holy Spirit through the magisterium in their understanding of what it is that we actually believe.Okay, all of you theologians out there, here is something you can chew on for a few days!
