Thursday, May 2, 2013

Ss Philip and James: "I am reminding you, brothers and sisters, of the Gospel I preached to you"

I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures; that he was buried; in accordance with the Scriptures; that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.

From the beginning, the apostolic Church expressed and handed on her faith in brief formula normative for all. But already very early on, the Church also wanted to gather the essential elements of her faith into organic and articulated summaries, intended especially for candidates for Baptism:
This synthesis of faith was not made to accord with human opinions, but rather what was of the greatest importance was gathered from all the Scriptures, to present the one teaching of the faith in its entirety. And just as the mustard seed contains a great number of branches in a tiny grain, so too this summary of faith encompassed in a few words the whole knowledge of the true religion contained in the Old and the New Testaments.
-- CCC 186

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