In case you want to know what Tradition is:
I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will teach you all truth. For He shall not speak of Himself; but what things soever He shall hear, he shall speak; and the things that are to come, He shall show you." [Jn. 16:12-13]
Tradition means whatever is delivered, as well as the way and means which the object delivered came to us. The proper source of divine revelalation is the word of God, which is both written and unwritten The written is contained in Scripture; the unwritten in Tradition. When we speak of the unwritten word of God, we do not mean it has never been written, but that it was never written by the man to whom God revealed it. It was committed to writing afterwards by his disciples, or by others who heard it from his lips. The word 'Tradition'. considered in its object, mean whatever is delivered or transmitted; in this sense it is called objective Tradition. If we consider, however, the act, or the way and the means by which an object is propogated and transmitted, this is called active Tradition. This active Tradition includes of neccessity the object delivered to us. Likewise, the object of Tradition supposes and active Tradition, without which it could not have reached us.
We must always, therefore, take Tradition in its composite sense, that is, as made up of two parts - the act of transmission and the thing being transmitted. A tradition considered in its object loses value without the Active Tradition that delivers it. We can neither explain nor understand a tradition without knowing the source, the act, the way and the means through which it has reached us.
For instance, Scripture does not state on what day Jesus Christ was born. But an old Tradition tells us that the Son of God, as man, was born on Dec. 25th. This is the object of Tradition.
The Church accepted and set that date for its celebration. Christians - in obedience to the Church - have observed it every year since Christ ascended into Heaven. This is the active Tradition. These are the two elements: The belief that Christ was born on Dec. 25th; the teaching Church that set that date for its celebration.
The observance of Lent, the Friday abstinence, the celebration of of Sunday instead of Saturday, etc., On these Scripture is for the most part silent. But Tradition tells us tells us they were observed in Apostolic times. The Church approved of them and tranmitted them from generation to generation to the present day. The Apostles did not write of them. Why should they? They were taken as a matter of course. Some of the early Christians, disciples of the Apostles, or in turn, of their disciples, wrote of them to inculcate in the Christians of their day what the Apostles had taught and preached. The same applies to other disciplines and doctrines that had not been written, but were believed and practiced.
"Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of Christ." [Rom. 10:17]
"But there are also many other things which Jesus did; which, if they were written every one, the world itself, I think, would not be able to conatin all the books that should be written." [Jn, 21:25]
"Therefore, brethren, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle." [II Thess. 2:14]
"But you, my dearly beloved, be mindful of the words which have been spoken before by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ." [Jd. 1:17]
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