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POPE-AUDIENCE Apr-26-2006 (330 words) With photos. xxxi
Church tradition helps keep connection with Christ's life, apostles
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Remaining faithful to church tradition keeps Christians connected to Christ and the apostles' firsthand experience of the savior's life, teachings, death and resurrection, Pope Benedict XVI said at his weekly general audience.
By adhering to church tradition, Christ remains present in the ecclesial communion, linking women and men across the world and throughout history by the same faith, he said in his catechesis delivered April 26 to more than 50,000 pilgrims in St. Peter's Square.
"Tradition is the communion of faithful gathered round the legitimate shepherds throughout history, a communion which the Holy Spirit nourishes, guaranteeing a connection between the experience of apostolic faith lived by the original community of disciples and the present experience of Christ in his church," he said.
Tradition, however, is not handing down inert things or words; "tradition is a living river" that links the faithful directly to its origins and to Christ, he said.
Being immersed in this "great river" will carry the faithful to the doors of eternity in heaven, he said. Since it is "a living river," being part of the church's 2,000-year tradition reminds people that God will always be with his people, until the end of time, said the pope.
In his catechesis on ecclesial communion, the pope spoke on how the church is sustained by the Holy Spirit and "safeguarded and promoted by the apostolic ministry."
Thanks to the presence of the Holy Spirit, the experience of the risen Lord "will always be lived by successive generations" through their common faith, lived through worship and the church community, he said. In this way, the Holy Spirit, Christ's disciples, and the Christian communities remain forever linked, he said.
The Holy Spirit helps guide the church and its pastors to be in uninterrupted continuity with its origins so that Jesus always remains present in the church's life and its future, the pope said.
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Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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