Friday, July 24, 2009

Jude, vv. 4-6 I wish to remind you

(Jude, vv. 4-6) I wish to remind you
[4] For there have been some intruders, who long ago were designated for this condemnation, godless persons, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and who deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. [5] I wish to remind you, although you know all things, that (the) Lord who once saved a people from the land of Egypt later destroyed those who did not believe. [6] The angels too, who did not keep to their own domain but deserted their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains, in gloom, for the judgment of the great day.
(CCC 173) "Indeed, the Church, though scattered throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, having received the faith from the apostles and their disciples… guards [this preaching and faith] with care, as dwelling in but a single house, and similarly believes as if having but one soul and a single heart, and preaches, teaches and hands on this faith with a unanimous voice, as if possessing only one mouth" (St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 1, 10, 1-2: PG 7/1, 549-552). (CCC 174) "For though languages differ throughout the world, the content of the Tradition is one and the same. The Churches established in Germany have no other faith or Tradition, nor do those of the Iberians, nor those of the Celts, nor those of the East, of Egypt, of Libya, nor those established at the centre of the world…" (St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 1, 10, 1-2: PG 7/1, 552-553). The Church's message "is true and solid, in which one and the same way of salvation appears throughout the whole world" (St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 5, 20, 1: PG 7/2, 1177). (CCC 175) "We guard with care the faith that we have received from the Church, for without ceasing, under the action of God's Spirit, this deposit of great price, as if in an excellent vessel, is constantly being renewed and causes the very vessel that contains it to be renewed" (St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 3, 24, 1: PG 7/1, 966).

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