When Christ instituted the Twelve, "he constituted [them] in the form of a college or permanent assembly, at the head of which he placed Peter, chosen from among them." 398 Just as "by the Lord's institution, St. Peter and the rest of the Apostles constitute a single Apostolic college, so in like fashion the Roman Pontiff, Peter's successor, and the Bishops, the successors of the apostles, are related with and united to one another." 399

It is on this harmony of the two Testaments that the Paschal catechesis of the Lord is built, 15 and then, that of the Apostles and the Fathers of the Church. This catechesis unveils what lay hidden under the letter of the Old Testament: the mystery of Christ. It is called "typological" because it reveals the newness of Christ on the basis of the "figures" (types) which announce him in the deeds, words, and symbols of the first covenant. By this re-reading in the Spirit of Truth, starting from Christ, the figures are unveiled. 16 Thus the flood and Noah's ark prefigured salvation by Baptism, 17 as did the cloud and the crossing of the Red Sea. Water from the rock was the figure of the spiritual Gifts of Christ, and manna in the desert prefigured the Eucharist, "the true bread from heaven." 18

The ordained Ministry or ministerial priesthood is at the service of the baptismal priesthood. 38 The ordained priesthood guarantees that it really is Christ who acts in the Sacraments through the Holy Spirit for the Church. the saving Mission Entrusted by the Father to his incarnate Son was committed to the Apostles and through them to their successors: they receive the Spirit of Jesus to act in his name and in his person. 39 The ordained minister is the sacramental bond that ties the liturgical action to what the apostles said and did and, through them, to the words and actions of Christ, the source and foundation of the sacraments.

Christ sent his Apostles so that "repentance and forgiveness of Sins should be preached in his name to all nations." 41 "Go therefore and make Disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." 42 The Mission to baptize, and so the Sacramental mission, is implied in the mission to evangelize, because the sacrament is prepared for by the word of God and by the Faith which is assent to this word:

The Church's Faith precedes the faith of the believer who is invited to adhere to it. When the Church celebrates the Sacraments, she confesses the faith received from the Apostles - whence the ancient saying: lex orandi, lex credendi (or: legem credendi lex statuat supplicandi according to Prosper of Aquitaine [5th cent.]). 45 The law of prayer is the law of faith: the Church believes as she prays. Liturgy is a constitutive element of the holy and living Tradition. 46

"By a tradition handed down from the Apostles which took its origin from the very day of Christ's Resurrection, the Church celebrates the Paschal mystery every seventh day, which day is appropriately called the Lord's Day or Sunday." 36 The day of Christ's Resurrection is both the first day of the week, the memorial of the first day of creation, and the "eighth day," on which Christ after his "rest" on the great sabbath inaugurates the "day that the Lord has made," the "day that knows no evening." 37 The Lord's Supper is its center, for there the whole community of the Faithful encounters the risen Lord who invites them to his banquet: 38

All the Old Covenant prefigurations find their fulfillment in Christ Jesus. He begins his public life after having himself baptized by St. John the Baptist in the Jordan. 17 After his Resurrection Christ gives this Mission to his Apostles: "Go therefore and make Disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." 18

From the very day of Pentecost the Church has celebrated and administered holy Baptism. Indeed St. Peter declares to the crowd astounded by his preaching: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your Sins; and you shall receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit." 26 The Apostles and their collaborators offer Baptism to anyone who believed in Jesus: Jews, the God-fearing, pagans. 27 Always, Baptism is seen as connected with Faith: "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household," St. Paul declared to his jailer in Philippi. and the narrative continues, the jailer "was baptized at once, with all his family." 28

From the time of the Apostles, becoming a Christian has been accomplished by a journey and initiation in several stages. This journey can be covered rapidly or slowly, but certain essential elements will always have to be present: proclamation of the Word, acceptance of the Gospel entailing conversion, profession of Faith, Baptism itself, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and adMission to Eucharistic Communion.

This fullness of the Spirit was not to remain uniquely the Messiah's, but was to be communicated to the whole messianic people. 93 On several occasions Christ promised this outpouring of the Spirit, 94 a promise which he fulfilled first on Easter Sunday and then more strikingly at Pentecost. 95 Filled with the Holy Spirit the Apostles began to proclaim "the mighty works of God," and Peter declared this outpouring of the Spirit to be the sign of the messianic age. 96 Those who believed in the Apostolic preaching and were baptized received the Gift of the Holy Spirit in their turn. 97

Thus the risen Christ, by giving the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, Entrusted to them his power of sanctifying: 10 they became Sacramental signs of Christ. By the power of the same Holy Spirit they entrusted this power to their successors. This

"Accordingly, just as Christ was sent by the Father so also he sent the Apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit. This he did so that they might preach the Gospel to every creature and proclaim that the Son of God by his death and Resurrection had freed us from the power of Satan and from death and brought us into the Kingdom of his Father. But he also willed that the work of salvation which they preached should be set in train through the sacrifice and Sacraments, around which the entire liturgical life revolves." 9

The term "flesh" refers to man in his state of weakness and mortality. 534 The "Resurrection of the flesh" (the literal formulation of the Apostles' Creed) means not only that the immortal soul will live on after death, but that even our "mortal body" will come to life again. 535

The Lord made Simon alone, whom he named Peter, the "rock" of his Church. He Gave him the keys of his Church and instituted him shepherd of the whole flock. 400 "The Office of binding and loosing which was given to Peter was also assigned to the college of Apostles united to its head." 401 This pastoral office of Peter and the other apostles belongs to the Church's very foundation and is continued by the Bishops under the primacy of the Pope.

In order to preserve the Church in the purity of the Faith handed on by the Apostles, Christ who is the Truth willed to confer on her a share in his own infallibility. By a "supernatural sense of faith" the People of God, under the guidance of the Church's living Magisterium, "unfailingly adheres to this faith." 417

Divine assistance is also given to the successors of the Apostles, teaching in Communion with the successor of Peter, and, in a particular way, to the bishop of Rome, pastor of the whole Church, when, without arriving at an infallible definition and without pronouncing in a "definitive manner," they propose in the exercise of the ordinary Magisterium a teaching that leads to better understanding of Revelation in matters of Faith and morals. To this ordinary teaching the Faithful "are to adhere to it with religious assent" 422 which, though distinct from the assent of faith, is nonetheless an extension of it.

After confessing "the holy catholic Church," the Apostles' Creed adds "the Communion of saints." In a certain sense this article is a further explanation of the preceding: "What is the Church if not the assembly of all the saints?" 477 The communion of saints is the Church.

In the primitive community of Jerusalem, the Disciples "devoted themselves to the Apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and the prayers." 480 Communion in the Faith. the faith of the Faithful is the faith of the Church, received from the apostles. Faith is a treasure of life which is enriched by being shared.

After her Son's Ascension, Mary "aided the beginnings of the Church by her prayers." 504 In her association with the Apostles and several women, "we also see Mary by her prayers imploring the Gift of the Spirit, who had already overshadowed her in the Annunciation." 505

The Apostle's Creed associates Faith in the forgiveness of Sins not only with faith in the Holy Spirit, but also with faith in the Church and in the Communion of saints. It was when he Gave the Holy Spirit to his Apostles that the risen Christ conferred on them his own divine power to forgive sins: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." 518

After his Resurrection, Christ sent his Apostles "so that repentance and forgiveness of Sins should be preached in his name to all nations." 524 The apostles and their successors carry out this "Ministry of reconciliation," not only by announcing to men God's forgiveness merited for us by Christ, and calling them to conversion and Faith; but also by communicating to them the forgiveness of sins in Baptism, and reconciling them with God and with the Church through the power of the keys, received from Christ: 525

Catechesis strives to awaken and nourish in the Faithful Faith in the incomparable greatness of the risen Christ's Gift to his Church: the Mission and the power to forgive Sins through the Ministry of the Apostles and their successors:

The Creed links "the forgiveness of Sins" with its profession of Faith in the Holy Spirit, for the risen Christ Entrusted to the Apostles the power to forgive sins when he Gave them the Holy Spirit.

"From that time on the Apostles, in fulfillment of Christ's will, imparted to the newly baptized by the laying on of Hands the Gift of the Spirit that completes the grace of Baptism. For this reaSon in the Letter to the Hebrews the doctrine concerning Baptism and the laying on of hands is listed among the first elements of Christian instruction. the imposition of hands is rightly recognized by the Catholic tradition as the origin of the Sacrament of Confirmation, which in a certain way perpetuates the grace of Pentecost in the Church." 98

In the Roman Rite the bishop extends his Hands over the whole group of the confirmands. Since the time of the Apostles this gesture has signified the Gift of the Spirit. the bishop invokes the outpouring of the Spirit in these words:

It is evident from its celebration that the effect of the Sacrament of Confirmation is the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit as once granted to the Apostles on the day of Pentecost.

Through the Sacrament of Holy Orders Priests share in the universal dimensions of the Mission that Christ Entrusted to the Apostles. the spiritual Gift they have received in ordination prepares them, not for a limited and restricted mission, "but for the fullest, in fact the universal mission of salvation 'to the end of the earth,"' 47 "prepared in spirit to preach the Gospel everywhere." 48

Since the Second Vatican Council the Latin Church has restored the diaconate "as a proper and permanent rank of the hierarchy," 58 while the Churches of the East had always maintained it. This permanent diaconate, which can be conferred on married men, constitutes an important enrichment for the Church's Mission. Indeed it is appropriate and useful that men who carry out a truly diaconal Ministry in the Church, whether in its liturgical and pastoral life or whether in its social and charitable works, should "be strengthened by the imposition of Hands which has come down from the Apostles. They would be more closely bound to the altar and their ministry would be made more fruitful through the Sacramental grace of the diaconate." 59

Christ himself chose the Apostles and Gave them a share in his Mission and authority. Raised to the Father's right hand, he has not forsaken his flock but he keeps it under his constant protection through the apostles, and guides it still through these same pastors who continue his work today. 61 Thus, it is Christ whose Gift it is that some be apostles, others pastors. He continues to act through the Bishops. 62

Since the Sacrament of Holy Orders is the sacrament of the Apostolic Ministry, it is for the Bishops as the successors of the Apostles to hand on the "Gift of the Spirit," 63 The "apostolic line." 64 Validly ordained Bishops, i.e., those who are in the line of apostolic succession, validly confer the three degrees of the sacrament of Holy Orders. 65

"Only a baptized man (vir) validly receives sacred ordination." 66 The Lord Jesus chose men (viri) to form the college of the twelve Apostles, and the apostles did the same when they chose collaborators to succeed them in their Ministry. 67 The college of Bishops, with whom the Priests are united in the priesthood, makes the college of the twelve an ever-present and ever-active reality until Christ's return. The Church recognizes herself to be bound by this choice made by the Lord himself. For this reaSon, the ordination of women is not possible. 68

To the Lord's Sermon on the Mount it is fitting to add the moral catechesis of the Apostolic teachings, such as Romans 12-15, 1 Corinthians 12-13, Colossians 3-4, Ephesians 4-5, etc. This doctrine Hands on the Lord's teaching with the authority of the Apostles, particularly in the presentation of the virtues that flow from Faith in Christ and are animated by charity, the principal Gift of the Holy Spirit. "Let charity be genuine.... Love one another with brotherly affection.... Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints, practice hospitality." 29 This catechesis also teaches us to deal with cases of conscience in the light of our relationship to Christ and to the Church. 30

The Church, the "pillar and bulwark of the truth," "has received this solemn command of Christ from the Apostles to announce the saving truth." 74 "To the Church belongs the right always and everywhere to announce moral principles, including those pertaining to the social order, and to make judgments on any human affairs to the extent that they are required by the fundamental rights of the human perSon or the salvation of souls." 75

"A vow is a deliberate and free promise made to God concerning a possible and better good which must be fulfilled by reaSon of the virtue of religion," 21 A vow is an act of devotion in which the Christian dedicates himself to God or promises him some good work. By fulfilling his vows he renders to God what has been promised and consecrated to Him. the Acts of the Apostles shows us St. Paul concerned to fulfill the vows he had made. 22

Simony is defined as the buying or selling of spiritual things. 53 To Simon the magician, who wanted to buy the spiritual power he saw at work in the Apostles, St. Peter responded: "Your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain God's Gift with money!" 54 Peter thus held to the words of Jesus: "You received without pay, give without pay." 55 It is impossible to appropriate to oneself spiritual goods and behave toward them as their owner or master, for they have their source in God. One can receive them only from him, without payment.

The Gospel according to St. Luke emphasizes the action of the Holy Spirit and the meaning of prayer in Christ's Ministry. Jesus prays before the decisive moments of his Mission: before his Father's witness to him during his baptism and Transfiguration, and before his own fulfillment of the Father's plan of love by his Passion. 43 He also prays before the decisive moments involving the mission of his Apostles: at his election and call of the Twelve, before Peter's confession of him as "the Christ of God," and again that the Faith of the chief of the Apostles may not fail when tempted. 44 Jesus' prayer before the events of salvation that the Father has asked him to fulfill is a humble and trusting commitment of his human will to the loving will of the Father.

In the first community of Jerusalem, believers "devoted themselves to the Apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and the prayers." 95 This sequence is characteristic of the Church's prayer: founded on the Apostolic Faith; authenticated by charity; nourished in the Eucharist.

"Christ, whom the Father hallowed and sent into the world, has, through his Apostles, made their successors, the Bishops namely, sharers in his consecration and Mission; and these, in their turn, duly Entrusted in varying degrees various members of the Church with the Office of their Ministry." 43 "The function of the Bishops' ministry was handed over in a subordinate degree to Priests so that they might be appointed in the order of the priesthood and be co-workers of the episcapal order for the proper fulfillment of the Apostolic mission that had been entrusted to it by Christ." 44

As Christ's vicar, each bishop has the pastoral care of the particular Church Entrusted to him, but at the same time he bears collegially with all his brothers in the episcopacy the solicitude for all the Churches: "Though each bishop is the lawful pastor only of the portion of the flock entrusted to his care, as a legitimate successor of the Apostles he is, by divine institution and precept, responsible with the other Bishops for the Apostolic Mission of the Church." 41

To fulfil their exalted Mission, "the Apostles were endowed by Christ with a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit coming upon them, and by the imposition of Hands they passed on to their auxiliaries the Gift of the Spirit, which is transmitted down to our day through episcopal consecration." 35

In the Latin Rite, the ordinary minister of Confirmation is the bishop. 130 Although the bishop may for grave reaSons concede to Priests the faculty of administering Confirmation, 131 it is appropriate from the very meaning of the Sacrament that he should confer it himself, mindful that the celebration of Confirmation has been temporally separated from Baptism for this reason. Bishops are the successors of the Apostles. They have received the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders. the administration of this sacrament by them demonstrates clearly that its effect is to unite those who receive it more closely to the Church, to her Apostolic origins, and to her Mission of bearing witness to Christ.

Holy Communion, because by this Sacrament we unite ourselves to Christ, who makes us sharers in his Body and Blood to form a single body. 149 We also call it: the holy things (ta hagia; sancta) 150 - the first meaning of the phrase "communion of saints" in the Apostles' Creed - the bread of angels, bread from heaven, medicine of immortality, 151 viaticum....

The Lord, having loved those who were his own, loved them to the end. Knowing that the hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father, in the course of a meal he washed their feet and Gave them the commandment of love. 161 In order to leave them a pledge of this love, in order never to depart from his own and to make them sharers in his Passover, he instituted the Eucharist as the memorial of his death and Resurrection, and commanded his Apostles to celebrate it until his return; "thereby he constituted them Priests of the New Testament." 162

By celebrating the Last Supper with his Apostles in the course of the Passover meal, Jesus Gave the Jewish Passover its definitive meaning. Jesus' passing over to his Father by his death and Resurrection, the new Passover, is anticipated in the Supper and celebrated in the Eucharist, which fulfills the Jewish Passover and anticipates the final Passover of the Church in the Glory of the kingdom.

The command of Jesus to repeat his actions and words "until he comes" does not only ask us to remember Jesus and what he did. It is directed at the liturgical celebration, by the Apostles and their successors, of the memorial of Christ, of his life, of his death, of his Resurrection, and of his intercession in the presence of the Father. 165

The Liturgy of the Word includes "the writings of the prophets," that is, the Old Testament, and "the memoirs of the Apostles" (their letters and the Gospels). After the homily, which is an exhortation to accept this Word as what it truly is, the Word of God, 173 and to put it into practice, come the intercessions for all men, according to the Apostle's words: "I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings, and all who are in high positions." 174

In imparting to his Apostles his own power to forgive Sins the Lord also gives them the authority to reconcile sinners with the Church. This ecclesial dimension of their task is expressed most notably in Christ's solemn words to Simon Peter: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." 45 "The Office of binding and loosing which was given to Peter was also assigned to the college of the apostles united to its head." 46

Since Christ Entrusted to his Apostles the Ministry of reconciliation, 65 Bishops who are their successors, and Priests, the Bishops' collaborators, continue to exercise this ministry. Indeed bishops and priests, by virtue of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, have the power to forgive all Sins "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

Word and Sacrament form an indivisible whole. the Liturgy of the Word, preceded by an act of repentance, opens the celebration. the words of Christ, the witness of the Apostles, awaken the Faith of the sick perSon and of the community to ask the Lord for the strength of his Spirit.

Holy Orders is the Sacrament through which the Mission Entrusted by Christ to his Apostles continues to be exercised in the Church until the end of time: thus it is the sacrament of Apostolic Ministry. It includes three degrees: episcopate, presbyterate, and diaconate.

St. Luke in his gospel often expresses wonder and praise at the marvels of Christ and in his Acts of the Apostles stresses them as actions of the Holy Spirit: the community of Jerusalem, the invalid healed by Peter and John, the crowd that gives Glory to God for that, and the pagans of Pisidia who "were glad and glorified the word of God." 123

So that this call should resound throughout the world, Christ sent forth the Apostles he had chosen, comMissioning them to proclaim the gospel: "Go therefore and make Disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." 4 Strengthened by this mission, the apostles "went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it." 5

"I believe in God": this first affirmation of the Apostles' Creed is also the most fundamental. the whole Creed speaks of God, and when it also speaks of man and of the world it does so in relation to God. the other articles of the Creed all depend on the first, just as the remaining Commandments make the first explicit. the other articles help us to know God better as he revealed himself progressively to men. "The Faithful first profess their belief in God." 2

For this reaSon the Apostles confess Jesus to be the Word: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God"; as "the image of the invisible God"; as the "radiance of the Glory of God and the very stamp of his nature". 65

The eternal origin of the Holy Spirit is revealed in his Mission in time. the Spirit is sent to the Apostles and to the Church both by the Father in the name of the Son, and by the Son in person, once he had returned to the Father. 69 The sending of the person of the Spirit after Jesus' glorification 70 reveals in its fullness the mystery of the Holy Trinity.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." 116 Holy Scripture begins with these solemn words. the profession of Faith takes them up when it confesses that God the Father almighty is "Creator of heaven and earth" (Apostles' Creed), "of all that is, seen and unseen" (Nicene Creed). We shall speak first of the Creator, then of creation and finally of the fall into sin from which Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to raise us up again.

The Apostles' Creed professes that God is "creator of heaven and earth". the Nicene Creed makes it explicit that this profession includes "all that is, seen and unseen".

After his Resurrection, Jesus' divine Sonship becomes manifest in the power of his glorified humanity. He was "designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his Resurrection from the dead". 57 The Apostles can confess: "We have beheld his Glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." 58

Jesus ascribes this title to himself in a veiled way when he disputes with the Pharisees about the meaning of Psalm 110, but also in an explicit way when he addresses his Apostles. 61 Throughout his public life, he demonstrated his divine sovereignty by works of power over nature, illnesses, demons, death and sin.

Jesus Entrusted a specific authority to Peter: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." 287 The "power of the keys" designates authority to govern the house of God, which is the Church. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, confirmed this mandate after his Resurrection: "Feed my sheep." 288 The power to "bind and loose" connotes the authority to absolve Sins, to pronounce doctrinal judgements, and to make disciplinary decisions in the Church. Jesus entrusted this authority to the Church through the Ministry of the Apostles 289 and in particular through the ministry of Peter, the only one to whom he specifically entrusted the keys of the kingdom.

The Paschal mystery of Christ's cross and Resurrection stands at the centre of the Good News that the Apostles, and the Church following them, are to proclaim to the world. God's saving plan was accomplished "once for all" 313 by the redemptive death of his Son Jesus Christ.

Jesus went up to the Temple as the privileged place of encounter with God. For him, the Temple was the dwelling of his Father, a house of prayer, and he was angered that its outer court had become a place of commerce. 353 He drove merchants out of it because of jealous love for his Father: "You shall not make my Father's house a house of trade. His Disciples remembered that it was written, 'Zeal for your house will consume me.'" 354 After his Resurrection his Apostles retained their reverence for the Temple. 355

The historical complexity of Jesus' trial is apparent in the Gospel accounts. the perSonal sin of the participants (Judas, the Sanhedrin, Pilate) is known to God alone. Hence we cannot lay responsibility for the trial on the Jews in Jerusalem as a whole, despite the outcry of a manipulated crowd and the global reproaches contained in the Apostles' calls to conversion after Pentecost. 385 Jesus himself, in forgiving them on the cross, and Peter in following suit, both accept "the ignorance" of the Jews of Jerusalem and even of their leaders. 386 Still less can we extend responsibility to other Jews of different times and places, based merely on the crowd's cry: "His blood be on us and on our children!", a formula for ratifying a judicial sentence. 387 As the Church declared at the Second Vatican Council: . . .

Our presentation of the Faith will follow the Apostles' Creed, which constitutes, as it were, "the oldest Roman catechism". the presentation will be completed however by constant references to the Nicene Creed, which is often more explicit and more detailed.

The Apostles' Creed is so called because it is rightly considered to be a Faithful summary of the apostles' Faith. It is the ancient baptismal symbol of the Church of Rome. Its great authority arises from this fact: it is "the Creed of the Roman Church, the See of Peter the first of the apostles, to which he brought the common faith". 13

"These three parts are distinct although connected with one another. According to a compariSon often used by the Fathers, we call them articles. Indeed, just as in our bodily members there are certain articulations which distinguish and separate them, so too in this profession of Faith, the name "articles" has justly and rightly been given to the truths we must believe particularly and distinctly." 6 In accordance with an ancient tradition, already attested to by St. Ambrose, it is also customary to reckon the articles of the Creed as twelve, thus symbolizing the fullness of the Apostolic faith by the number of the Apostles. 7

Those who with God's help have welcomed Christ's call and freely responded to it are urged on by love of Christ to proclaim the Good News everywhere in the world. This treasure, received from the Apostles, has been Faithfully guarded by their successors. All Christ's Faithful are called to hand it on from generation to generation, by professing the faith, by living it in fraternal sharing, and by celebrating it in liturgy and prayer. 6

"Christ the Lord, in whom the entire Revelation of the most high God is summed up, commanded the Apostles to preach the Gospel, which had been promised beforehand by the prophets, and which he fulfilled in his own perSon and promulgated with his own lips. In preaching the Gospel, they were to communicate the Gifts of God to all men. This Gospel was to be the source of all saving truth and moral discipline." 32

In keeping with the Lord's command, the Gospel was handed on in two ways: - orally "by the Apostles who handed on, by the spoken word of their preaching, by the example they Gave, by the institutions they established, what they themselves had received - whether from the lips of Christ, from his way of life and his works, or whether they had learned it at the prompting of the Holy Spirit"; 33 - in writing "by those apostles and other men associated with the apostles who, under the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit, committed the message of salvation to writing". 34

"In order that the full and living Gospel might always be preserved in the Church the Apostles left Bishops as their successors. They Gave them their own position of teaching authority." 35 Indeed, "the Apostolic preaching, which is expressed in a special way in the inspired books, was to be preserved in a continuous line of succession until the end of time." 36

The Tradition here in question comes from the Apostles and Hands on what they received from Jesus' teaching and example and what they learned from the Holy Spirit. the first generation of Christians did not yet have a written New Testament, and the New Testament itself demonstrates the process of living Tradition.

The Apostles Entrusted the "Sacred deposit" of the Faith (the depositum fidei), 45 contained in Sacred Scripture and Tradition, to the whole of the Church. "By adhering to [this heritage] the entire holy people, united to its pastors, remains always Faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. So, in maintaining, practising and professing the faith that has been handed on, there should be a remarkable harmony between the Bishops and the faithful." 46

Mindful of Christ's words to his Apostles: "He who hears you, hears me", 49 The Faithful receive with docility the teachings and directives that their pastors give them in different forms.

We can distinguish three stages in the formation of the Gospels: 1. the life and teaching of Jesus. the Church holds firmly that the four Gospels, "whose historicity she unhesitatingly affirms, Faithfully hand on what Jesus, the Son of God, while he lived among men, really did and taught for their eternal salvation, until the day when he was taken up." 99 2. the oral tradition. "For, after the ascension of the Lord, the Apostles handed on to their hearers what he had said and done, but with that fuller understanding which they, instructed by the glorious events of Christ and enlightened by the Spirit of truth, now enjoyed." 100 3. the written Gospels. "The sacred authors, in writing the four Gospels, selected certain of the many elements which had been handed on, either orally or already in written form; others they synthesized or explained with an eye to the situation of the churches, the while sustaining the form of preaching, but always in such a fashion that they have told us the honest truth about Jesus." 101

"I believe" (Apostles' Creed) is the Faith of the Church professed perSonally by each believer, principally during Baptism. "We believe" (Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed) is the faith of the Church confessed by the Bishops assembled in council or more generally by the liturgical assembly of believers. "I believe" is also the Church, our mother, responding to God by faith as she teaches us to say both "I believe" and "We believe".

The Church, "the pillar and bulwark of the truth", Faithfully guards "the Faith which was once for all delivered to the saints". She guards the memory of Christ's words; it is she who from generation to generation Hands on the Apostles' confession of faith. 57 As a mother who teaches her children to speak and so to understand and communicate, the Church our Mother teaches us the language of faith in order to introduce us to the understanding and the life of faith.

"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." 59

The Scriptures had foretold this divine plan of salvation through the putting to death of "the righteous one, my Servant" as a mystery of universal redemption, that is, as the ransom that would free men from the slavery of sin. 397 Citing a confession of Faith that he himself had "received", St. Paul professes that "Christ died for our Sins in accordance with the scriptures." 398 In particular Jesus' redemptive death fulfils Isaiah's prophecy of the suffering Servant. 399 Indeed Jesus himself explained the meaning of his life and death in the light of God's suffering Servant. 400 After his Resurrection he Gave this interpretation of the Scriptures to the Disciples at Emmaus, and then to the Apostles. 401

At the end of the parable of the lost sheep Jesus recalled that God's love excludes no one: "So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish." 410 He affirms that he came "to give his life as a ransom for many"; this last term is not restrictive, but contrasts the whole of humanity with the unique perSon of the redeemer who Hands himself over to save us. 411 The Church, following the Apostles, teaches that Christ died for all men without exception: "There is not, never has been, and never will be a single human being for whom Christ did not suffer." 412

Jesus Gave the supreme expression of his free offering of himself at the meal shared with the twelve Apostles "on the night he was betrayed". 429 On the eve of his Passion, while still free, Jesus transformed this Last Supper with the apostles into the memorial of his voluntary offering to the Father for the salvation of men: "This is my body which is given for you." "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of Sins." 430

The Holy Spirit is "the principle of every vital and truly saving action in each part of the Body." 247 He works in many ways to build up the whole Body in charity: 248 by God's Word "which is able to build you up"; 249 by Baptism, through which he forms Christ's Body; 250 by the Sacraments, which give growth and healing to Christ's members; by "the grace of the Apostles, which holds first place among his Gifts"; 251 by the virtues, which make us act according to what is good; finally, by the many special graces (called "charisms"), by which he makes the Faithful "fit and ready to undertake various tasks and Offices for the renewal and building up of the Church." 252

What are these bonds of unity? Above all, charity "binds everything together in perfect harmony." 265 But the unity of the pilgrim Church is also assured by visible bonds of Communion: - profession of one Faith received from the Apostles; -common celebration of divine worship, especially of the Sacraments; - Apostolic succession through the sacrament of Holy Orders, maintaining the fraternal concord of God's family. 266

"The sole Church of Christ [is that] which our Savior, after his Resurrection, Entrusted to Peter's pastoral care, comMissioning him and the other Apostles to extend and rule it.... This Church, constituted and organized as a society in the present world, subsists in (subsistit in) in) the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the Bishops in Communion with him." 267

The Church is Apostolic because she is founded on the Apostles, in three ways: - she was and remains built on "the foundation of the Apostles," 362 The witnesses chosen and sent on Mission by Christ himself; 363 - with the help of the Spirit dwelling in her, the Church keeps and Hands on the teaching, 364 The "good deposit," the salutary words she has heard from the apostles; 365 - she continues to be taught, sanctified, and guided by the apostles until Christ's return, through their successors in pastoral Office: the college of Bishops, "assisted by Priests, in union with the successor of Peter, the Church's supreme pastor": 366

Jesus is the Father's Emissary. From the beginning of his Ministry, he "called to him those whom he desired; .... and he appointed twelve, whom also he named Apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to preach." 368 From then on, they would also be his "emissaries" (Greek apostoloi). In them, Christ continues his own Mission: "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." 369 The apostles' ministry is the continuation of his mission; Jesus said to the Twelve: "he who receives you receives me." 370

Jesus unites them to the Mission he received from the Father. As "the Son can do nothing of his own accord," but receives everything from the Father who sent him, so those whom Jesus sends can do nothing apart from him, 371 from whom they received both the mandate for their mission and the power to carry it out. Christ's Apostles knew that they were called by God as "ministers of a new covenant," "servants of God," "ambassadors for Christ," "servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God." 372

In the Office of the Apostles there is one aspect that cannot be transmitted: to be the chosen witnesses of the Lord's Resurrection and so the foundation stones of the Church. But their office also has a permanent aspect. Christ promised to remain with them always. the divine Mission Entrusted by Jesus to them "will continue to the end of time, since the Gospel they handed on is the lasting source of all life for the Church. Therefore, . . . the apostles took care to appoint successors." 373

"In order that the Mission Entrusted to them might be continued after their death, [the Apostles] consigned, by will and testament, as it were, to their immediate collaborators the duty of completing and consolidating the work they had begun, urging them to tend to the whole flock, in which the Holy Spirit had appointed them to shepherd the Church of God. They accordingly designated such men and then made the ruling that likewise on their death other proven men should take over their Ministry." 374

"Just as the Office which the Lord confided to Peter alone, as first of the Apostles, destined to be transmitted to his successors, is a permanent one, so also endures the office, which the apostles received, of shepherding the Church, a charge destined to be exercised without interruption by the sacred order of Bishops." 375 Hence the Church teaches that "the Bishops have by divine institution taken the place of the apostles as pastors of the Church, in such wise that whoever listens to them is listening to Christ and whoever despises them despises Christ and him who sent Christ." 376

The whole Church is Apostolic, in that she remains, through the successors of St. Peter and the other Apostles, in Communion of Faith and life with her origin: and in that she is "sent out" into the whole world. All members of the Church share in this Mission, though in various ways. "The Christian vocation is, of its nature, a vocation to the apostolate as well." Indeed, we call an apostolate "every activity of the Mystical Body" that aims "to spread the Kingdom of Christ over all the earth." 377

The Church is ultimately one, holy, catholic, and Apostolic in her deepest and ultimate identity, because it is in her that "the Kingdom of heaven," the "Reign of God," 380 already exists and will be fulfilled at the end of time. the kingdom has come in the perSon of Christ and grows mysteriously in the hearts of those incorporated into him, until its full eschatological manifestation. Then all those he has redeemed and made "holy and blameless before him in love," 381 will be gathered together as the one People of God, the "Bride of the Lamb," 382 "the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the Glory of God." 383 For "the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb." 384

"Often, too, the Church is called the building of God. the Lord compared himself to the stone which the builders rejected, but which was made into the comer-stone. On this foundation the Church is built by the Apostles and from it the Church receives solidity and unity. This edifice has many names to describe it: the house of God in which his family dwells; the household of God in the Spirit; the dwelling-place of God among men; and, especially, the holy temple. This temple, symbolized in places of worship built out of stone, is praised by the Fathers and, not without reaSon, is compared in the liturgy to the Holy City, the New Jerusalem. As living stones we here on earth are built into it. It is this holy city that is seen by John as it comes down out of heaven from God when the world is made anew, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. 148

To believe that the Church is "holy" and "catholic," and that she is "one" and "Apostolic" (as the Nicene Creed adds), is inseparable from belief in God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In the Apostles' Creed we profess "one Holy Church" (Credo . . . Ecclesiam), and not to believe in the Church, so as not to confuse God with his works and to attribute clearly to God's goodness all the Gifts he has bestowed on his Church. 138

The Eucharist that Christ institutes at that moment will be the memorial of his sacrifice. 431 Jesus includes the Apostles in his own offering and bids them perpetuate it. 432 By doing so, the Lord institutes his apostles as Priests of the New Covenant: "For their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth." 433

Jesus "descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens." 475 The Apostles' Creed confesses in the same article Christ's descent into hell and his Resurrection from the dead on the third day, because in his Passover it was precisely out of the depths of death that he made life spring forth:

Mary Magdalene and the holy women who came to finish anointing the body of Jesus, which had been buried in haste because the Sabbath began on the evening of Good Friday, were the first to encounter the Risen One. 497 Thus the women were the first messengers of Christ's Resurrection for the Apostles themselves. 498 They were the next to whom Jesus appears: first Peter, then the Twelve. Peter had been called to strengthen the Faith of his brothers, 499 and so sees the Risen One before them; it is on the basis of his testimony that the community exclaims: "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" 500

Everything that happened during those Paschal days involves each of the Apostles - and Peter in particular - in the building of the new era begun on Easter morning. As witnesses of the Risen One, they remain the foundation stones of his Church. the Faith of the first community of believers is based on the witness of concrete men known to the Christians and for the most part still living among them. Peter and the Twelve are the primary "witnesses to his Resurrection", but they are not the only ones - Paul speaks clearly of more than five hundred perSons to whom Jesus appeared on a single occasion and also of James and of all the apostles. 501

Even when faced with the reality of the risen Jesus the Disciples are still doubtful, so impossible did the thing seem: they thought they were seeing a ghost. "In their joy they were still disbelieving and still wondering." 506 Thomas will also experience the test of doubt and St. Matthew relates that during the risen Lord's last appearance in Galilee "some doubted." 507 Therefore the hypothesis that the Resurrection was produced by the Apostles' Faith (or credulity) will not hold up. On the contrary their faith in the Resurrection was born, under the action of divine grace, from their direct experience of the reality of the risen Jesus.

O truly blessed Night, sings the Exsultet of the Easter Vigil, which alone deserved to know the time and the hour when Christ rose from the realm of the dead! 512 But no one was an eyewitness to Christ's Resurrection and no evangelist describes it. No one can say how it came about physically. Still less was its innermost essence, his passing over to another life, perceptible to the senses. Although the Resurrection was an historical event that could be verified by the sign of the empty tomb and by the reality of the Apostles' encounters with the risen Christ, still it remains at the very heart of the mystery of Faith as something that transcends and surpasses history. This is why the risen Christ does not reveal himself to the world, but to his Disciples, "to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people." 513

Being seated at the Father's right hand signifies the inauguration of the Messiah's kingdom, the fulfilment of the prophet Daniel's vision concerning the Son of man: "To him was given dominion and Glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed." 546 After this event the Apostles became witnesses of the "kingdom [that] will have no end". 547

The Church, a Communion living in the Faith of the Apostles which she transmits, is the place where we know the Holy Spirit: - in the Scriptures he inspired; - in the Tradition, to which the Church Fathers are always timely witnesses; - in the Church's Magisterium, which he assists; - in the Sacramental liturgy, through its words and symbols, in which the Holy Spirit puts us into communion with Christ; - in prayer, wherein he intercedes for us; - in the charisms and ministries by which the Church is built up; - in the signs of Apostolic and Missionary life; - in the witness of saints through whom he manifests his holiness and continues the work of salvation.

Besides the proper name of "Holy Spirit," which is most frequently used in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles, we also find in St. Paul the titles: the Spirit of the promise, 21 The Spirit of adoption, 22 The Spirit of Christ, 23 The Spirit of the Lord, 24 and the Spirit of God 25 - and, in St. Peter, the Spirit of Glory. 26

The hand. Jesus heals the sick and blesses little children by laying Hands on them. 51 In his name the Apostles will do the same. 52 Even more pointedly, it is by the Apostles' imposition of hands that the Holy Spirit is given. 53 The Letter to the Hebrews lists the imposition of hands among the "fundamental elements" of its teaching. 54 The Church has kept this sign of the all-powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit in its Sacramental epicleses.

The finger. "It is by the finger of God that [Jesus] cast out demons." 55 If God's law was written on tablets of stone "by the finger of God," then the "letter from Christ" Entrusted to the care of the Apostles, is written "with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts." 56 The hymn Veni Creator Spiritus invokes the Holy Spirit as the "finger of the Father's right hand." 57

The very differences which the Lord has willed to put between the members of his body serve its unity and Mission. For "in the Church there is diversity of Ministry but unity of mission. To the Apostles and their successors Christ has Entrusted the Office of teaching, sanctifying and governing in his name and by his power. But the laity are made to share in the priestly, prophetical, and kingly office of Christ; they have therefore, in the Church and in the world, their own assignment in the mission of the whole People of God." 387 Finally, "from both groups [hierarchy and laity] there exist Christian Faithful who are consecrated to God in their own special manner and serve the salvific mission of the Church through the profession of the evangelical counsels." 388