Catholic Tradition is the Preservation of Fire

Every Sunday at mass in the Creed and in the Eucharistic prayer we Catholics remind ourselves of the dead. We believe that those who have died in God's friendship are fully alive in heaven or hopefully undergoing purgative cleansing and preparation in purgatory. They are the Church which is ‘unseen’. “We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.” If the Church were an iceberg the unseen part would dwarf the part that is seen. We are called to honor their memory and to be in union with the multitudes of the dead through prayer and through imitation of their lives.  

The Catechism of the Catholic Church also notes that “From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic Sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God” -CCC 1032.

They may be thought of as 'cut off from the land of the living' but we know that we are still in communion with them. As far as we know in the afterlife they are no longer shackled by time or space. Somehow without ears or mouths or brains they can still communicate with those on earth.

Whatever perceptive abilities they have now must exceed non-resurrected bodily sense perception. They are better at hearing, seeing, thinking and communicating. They are closer to God and therefore their prayers are powerful. To ‘pray’ is ‘to ask’. We ask them to ask God for us and with us. 

When we pray for those in purgatory, we too are acting as saints interceding on their behalf by asking God to assist them. We all are asking God in prayer to help each other in this giant Communion of Saints. This network of prayer could be thought of as a supernatural internet, an unseen connection between people from all over, some known to us, others strangers but all connected in our common humanity and our common quest for human engagement. 

Some we remember with gratitude and remain in awe of their brilliant example of holiness. Some of our ancestors were intellectual and/or spiritual giants. The Apostles, the Church Fathers, Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas Aquinas, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Catherine of Sienna to name just a few. We are standing on the shoulders of giants and we should listen to what they have to say to us today. 

What the dead have received on earth during their time here has been passed on for us to use as an anchor and a stabilizing force. We call it tradition from the Latin word, ‘traditio’ - to hand on. As one link in the chain of tradition what we receive we cherish and also hand on. Like fire, tradition has a living quality, an illuminative power and a purifying end. It can be dangerous to some and life-giving to others. Sadly, many want to stomp it out or water it down. 

“Tradition means giving a vote to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead.” Chesterton goes on to say: “Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death. Democracy tells us not to neglect a good man’s opinion, even if he is our groom; tradition asks us not to neglect a good man’s opinion, even if he is our father.”- G.K. Chesterton

The sum total of their gift that they handed forward to us we too have a responsibility to keep alive and to preserve for the future earthly Church of our children and grandchildren. The culture, stories, biographies and customs along with the divinely inspired, unchanging Tradition that has come to us in the form of oral preaching, Scripture, Church teaching and holy practices of the Saints. Keeping alive and handing on both small 't' and upper case 'T' tradition 'is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire'- Gustav Mahler. 

When we actively cut ourselves away from traditions and Tradition we are only left with lame contemporary musings of a few theologians speaking from a Church in crisis. Without the vital relationship with the dead, we cease to be Catholic and we are in effect protestant. As Tevye said, “Traditions, traditions. Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as... as... as a fiddler on the roof!

One final point. As a Catholic who attends Novus Ordo mass I want to apologize for those who have stupidly labeled our Latin mass attending brothers and sisters as 'Traditional Catholic' as if that label is not completely redundant and absurd. To be Catholic is to be traditional that's the whole point! Instead of issuing insulting labels we ought be thankful for those who preserve the fire of tradition still alive in the liturgy of our ancestors.