'Hold firmly that our faith is identical with that of the ancients. Deny this, and you dissolve the unity of the Church.''
Comment: The Catholic is intimately aware of the Church's Tradition and glorifies it. He wishes to delve more deeply into the sources of the Faith that he professes. The development of doctrine, the liturgical traditions, the works whether theological or mystical of the great minds God has raised up excite him. He expresses no worry, embarrassment, unease with what has occurred during the two-thousand years of the Faith. His heroes and icons are drawn from the great treasury that is the communion of saints in glory. He himself in the Faith is united with them. He defends the triumphs of the men and women who have honoured God with their whole souls and bodies. He finds no common cause with the enemies of the Church who attack her past to discredit her perennial teachings. Yet he recognises the sins of her members, condemning them as unworthy of the spotless Bride of Christ. He is ultimately grateful for the faith handed on to him. May he live and die in possession of that grace like those so many who walked before him in the shadow of the Cross.
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