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treasury of prayers; in them, too, the
mystery of our salvation is 2568 present in a hidden
way.’95 123 Christians
venerate the Old Testament as true Word of God. The Church
has always vigorously opposed the idea of rejecting the Old
Testament under the pretext that the New has rendered it
void (Marcionism). The New Testament 124 ‘The Word of God, which is the power of
God for salvation to everyone who has faith, is set forth
and displays its power in a most wonderful way in the
writings of the New Testament’~6 which hand on the
ultimate truth of God’s Revelation. Their central
object is Jesus Christ, God’s incarnate Son: his acts,
teachings, Passion and glorification, and his Church’s
beginnings under the Spirit’s guidance.97
125 The Gospels are the heart of all the Scriptures
‘because they are our principal source for the life and
teaching of the Incarnate ~ Word, our Saviour’.~8
126 We can distinguish three stages in the formation
of the Gospels:
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
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.”°°
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.”°’ 127 The
fourfold Gospel holds a unique place in the Church, as is
evident both in the veneration which the liturgy accords it
and in 1154 the surpassing attraction it has exercised
on the saints at all times: There is
no doctrine which could be better, more precious and
more splendid than the text of the
Gospel. Behold and retain what our Lord U and
Master, Christ, has taught by his words and accomplished by
his deeds.’°2
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