As you’re aware sometime ago I was writing a series on the Mass. At the beginning of Lent I stopped right before the topic of the Creed. I would like to pick up this series again. Here it goes.
Has someone ever asked you what Catholics believe? The answer is likely, yes. A condensed response to their question would be the Creed, known by its full name as the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. We recite this creed almost every Sunday and Solemnity throughout the year to publically proclaim our faith in God to all of creation.
The word ‘creed’ comes from the Latin word ‘credo’ which means “I believe”. To believe in something means to give our heart to that something. When we say “I believe” in the Creed we are stating that we give our heart to God and the things of God. If you and I truly believe in God then we give our hearts to him. The two main doctrines we give our heart to in this Creed are the Trinity (God) and the Incarnation (God become man). From these two beliefs flows everything that the Catholic Church teaches about God and about his creation. Take a few minutes sometime to meditate on these great statements of our faith.
After we finish the Creed we immediately turn our attention to God in prayer. We bring our petitions to him interceding for our brothers and sisters here or throughout the world. We pray for the Church, for governmental officials, for our local community, for those with specific needs and for other prayers on our hearts. The priest closes the intercessions with a specific prayer lifting up all of our petitions to the Father that they may be granted according to his holy will. Then, we enter into the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the most important part of the Mass, which I will begin to cover in the next article.