Print Issue: October 10, 2002

The Creed (I): A Marvel As We Speak With One Voice

By Father Theodore Book, Commentary

"We believe in one God . . ." Many of the great saints and Fathers of the Church have spoken brilliantly on the creed, so I feel that I am exceeding my bounds in making this commentary, but as no commentary on the Mass could be complete without considering this profession of our faith, I venture ahead.

When the whole church, indeed the church throughout the world, rises and professes one single faith, she shows forth a marvelous unity and concord.

Men and women are, by fallen nature, given to preferring their own opinions over those of others, for no other reason than pride and the desire to distinguish themselves as superior. Thus, when millions throughout the world gather and profess the same divine truths with the same words, the unity that is characteristic of the good, the true and the divine makes a resounding triumph over the discord and division that characterize evil, falsity and the diabolic. The sound of those voices proclaiming the Catholic faith could be likened to the sound produced by a well-cast bell - there are no tones of dissonance and dissent to obscure the clear note of truth.

"Credo . . . I believe." The first word of the creed in Latin, from which it takes its name, shows forth its particular character. The creed is not simply a listing of salient facts about God and salvation, but it is more significantly the personal act of embracing those truths. To say "I believe" or "we believe" means to commit one's self to the words that follow. Thus the recitation of the creed is as much an act of the will making a commitment to those truths, as it is an act of the mind noting things to be true.

To say "I believe in God" is very deeply an act of religion, an act of worship. It is most significant that the profession of the creed has been a central part of the baptismal rite from the very first days of the church, because when one professes the faith, he makes an act of assent not only to the teachings of the church, but also to God. Thus this recitation of the creed is also a testimony to our baptism, from which our unity with God is born.

"We believe in one God." The object of faith is always God. Each of the different truths of the faith, however secondary they might be, is ultimately an expression of God, who is the source of all truth. Thus when we profess the truths of the creed, we are giving our assent to God, who is the Truth. Our act of faith is itself a movement toward God; we believe, in a certain sense, into God, or toward Him. There is a sense of movement to God in our profession of faith.

" . . . the Father." God is not just the prime mover, the maker of heaven and earth, that philosophy reveals to us. He is intimately united to us, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our Father, too, who created us as children in the beginning, and adopted us anew as his children in an even greater way through his only begotten Son, who opened up our baptism of adoption to us.

"We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ." Christ is not just a good man who lived long ago; he is God from God, light from light, true God from true God. He is eternally begotten of the Father through whom all things were made. Christ who came to us in Nazareth so long ago, who comes to us this day upon the altar, is first God.

The creed repeats this over and over, because the wonder of the incarnation is something that surpasses human understanding. It is so great that our minds cannot properly encompass it, and so we want to change it into something that is more acceptable to us; perhaps Christ was a man who God adopted as his son; perhaps he is a lower emanation from God; some type of an angel; perhaps just a very good and wise man. No - Christ is first of all God, dwelling with God from eternity, eternally proceeding from the Father.

At the center of the creed stands the event that changed all of history, that shattered the course of the universe, the hinge upon which all of creation turns. We read that God chose to enter the world.

"For us men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven." We bow at this point, because this is the mystery that gives meaning to our lives, that gives us the possibility of salvation, the mystery that is also at the very heart of the Mass.

"By the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary and became man." The mind rebels at this. We are tempted to say that perhaps God only appeared to be man. Perhaps his humanity was swallowed up by his divinity. But the creed is insistent - Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem, at a very real time, in a very real place, to a very real woman, is truly both God and man. Thus Mary appears in the creed - at this most critical juncture in history. It is in her that divinity and humanity come together and the Christ is born. At this Mass, we hope to become like Mary, carrying Christ in our bodies - as we receive his flesh and blood unto our lips, his teaching into our minds and his grace into our souls.

This is a continuation in a series of reflections on the Mass by Father Theodore Book, a priest of the archdiocese studying in Rome, Italy. The Creed will continue next week.