Print Issue: October 17, 2002

The Creed (II): Recognizing The Triumph Of The Crucifixion

by Father Theodore Book, Commentary

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died, and was buried.

The inevitable consequence of the incarnation is the crucifixion. Christ came into this fallen world to bear the guilt of our sins, so that we might be reconciled with God. The crucifixion is the perfect sacrifice, which all of the sacrifices of the old law served to foreshadow. It put an end to the need for any other sacrifices. Indeed, the temple in Jerusalem, where the Jewish sacrifices had been offered, was destroyed just a few years later, never to be rebuilt.

But this one pure sacrifice, sufficient to atone for the sins of the whole world, needed to be made present in every place and time, so that every man could share in the redemption won by Christ. For this reason, Christ instituted the holy Mass, which the apostles and their successors brought to every corner of the world. Thus, when we stand before the altar, we stand, as it were, at the foot of Calvary, gazing up upon the cross, receiving the streams of grace that flow down from his wounded hands and pierced side.

The crucifixion is not a moment of defeat, but of ultimate triumph, for when Christ died upon the cross, he died to rise again, but he slew sin and death forever. The glory of the crucifixion, hidden upon the cross, shines forth in the resurrection.

He rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven.

Christ's return into heaven is not a reversal of the incarnation, but is rather its fulfillment. For he returns to heaven not as he descended, but with the human nature that he assumed from the Blessed Virgin Mary. He descended as God, but he ascends as one of us, while remaining fully what he was before. He ascends that we might follow him back to that place from whence he came - the loving embrace of the Father, the fullness of joy, the eternity of heaven.

Leaving, he does not forsake us, for he is to return again in glory to judge the living and the dead. This second, glorious, coming of Christ is something that we anticipate in the Mass, as well. Although his glory is veiled behind the species of bread and wine, he comes to us, and we ask him to have mercy on us when he judges the world, so that we might be able to enter into his kingdom that will have no end.

It is through the Holy Spirit that Christ becomes present upon the altar, and it is the Holy Spirit that gives us the grace to persevere until the last day, so it is appropriate that we confess our faith in the Holy Spirit after contemplating the mystery of the incarnation. Equally God with the Father and the Son, he is the Lord, the Giver of Life, and it is he who makes us participate in that divine life that we received in our baptism, that is given us today anew in the Eucharist, and that will be consummated in heaven. Indeed, the Holy Spirit is the divine life that dwells within us, making us in a real sense temples of God. Thus, we worship God by living upright lives, and by not defiling that temple within which the Holy Spirit dwells.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

The Church is located in the creed because it is not just an accidental part of our faith. It is only in the Church that we are part of the body of Christ; that we are Catholic; and it is only in the Church that we live in continuity with the faith of the apostles. Christ willed that his followers be one, as he is one with his Father, and it is through that unity that we worship God, are pleasing to him, and are incorporated into him. That unity exists concretely. It is the Church, bound together by the Holy Spirit. We not only believe in the Church, but we also believe what the Church teaches. Unity in faith is an essential part of being Christian, of being a follower of Christ, who established the Church that we might be free from error and united to him. This obedience of faith becomes a true offering of ourselves to God, because we surrender our own will and judgment to him in his Church.

Baptism is the one sacrament mentioned in the Creed, as it is the one sacrament necessary for salvation. It is the sacrament by which we are made part of the Church, and the stain of original sin is wiped away. It is also the gate to the other sacraments, which guide us along our path to heaven, including the Eucharist that we celebrate in this Mass. At one time, the weight of this sacrament was expressed by the fact that those who were not baptized were not allowed to see the Mass or even to know what takes place.

We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.

Even in this Mass, we taste a share of that coming life, as we receive Christ, who is the way, the truth and the life. We look for, that is, we long for, Christ's coming at the end of time, when all of the dead will rise from their graves to be judged. This is a glorious event, a manifestation of God's justice and mercy that will lead us into the unending life of the world to come.

Amen. Let it be so.

We commit ourselves to the words we have just said, affirming that we do believe, and, at the same time, asking the Lord to help our unbelief. So we conclude the Creed, having proceeded from the creation of the world-by God-to the new life after this world-with God-showing how all things have their fullness in God.

Father Theodore Book, a priest of the Archdiocese of Atlanta, continues his reflections on the Mass in upcoming issues of The Georgia Bulletin.