The Creed

Each week we collectively pray the Creed – a profession of what we believe and what we hold dear. But more than just tenets to which we give our intellectual assent, the Creed is a proclamation of the One who gives meaning to our lives. It is an oral summary of what we proclaim in the ritual of the liturgy: participating in the death and resurrection of Christ, born anew through baptism, and sustained by the Word of God and the Eucharist. That’s a pretty lofty notion for words we often recite mindlessly! We can be lulled into complacency by the repetition. So it is good, from time to time, to pause and consider: where do these words come from, what do they mean, and how does this belief affect my life?

Where Does the Creed Come From?
The Creed has its roots in the earliest days of the Church. In scripture we hear confessions such as “Jesus is Lord” (1 Cor 12:3), that grow and expand to include the directive: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). It is from baptism that we find the earliest creed, the Apostles’ Creed, which was presented in the form of questions: “Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty…?” When the person answered affirmatively, he or she was immersed in water. Three questions were posed for three tenets: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We continue to pray the Apostles’ Creed, (which begins “I believe…”), in private prayer and devotions, most especially the rosary.

The creed we pray at Mass is called The Nicene Creed, and it begins “We believe...” It is in the same format as the Apostles’ Creed, but it is longer and expands many of the tenets. The Nicene Creed grew out of a need to clarify what became competing understandings and claims in the Church, most especially concerning Jesus. To help enunciate Church teaching, a council of bishops met in a town called Nicea in 325 A.D. It is from the Council of Nicea that we get the Nicene Creed. The bishops at Nicea did not compose a creed from scratch, however. It was the profession of faith in baptism that was the foundation for the Creed.

Belief, then, has always been linked to the sacraments and the new life into which we are initiated. Every time we pray the Creed, we renew our baptismal vows and are invited into a deeper relationship with the One in whom we trust.

Belief Resides in the Community
The Creed gives us words we can trust. When we pray them, we join our hearts and minds with the universal Church, the communion of saints who have prayed these words for centuries, and the neighbor who is praying alongside us. A convert I knew once shared with her RCIA group how much it meant to her to pray “We believe…” There were times when she came to Mass, she said, unable to garner the courage to believe. Then she was carried by the confidence of others. Other times she felt strong in her faith and able to lift up those around her in prayer. The Creed belongs to the Church, and from one another we learn about and grow in our individual humanity. We discover what it means to be made in the image of the Triune God.

The Treasure of Our Soul
When we pray the Creed at Mass, we participate in the confidence and the longings of the Catholic Church. That participation is sufficient. But we can also move to a deeper level, a greater awareness and insight, when we take time to examine the words and their meaning in our own lives. Then we recognize the Creed as gift, as life-saving words. St. Ambrose said, “This Creed is the spiritual seal, our heart’s meditation and an ever-present guardian; it is, unquestionably, the treasure of our soul” (quoted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 197). Pausing to listen and pay attention as we pray, we may discover the treasure.

An Invitation
This fall, Christ the Redeemer will be offering a six-week adult education class on the Creed. If you are interested in learning more about the Creed in communion with others, consider joining us. See the bulletin for more details.

Renee Bhatia
Coordinator of Faith Formation