We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God,
begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered, died, and was buried.
On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
Even though I've said it enough times to have it committed to memory I always choose to read it carefully because I want to be mindful of each of the well-chosen words that have been recited in various languages with very little variation since the 4th Century.
THE POINT OF POINTING
Words are NOT the truth - and beliefs do not make something true, just as something being true does not necessarily mean that you have to believe it. However, the finger does point to the moon and words do point to the truth - the wisdom comes from understanding the difference and/or the relationship between fingers and moons and words to the unspoken reality.
Many Christian communities recite the Creed as a personal confession - using "I believe" instead of the corporate "We believe." I prefer the Catholic approach which avoids the tension of situations of times when "I" don't believe, and I can ride on the back of the Church's belief until I come to my senses again and my faith is restored, without feeling like a hypocrite.
PERSONS AND NOT INDIVIDUALS
Orthodoxy and Catholicism agree that salvation is not a personal thing. As God is a Trinity, a unified community - we are meant to be in communion with one another, we are not saved in isolation from one another - salvation is of the whole world, represented and restored in and through the imperfect, but forgiven, organization of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. As I've heard it said - we are persons, not individuals.
Persons exist in relationship with one another -even when they are alone, while individuals are often alone, even in a crowd.
As someone once remarked: When you enter a place of worship you are never alone - you are surrounded by angels, saints and sometimes other humans.
TRUTH IS NOT WHAT YOU WANT - IT'S JUST WHAT IS.
I don't recite the Creed because I want it to be true, or even because I know that it's true - I recite it because I believe that the Truth is seen through it and beyond it. Let's face it, the Creed is more mysterious revelation than experiential proclamation. It is a statement of faith, not a statement of knowable facts that can be proven.
THE VIGILANCE OF FAITH
"We believe not in propositions but in the reality which is expressed by the propositions; we believe, not in a creed, but through a creed. The expression of divine reality in human words is necessarily inadequate; the understanding of the divine reality by the human mind is necessarily groping, and we may well make mistakes. It is possible to accept the formulas of the creeds and still to have a wrong idea of the nature of God and of his providence; it is possible to worship God and still to fall into a sort of practical idolatry. If you turn your religion into magic, if you expect an immediate and literal answer to all your prayers, if you expect the grace of God to do for you by miracle what only demands a little hard work, you are misunderstanding the faith.
If you think of God in such a way as to project on to him the human emotions of jealousy, anger, spite, you are misunderstanding the faith.
If you turn your worship into self-indulgence, your progress in virtue into self-glorification or spiritual valetudinarianism, your religion into a purely formal and external affair, you are misunderstanding your faith.
If you allow yourself to accept the assumptions of a pagan environment as far as conduct is concerned, and keep your faith in abstraction from practical affairs, you are betraying it. And you are betraying it, too, if you think of it simply as something received from without, a static deposit, which you have only to accept and guard but without making it your own, without becoming it.
The truth is given us from without, yes; but it is something that we have to realize in actual experience: we have to translate the formulas of the creed into the stuff of life; we have to learn so to see the faith in all the everyday circumstances and events of life that it becomes not something we sometimes think of but something we always are."
- Father Gerald Vann, O.P.
Lord Jesus Christ, you said to your apostles:
I leave you peace, my peace I give you.
Look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church,
and grant us the peace and unity of your kingdom
where you live for ever and ever.
AMEN
- From the Communion Rite of the Catholic Mass
2 comments:
The truth is given us from without, yes; but it is something that we have to realize in actual experience:
My cardiologist yesterday stated that “living is believing” when I explained my theory on over medicating a medical condition.
I appreciate this post and take comfort in not knowing fully...keeps me pondering the possibilities.
Excellent post! I particularly liked your comments about the use of "I" and "we" in the Creed.
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