Every four years on January 20^th, the president takes the Oath of Office pledging to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Doctors take the Hippocratic Oath promising to prescribe only beneficial treatments according to their ability and judgement. While these oaths are taken once or twice in the case of the president, we pledge an oath or state our beliefs every week at Mass in the Nicene Creed. The word creed is defined as “a set of fundamental beliefs” or “guiding principle.” Often, when we do something week after week it can become rote, or habit; not really thinking about what we are saying or doing. Over the next few minutes let’s take a look at a few examples of this. 

In the early years of the church, there was debate amongst bishops and theologians on the person of God the Father and God the Son. Was Christ a created being and submissive to God, as the Arians taught; or was the relationship of “one-substance”, “one being”, as Alexander believed? The debate reached a climax at the Council of Nicea in the year 325, and the Nicene Creed was born, defining the Son as one substance with the Father or homoousios.When the Creed was translated to Latin this became “consubstantial with the Father.” That makes it as clear as mud doesn’t’ it. If we look to scripture it might become more clear. In the Prologue to John’s Gospel the writer states “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Later, in John during a debate with Jewish Leaders, Jesus makes the claim, “The Father and I are One.” Jesus did not claim to be merely a messenger or prophet of God, but of equal power with God. 

Second, let’s look at why we bow during the Creed when we say, “by the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man”. The easy answer is: that is what we are supposed to do. The General Instruction of the Roman Missile, which outlines the structure of the Mass reads that we are all to make a profound bow when we state those words. Now for all of us who have been around a two-year-old, the next question is…Why? It is at this point when we express our belief in the most fundamental mystery of Christianity: That in Jesus Christ, God became man, born of a woman by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the Incarnation, the most sacred moment in all human history. Therefore, we bow in honor of that event. During the Mass, our gestures and postures should always reflect what we believe at each moment in the Mass. Since the Incarnation is so central to what we believe as Christians, the profound bow becomes an important way of outwardly expressing that belief.

 

Finally, we will look at the line “We believe in one holy, catholic and apostolic church.” I would like to break that down into separate parts. First, we are called to unity when we proclaim onechurch. This doesn’t mean uniform, but it does uphold Paul’s message that we should “build up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.” 

Second, the call to be a holychurch. We are all called to live holy lives, to be different, to be apostles. Just as “he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

When we proclaim a catholicchurch, we are confessing to a universal church. The word catholic in Greek means universal. In a few minutes when we profess our faith by reciting the Nicene Creed, pay attention to the lower case “C” in catholic. We are reminded of the unity of the church despite the varied languages, locations, races and denominations.

And finally, apostolic.The Church was founded upon the apostles. St. Peter’s “confession of faith” was followed by the Jesus telling him, “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.”

So, in a few moments when we stand to recite the Creed we should remind ourselves to reflect on what we are saying. That these are not just words we say each week, but that we are truly professing our beliefs. That these beliefs stand for something. That these beliefs are what make us Christians. Let us ask the Lord to engrave these beliefs in our minds and in our hearts…not just today or next Sunday, but each and every day of our lives.