The Second Coming (The Creed)

As I emphasized in my last post, our faith is not dead or stagnant. It is effective and alive. Christianity did not end with the Resurrection any more than it ends with the Passion. After Christ revealed Himself to His disciples on multiple occasions, He ascended into Heaven. Unlike the false prophets of paganism or even the Jewish prophets appointed by God, Jesus did not succumb to the decay of a final death. Instead, he rose into the Heavens after rising from the grave. God-made-Man returned to the bosom of His Heavenly Father.

This must have been difficult for the disciples. They were scattered and in hiding when they saw the proofs of the Resurrection. And now Jesus was gone again. Many men might have simply returned to the comfort of the shadows and anonymity. The Roman sword still hung over their heads and the Pharisees wanted to tear them apart. I think that it would have been understandable if, even with the hope of the Resurrection, the disciples had gone back into hiding and spread the message of the Gospel in secret to a chosen and trusted few.

But this is not what happened. In fact, the disciples did quite the opposite. They went out among the throng of Jerusalem. They did not speak in whispers. "Peter standing up with the Eleven, lifted up his voice and spoke to them: 'Ye men of Judea, and all you that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known to you and with your ears receive my words" (Acts 2:14). These are not the words of a fearful man. These are the words filled with the courage and strength of the Lord.

And yet let us remember who this is that speaks so boldly. This is Peter, the same disciple who during the Last Supper rashly proclaimed that "although I should die together with thee, I will not deny thee" (Mark 14:31), only to deny the Lord not once, not twice, but three times on Good Friday. The question we must ask ourselves is what changed? What happened to the disciples so that instead of running away, they proclaimed the Gospel to the nations?

There are two answers to this question. The first is the descent of the Holy Spirit which is the subject of my next post. The other reason for their courage is found in the promise that came with the Ascension. After Jesus was raised up into the clouds, two angels appeared to the disciples and said to them "Ye men of Galilee, why stand you looking up to heaven? This Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come as you have seen him going into heaven" (Acts 1:11). Shall so come as you have seen him going into heaven. The disciples received the promise of the Second Coming of Christ.

The Ascension was not Jesus' last farewell to Earth. He is coming back.

We read extensively of this promise in the New Testament. In the Gospels, Jesus warns us of the tribulation and confusion that will abound in the end times, for truly the Second Coming represents the end of the world as we know it. In those times, "many false prophets will rise and shall seduce many" (Matthew 24:11). The Ancient Fathers of the Church long believed this to mean that the antichrist would present himself, the great deceiver and servant of Satan. It is said that he will "make war with the saints" and "all that dwell upon the earth adored him, whose names are not written in the book of life" (Revelation 13:7-8).

True believers and followers of the word "shall be hated by all for my name's sake" (Matthew 24:9). "And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren and kinsmen and friends, and some of you they will put to death" (Luke 21:16). In the book of Revelation, we read of the "great harlot" of idolatry "with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication," and that she is "drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus" (Revelation 17:1-2,6).

Truly these will not be tame times. These will be days marked by chaos and persecution.

It is important to remember, however, that it is vain to try to predict when the last days will come. Christ tells us that "of that day and hour no one knoweth: no, not the angels in heaven, but the Father alone" (Matthew 24:36).

These signs and predictions might seem disheartening. Why did it fill the apostles with such strength?

It is because of what follows these sufferings which are merely "the sign of thy coming and the consummation of the world" (Matthew 24:3). The Enemy will not prevail. He has already been defeated. Our ultimate victory is in the Cross. These times will merely be the last "hurrah," the vain though potent charge of Satan's Light Brigade. There is no question about the outcome. When these slight afflictions pass away, "then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven" (Matthew 24:30), "then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds, with great power and glory" (Mark 13:26). Christ shall return from His Heavenly throne to establish His new Kingdom. He "shall judge the living and the dead, by his coming and his kingdom" (2 Timothy 4:1). And though the beast should rise from the abyss to devour true Christians, "the Lamb shall overcome them because he is the Lord of lords and King of kings" (Revelation 17:14).

All of this around you, all of the kingdoms of the earth, the laws of men, the institutions of sin, all of this shall pass away and be forgotten. "Vanities of vanity, and all is vanity" (Ecclesiastes 1:2). "Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer" (Revelation 2:10) for they will be washed away in the blood of the Lamb.

This is why the apostles were able to disregard the threat of death at the hands of the Jews and the Romans. They stood before the crowds of Jerusalem and proclaimed the glory of the Resurrection and message of the Gospel. The apostles suffered torture and martyrdom in the expectation and hope of the Second Coming in Christ, knowing that "he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved" (Mark 13:13), "he that shall overcome shall not be hurt by the second death" (Revelation 2:11).

We must try to live in the hope of the Second Coming. Christians must toil upon the earth so that when He comes, the Lord might say to us "well done, good and faithful servant.... Enter thou into the joy of thy lord" (Matthew 25:21). The Lord amply rewards those who follow his word: "be thou faithful unto death: and I will give thee the crown of life" (Revelation 2:10). It is impossible for us even to imagine a fraction of the joy that is waiting for us in heaven. Therefore, live with the love of God as the disciples so that when you meet the Lord, whether in death or in His coming, "your redemption is at hand" (Luke 21:28).

"Take ye heed, watch and pray. For ye know not when the time is" (Mark 13:13).


DEUS VULT!

The Glory of the Resurrection (The Creed)

And rose again on the third day

in accordance with the Scriptures.

He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

Ours would be a grim faith indeed if the Gospels ended with the Crucifixion. We might be as grave as the Muslims or as morbid as the Stoics. And I think that it can be all to easy to do just that - to end with the Passion, to end with the suffering of Christ while neglecting what happened three days later. It can be all too easy to focus on the magnitude of sin and suffering in the world and forget the significance of the Passion which was made manifest in the rolling away of the stone. It is easy to hold up a sign saying that "The End is Nigh" or to complain about the state of the world. It is much harder to embrace your brother with love.

Jesus died and rose again!

The God-made man has conquered the grave!

"He is not here, for He is risen" (Matthew 28:6).

Brothers and sisters, how can we not rise up with joy in the truth of our faith? How can we keep from singing? The depths of the grave have no power over our Lord, "O death, where is thy sting?" (1 Corinthians 15:55). The Resurrection is the validation of the Cross. The Cross would not make sense without the glory of Easter. We can have confidence in the necessity of our own suffering because the story did not end on Calvary.

How many false prophets have been silenced by death? When Socrates was poisoned with hemlock, did he teach beyond the grave? Did Mohammed share his revelations after death? Was Buddha able to share his message post-mortem? Who else has a Lord who rose from the grave?

The world hates this Truth. It tries to tell us that it is impossible, that no man can conquer death. Our age fears the grave because it has rejected and spat upon what lies beyond it. The world turns to its fatalistic hedonism, the danse macabre, the self-deluding, insane, urgent dance of those yet untouched by death. It drinks to forget its own mortality, seeks meaningless lusts in a desperate frenzy, masks its age in layer upon layer of beauty products. All to stave off the cold embrace of the grave for one moment longer.

But no Christian need fear death. We need not live under the shadow of the tomb. "Now we are loosed from the law of death" (Romans 7:6). Christ "hath destroyed death and hath brought to light life and incorruption by the gospel" (2 Timothy 1:10). "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall not fear" (Psalm 23:4). Having full confidence in God's mercy and the absolution of our sins through sacramental Confession, the sting of death is nullified by the love of Christ. Death means nothing to the saints and the martyrs of God.

We believe that Jesus rose from the death, that he invaded the pit of hell and thrust open the gates of heaven. That is why Easter is a time for rejoicing and feasting. Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen wrote: "there are only two philosophies of life: the Christian, which says first the fast, then the feast; and the pagan, which says first the feast, then the headache." Our fasting should not be tainted with sorrow for we know what lies at the end of the road. Sadness profits us nothing, "for of sadness cometh death, and it overwhelmeth the strength" (Sirach 38:19).

On Good Friday, the Temple veil was torn. On Easter Sunday, the tombstone was cast aside and the vice-hold of death broken.

Do not weep, rejoice! Christ is no longer dead but alive!

DEUS VULT!

The Passion (The Creed)

For our sake, he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,

he suffered death and was buried.

Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen wrote that Jesus Christ was the only man born to die.  The beauty of his birth was marred by the massacre of the infants by Herod. The happiness of his mother was overshadowed by Simeon's prophecy, "and thy own soul a sword shall pierce." (Luke 2:35)

The Son was not made Incarnate to establish an earthly kingdom or simply add to the work of the prophets. He was not merely another Elijah or John the Baptist. Jesus came to fulfill the law and establish a new and lasting covenant - "and this is to them my covenant: when I shall take away their sins." (Romans 11:27) This was not an impersonal contract. The Passion established a relationship built upon love between God and His people.

After coming down from Mount Sinai, Moses had his priests sacrifice to the Lord. He took a bowl of the blood from the victims "and sprinkled it upon the people, and he said 'This is the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words.'" (Exodus 24:8) Then Moses ascended Sinai once more and received the Ten Commandments, the Law.

The covenant of the Old Testament required the blood of sacrificial victims. Therefore it is fitting that the new covenant require the same. But this time, instead of calves, the victim is the Son of God Himself. A strong King might be able to sacrifice his servants for the good of the Kingdom. He might even be able to sacrifice his friends. But what King would be able to give up his only son, his own blood, for his people? For our sake?

For our sake, Christ yielded Himself to a humiliating death. He died in the most painful way the brutal Romans could devise. Isaiah the prophet describes Christ's noble sacrifice most beautifully.

"Despised, and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity, and his look was as if it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed him not.... He was offered because it was his own will, and he opened not his mouth: he shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth."  - Isaiah 53:4,7

Why? Why would the God who made heaven and earth die such an inglorious death? Why would He submit Himself so humbly to the whip and the jeering and the nails?

Because He loves us. Because He wanted to save us from our sins. When He came before the chief priests and the council, they shouted "He deserves to die!" (Matthew 26:66)

But that is not true. He did not deserve to die. As He was without the blemish of sin, there was nothing that justified His execution, no crime He could be convicted of. The truth of it is, we deserve to die. How many times have we fallen? Again and again we succumb to the easy lure of sin and its wages. Look at the world. Look at your own heart. The weight of sin is immense. But Jesus bore that weight on the Cross for us as He struggled for every breath. The blood of the Lamb stormed the pit of hell and thrust open the gates of heaven so that we might be saved. By His passion, though our "sins be as scarlet, they will be made as white as snow." (Isaiah 1:18)

In dying, Christ showed us how to live. With love. In "The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ," Anna Catherine Emmerich wrote that in the Garden, Christ could see the sum of human sinfulness, past, present, and future. He gazed upon every blasphemy, every infidelity, and every act of hatred. And yet His love is so great that He nevertheless accepted the slow and tortuous death on a Cross.

In these days leading up to the Passion, meditate upon this. The outstretched and pierced arms of Christ embraced humanity in our dirty, ugly sinfulness. Remember that the Truth was not meant to fall upon the idle and inactive! Make this Truth a part of your life. Jesus showed us how to love unconditionally, to love without counting the cost. He forgave those men who were even then mocking him and hurting His most blessed Body. Ask yourselves, how can I live out this same love?

The world is mired in sinfulness and injustice. As Christians, doers and hearers of the Word, we are called to bring the light of love to this culture of darkness. May the Body of Christ save us and the Blood of Christ sanctify us as we strive to follow the bloodied footsteps of our Lord as He mounted Cavalry and saved the world.


DEUS VOLT!

The Incarnation (The Creed)

For us men and for our salvation

he came down from heaven,

and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,

and became man.

The Incarnation is the second most beautiful moment in history, only surpassed by the Passion. How wondrous a moment! In the words of one of my favorite songs, "heaven meets earth like a passionate kiss." The seen and the unseen collided when God "became man." This is the truth: Jesus Christ, while fully God, became fully man. "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." (John 1:14)

It is all too easy to overlook this Mystery and simply accept it. This is a revolutionary Truth! God condescended to our human nature. The God who made the Universe, who is the source of all light and grace, assumed the weakness of human flesh. For Jesus was indeed "tempted in all things like we are, without sin." (Hebrews 4:15)

The reality is not just counter-intuitive, it is scandalous. Who would believe that God would become man? The Greeks let their false gods masquerade as men, but they never accepted the weakness of humanity. Even in the Old Testament, God appeared to His chosen people, but always in a supernatural way. He was manifest in a burning bush, a pillar of cloud and flame. He sent messengers to Abraham, Jacob, Joshua, and Tobit. But He never appeared to the Jews in the incarnate form of man.

Then everything changed. The Angel Gabriel appeared to a lowly maiden in Nazareth who was betrothed to a man named Joseph. He said to her "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women." (Luke  1:28) Angels are superior in nature to mortal men. But Gabriel did not begin by trumpeting his own greatness or even the greatness of the One who sent him. Gabriel greeted Mary as one who is humbled in the presence of grace.

And this was rightly so. For Mary is indeed blessed among women. The only human being besides Christ to be born without the blemish of original sin was Mary. She was perfected to bear the Perfect One. "New wine must be put into new bottles." (Luke 5:38) That is why Mary deserves so much laud and honor, deserves to have angels hail her, because of her Divine Son.

Jesus came into the world. The King of Creation came down to earth and assumed flesh, not in the manner of one changing clothes or putting on a disguise, but fundamentally so. The Lord took on our weakness to temptation, our capacity for pain, confusion, anger, and sadness.

And Jesus did not enter the world as we would think a king ought to have. He was not born in a palace. He did not have servants fulfilling his every need or soldiers watching over him. We would expect God to come down to earth as He did in the Old Testament, with fire and thunder. We would expect Him to be borne down on a chariot of flame, flanked by a celestial retinue. He "should" have been born in the company of "great" men: Alexander or Aristotle, Shakespeare or Socrates or Confucius. He "should" have been born into an "advanced" age like our own, where He could have used radio and television and the Internet to spread His message across the seas, around the globe.

But that didn't happen. Christ entered the world in a way that was just as humble as the nature that he condescended to take. Instead of a palace, a manger. Instead of servants, cows. Instead of royalty and philosophers, dirty shepherds. Instead of protecting Him, soldiers tried to kill Him.

Jesus was born in an age before even the printing press. He was born in a remote corner of the world, Bethlehem in the modern day West Bank, far from the gilded halls of Rome.

God does not make mistakes. Jesus was not born in so lowly a time and so lowly a place on accident, just as His Passion was not a fluke. Jesus came into the world "for us men and for our salvation." Intentionally.

What is more beautiful? What is more humbling? For love of us, the God who created the universe became fully man. The Son became the child of a virgin. He spent thirty three years during which he felt pain, loss, anger, and joy. God-made-man was scourged and killed. He was brought to wrath by the defilers of His temple. His heart was consoled by the sight of the children who came to him. One of the most poignant lines in the Gospels comes when Lazarus died. Our Lord came to the tomb, "and Jesus wept." (John 35:11)

True God and True man. Jesus loves us so much that he endured the ignominy of an anonymous life. He was born in the most humble of circumstances. His surrogate father, St. Joseph, nearly divorced His Most Blessed Mother because she conceived by the Holy Spirit without knowing man.

Christ came to Earth to save us from sin. He is the only man born to die. (Fulton Sheen) The Word-made-flesh lived among men and in so doing, gives us "a concrete vision of triune life." (Hans Urs von Balthasar, Prayer)

This is our belief. Our God is not a cruel God. He does not hide His face from the ranks of men, He gave His face human likeness. Blessed be the Incarnate Son of God, True God and True Man!

Deus Vult!

The Son (The Creed)

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,

The only Begotten Son of God,

Born of the Father before all ages.

God from God, Light from Light,

True God from true God,

Begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father;

Through Him all things were made.

 

 

When Jesus explained the Mystery of His passion and the Eucharist after the multiplication of the loaves, His disciples complained. "This teaching is hard; who can accept it?" (John 6:60) Though they were talking about transfiguration, they could have just as easily been speaking of the doctrine of the Son.

 

Belief in the Son is indeed "hard." It is what separates Christians from Jews and Gentiles alike. Christ is a definitive truth. He is a decisive truth. In the book of Revelation, we read of the "stamped image" of the Beast that identifies servants of the apostate (Revelation 13:16.) The Teaching of Christ is so decisive that a mark "on their right hand or their foreheads" separates unbelievers from the believers. This Truth divides the "wheat" from the "chaff" (Matthew 3:12.) The "wise" from the "foolish" (Matthew 25:2.)

 

It is believed that the revelation of the Son caused the Fall of Lucifer and his rebel angels. The Devil could not accept the hypostasis of God and man because of his damning pride. Instead, he said "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God" (Isaiah 14:2.) Satan rejected God's reign because of the difficulty of this doctrine. How much more decisive will it be among men?

 

Perhaps one way to measure the importance of a truth is to see how many errors try to pervert it. And indeed there are many heresies that spread lies about the Son.

 

That is why we need the Creed, to separate truth from untruth.

 

Jesus is "the only Begotten Son of God." Through adoption, because of the Passion, we are all "children of God" (Galatians 3:26.) But we are also the creation of God's hands. A father does not mold his child out of clay or paint him into existence. But this is part of our relationship with God, Maker and Made. Not so with the Son. He was "begotten, not made." The child is the fruit of his parent's love. The Son is the fruit of the Father's love.

 

Furthermore, it is important to understand that the union of the Father and the Son is timeless. The idea that the Father exist4ed before the Son is heretical. "In the beginning was the Word: and the Word was with God: and the Word was God" (John 1:1.) This eternal relationship and unity of the paternal and filial persons of the Trinity is so important that John begins his Gospel by expounding it.

 

The Catechism tells us that "Christians are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: not in their names." (CCC 233)

 

This "teaching" is indeed "hard." Our mortal and limited intelligences cannot comprehend this transcendental metaphysical reality. How can One Being be Father and Son at the same time? Relying purely on human intelligence will only lead us astray.

 

We accept this teaching as an article of faith. Faith is believing in that which the senses cannot perceive. It does not take faith to believe that the sky is blue or that the sun will rise in the morning. These things we have physical evidence of. It takes faith to believe in the Holy Trinity, One God. Augustine tells us that "faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe."

 

Brothers and sisters, believe in the Son. It is not enough to simply profess a vague spiritual Being in the sky that might possibly judge the things that we do. Have faith in the Son, Jesus Christ. Have faith and you will receive "the reward of this faith," everlasting life.

 

One of the disputes between Catholics and Protestants is over the respective necessities of faith and works. The Protestants claim that faith alone is necessary for salvation. They look to St. Paul when he writes "a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law." (Romans 3:28) But they are arguing a moot point. St. Paul was not inspired by the Holy Spirit to write about a faith that is impotent and inactive. "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:20.) St. Paul wrote about a living, expressed faith.

 

Believing in the Son is more than checking off a list of doctrines that you profess with your lips because you have to. You must profess the Truth with your life. If you truly believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God, your life will be changed. You will not be content with living in sin. You will not be able to see a fellow man suffering without seeing the suffering of Christ mirrored within them.

 

All too often we see examples of dead faith! People who thank God with their lips while doing the Devil's work with their hands. Abortionists who pray for the fruit of their professions. Clergy who support same-sex marriage. Politicians who "make wicked laws" that "oppress the poor in judgement and do violence to the cause of the humble" (Isaiah 10:1-2.) Faith in the Son is incompatible faith.

 

Faith in Jesus Christ does not tolerate sin.

 

So be like the Saints who lived their faith in the world, in persecution, in martyrdom.

 

May your faith be alive and well. May it bear great fruit.

 

DEUS VULT!

God the Father (The Creed)

I believe in one God,

The Father Almighty

Maker of Heaven and Earth

Of all things visible and invisible.

The Nicene Creed begins with our most essential belief. We believe in God. One God. Our faith rejects the senseless abyss of atheism and the pantheon of foolish gods. We believe in a Creator God, a God who existed when “the earth was void and empty,” (Genesis 1:2) a God who willed the Universe into existence, the Architect “of all things visible and invisible.

Furthermore, we do not believe in the impotent Watchmaker of Deism. God does not sit back and watch human history as if it were a soap opera, He takes an active role. “Are not my words as a fire, saith the Lord: as a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29)

The work of God began with Creation, which culminated in the making of man. “”God created man to his own image.” (Genesis 1:27) We owe to God every breath that we take, knowing that it is His will that sustains us.

God saved Noah from the flood. He established the covenant with Abraham, “I will make my covenant with thee: and I will multiply thee exceedingly,” (Genesis 17:2) and He established the Law with Moses, “I will give thee tables of stone, and the law, and the commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.” (Exodus 24:12)

These mighty deeds were in the aspect of the First Person of the Holy Trinity, which is affirmed in the Creed. God the Father is truly almighty: “Thy right hand, O Lord, is magnified in strength.” (Exodus 15:2) This was the prayer of the Israelites after being delivered from the hands of Pharaoh and the Egyptians by the parting and then the returning waters of the Red Sea.

I think that the Father portion of the Trinity is overlooked too easily today. We prefer Jesus, the social justice worker, to Jesus, Son of the Father. We have overlooked the Lord who “is a jealous God.” (Nahum 1:2)

The first commandment given to Moses affirmed the identity of God. “I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.” (Exodus 20:2-3) The Creed tells us that we believe in “one God.” As I have written many times, idolatry is one of the most prevalent sins. We like to think that the worshipping of idols is a sin that only the ancients committed. Just because only the few and the insane worship statues of Beelzebub or Baal, does not mean that we do not have our own “graven images.”  How many have set up altars to their own popularity, iPhones, careers, relationships or bodies? Anything that you love more than God is an idol. It is not a question of time, but rather of priority. If you would deny God or reject the teachings of the Church for the sake of the things of the world, you are engaged in idolatry. This is not without its consequences. God the Father loves his people so much that he is “jealous” with his love. He cannot stand anything coming between us and His love.

“And I will throw down your altars, and your idols shall be broken in pieces.” (Ezekiel 6:4)

God punished the people of Israel for their fickleness. Their hearts were divided (Hosea 10:2) between the covenant God made with Abraham and the popularity of local gods. In His infinite justice, He exiled them from their promised land, forcing them to live among strangers. “Our inheritance is turned to aliens: our houses to strangers.” (Lamentations 5:1)  All of this was to show them the wrongness of their way.

One of the characteristics of the Father is His justice, the justice that brought the Flood, the justice that alienated the Israelites from their home, the justice that merited the Death of the Son on a Cross.

The Father is also majestic. He appeared to Moses in burning flame as “the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” (Exodus 3:6) as “I am who am.” (Exodus 3:14). The majesty of the Father was such that “Moses hid his face.”

Like Moses, we need to bow down in humility before our Lord. The Creed begins where it ought to, with the First Person of the Trinity. Our human nature is at once eclipsed by God the Father’s might, by He who “is with me as a strong warrior.” (Jeremiah 20:11)

DEUS VOLT!

The Creed

We recite it at every Mass. It is the product of two Councils of the Catholic Church. It contains the summary of our faith, the truth.

If we were playing Jeopardy, answer would be: What is the Nicene Creed?

Now though the Creed is said at every Mass, repetition does not always coincide with understanding. It is easy to say the same words every week without truly taking those words to heart. In the Creed, we find the substance, the meat of our faith.

How well do you know the Creed? Your answer determines how well you know the faith.

The next several posts will focus on the Truth contained within the Creed. This first post will review the history behind the Creed.

Though we know it as the Nicene Creed, its correct name is the Nicene-Constantinople Creed. The formula of the creed originated from the Council of Nicaea and was finalized through the Council of Constantinople.

The Council of Nicaea was the first ecumenical council of the Catholic Church and was invoked in 325 AD to counter the dangers of the Arian heresy. The first form of the Nicene Creed appeared in the Profession of Faith which began the text of the Council. It was meant to clearly enumerate the beliefs of the Catholic Church. The early form of the Creed was followed by a specific denouncement of the Arian heresy.

"And those who say 'there once was when He was not,' and 'before He was begotten He was not,' and that He came to be from things that were not, or from another hypostasis or substance, affirming that the Son of God is subject to change or alteration, these the Catholic and apostolic Church anathematizes."

In short, the Church refuted the claims of the Arians that Jesus was not "consubstantial with the Father." They defended the nature of the hypostasis, the union of Divine and human natures in Christ, against the attacks of the heretics. The Creed originated as a defense of the Truth.

The Council of Constantinople in 381 finalized the Nicene Creed. Surviving records of the Council
begin with an affirmation of the truth found in the Creed.

"The profession of faith of the holy fathers who gathered in Nicaea in Bithynia is not to be abrogated, but is to remain in force. Every heresy is to be anathematized...."

The Creed is a shield. It is a guide. It is the Truth.

We live in an age that reduces the Truth to opinion. The lie of relativism tells you that you can believe whatever you want to. It teaches that lies can be the Truth, if only you want them to be. But in the Creed, there is no relativism. There is no lie.

We find in the Creed the beautiful Truth of God, the Truth of our faith. I hope that you will enjoy the next several posts which will examine the Creed in detail in order to promote a greater understanding of what we as Catholics believe.



DEUS VOLT!