- 1
Part I: Profession of Faith
(Nicene Creed)
- 1.1 What
Do We Believe?
- 1.2
What Does it Mean
- 1.3 I
believe in one God
- 1.4
The Father Almighty
- 1.5 Maker
of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible
- 1.6 I
believe in one Lord Jesus Christ
- 1.7 The
only Begotten Son of God
- 1.8 Born of the Father before all ages
- 1.9
God from God
- 1.10
Light from Light
- 1.11
True God from true God
- 1.12
Begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father
- 1.13
Through him all things were made
- 1.14
For us men and for our salvation, He came down from heaven
- 1.15 And by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
- 1.16 For our sake he was
crucified under Pontius Pilate
- 1.17 He suffered death and was buried,
- 1.18 and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures
- 1.19 He ascended into
heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father
- 1.20 He will come again in
glory to judge the living and the dead
- 1.21
And his kingdom will have no end
- 1.22 I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life
- 1.23 Who proceeds from the
Father and the Son
- 1.24
Who with the Father and the Son He is adored and glorified
- 1.25 Who has spoken through the prophets
- 1.26 I believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church
- 1.27 I confess one
baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
- 1.28 And I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
- 1.29
And the life of the world to come.
- 1.30
Amen
1
Part I: Profession of Faith
(Nicene Creed)
Faith
is believing in what you cannot detect (perceive) with any of your
senses. You cannot see, you cannot smell, you cannot touch or hear or
taste that something in which you believe. Faith in God is believing in
God even without seeing, touching, feeling, hearing or smelling God.
Since God desires that everyone be saved,
God willingly offers this faith as a gift to everyone. It
is up to each person to accept this gift of faith and believe. God has
revealed
much about himself to the Catholic Church and thus to us.
1.1 What
Do We Believe?
As
Catholic Christians, there are some very specific things that we
believe. We believe in God, the Father,
Son and Holy Spirit. We believe that
Jesus entered our world as one of us to save us. We believe in good
and
evil. We believe that God taught us these things by revealing them to
us through his prophets, apostles
and others. These beliefs
that have been passed down to us from our Lord Jesus Christ and
delivered through his apostles,
preserved in truth by the Holy Spirit are the Tradition
of the Church. Much of this revelation is written in the Bible, and much,
like the creed itself, has been preserved by the teaching of the
Church. This Tradition existed before the New Testament was written.
In the years 315 and 381AD, many of these beliefs
were written into a prayer at a place called Nicaea and thus this is
known as the Nicene Creed. It is prayed every Sunday during mass to
remind us of what we believe.
1.1.1 Nicene Creed
Here is the creed.
I believe in one God,
the
Father almighty,
maker
of heaven and earth,
of
all things visible and invisible.
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.
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.
For
our sake he was crucified
under Pontius Pilate;
he
suffered death and was buried,
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.
He
will come again in glory to
judge the living and the dead,
and
his kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the
Lord, the giver of life,
who
proceeds from the Father and
the Son,
Who with
the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
I believe in One, Holy, Catholic
and Apostolic Church.
I confess one baptism for the
forgiveness of sins.
and I look forward to the resurrection of
the dead,
and
the life of the world to come.
Amen.
1.2 What Does it Mean
We
will discuss the creed, phrase by phrase, to see what it teaches us
about our Catholic Faith. We will discuss things from the Bible, the
Old Testament and
the New Testament. The Old Testament tells us about God creating the
world and his promise that Jesus would come. The New Testament tells us
about Jesus and what he taught us about God.
1.3 I
believe in one God
There
is only one God. Though many people now and at other times believe that
there is more than one God, or no God, we believe in ONE God. God
revealed this in the Old Testament. He told the Israelites,
“Hear
O Israel, the Lord our God, is One”
Deut 6:4
God is pure Spirit. He is divine. He is pure Love. He wants us to love
him back. God told us in his first Commandment:
“I am the Lord your God, thou shall have
no false gods before me”
1.4
The Father almighty
God
told us that he is our Father. Jesus taught us to speak of God as
“Abba.” This is a great word of endearment, like “daddy” or “papa.” So
God is letting us know that he is very close to us. In fact, God the
Father is closer to us than our earthly daddies! Just like our earthly
dads, our Father in heaven provides for all our needs, only more so.
The air we breathe, the light in the day, the spring and summer are all
things that God the Father gives to us out of his love for us. God is
almighty which means he can do anything. He is infinite. He is all
powerful. He is all knowing. He existed before the creation of the
world.
1.5 Maker
of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible
God
is Almighty. He made everything, from the stars in the sky, to the
earth, to the oceans and the trees and the mountains. He made heaven and hell.
He made the
Angels. He made us. He made the atoms, which we can’t see but are in
everything. We can see many of these things –
look at your hand and see the individual fingerprints. Look at the
beauty of the mountains and oceans. Look up in the sky and see the moon
and the stars!
1.5.1
What is Heaven
Heaven is a place of complete,
absolute Goodness.
You are in God's presence forever. It is total happiness. All the
angels and saints are in heaven.
1.5.2 Who are the Angels
The
angels are also created beings. Like God, they are pure spirit and they
have no
bodies. God created all the angels at the beginning of creation. Angels
are persons and can choose to be
with God or not.
A person is one composed of an
eternal spirit (or
soul) who has free will and can be an agent of action.
Since angels have all their knowledge, especially of
good and evil, from the moment
of
their creation, they instantly made a choice for or against God's will.
Those who chose against God are
called devils.
They
completely reject God and cannot stand to be with him. Their leader is Satan, sometimes
called Lucifer. The
devils are in hell.
They attempt to influence us to also reject God, to act against his
will and against our best interests.
Those angels who chose God, are in heaven
with God. There are many kinds of good angels.
Some angels, like Gabriel, are messengers and come to humans to reveal
God's will. God gave each of us a guardian angel to help us against
evil, especially against Satan. Talk to your guardian angel, even
though your angel can't be seen. Your angel is there to help
you.
1.5.3
Who are Humans
Humans
are made in the image and likeness of God. Thus, humans are also
persons. Like the angels, we have a spirit, but unlike the angels (or
God) we also have a body and we live in the created world. God loved us
so much, he created us. He wants us to freely return that love. He also
gave us a free will.
A
free will gives us the ability to choose to love God or to choose to reject God.
If
we choose to love God and others, we do God’s will and this love makes
the whole world better. God made us in such a way, that we have a
longing for him, to want to love him. We have a "hole in our heart"
that can only be filled by God! God has loved us since before we came
into being. How can we not love him?
Since
we are made in God’s image and likeness, we naturally want to do what
is good and only by going against this nature and choosing evil will we
go against God. Think about the joy and happiness of,
the wonder
of being with God forever! That is what you desire now for after you
die. That is what God wants for you. You can’t sense heaven
now, but it is
there!
If we choose not to love, we fail
to do God’s will. If we
choose to reject God, to turn our back on him, then after we die, we
will
be separated from him,
from all goodness, forever. This is hell.
One would be in hell because by his own free will he rejects God and
completely turns away from him. Unlike
angels, we grow in the
knowledge of good and evil throughout our lives. Thus, by the end of
our lives we will make our final decision to love God or not.
1.6 I
believe in one Lord Jesus Christ
"Lord" is another name for GOD. Jesus was born into our world. Jesus is
Lord. Jesus Christ is God. There
is only one GOD, as God himself told us. It is a great
mystery, but somehow the Father and the Son are still just one God.
A
mystery of faith is a beautiful revealed truth of God that is beyond
our natural ability to fully understand. But
through the
gift of faith, love of God and presence of the Holy Spirit, we
accept these mysteries, these truths, even when we do not
understand them and
cannot easily explain them. Even though we cannot see,
touch, feel, hear, smell or even understand the mystery except in
faith, we know
it to be true. Such a mystery is not a problem to be solved,
like a detective novel. Through prayer and study of our faith
and by God's providence, we can grow in understanding these things that
God has revealed
to
us but we can never fully understand them. God reveals these things to
us to help us understand our relationship with him, but in the end, they
are beyond our full knowing. The Bible refers to mysteries as in the
following quote:
"and
to bring to light [for all] what is the plan of the mystery
hidden from ages past in God who created all things,
so
that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the
church to the principalities and authorities in the heavens.
This was according to the eternal
purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,
in whom we have boldness of speech
and confidence of access through faith in him." Eph 3:9-12
1.7 The
only Begotten Son of God
A
son is like his father. If a father is human, then the son is human. A
human father does not have a dog for a son, the son is human just like
his father. Thus, the Son of God
is and must be GOD. It is a great mystery, but somehow the
Father and the Son are still just one God. Jesus
alone, is the Son of God. There are not other gods.
1.8 Born of the Father before all ages
The
Son, Jesus, is eternal. He was not made. If something is eternal, then
it has no beginning and no ending. Since Got the Father exists, the Son
has existed with him for all eternity and will exist forever. He is GOD.
1.9
God from God
Jesus Christ is the Son. Since
the Father is God, JESUS is GOD! We emphasize this because
many people in the past and even today continue to deny that Jesus is
God. Those who say that Jesus is just a prophet, or a just another good
or great man do not believe in God's revealed truth.
1.10
Light from Light
Without
light, we cannot see. We could not understand our world without being
able to see. The Light of all creation is God and Jesus is God so he
also is Light to us. As humans, we cannot really understand God, we are
blind. Jesus became one of us and thus he can lead us out of our
darkness, our lack of understanding of the truth, to the Light and
Absolute Truth that is
God.
1.11
True God from true God
There is only one God. Other gods are false, they are not real. Jesus, the Son of God is the true God.
1.12
Begotten, not made, consubtantial with the Father
As
God, Jesus has no beginning or end. As the Son, he is the same
substance (consubstantial) as the Father. Substance is what something really is, the
makeup of
someone or something. The substance of the Father and the Son is to be
divine, to be God.
1.13
Through him all things were made
“In
the beginning the Word was with God and the Word was God.” John 1:1
This
Word is Jesus. When God speaks the Word (which is Jesus), creation
comes
into being and is sustained. God the Father and God the Son cooperated
in the creation
of all things.
1.13.1
Creation of Mankind
In
the beginning God created all things, the heavens and the
earth, day and
night, the sea and the land, plants and animals, and he created us. The
first humans and our
first parents were called Adam and Eve.
“God
created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and
female he created them” Gen 1:27
Because God created us
in his divine image, humans
have great
dignity. For all of our lives, we have great value to God and to each
other. We have this dignity from the moment of conception until we die.
Each of us has a unique and special purpose that God intended just for
us and no one else. We were created to reflect God's image of
love through the unique gifts we bring to the world. Our
value,
our worth, our beauty comes from God and is within us from before we
were even created. Every human being has great
value to God and deserves to be treated with respect. In God's eyes and
thus in our eyes, all people are equal in dignity and worth.
1.13.2 Adam
and Eve
Adam
and Eve wanted to be like a god, even though they (and we) cannot be
God. They turned from God and sin entered the world. Sin is turning
away from God, doing our own will and not God’s will. Doing what we
want, not
what God wants for us. We think we know more than God. We think we can
do better than God. In this and
many other things, we do that which is contrary to God’s will and thus
sin. We do what WE want. We are made in the image of God, but we are NOT
God.
1.14
For us men and for our salvation, He came down from heaven
Mankind must be freed from our sins in order to regain our lost
friendship with God, to be able to go to heaven. Salvation
means just this - to be freed from our sins and their just punishment.
In a mystery, understood
only by God, saving us required that God
become one of us.
“For
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who
believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” John 3:16
Thus
Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, became a man and lived among us,
showing us how to live according to God's will. He came to
save us so that we might gain eternal life, which is living forever
in heaven.
Here is the story of how this all came about. It is
called Salvation History.
1.14.1 Sin Enters the
World
Because Adam and Eve disobeyed God, sin entered the world and we turned
from God. This is
called Original Sin. Though he gave us a will to do good, we are like
Adam and Eve and choose sin. We have inherited this original sin from
our first parents. We needed a redeemer to forgive us of these sins and
a savior to guide us away from sin. God always loved us and thus
promised a Savior from the time of
Adam and Eve. He said to the serpent (the devil)
who had tempted Adam
and Eve:
“I
will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring
and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel."
Gen 3:15
Enmity means hate: the devil hates us and we hate the evil the devil
tempts us to do. The devil tries to lure us from God. Note here, that
the devil has not won.
The “He” in the phrase above is the Savior: Jesus.
Jesus came to strike at the serpent’s (the devil) head. The devil hates
Jesus (the devil hates GOD) and he hates all of us who try to do the
will of God.
1.14.2
The Story of Noah
As we have seen, God promised a Savior from the beginning.
First mankind had to learn who God was. 
Mankind
continued to fall short of the good that God made us to do.
Right after Adam and Eve were forced from the Garden of Eden, their
first son, Cain, killed their second son, Able, out of jealousy. Mankind
did more and more evil. Finally, God
became so upset with mankind that he decided to start over. He called
a just, holy man by the name of Noah and told him to build a special
boat called an
ark. In this ark, Noah put his family and some of each kind of animal.
Then a great flood came and Noah and his family and the animals
survived in the ark until the flood went away. God made a promise (a
covenant) to Noah that he would
never flood the whole world again. "This
is the sign that I am giving for all ages to come, of the covenant
between me and you and every living creature with
you: I
set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of the covenant between me
and the earth." Gen 9:12-13
The story of the flood shows us how terrible sins are in
God's sight. The Ark is a sign of salvation that
carries the just though the destruction of sin. Like in
our Baptism,
water destroys sin.
1.14.3
The Story of Abraham
Later,
God put his plan to save mankind to work. There was a very good man
named Abraham. God promised to make Abraham a great nation,
even
though Abraham and his wife Sara did not have any children. In their
old age, Sara gave birth to Isaac and Abraham was very happy. Abraham
so loved God that
he was willing to do anything
that God asked. Abraham showed this when God asked him to sacrifice Isaac. This sacrifice was to kill Issac. Even though
Abraham loved Isaac very much, he had great faith and trust in
God
and was going to sacrifice Isaac. The angel of the Lord stopped him and
God made a promise, that because of his
faith, all peoples would be saved through his descendants.
"I
will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your
name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who
bless you and curse those who curse you. All the communities of the
earth shall find blessing in you." Gen 12:2-3
All the communities of the earth did find this
blessing: Jesus, the
Savior of the whole world. Note, that while God's mercy stopped
the sacrifice of Isaac, God did not withhold his own Son from
sacrifice for us.
1.14.4
The Story of Jacob (Israel)
Isaac
had a son, Jacob. Jacob grew very wealthy because he was
blessed by God. God changed his name to Israel. He had twelve sons, who
became the twelve tribes of Israel. His favorite son was Joseph, whom
God gave the ability to interpret
dreams. Joseph’s brothers were jealous and sold him to be a slave. They
lied to Jacob and said he had been killed.
1.14.5
The Story of Joseph and the Israelites in Egypt
Joseph
was sold as a slave to a man in Egypt where his wisdom and ability to
interpret dreams
saved him from slavery. He interpreted the Pharaoh’s (the king’s) dream
about a great drought that was coming to the world, to Egypt and to the
land where Jacob and his other sons lived. Because of this the
Pharaoh appointed Joseph to be his sencond in command and Joseph ordered that
during the good years before the drought, much food be stored. When the
drought came,
Egypt was thus prepared. Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to buy food and
they found Joseph there. Joseph forgave his brothers and invited his
whole family to come and live in Egypt. Jacob made the following
prophecy just before he died, about his son Judah:
“The
scepter shall not be taken away from Judah, nor a ruler from his thigh,
till he come that is to be sent, and he shall be the expectation of
nations” Gen 49:10
The
scepter is the symbol of a king. That it will not be taken
shows
that the king will rule forever. This expectation of the nations is Jesus.
1.14.6
The Story of Moses and the Exodus from Egypt
The
descendants of Israel, the
Israelites, grew very numerous and
eventually the Egyptians grew afraid of them and made them all slaves.
The Pharaoh ordered that all the new born baby boys of the
Israelites be killed. One Israelite mother put her son in a basket and
floated him in the Nile River where the Pharaoh’s daughter saved him
and named him Moses. Moses grew up as one of the Pharaoh’s
children. After
he had grown up, he saw an Egyptian beating one of the
Israelites and he killed the Egyptian. Moses then fled into the desert.
God called him from the desert to go back to Egypt and save the
Israelites from bondage (slavery). The new Pharaoh would not free God’s
people. Through Moses, God punished the Egyptians with plagues, but the
Pharaoh would not free them. Finally, God punished the Egyptians by
killing their first born (much like the Pharaoh had killed the
Israelite children). The firstborn of the Israelites were saved from
this punishment by sacrificing a pure lamb and placing some of its
blood on their doors. This is called Passover.
"This
is the Passover sacrifice of the LORD, who passed over the houses
of the Israelites in Egypt; when he struck down the Egyptians, he
spared our houses." Deut 12:27
Jesus was celebrating the Passover at the last supper. At last, the
Pharaoh let the Israelites go. But
when they were on their way, Pharaoh changed his mind and pursued them
with his army. God opened a dry path in the Red Sea and the Israelites
passed safely through the sea, but he let the waters flood back over
the
Egyptian army and it was destroyed. Again, as in our Baptism, the
Israelites are saved by water as it destroys the sins of the Egyptians.
God
made a covenant with Moses and the Israelites. That he would be their
God and they would be his people. He made rules for them to help them
follow his covenant. The most important are called the Ten Commandments.
God
told the Israelites how to pray and how to
worship him. He told them to make a Tabernacle
for him, which was a beautiful golden box where God was present and
which contained the Ten Commandments. It was carried only by the
priests and was kept inside a special tent. Before
the Israelites returned to the promised land
of Jacob (Israel), Moses told them
a prophesy, promising the Messiah:
“A
prophet like me will the LORD, your God, raise up for you from among
your own kinsmen; to him you shall listen” Deut 18:15
This prophet is Jesus.
1.14.7
The Story of David
The
Israelites desired to have a King, like other countries, even though
they were God’s chosen people (everyone is one of God’s people). God
warned them that a King would take their money for taxes and
their young men for soldiers. Still they persisted and God
gave them their
first king, Saul. Saul waged war on surrounding countries but
grew disobedient and unrepentant to God. God picked a new king, David,
the
youngest son of Jesse. David had the favor of God. He repented
when he did evil and he desired good for God’s people. He wrote many
songs, called Psalms which are found in the Old Testament
and which we hear during mass.
Because
David lived in a
fine
palace and the Tabernacle, God's dwelling place, was in a tent, David
wanted to build a special house for the Tabernacle called a temple.
Nathan, the prophet, told David that God was pleased but that God would
build a temple at the right time. He promised that one of David’s
descendants would be the Messiah, the Anointed one, the Savior of his
people and of the entire world.
“Your
house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne
shall stand firm forever”
2 Sam 7:16
This descendant is Jesus.
1.15
And by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and
became man.
To
be one of us, Jesus needed to be born, to have a mother, just like we
have a mother. But Jesus is perfect and needed a sinless vessel for the
temple of his birth. So the womb of Mary became the perfect temple that
God had promised to David. Mary and her spouse, St. Joseph, are
descendants of the house of David. Jesus is
the eternal king that God had promised David. The Holy Spirit
came to Mary and she conceived Jesus. "The Holy
Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will
overshadow you." Lk 1:35. This fulfilled the promise
to David and this prophesy of Isaiah:
“Therefore
the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with
child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel”
Isa 7:14
He
is the offspring of Mary, thus an offspring of Eve. Mary is the new Eve
as Jesus is the new Adam. Unlike the first Adam, Jesus is forever
without sin and perfect in every way. Unlike the first Eve, Mary is
also forever without sin. Immanuel or Emmanuel means “God with
us!” This means Jesus, the Son of
God. We sing a song called “O come, O come Emmanuel,” during the time
before Christmas that we call Advent.
Jesus is True God. He is
the Word.
He
also became
a true man with a fully human body (incarnate) but a divine spirit. He has a
human body. He has a human will, but also has the will of God (he is
God). He has our nature, living in the world, but he has the nature of
God as well, since he is the Son of God. Jesus is fully God and fully
human. Because
Jesus is God, his mother, Mary, is the mother of God. Mary
is the Arc of the New Covenant, Jesus.
1.16 For our sake he was
crucified under Pontius Pilate
Who is Pontius Pilate? He was the Roman governor of Israel. Jews had
been conquered
by the Romans. You can look up the date around 2000 years ago, when
Pontius Pilate ruled Israel. Jesus really lived in our world. What does
it mean “for our sake?” God’s plan was to show us several things
through Jesus. 
- God loved us so much, that he would do anything for us,
including being crucified. The cross is a horrible punishment, one that
the innocent Jesus did not deserve.
- The cross shows us the evil we do
when we sin. Imagine how even a small offense against our President
would be seen. Now imagine that same small offence against our infinite
God! It would be bigger than we could repay.
- The cross should be our punishment because of our
sin.
- Yet for our sake
Jesus, in his mercy, takes the punishment we deserve upon him.
For God so loved the world that he
gave his only Son, so
that everyone who
believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. John 3:16
1.17 He suffered death and was
buried
Jesus
suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane, where he took on the whole burden
of all of our sinfulness. He suffered in the torture of being scourged
(whipped) by Pilate. He carried his cross to Golgotha, Mount Calvary.
He was nailed to the cross and died on the cross. He was truly human:
he died just like we will die. He was put in a tomb and buried. God
became one of us. He took on himself the punishment that we deserved.
He died for us.
1.18 And rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures
Jesus
was true God! He did not stay in the tomb. On Easter Sunday morning,
the third day after he was buried, he
came back to life and rose from the dead. He was seen by the Apostles
and others of his disciples like Mary Magdalene. They touched his
glorified body. He shared meals with them. He stayed with the Apostles
for 40 days, showing them and us the promise of eternal life. This was fortold in the Old Testament.
1.19 He ascended into
heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father
After
the 40 days, he ascended, returned to heaven.
What does “seated at the
right hand of the Father mean?” On earth, someone who sits at the right
hand of another, commands for that person.
He carries out the requests
and desires of that person. Thus, the Son of God is doing the work of
the Father.
1.20 He will come again in
glory to judge the living and the dead
Jesus
told us that at the end of the world, he would judge all people
according to how they behaved on earth. When is the end of the world?
We can say that for us there are two times that the world ends, when we
die ourselves and when the world (universe) comes to an end. Jesus will
judge us both times. The first time is called personal judgment and
the second is called general judgment.
1.20.1
Personal Judgment
When
we die, we face the Lord God alone. We will see for ourselves how we
lived according to God’s will and how we failed. We may love
God so much and be full of grace
and remain with God forever in heaven.
Or we may love God, and see how we have failed him. Because we are
unworthy, we desire not
to remain in his presence. But our God is full
of mercy, as Jesus has shown us. We go to purgatory
to be purified and to become worthy, at which time we return
forever to heaven.
Finally, we may completely reject God, and God assents to our desire to
never, ever be in his presence. We enter hell.
Those who go to heaven are the living. Those who go to hell are the
dead.
1.20.2
General Judgment
When
the end of the world comes, there will be a general, public judgment.
Because our actions during our life affect others and not just
ourselves, all people will learn who will be in heaven
or hell.
Jesus
told us how this would be determined in the story of the sheep and the
goats (Mat 25:31-46).
We will be judged by our actions in our relationship with God
and one another. The “sheep,” the good people, help others
even
when it is not easy. They do the will of God and thus attain heaven.
All those whom they helped will give thanks for their happiness. The
“goats,” the bad people, do not help others. They don’t recognize
anyone as a child of God and don’t see Jesus in others.
Everyone will see that they completely reject and hate God and
that hell
is a just place for
them. Thus all people will know why some are in heaven and some are not.
1.21
And his kingdom will have no end
There
have been many kingdoms on earth and many kings, like King David and
King Solomon, King George and Queen Elizabeth. All these kingdoms have
come to an end already or will come to an end. However, God
promised to David that the Messiah’s kingdom would be everlasting, it
would have no end. Jesus, the Son of God, is this Messiah. His kingdom
will have no end.
Where is his
kingdom? The Catholic Church is
Christ’s Kingdom of Heaven
on Earth. We are all called to be citizens
of this kingdom. This kingdom extends into heaven. The saints and
angels in heaven are also part of this kingdom. With the souls in purgatory,
the saints in heaven and all believers in Jesus on earth, we have a
great kingdom. This is also called the Communion
of Saints.1.22 I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life
We
have God the Father and God the Son and we also have God the Holy
Spirit. The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are all persons. So
are there three Gods? No, because there is only one God, but our God is
a family of three divine and distinct persons. Remember, that God, all three Persons, has existed
forever, from before the world and will exist forevermore.
This mystery
has a great name: The Holy Trinity.
Trinity is a word that means “three.”
Who
is the Holy Spirit? Here we have part of the answer: he is the giver of
life. A very simple, incomplete explanation of the action of the Holy Trinity in creation is
that:
- God the Father is the Creator. He desired the world, the
universe, angels, men and all life to exist.
- God speaks the Word
of creation which is the Son.
- The Breathe to say that Word is manifested by the Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit acts in creation and sustains us. He gives us the gifts
of faith, hope and love.
Keep in mind, that
this is a very simple explanation of how God created. The real
explanation is a mystery.
How did God make something from nothing, life
from non-life?
1.23 Who proceeds from the
Father and the Son
The
Holy Spirit exists from all time. He was not created. The existence of
the God, the divine, is Trinity.
The Father is clearly revealed in the Old Testament, the Son is clearly
revealed in the New Testament and the Holy Spirit is clearly revealed
in the Church. He is revealed in both the Old and New Testaments,
but only in understanding the Father and the Son do we come to
understand the revelations about the Holy Spirit. The mission of Jesus
and the Holy Spirit is brought to completion in the Church, which is
the body of Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit to be free from error.
God the
Father sent the Spirit to the
prophets. God the Son sent the Holy Spirit to the Church, on Pentecost
and forever.
"And
I will ask the Father, and he will give you another
Advocate to be
with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot
accept, because it neither sees nor knows it.
But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you." John
14:16-17
"When the Advocate comes whom I
will send you
from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he
will testify to me."
John 15:26
1.24
Who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified
The Holy Spirit is GOD! Like
the Father and the Son, since he is also divine, we worship him and
give him Glory. He sustains us, and we thank him for this.
1.25 Who has spoken through the prophets
The main ways that the Holy Spirit speaks to us is through the Bible, in the Tradition of the Church
and in his Bishops.
In the Old Testament, there were many holy
men, called prophets who told the truth to the Jews. The Jews often
sinned against God and God’s law. God called the prophets to tell the
Jews that if they did not repent, they would be
punished. Sometimes the Jews listened and sometimes they did not.
Often, the Old Testament talks about the Spirit of God talking to these
men or coming to them. Sometimes these prophets foretell the coming of
Jesus, as is the case with the prophesy of Moses mentioned earlier and
also many prophesies from the book of Isaiah such as the following:
“Therefore
I will give him his portion among the great,
and he shall divide the spoils
with the mighty,
Because he surrendered himself to
death and was counted among the wicked;
And he shall take away the sins of
many,
and win pardon for their offenses”
Isa 53:12
“He” in this passage is the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Today, we believe
that before Jesus ascended into heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit to the
Church to guide it, to keep it free from mistakes. This is the Advocate that is mentioned in
John
14:16-17.
1.26 I believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church
The words: One,
Holy, Catholic and Apostolic, are called the Marks of the
true
Church. Where you find them, you will find the Church
created by our
Lord. Jesus promised us a Church when he told St. Peter:
“And so I say to you, you
are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church” Mat 16:18
The
Church is the Kingdom of God on earth. She is the spouse of Jesus
Christ. The head of the Church is the successor of the apostle, St.
Peter. The apostles
were the original followers of Jesus and he gave
them the care of the Church. The successor of Peter is called the Pope.
Other successors to the
apostles are called bishops.
The bishops are the heads of the local
church. The meaning of these Marks is defined below.
| ONE |
|
It
is the ONE Church Jesus gave us as he prays:
“And I have given them the
glory you gave me,
So that they may be one, as
we are one” John 17:22.
|
| HOLY |
|
Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to
the Church on
Pentecost to keep it Holy and without error until the end of time.
|
| CATHOLIC |
|
Catholic
means universal, containing all truth needed for
salvation. It's for everyone and is the same all over the world. For
instance, the mass
and readings are the same everywhere. As Jesus told
the apostles just before his ascension:
Mat 28:19 |
| APOSTOLIC |
|
It
is the Church received from the apostles
with the mission to spread to
the ends of the earth as commanded by Christ
|
1.27 I confess one
baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
You
are marked forever as a child of God, brother of Jesus by Baptism. This is the
only Baptism
that Jesus preached. This
mark cannot be undone. Likewise, Baptism is the entrance into the
Church and never needs to be repeated. This sacrament removes original
sin, forever marks us as adopted children of God and also
removes all other sin
from us that we have at the time of Baptism.
1.28
And I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
Jesus
promises that we too shall rise from the dead. We will have our body
back again. In heaven
it will be a glorious body, similar to Jesus’
resurrected body!
1.29
And the life of the world to come.
Our
spirit is immortal – it will not cease. We are body and spirit and so
we, our body and spirit, will live forever. Either in heaven
or in hell.
We
long to join the angels and saints in heaven, before God’s love, glory
and majesty. We wish to be in communion with God as the saints are
already (the Communion of
Saints).
Our present life is NOT the only world – there is life after death and
this is our true hope. Hope in Christ, hope in God’s mercy, hope in the
resurrection and hope in life everlasting. The history of salvation
gives us this hope in heaven and what a wonderful hope it is!
1.30
Amen
We
affirm that all that we have said we believe. Amen means, “So be it!” or
"truly". This shows our acceptance of all that is in the creed.
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