A Look at the Mass: The Creed

Before I begin the considerations on the Creed, I would like to note the "A Look at the Mass" series will be suspended for the next two Sundays, in consideration of All Souls Day and the Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran. There will still be posts those days, and on days in between them, but they will be geared more towards the respective feast days. The "A Look at the Mass," will then resume for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time with the Prayers of the Faithful, which will conclude the Liturgy of the Word. After Advent and Christmas, the series will then resume beginning the Liturgy of the Eucharist, which will in many ways be much more in-depth and subdivided.

Now on to the Creed.

Let me preface these considerations by saying this post will not consider the doctrinal nature of the Creed per se. Indeed, each line of the Creed could take up many pages in the mysteries contained therein. However, as this blog is primarily dedicated to Liturgy, we will instead focus on the liturgical insights and implications due to its inclusion in the Mass, touching upon doctrinal points as needed.

We must first consider briefly the history of the Creed. Within the Ordinary Form, either the Nicene Creed or the Apostles' Creed may be used. The Extraordinary Form uses exclusively the Nicene Creed, and out of respect and by tradition, this is the standard in the Ordinary Form, and is thus the Creed we will be using for our considerations. I will simply note the rubric in regard to the Apostles' Creed:

"Instead of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, especially during Lent and Easter Time, the baptismal Symbol of the Roman Church, known as the Apostles' Creed, may be used (The Roman Missal, Third Edition)."

Notice that the rubric refers to the "Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed." This is the proper name for the Nicene Creed, since it was formulated both by the First Ecumenical Council of Nicea and the First Ecumenical Council of Constantinople, although it was not completely standardized until around the Council of Chalcedon. It was drafted as a Profession of Faith, and thus carries much more of a doctrinal formal prosaic nature, as opposed to the more poetic nature often found within liturgical texts. This of course brings up the odd point of singing the Creed, as it is difficult to set to music. However, by the beneficent grace of God, the Creed is possibly the most diversified musical settings we have been given within the Liturgy, albeit in the Latin as opposed to the English.

Of the four standard creeds of the Roman Church (the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, and the Creed of Pope Pius IV) it is the Nicene Creed which has taken root in the Liturgy. This may be seen for many reasons. As opposed to the Apostles' Creed, which states the basic doctrines of the Faith simply, the Nicene Creed draws out and expands more clearly and concisely these doctrines, as opposed to the less conciseness of the other two Creeds. It was inserted into the Liturgy to combat the many Christological heresies present in the various regions of the East and West, because unlike the Athanasian Creed, which deals more with the Trinity, this Creed deals primarily with Christ.

There is an exception to the public recitation of the Creed, however, and that is in Rome itself. The Creed was not used in Mass liturgies in Rome until the 11th century. The reason for this is that the Eternal City was never tainted by the presence of heresy within her walls. Thus, there was no need for a public combat against heresy among her people. However, upon his visit to the city, the emperor commented on the lack of the Creed. While the above reason was given, a the emperor's insistence the Creed was ordered to be inserted into the Liturgy and thus quickly spread to all the churches under Rome.

The reason for its presence is obvious. On days when the Faithful are obligated to attend Mass and the entire Christian community is thus present, the recitation of the Creed speaks of the unity of the entire Church. The International Theological Commission of the Vatican, expresses it well in the words:

"In professing their faith, Christians say both ‘I believe’ and ‘We believe’. Faith is professed within the koinonia of the Holy Spirit (cf. 2Cor 13:13), which unites all believers with God and among themselves (cf. 1Jn 1:1-3), and achieves its ultimate expression in the Eucharist (cf. 1Cor 10:16-17). Professions of faith have developed within the community of the faithful since earliest times. All Christians are called to give personal witness to their faith, but the creeds enable the Church as such to profess her faith. This profession corresponds to the teaching of the apostles, the good news, in which the Church stands and through which it is saved (cf. 1Cor 15:1-11) (International Theological Commission, Theology Today: Perspectives, Principles, and Criteria, 2011, Paragraph 13)."

This Creed is a perfect transition point. On the one hand, it belongs to the Liturgy of the Word, for it is, "the joyous 'yes' of the faithful to the message they have received. Even when viewed in its systematic setting, the creed is an organic extension of the line begun in the readings (Joseph A. Jungmann, S.J., The Mass of the Roman Rite, Volume 1, 471)." On the other hand, it is a preparation for the Liturgy of the Eucharist, in that through its words, we profess our unity, which will be perfected in the Sacrament of the Altar, and we profess our belief in the power of that Sacrament.

But let us now turn our attention to the actual words of the Creed. We will consider the Nicene Creed, as it contains all that is within the Apostles', it is the standard Creed used, and it is the one used for the Extraordinary Form, to which we may need to refer. The following is the text of the Nicene Creed, as used within the current translation of the Missal:

"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."  

The very first word of the Creed in Latin, "Credo," translated in English as, "I believe," holds great significance. It is not, "I know," but a personal attestation of faith. On account of our holding Jesus Christ as Truth, we believe what He has told us. Nevertheless, we cannot make an act of faith on account of others, but only for ourselves. We therefore say, "I believe."

Our belief has a source and an end, and that is God Himself. As Gueranger says:
"But why do we say: I believe in one God? Why use the preposition in? . . . . What is Faith, but a movement of the soul towards God? that Faith which is united with charity, that living faith placed by Holy Church in the hearts of her children, tends of its very nature towards God, ascends and raises itself up to Him. . . (The Holy Mass, Section: Credo, emphases in original)."

We center our Faith in God, and thus the Holy Mass is also centered upon Him. We worship the Father, through the Sacrifice of Christ to His Father. Therefore, we begin by calling to mind this direction; we profess our belief in God the Father. He is above all things; He is uncreated; He is the beginning and end of our Faith; He is, therefore, "Almighty." His divine power created Heaven and Earth, man and all that dwells upon the earth, as well as the purely spiritual beings, the angels. Therefore, as Maker of Heaven and Earth He is worthy of all praise, and thus with the angelic hosts, we stand in His presence and all creation cries out to him in exultation!

Our profession of the Faith then turns to the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, Jesus Christ, Whom we instantly name. However, there is an interesting note here which is lost in the English translation. While in the English, we repeat the "I believe," this is absent in the original Latin. Instead the original "I believe," encompasses the Son as well as the Father. We cannot believe part of the Faith and still profess to be a full member of the Church. We must hold all the truths to be fully incorporated into Christ. Therefore, we do not say "I believe such and such," but "I believe all."

Within the Mass, we are drawn outside of time, we are able to enter into the mystery of our Redemption, which takes place in time, but is able to be accomplished by the Son of God, on account of His Divinity. We therefore say, "I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages." Our Lord, Jesus Christ, it is Who has just taught us through the Gospel, and at Whose offering of Himself to the Father we are about to become present. Our presence at this offering may only happen on account of Christ's divinity, and through that as well, it is able to redeem us.

Jesus Christ directs us to Heaven. He has taught us through His words, and now He is about to feed us with Himself. We are able to trust Him and believe Him because He is, "God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God." As God, He is Truth, and therefore can neither deceive nor be deceived. In the Holy Mass we encounter Christ, Who said, "He who has seen me has seen the Father (John 14:9)." In our encounter with Christ, the Son of God, Who was "begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father," we also encounter the Father, for both the Father and the Son are one (John 10:30).

We then state, "through him all things were made." Through the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, through the Word, were all things made, "and without him was not anything made that was made (John 1: 3)." This speaks of creation, but it may also speak to us of our redemption. Our salvation was accomplished through Jesus Christ, indeed the name Jesus means, "God saves," and apart from participation in the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, no one may be saved. "Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3)."

Indeed, the rest of the Creed focuses on Christ's salvation. The very next words we utter are, "For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven." There is a clear turning point here in the Creed, as there was in the Gloria. The emphasis is no longer upon the mystery of the Godhead, but upon the Person of Jesus Christ. The almost poetic nature of speaking of the Procession of the Son from the Father, will instead turn into a remembrance of the works of our salvation.

Throughout the next words, "and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man," we make a profound bow, formerly a genuflection. The reason for this is to pay homage to the Divine Humility through which God the Son, almighty and eternal, entered time for our salvation, becoming like unto us in all things but sin. As a bow shows a sense of respect, and the deeper the bow, the more it becomes unto subservience, we make a profound bow to honor and show the gift of ourselves to the Person of Jesus, true God and true man.

But let us quickly consider these words we say. As the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one, so one cannot do anything apart from the other two. Therefore, although it is only the Son Who takes on a human nature from Mary, the other two Persons are involved in this work, for it is by the Holy Spirit that the Son is made man. Here honor is also paid to Mary. It is through her that the Son receives a human nature. In His Providence, God made her necessary for salvation. The reason for this is that the Son needed a human nature, he needed to be incarnate man to save us. "What has not been assumed has not been healed," in the words of St. Gregory Nazianzus. If Jesus was not truly man, then His Crucifixion and Death would not profit us.

But the Son, "emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:7-8)." We do not just mention the death of Christ in the Creed, but we say, "For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate." We mention the Cross. The Cross is central to our Faith and to our proclamation of it! When we signed ourselves before the Gospel, we did so with the sign of the Cross, so that we may always believe, profess, and hold firm to the Faith. To do so requires to believe, profess, and hold firm to the power of the Cross. St. Paul said, "I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2)." It is integral, then, that in the Profession of Faith we mention the Crucifixion explicitly, but also that it was for us. The Mass is for us. In it is made present the Sacrifice of Calvary for us. We announce this truth of the Faith which we will experience so soon!

We then further profess the means of our Redemption, namely the death and burial of Christ. Through His death He paid the price for our salvation and took our penalty of death upon Himself. The need for confessing His burial as well is to show that He did indeed die, in opposition to heresies in the early Church, which said it was just the appearance of death, or other heresies which proclaim a Divine and a human person of Jesus Christ. But we believe in one Person, and Jesus Christ, eternal God and true man, underwent death on the Cross for our sake and was buried, just as we die and are buried in the Sacrament of Baptism, which initiation into the Divine Life is fulfilled at the Mass through the reception of the Holy Eucharist.

And this Baptism and Holy Eucharist initiate us into the new life Christ has obtained by His Resurrection, which occurred, "on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures." How appropriate is it that we mention the Scriptures, for we have just listened to the Old Testament, which finds its ultimate fulfillment in the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ from the dead. These prophecies we hear again and again throughout the year in the Liturgy show us that Jesus must indeed be the Messiah, for He has clearly fulfilled them.

After the fulfillment of these prophecies, "He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father." This is the age of the Church; before His Ascension our Lord instituted the Sacraments of the New Covenant, and at the Last Supper He offered the first Mass, the Eucharistic Feast, the New Passover. At it He gave the command, "Do this in remembrance of me (Luke 22:19)." The Church, waiting the fulfillment of the Kingdom of Christ, heeds this command in the Mass, and we aware of Christ's Lordship over us already, serve Him by the participation in the Liturgy.

But we know that although the Lord comes to us in the Sacrament, and through that coming we are given the grace to build up His kingdom here on earth, "He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end." We not only receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist for the grace to build up the Kingdom of God, but so that when judged we may be found worthy to be part of that kingdom. As the Lauda Sion, the Sequence of Corpus Christi states, "Bad and good the feast are sharing, / Of what divers dooms preparing, / Endless death, or endless life." We therefore, profess our belief that Christ will give a just judgment to all mankind, on account of our love for Him and for our neighbor, which, to those who have loved, will usher in the Kingdom of God for all eternity.

These lines close our profession of belief in the mysteries concerning the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, but once again, in the Latin, we do not say, "I believe," as the English translates it. Instead it is a continuation in belief, and now it is in the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, "The Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life." Gueranger expresses what we believe concerning this mystery well:

"He [the Holy Spirit] is The Lord, He is the Master, just as the other two Divine Persons are. But What is He furthermore? Vivificantem, He gives life. In the same way as our soul gives life to our body, so does the Holy Ghost give life to our soul. It is this Holy Spirit Who animates her by the sanctifying grace, which He pours into her, and thus does He sustain her, make her act, vivify her, and make her grow in love (The Holy Mass, Section: Credo)."

This grace of the Holy Spirit is primarily given within the liturgical life of the Church, in Her Sacraments.

As we contemplate the words, "who proceeds from the Father and the Son," let us return to our previous thought about the continuation of the original "I believe." When we first introduced God the Son, we mentioned how this showed the unity of the entire Faith; it also shows the unity of the Trinity. In order to truly confess any one Person of the Trinity, the other Two Persons must also be confessed, for they are inseparable as regards the Divine Nature. Thus, in order to hold the Catholic Faith, we must profess the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as the Triune God. Let us sum up the Mystery in the words of the Athanasian Creed:

"We worship one God in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity. We distinguish among the persons, but we do not divide the substance. For the Father is a distinct person; the Son is a distinct person; and the Holy Spirit is a distinct person. . . . The Father is not made by anyone, nor created by anyone, nor generated by anyone. The Son is not made nor created, but he is generated by the Father alone. The Holy Spirit is not made nor created nor generated, but proceeds from the Father and the Son."

The Holy Spirit possesses the fullness of divinity and thus, "with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified." At these words within the Extraordinary Form, it was customary to make a bow of the head as acknowledgment of the adoration due to the Spirit as God.

In the last part of the Creed, in reference to the Holy Spirit, we say, "who has spoken through the prophets." Here we further affirm what we said throughout the service of the Readings, namely that we believe the Scriptures are inspired by God. As stated in the posts on the readings, we say "Thanks be to God," at the end because we have been privileged to hear the words of God. The Creed though is the solemn profession of our belief in what we have been taught throughout the Liturgy of the Word. Therefore, we say that the Holy Spirit is the one Who inspired the writers of the Bible, and it is He Who spoke through them.

The final section of the Creed is different from the three preceding parts because it is not a focus on the Divine Mystery of God's inmost self, as such, but is instead focused on our lives - the life that God has called us to. It begins with the admittance of belief in "One, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. Our translation is again, however, here misleading. While we say, "I believe in," the Latin does not contain any of this. Instead a more appropriate translation may be, "And one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church." The lack of the "I believe," is the same idea as before; we believe the entire Faith, not parts. Gueranger explains the lack of the preposition "in" as, "The faith which has God for its immediate object, is a movement of our soul towards God; she goes forth towards Him, and rests in Him; and thus, we believe IN GOD. But, as regards created and intermediate things which concern God, . . . we simply believe them. Thus, for example, we believe the Holy Church (The Holy Mass, Section: Credo)."

Let us briefly consider how the four marks of the Church affect our affirmation of Faith in regards to the Holy Mass. The Church is one, because She is of God, Who is One. Through our sharing of the one Faith and primarily through participation in the Eucharist, "we are made one Body, in Christ (Romans 12:5)." The Church is holy, because She has Christ for Her head. We, as the Body of Christ, are made holy through the Sacraments of the Church, which pour sanctifying grace within our hearts. The Church is catholic, because She is for all peoples, at all times; She is universal. The Faith which we profess is universal, it has been believed and taught by the Church, "by everyone, everywhere and at all times (St. Vincent of Lerins)." Lastly, the Church is apostolic because She can trace Her origins, through apostolic succession, back to the Apostles, who were commissioned by Christ Himself. The Sacraments which we celebrate are those given us by the Apostles; through the participation in them, we are exposed to the power which they received from Him, the Source of all grace.

The profession of these Sacraments are implicitly referred to within the next line, which explicitly states only one. "I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins." Baptism is not an end, but a beginning. It is our birth to our new life in grace and the door to all the other Sacraments. To profess belief in its power must be followed by the desire to live the Christian life as full members of the Church. Let us also remember that it is through the Eucharist, which is consecrated at every Mass, we are nourished and strengthened for living this life.

As the previous line referred to the beginning of the Christian life, so the next two refer to the end of it. "I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come." We believe that when Christ comes in glory to judge the living and the dead, we will be, through His infinite mercy and the Sacrifice of the Cross, judged worthy to participate in the next life - beatitude with Him at the Heavenly Liturgy.

The Creed then ends with the word, "Amen." It is once again an affirmation in all we have said. To say it is to say, "I truly believe these things. They are not only words, but part of my very person," for the Faith must be an integral part of us if it is to have its full effect on our lives.

Finally, let us consider that the Creed is only said or sung on solemnities. The tradition in the early Church, and even up until the Council of Trent in certain places, was that it was recited by the entire congregation, since each believer should make a profession of his own faith throughout his life. This idea has been renewed in the Ordinary Form, in which the entire congregation says the Creed with the priest. We may see a reason for its being limited to Sundays and Solemnities as that these are the days the entire community should gather for worship. Therefore, the entire community shows their unity by professing the same one Faith, so that they may be further united through participation in the one same Eucharist.