How we can receive more from the Mass - 13 (Creed)

Have you noticed how easy it is to fall into the trap of repeating parts of the Mass that you have recited for years or decades, without really thinking about them, or what those words really mean?

Each and every Sunday, we recite the Creed.  So often that we can just whittle off the words without thinking.  I was once at a celebration of Holy Mass where the priest was leading the Creed, but lost his way.  It all ground to a very embarrassing halt because we were all on autopilot.  So let’s have a look at what we are doing here.

We say, “I believe…”, yet we are saying it together.  This is the local Church – part of the global, universal Church – standing as one, proclaiming what it is that unites us and brings us together to celebrate Holy Mass.

But even those very words, “I believe”, are more powerful and have greater implications than we may imagine.  When a parent says to their child, “I believe in you,” are they saying that their child merely exists?  Of course not!  It’s an expression of trust, of confidence in their child. 

It is like this when we recite the Creed.  Yes, we are stating facts: there IS a God who IS Father, Son and Spirit, and so on.  But we are also declaring a strong trust and confidence in that very God – Father, Son and Spirit, etc.  In other words, it is our faith. 

And that has implications…

In a recent episode of “The Rings of Power”, a series based on the world created by the Catholic writer and academic, J. R. R. Tolkien, Elindil said, “Faith is not faith if it is not lived.”  And he was so right.  What we profess in the creed, we must live out in each and every moment of our lives.