How we can receive more from the Mass - 14

Any parent worth their salt will teach their children good habits: brush your teeth; don’t eat sweets before meals; don’t stay up late, respect others; pray before you eat and sleep.  The list goes on.  Why do parents do this?

Many of these are simply good for our health, such as regularly brushing our teeth and getting into a bedtime routine.

Also, habits provide resilience; we may not always feel like brushing our teeth or going to bed on time, but they become part of our daily routine and so we do them regardless.

But also, habits form our attitudes.  If you get into the habit of respecting others, you become a respectful person; if you get into the habit of praying, you become a prayerful person.

There is one habit that we would do well to adopt as we say the Creed.  Have you noticed how, in small print, we are told that we should bow as we say, “and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man”?  Have you wondered why?

A bow signifies our reverence and honour and, in these words, we are reverencing and honouring the Incarnation; the most fundamental mystery of Christianity.  In Jesus Christ, God actually became man, born of a woman by the power of the Holy Spirit.  The Incarnation is the most sacred moment in all human history and is what distinguishes us from every other faith.

So, the next time you recite the Creed, remind yourself to bow at this point.  If you are not used to it, it WILL feel a little strange at first; but DO persist.  Over the coming weeks, you may find that your reverence for this most sacred mystery increases.

“Act as though you have faith, and faith shall be given to you.”  This is not scriptural, but it’s a good maxim by which to live.