How we can receive more from the Mass - 15 (Creed - the Church is one)

“I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.”  This line in the Creed is so easy to repeat without thought, but it describes the Church of which we are members.  It articulates the four ‘marks of the Church’ – a set of characteristics that describe the nature of the Church and its mission: so let us briefly reflect on these four marks, and how we can be living signs of the Church and of God.

“The Church is one because of her source: ‘The highest exemplar and source of this mystery is the unity, in the Trinity of Persons, of one God, the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit.’ ”  (CCC 813). 

In other words, the mystical union that is God – three persons, one God – is to be reflected in a single, united and global Church which has its basis in Christ Jesus. 

The Church is not uniform or homogenous – there is a diversity of people as well as a diversity of gifts that the Spirit has given each person.  We can see that in our own parishes, but even more so when we see the global Church as a whole; not just now, but throughout history.  

But we are, all of us, united in one faith – what we profess and what we practice. 

Jesus prayed for the unity of his people so that we could enter into the mystery of God; and, in doing so, show the world that He was sent by the Father. (Jn 17:20-21)  And Lincoln echoed the words of Jesus in Mt 12:25 when he said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”  

When we say this line of the Creed during Holy Mass, we are making a commitment that, truly united as members of the Church, we will be living signs of the unity of God.