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Page 2 • Faith Today
Faith Today • Page 3
More than words to be uttered
By Dolores Leckey
NC News Service
P eople today yearn to
believe in something — a
cause, a vision of life, a
person. But social com
mentators note that
faith in governments and many in
stitutions seems to have weakened.
People’s faith in themselves often
is shaky too. as psychiatrists and
other counselors testify.
And questions about life's pur
pose nip at the edges of affluent
Western society, where people con
sume and possess in great measure
and still feel empty.
In the midst of all this, the peo
ple of God gather each Sunday and
recite the Nicene Creed, a fourth-
century statement of faith.
Week after week lawyers, doc
tors, manual laborers, politicians
and artists state the facts of Jesus’
origins, life, death and resurrection.
They declare belief that God’s Son
entered human history; that sins
are forgiven, the dead shall rise and
there is a new life awaiting all
humankind.
The Nicene Creed is a summary
of faith, as familiar in the church as
the Sign of the Cross
I asked one Catholic what he
feels in saying the creed. A govern
ment worker, he confessed to mix
ed emotions over it. The creed still
reminds him of an incident when
he was a college student and his
dormitory rector called him in for
a private consultation. The priest,
so he perceived, wanted to probe
the breadth of the 17-year-old’s
faith.
Now in his 50s with a lifetime of
commitment behind him, the man
says he recalls the pressure he felt
as a very shy and insecure youth
trying to understand what he
believes and attempting to put it
into words.
Yet, as an adult he participates
willingly in the creed at Mass and
says he actuallv appreciates occa
sions when members of the church
repeat their baptismal promises
together, as happens on special
occasions.
His response caused me to think
about Suns I feel when I pray the
creeds.
The Apostles’ Creed is the most
frequent creed in my prayer life. I
say the rosary in my car, fighting
traffic on Washington's bridges as I
make my way to work.
One morning I realized that the
Apostles’ Creed is in the first per
son singular. It is I, Dolores, who
daily go over the basics of the
deepest part of my life. As I say
each phrase, I feel myself more
rooted in the story of Jesus of
Nazareth, choosing to join my
small story to his large one.
The Apostles’ Creed is notably
devoid of ornamentation and that
is its beauty, I think. When I say it
reflectively I am at one with the
fishermen of the Gospel who threw
their lot with Jesus.
The Nicene Creed, however, is
communal. Its language is plural,
stating the beliefs of the entire
church and incorporating mystical
and philosophical elements into
deceptively simple statements. “We
believe in one Lord.. .(who is) light
from light,” the creed says. And
we believe in the creator of “all
that is seen and unseen.”
It is fitting that such statements
of mystery and of the mystical
should be in our communal creed.
For the creed is not just words to
be uttered. As part of the liturgy, it
is much like prayer; it calls us to
ponder the meaning of its
statements for our lives.
(Mrs. Leckey is director of the
U.S. bishops' Secretariat for the
Laity.)
The cry of martyrs
By Father John Casteiot
NC News Service
E very morning and even
ing pious Jews recite a
formula known as the
Shema. Its name comes
from its first word
which means “hear,’’ and the full
formula is: “Hear, O Israel! The
Lord is our God, the Lord alone!”
(Deuteronomy 6:4)
This is the central affirmation of
Israel’s faith, its basic creed. It is a
firm acknowledgment that only
Yahweh — the Lord — is God. It
is a statement of Judaism’s distinc
tive belief in one God.
In the course of time it was ex
panded to include the great com
mandment of total love of God
and injunctions to bear all this
constantly in mind (Deuteronomy
6:5-9).
But as a creed, it is the profes
sion of Yahweh’s uniqueness that
really matters. It crystallized the
people’s religious experience of
God, the sole master of history.
Once formulated, this creed
served to distinguish the people
from all surrounding peoples.
Throughout history it often
became a martyr’s cry, as
persecuted Jews went to death
rather than deny the faith of their
fathers.
Given the nature of creeds, it
takes time for them to develop.
This was true of Christian creeds
also. In the beginning, the only
creed the followers of Christ knew
was the simple but eloquent state
ment: “Jesus Christ is Lord"
(Philippians 2:11).
For all its simplicity, it speaks
vol? mes. Christians had come to
realize that Jesus was much more
than an itinerant preacher from
Nazareth who had come to a tragic
end. He was the Messiah (Christ)
and divine (Lord).
That early creed was a statement
of faith, the expression of a reality
which could be made known only
by God himself When Peter, in
Matthew’s account, acknowledged
that Jesus was “Son of the living
God,” Jesus pointed out: “Flesh
and blood (human reasoning) has
not revealed this to you but my
heavenly Father” (Matthew 16:17).
Like the Shema, this basic creed
encapsulated Christian faith and
served as a badge of identity. Also
like the Shema, it gradually grew
more complex to keep step with
Christian experience.
New Testament scholars have
detected several creeds in the let
ters of Paul. The earliest contains a
theology (a statement about God),
a christology (a statement about
his Son), an eschatology (a state
ment about the end-time), a
reference to the resurrection and
an allusion to Jesus’ saving power:
“You turned to God from idols
to serve the living and true God
and to await his Son from heaven
whom he raised from (the) dead,
Jesus, "who delivers us from the
coming wrath” (1 Thessalonians
1:9-10).
Another early credal formula is
incorporated into the opening of
Paul’s letter to the Romans. There
Paul refers to God’s Son,
“descended from David according
to the flesh, but established as Son
of God in power according to a
spirit of holiness through resurrec
tion from the dead” (1:3-4).
Later, Paul makes use of a
somewhat expanded expression of
faith in the resurrection in 1 Cor
inthians 15:3-5: “I handed on to
you as of first importance what I
also received: that Christ died for
our sins...that he was buried, that
he was raised on the third day,
that he was seen by Cephas, then
by the Twelve.”
Such formulas helped to put
Christian experience into words,
to the extent that it can be put in
to words. They also helped in
handing on basic Christian truth to
succeeding generations.
People were able to say: “This is
what we, as Christians, believe.
This is what makes us unique.”
(Father Castelot is a professor of
Scripture at St. John s Seminary,
Plymouth, Mich.)
A time for
*
believing
By Katharine Bird
NC News Service
believe “that” Jesus died
and rose again...that Mt.
Kilimanjaro is the highest
mountain in Africa...that
Marv is the mother of
Jesus.
I also believe
in” a God who
is compassionate...in my son’s
ability to juggle a full-time joB and
part-time college...in Jesus who
showed me how to tackle and
overcome the worst difficulties.
People use the w ords “I
believe” in different ways. As the
first set of examples indicates, one
way is to express their acceptance
of certain basic facts.
The belief expressed in the sec
ond set of examples moves into
another kind of territory. It takes
us into the w orld of trust, of the
meaning in what we believe.
As theologian Father James •
Bacik put it, the use of “I-believe”
language can “satisfy the longings
of the human heart.” He is pastor
of Corpus Christi University Parish
in Toledo, Ohio.
And for Christians, being able
“to identify our beliefs links ws
with a community” of kindred
spirits; it “enables us to know
we’re not alone, that others share
our beliefs and values.”
People find themselves groping
for a language to express their
beliefs especially during key *
moments in life, Father Bacik said.
For college-age youths, this hap
pens most often when “their faith
is challenged.” It happens, for in
stance, when they encounter
atheists w ho lead good lives or
when trying to decide what com
mitments to make in life.
The challenge to express faith
also arises w'hen dealing with
tragedies, There are large-seal?
tragedies, for example the explo
sion of the Challenger space shut
tle. There are personal tragedies
such as those surrounding the
serious illness of a classmate. At
such times students “find that
their normal ways of dealing with
things don’t work,” Father Bacik
said.
At these points people may iurn
to their faith to look for a
language to express belief, he add
ed. A student grieving over a
parent’s death may say, “I believe
that mother is in heaven.” In this
context, belief can take on new
meaning for him. »
Another challenging event for
people is the birth of a first child.
“I see great religious seriousness
4
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
at this time,” Father Bacik said. A
concern develops about what
values the parents want to pass on
to the youngster.
“I’ve had a number of young
parents, especially men, saying
that the birth is their deepest
religious experience,” he said.
Often they “don’t have the
language to express it” and faith
can help them state their awe and
new sense of responsibility.
Father Bacik says that people
often need help in identifying
what they believe and in learning
how to express their beliefs. He
finds that writing a short personal
creed can help.
He urged a woman Religious to
start working on a short creed
three years ago. It is her way of
saying “It’s mine, it reflects
what’s in my guts.” Writing a per
sonal creed is “her way of ap
propriating her faith,” he said.
(Ms. Bird is associate editor of
Faith Today.)
Think of some common, everyday situations in which people are apt
to say, “This is what I believe.” What influence do people’s beliefs
have on them — their beliefs about family life, politics or
neighborhood life?
Can you describe some situations in which people have been
changed — in which their total personality has been transformed — by
a belief? (Perhaps this is a belief about themselves or-about others;
about the value of education or money; about family life; about friends;
about the poor; about the sick.)
What are the implications of saying “I believe” in the context of
Christian faith? Why do our writers say that creeds — statements of
belief — are really much more than words?
What is the difference between the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene
Creed used at Mass, according to Dolores Leckey?
Think about your Christian belief. Do you find it difficult to put this
into words? Why or why not? Following the suggestions of Father
Bacik in Katharine Bird’s article, do you think you could put your
belief into words by writing something about it?
Second Helpings. The great creeds are excellent sources for gaining
insight into the belief of the earliest Christians and an understanding of what
the early church period was like, writes Anthony Gilles in The People of
the Creed. Telling this story leads the author into discussions of some of
the major figures of the early centuries of the church such as Athanasius,
Cyril, Arius and Augustine, as well as some of the great early councils of
bishops. The approach is historical. But, Gilles says, this should not deter
readers “from realizing that the story behind the early church is also the
story of people like you and me who tried to express in their ordinary lives
the Gospel’s central teaching, The Word became flesh and made his dwell
ing among us.’”(St. Anthony Messenger Press, 1615 Republic St., Cincin
nati, Ohio. 45210. 1985- S5-95 )
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