Part Vc: The Creed: Part III

It is through the Holy Spirit that Christ becomes present upon the altar, and it is the Holy Spirit that gives us the grace to persevere until the last day, so it is appropriate that we confess our faith in the Holy Spirit after contemplating the mystery of the incarnation. Equally God with the Father and the Son, He is the Lord, the Giver of life, and it is He who makes us participate in that divine life that we received in our baptism, that is given us today anew in the Eucharist, and that will be consummated in heaven. Indeed, the Holy Spirit is the divine life that dwells within is, making us in a real sense temples of God. Thus, we worship God by living upright lives, and by not defiling that temple within which the Holy Spirit dwells.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. The Church is located in the creed because it is not just an accidental part of our faith. It is only in the Church that we are part of the body of Christ; that we are Catholic, and it is only in the Church that we live in continuity with the faith of the apostles. Christ willed that His followers be one, as He is one with his Father, and it is through that unity that we worship God, are pleasing to Him, and are incorporated into Him. That unity exists concretely. It is the Church, bound together by the Holy Spirit. We not only believe in the Church, but we also believe the Church, because unity in faith is an essential part of being Christian, of being a follower of Christ who established the Church that we might be free from error and united to him. This obedience of faith becomes a true offering of ourselves to God, because we surrender our own will and judgement to Him in His Church.

Baptism is the one sacrament mentioned in the creed, as it is the one sacrament necessary for salvation. It is the sacrament by which we are made part of the Church, and the stain of original sin is wiped away. It is also the gate to the other sacraments, which guide us along our path to heaven, including the eucharist that we celebrate in this mass. At one time, the weight of this sacrament was expressed by the fact that those who were not baptized were not allowed to see the mass, or even to know what takes place.

We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Even in this mass, we taste a share of that coming life, as we receive Christ, who is the way, the truth and the life. We look for, that is we long for, Christ's coming at the end of time, when all of the dead will rise from their graves to be judged. This is a glorious event, a manifestation of God's justice and mercy, that will lead us into the unending life of the world to come.

Amen. Let it be so. We commit ourselves to the words we have just said, affirming that we do believe, and, at the same time, asking the Lord to help our unbelief. So we conclude, having passed from the creation of the world--by God, to the new life after this world--with God, showing how all things have their fullness in God.

©Theodore Book, 2007, reprinted with permission