After the homily, we sit in silence for a few moments, reflecting on what we have learned and praying about it. Then, at least on Sundays and solemnities, we stand to pray the Creed, expressing our adherence to our Catholic faith.
Most of the time we pray the Nicene or Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed that was developed out of Councils of Nicaea and Constantinople in 325 and 381. This Creed, also called a profession of faith or a symbol of faith, allows us to speak our faith out loud.
We proclaim our belief in God the Father almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth. We declare our belief in Jesus Christ the Son, Who is truly God yet became Man and died and rose and will come again. We pronounce our belief in the Holy Spirit, “Who proceeds from the Father and the Son.” We declare that we believe in “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church” and in “one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins.” Then we end with an eager anticipation of “the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”
It is also legitimate to pray the shorter Apostles' Creed at Mass at the priest's discretion. This Creed, too, allows us to express and reflect on the basic beliefs of our Catholic faith, only in a more condensed fashion.
We must be careful not to recite the Creed out of mere habit but rather reflect on each word we speak, allowing our faith to grow as we proclaim it. We would do well, too, to pray the Creed privately, very slowly, and meditate on each statement of faith, making sure that we understand what we believe, at least as much as possible, and that we hold fast to this basic statement of our Catholicism.
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