“Not without reason, Christians in the early centuries were required to learn the creed from memory. It served them as a daily prayer not to forget the commitment they had undertaken in baptism. With words rich in meaning, Saint Augustine speaks of this in a homily on the redditio symboli, the handing over of the creed: ‘ the symbol of the holy mystery that you have all received together and that today you have recited one by one, are the words on which the faith of Mother Church is firmly built above the stable foundation that is Christ the Lord. You have received it and recited it, but in your minds and hearts you must keep it ever present, you must repeat it in your beds, recall it in the public squares and not forget it during meals: even when your body is asleep, you must watch over it with your hearts.'” –Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Porta Fidei (n.9)
Instead of professing the Creed on Easter Sunday, the priest poses the questions of the Baptismal liturgy to the whole congregation so that we may all respond with a faithful “I do!” So, at least, once a year, we can renew our baptismal promises and affirm our assent to the fundamentals of the mysteries of our faith.
Every other Sunday, we renew our act of faith in the mysteries of revelation by proclaiming the Nicene Creed. We renew our commitment to our Faith by saying “Credo!” or “I believe!”
Now we are going to look up the Scriptures that underlie each statement of the Creed. May God’s grace help us to make ever deeper commitments to these mysteries. And may we come to know Him more intimately through them.
The following is taken from The Year of Faith by Father Mitch Pacwa, S.J. (pg. 40-41)
Next Time: Conversion
Meditation: What new insight about the faith have we received from the cited Scripture readings this past week?
Dr. Linda L. Powell 