Credo

After all the readings are read at mass, the priest gives a homily. Once the homily is over, we make our profession of faith by saying the Nicene creed.

Growing up where I did, creeds were something viewed with suspicion. There was a clear dichotomy set up between biblical truth and man made creeds.

But in actually reading the creed, I found it to be quite biblical in content. And it's a wonderful thing to be able to state clearly and with confidence what it is the main tenants of our faith are, and especially to do so together with fellow Christians at mass.

A couple years back, comedian Stephen Colbert gave a nice recitation of the Nicene Creed on his show, lol.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The De-Deification of the American Faithscape
comedycentral.com
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You can follow along here:

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God,
begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven:
[bow during the next two lines:]
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered, died, and was buried.
On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

And in Latin:

CREDO in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem, factorem caeli et terrae,visibilium omnium et invisibilium.

Et in unum Dominum Iesum Christum, Filium Dei unigenitum, et ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula. Deum de Deo, Lumen de Lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero, genitum non factum, consubstantialem Patri; per quem omnia facta sunt.

Qui propter nos homines et propter nostram salutem descendit de caelis. Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine, et homo factus est.

Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato, passus et sepultus est, et resurrexit tertia die, secundum Scripturas, et ascendit in caelum, sedet ad dexteram patris.

Et iterum venturus est cum gloria, iudicare vivos et mortuos, cuius regni non erit finis.

Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum et vivificantem, qui ex Patre Filioque procedit.

Qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur et conglorificatur: qui locutus est per prophetas.

Et unam, sanctam,catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam.

Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem peccatorum. Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum, et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen.

And here you can practice singing the Credo Gregorian Chant in Latin. ;-)



There is so much reference to scripture packed into the creed, that I'll just provide this link rather than posting all the scripture, because the post would be a page long! The page is not Catholic so the wording is slightly different, but the ideas are the same.