RENEWAL SERVICES Diocese of Rockville Centre, 50 North Park Avenue, P.O. Box 9023, Rockville Centre, New York,11571-9023 jpalmer@drvc.org Phone number 516 678 5800 Ext 408 I BELIEVE IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH The Church in this world is the sacrament of salvation, the sign and the instrument of the communion of God and men. Christ Jesus gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purify for himself a people of his own. CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH - TWO I Believe in The Catholic Church 1 I Believe One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church 1 I Believe In Lay Apostles 2 I believe in The Communion of Saints and Devotion to Mary 2 I Believe in The Forgiveness of Sins 2 I Believe in The Resurrection of the Body 3 Amen 5 You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God s own people. One enters into the People of God by faith and Baptism. All men are called to belong to the new People of God so that, in Christ, men may form one family and one People of God. The Church is the body of Christ. I BELIEVE IN ONE HOLY CATHOLIC and APOSTOLIC CHURCH The Church is this Body of which Christ is the head: she lives from him, in him and for him; he lives with her and in her. The Church is the Bride of Christ: he loved her and handed himself over for her. He has purified her by his blood and made her the fruitful mother of all God s children. The Church is the Temple of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the soul, as it were, of the Mystical Body, the source of its life, of its unity in diversity, and of the riches of its gifts and charisms. Hence the universal Church is seen to be a people brought into unity from the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Church is holy: the Most Holy God is her Through the Spirit and his action in the sacraments, above all the Eucharist, Christ, who once was dead and is now risen, establishes the community of believers as his own Body. In the unity of this body, there is a diversity of members and functions. All members are linked to one another, especially to those who are suffering, to the poor and persecuted. author; Christ, her bridegroom, gave himself up to make her holy; the Spirit of holiness gives her life. Since she still includes sinners, she is the sinless one made up of sinners. Her holiness shines in the saints, in Mary she is already all-holy. The Church is catholic: she proclaims the fullness of the faith. She bears in herself and administers the totality of the means of salvation. She is sent out to all peoples. She speaks to all men. She encompasses all times. She is missionary in her very nature. The Church is apostolic. She is built on a lasting foundation, the twelve apostles of the Lamb. She is indestructible. She is upheld infallibly in truth. Christ governs her through Peter and the other apostles, who are present in their successors, the Pope and the college of bishops. One Holy Catholic Apostolic cont d pg 4
Page 2 Renewal Services I BELIEVE IN LAY APOSTLES The characteristic of the lay state being a life led in the midst of the world and of secular affairs, lay people are called by God to make their apostolate, through the vigor of their Christian spirit, a leaven in the world. By virtue of their prophetic mission, Lay people are called to be witnesses to Christ in all circumstances and at the very heart of the community of mankind. By virtue of their kingly mission, lay people have the power to uproot the rule of sin within themselves and in the world, by their self-denial and holiness of life. Lay people share in Christ s priesthood: even more united with him, they exhibit the grace of Baptism and Confirmation in The life consecrated to God is characterized all dimensions of their personal, family, by the public profession of the evangelical social and ecclesial lives, and so fulfill the counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience, call to holiness addressed to all the in a stable state of life recognized by the baptized. Church. I BELIEVE IN THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS & THE MOTHERHOOD OF MARY Father you formed man in your own likeness and set The Church as a communion of saints : this expression refers to the holy things, above all the Eucharist, by which the unity of believers, who form one body in Christ, is both represented and brought about. The term communion of saints refers also to the communion of holy persons in Christ who died for all so that what each one does or suffers in and for Christ bears fruit for all. We believe in the communion of all the faithful of Christ, those who are pilgrims on earth, the dead who are being purified, and the blessed in heaven, all together forming one Church; and we believe that in this communion, the merciful love of God and his saints is always attentive to our prayers. By pronouncing her fiat at the Annunciation and giving her consent to the Incarnation, Mary was already collaborating with the whole work her Son was to accomplish. She is mother wherever he is Savior and head of the Mystical Body. The Most Blessed Virgin Mary, when the course of her earthly life was completed, was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven, where she already shares in the glory of her son s Resurrection, anticipating the resurrection of all members of his Body. We believe that the Holy Mother of God, the new Eve, Mother of the Church, continues in heaven to exercise her maternal role on behalf of the members of Christ. I BELIEVE IN THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS The Creed links the forgiveness of sins with its profession of faith in the Holy Spirit, for the risen Christ entrusted to the apostles the power to forgive sins when he gave them the Holy Spirit. Baptism is the first and chief sacrament of the forgiveness of sins; it unites us to Christ, who died and rose, and gives us the Holy Spirit. By Christ s will, the Church possesses the power to forgive the sins of the baptized and exercises it through bishops and priests normally in the sacrament of Penance. In the forgiveness of sins, both priest and sacraments are instruments which Our Lord Jesus Christ, the only author and liberal giver of salvation, will to use in order to efface our sins and give us the grace of Justification.
Renewal Services Page 3 I BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY The flesh is the hinge of salvation. We believe in God who is the center of the flesh; we believe in the Word made flesh in order to redeem the flesh; we believe in the resurrection of the flesh, the fulfillment of both the creation and the redemption of the flesh. By death the soul is separated from the body, but in the resurrection God will give incorruptible life to our body, transformed by reunion with our soul. Just as Christ is risen and lives for ever, so all of us will rise on the last day. We believe in the true resurrection of this flesh that we now possess. We sow a corruptible body in the tomb, but he raises up an incorruptible body, a spiritual body. As a consequence of original sin, man must suffer bodily death, from which man would have been immune had he not sinned. Jesus, the Son of God, freely suffered death for us in complete and free submission to the will of God, his Father! By His death he has conquered death, and so opened the possibility of salvation to all men. LIFE EVERLASTING Every man receives his eternal recompense in his immortal soul from the moment of his death in a particular judgment by Christ the judge of the living and the dead. We believe that the souls of all who die in Christ s grace are the People of God beyond death. On the day of resurrection, death will be definitively conquered, when these souls will be reunited with their bodies. We believe that the multitude of those gathered around Jesus and Mary in Paradise forms the Church of heaven, where in eternal blessedness they see God as he is and where they are also, to various degrees, associated with the holy angels in the divine governance exercised by Christ in glory, by interceding for us and helping our weakness by their fraternal concern. Those who die in God s grace and friendship imperfectly purified, although they are assured of their eternal salvation, undergo a purification after death, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of God. By virtue of the communion of saints, the Church commends the dead to God s mercy and offers her prayers, especially the holy sacrifice of the Eucharist on their behalf. Following the example of Christ, the Church warns the faithful of the sad and lamentable reality of eternal death also called hell. Hell s principal punishment consists of eternal separation from God in whom alone man can have the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs. The Church prays that no one should be lost: Lord, let me never be parted from you. If it is true that no one can save himself, it is also true that God desires all men to be saved and that for him all things are possible. The Holy Roman Church firmly believes and confesses that on the Day of Judgment all men will appear in their own bodies before Christ s tribunal to render an account of their own deeds. At the end of time, the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness. Then the just will reign with Christ for ever, glorified in body and soul, and the material universe itself will be transformed. God will then be all in all in eternal life.
Page 4 Renewal Services Cont d from Page 1 The sole Church of Christ which in the Creed we profess to be one, holy, catholic and apostolic, subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him. Nevertheless, many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside its visible confines. Among the Christian faithful by divine institution there exist in the Church sacred ministers, who are also clerics in law, and other Christian faithful who are also called laity. In both groups there are those Christian faithful who, professing the evangelical counsels, are consecrated to God and so serve the Church s saving mission. To proclaim the faith and to plant his reign, Christ sends his apostles and their successors. He gives them a share in his own mission. From him they receive the power to act in his person. The Lord made St. Peter the visible foundation of his Church. He entrusted the keys of the Church to him. The bishop of the Church of Rome, successor to St. Peter, is head of the college of bishops, the Vicar of Christ and pastor of the universal Church on earth. The Pope enjoys, by divine institution, supreme, full, immediate and universal power in the care of souls. The Bishops, established by the Holy Spirit, succeed the apostles. They are the visible source and foundation of unity in their own particular Churches. Helped by the priests, their co-workers, and by the deacons, the bishops have the duty of authentically teaching the faith, celebrating divine worship, above all the Eucharist, and guiding their Churches as true pastors. Their responsibility also includes concern for all the churches with and under the Pope. AMEN The Creed, like the last book of the Bible, ends with the Hebrew word Amen. This word frequently concludes prayers in the New Testament. The church likewise ends her prayers with Amen. Thus the Creed s final Amen repeats and confirms its first words: I believe. To believe is to say Amen to God s words, promises and commandments; to entrust oneself completely to him who is the Amen of infinite love and perfect faithfulness. The Christian s everyday life will then be the Amen to the I believe of our baptismal profession of faith. Jesus Christ himself is the Amen. He is the definitive Amen of the Father s love for us. He takes up and completes our Amen to the Father. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why we utter Amen through him, to the glory of God. Through him, with him, in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, almighty Father, God, for ever and ever. AMEN!
Renewal Services Diocese of Rockville Centre 50 North Park Avenue P.O.Box 9023 Rockville Centre, NY 11571-9023 Phone: 516 678 5800 Ext 408 E-Mail: jpalmer@drvc.org We are One in The Spirit This is the end of our third newsletter on the Catechism of the Catholic Church In brief. This concludes the section on the Apostles Creed. There is still more to come. I offer these to you for use in your prayer groups for discussion. It is the beauty of our Church that this book is written so clearly. I hope you enjoy these newsletters and that in some way they enable you to defend your Church in discussions with friends at cocktail parties. John Palmer We re on the Web! Visit us at: Drvc.org