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What's Your Next Step? Think About the Creed.
Imagine the following scenario. A friend asks you, curiously and non-defensively, "So, what do Catholics believe?" Take a minute and try to come up with a response based on your experience of the RCIA and the Catholic Church so far.
You might have noticed at Mass that after the homily, the whole assembly rises to profess the Nicene Creed. We call it a "creed" because it starts with the phrase, "I believe" -- which, in Latin, is credo. This is a moment in which we all testify to ourselves, to one another, and to God what we believe about God, the Church, and the world.
Take another minute and flip to page 533 of the U.S. Catholic Catechism. (Alternatively, if you don't have it right now, go to http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/). Read the Creed. What words and phrases, images or feelings stand out to you? Take note of them.
Take a final minutes and think about what it would take to commit the whole Creed to memory. Not right now, not even this week, but by the time you join us fully at the Eucharistic table. Are you able to do this? Maybe commit to reading it before you go to sleep, or praying it on your lunch break. How might it enrich your participation in our common worship to be able to profess, by heart, what all Catholics all over the world, throughout history, have proclaimed to be true?
I believe in one God, the Father almighty...
Peace!