Identity Crisis

Sometimes in the course of our lives, we may experience what is called an identity crisis.  Experiencing significant changes in our lives, like a death in the family or a job loss, we can lose a clearly defined sense of who we are and what is important to us.  It may take a while to find our bearings again, to realize what is really central to our sense of self and the meaning of our life.

The liturgy invites us each week to reaffirm our Catholic identity when we recite the Nicene Creed or Profession of Faith at Mass.  Because we say it every week, it can easily become a routine ritual carried out with little thought.  Let us take a few moments to talk about why we say the Creed each week.

Think about how we recited the Creed on Easter Sunday.  Abandoning our usual pattern, on that central day of the year we profess our faith by renewing our baptismal promises.  This reminds us that the Creed finds its home first in the celebration of Baptism.  Before entering the waters of the font, those to be baptized (or their parents in the case of babies) publicly profess their faith.  In doing so, they claim their identity as believers in Jesus Christ, called by the Father and guided by the Holy Spirit.  They commit their future to sharing the life of the Trinity.

So every week, we renew that commitment.  We publicly profess again who we are and what is ultimately important in our lives.  We do this together, as one voice, because our faith is a shared faith, not just a set of beliefs but a way of life, shared with all other members of Christ’s body.

In the Creed, we use ancient language to profess eternal truths.  The words we use most often are the Nicene Creed.  Occasionally, in a Mass said for children, we might use the Apostle’s Creed instead.

Both formulas reaffirm our faith in the Father who created us and all things, in the Son who redeemed us by His death and resurrection, and in the Holy Spirit who guides us and unites us in the Church.  Thus we identify ourselves as children of the Father, redeemed by the Son, striving to live in the Holy Spirit.  We base our lives on belief in the Trinity. 

The Creed comes just after the readings and the homily.  It stands as a communal response to God’s word.  We hear what God has done for us and then we express our faith in response.  Of course, the words only matter if we live by them.  By proclaiming the Creed, we commit ourselves to live every day in the love of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.