Guest Post: Sunday Meditation Reflecting on the Nicene Creed

Editor's note: I've never thought about the different format of the Nicene Creed from the rest of the prayers at Mass. We don't call it a prayer but a "profession of faith."

 It seems to me that the Creed is like a "pledge of allegiance" to God, or like an oath taken by the president, supreme court justices, etc. We are promising the King of King our fidelity. So I'm not sure I would want to see it changed into a prayer as Jim suggests in this article.

What do you think, readers? We recite the creed every Sunday and on certain feasts and solemnities. How often do we seriously reflect on what we say? Let's really listen next time we join together with the Catholic community in reciting the Creed.

THE NICENE PRAYER

by James M. Thunder* 

We will often hear news media, government officials, and private persons, say in consolation, “Our thoughts and our prayers are with you.” So very seldom do they state to Whom our prayers are addressed. And so it is with Thanksgiving. Although the Presidents -- from George Washington to Abraham Lincoln to Franklin D. Roosevelt to President Trump’s 2018 Proclamation, state to Whom we ought to give thanks on Thanksgiving Day, the words God or the Almighty are seldom stated by news media, government officials, and private persons in conjunction with Thanksgiving Day.

With this in mind, I considered the words with which we recite the Nicene Creed. In the Creed, we do not address God. Rather, we talk about God.

The Nicene Creed is, of course, a creed, a statement, a declaration. I know that the phrasing of the truths in the Nicene Creed developed over time, amidst great controversy and hardship and civil and ecclesiastical unrest, into the form adopted at the Council of Nicaea (hence its name) in 325 A.D.

It was over 200 years before the Creed was incorporated into the Mass. Here is one author’s summary of how that happened:

The Nicene Creed did not become a part of Mass until the early 6th century, when Patriarch Timothy of Constantinople started the practice to combat heresy. Its popularity spread throughout the Byzantine Empire, then to Spain, France and northern Europe. In 1114 Emperor Henry II, who had come to Rome for his coronation as Holy Roman Emperor, was surprised that they did not recite the creed. He was told that since Rome had never erred in matters of faith there was no need for the Romans to proclaim it at Mass. However, it was included in deference to the new emperor and has pretty much remained ever since – not at daily Mass, but on Sundays and feast days.

“The Nicene Creed and Its Origins,” [Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina] Catholic News Herald, July 28, 2016 [no author]. See also Theodor Klauser, A Short History of the Western Liturgy (2d ed. 1979), p.77.

Simply put, a creed is not a prayer. And, when the Nicene Creed became part of Mass, its language was not altered, even ever so slightly, to form it into a prayer, like the rest of Mass. The Mass is one prayer after another. The Kyrie is a prayer. The Confiteor is a prayer. In the Gloria, we use “You” eleven times. The Offertory is a prayer. The Preface. The Sanctus. The Our Father. The Agnus Dei.

Please take a moment to consider the language of what we officially call a “prayer,” Eucharistic Prayer I (the Roman Canon):

To You, therefore most merciful Father, we make humble prayer and petition through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord…

Remember, Lord, Your servants…

In communion with those whose memory we venerate, we ask that through their merits and prayers, in all things we may be defended by Your protecting help…

Therefore, Lord, we pray: graciously accept this obligation…

Be pleased, O God, we pray…

On the day before He was to suffer…to You, O God, His almighty Father, giving You thanks…

Therefore, O Lord, as we celebrate the memorial of the blessed Passion…of Christ, Your Son, our Lord…

Be pleased to look upon these offerings…

In humble prayer we ask You, almighty God…

Remember also, Lord, your servants…

[G]rant some share and fellowship with your holy Apostles and Martyrs…

[A]dmit us, we beseech You, into their company…

Through Whom [Jesus] You continue to make all these good things, O Lord…

Through Him, and with Him, and in Him, O God, almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is Yours, for ever and ever. Amen.

Below is the Nicene Creed in language in the form of a prayer. I most definitely do not suggest that we depart from the language of approved liturgical texts, a mandate in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (“GIRM”) (see Paragraphs 67-69 specifically devoted to the Creed), but I respectfully recommend that the proper Church authorities consider and approve such language in the future. I also recommend we use language like this for prayer outside Mass. Our fathers and mothers in the Faith, from 325 A.D. on, bequeathed us not only a creed, but a prayer.

“The Nicene Prayer”

--the Nicene Creed in the Form of a Prayer Addressing the Most Holy Trinity

I believe in You, the one God,
the Father almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in You, the one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of You, Father, before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,

consubstantial with You, Father.

Through You all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
You came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit were incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake, You were crucified under Pontius Pilate,
You suffered death and were buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with Your Scriptures.
You ascended into heaven
and are seated at the right hand of You, Father.
You will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and Your kingdom will have no end.
I believe in You, Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver, of life.

You proceed from You, Father and Son.
You, with the Father and Son, are adored and glorified.
You have spoken through the prophets.
I believe in Your one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess Your one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come with You. Amen.

*A Washington, D.C., attorney. He double-majored in government and theology at the University of Notre Dame, and obtained his master’s degree from the University of Virginia with the thesis Aquinas on Marriage. He served as general counsel of Americans United for Life and is a past grand knight of the Knights of Columbus. He is the author of 225 publications.