A Conversation About the Creed

 We believe in one God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth, 
of all that is visible and invisible....

Last night, during a meeting of RCIA, a class for those entering into the Catholic church, we had a video on the opening phrase of the Nicene Creed, formulated in 325 AD.  Catholics pray the Nicene Creed at Mass.  During the following discussion, one of the participants said, "We all believe the same thing; why keep shoving it down our throats again and again?"

I came home after the meeting and reflected long into the night:  is it really important to talk about the Nicene Creed, and if so, why is it important?

Immediately, two conversations came to mind.  The first was from a long-time friend, who said to me one day: "  I don't believe Jesus was divine; I think He just came from generations of a good family, and He was put to death because what He said made people mad."  This friend was raised in a Catholic family and attended Catholic grade school and high school.  So much for all of us believing the same thing!

The second conversation occurred in Jerusalem, in the Garden of Olives, looking across the valley at the Golden Gate and the Temple Mount.  The slope on that side of the valley is crowded with graves of both Jews and Christians who believe that when the Messiah comes (or returns), He will enter Jerusalem through the Golden Gate, and the dead will come out of their tombs to greet Him.  I mentioned that I would like to see the day when all those graves open and the dead arise.  The person to whom I was speaking, a lifelong Catholic, casually remarked, "Oh, I don't believe anything is going to happen to our bodies."  I was shocked into silence, as I thought of all the years this person has been attending Mass and saying the Nicene Creed at every Mass she attended:  I believe in the resurrection of the dead and life everlasting.

If it is indeed true that "we all believe the same thing" (and I am no longer sure that it is), then it is true only in our Western culture.  I recently returned from a trip to Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.  In that part of the world, in every city, the main attractions are the royal palaces, the Buddhist temples, and the Hindu temples --- all of which are filled with representatives of what they call "demons" and "gods."  In Buddhism, there is no mention of God, and Buddha himself is not considered a god, but only "enlightened," having risen to an extraordinary level of purification from the pollution of the world.

The "demons" in the Royal Palace of Bangkok are "mostly good, but maybe a little bad," according to the guide with a smile.  "Sort of the like the Greek gods?" I asked.  "Yes," she said, "they are protective spirits that guard the palace, and you don't want to anger them."  In one of the Vietnamese Hindu  temples, we climbed many, many steps (getting closer to heaven) to observe first of a kind of ziggurat (to get even closer to heaven) and then multiple mini-temples, or small shrines, each of which was dedicated to and housed a different diety.  According to one of our guides, Hinduism has 333 million dieties, so only the important ones have their own shrines.  In each shrine, Buddhist or Hindu, the visitor is required to remove both hat and shoes before entering.

When visiting a Catholic church in Vietnam, we were also required to remove our shoes and hats --- and then it struck me, "O no!  This is just one shrine among many.  To them, this is another temple, and one must show respect to whichever god inhabits the temple."  I finally realized the challenge of St. Francis Xavier and the other missionaries to tried to Christianize the Far East!

And I finally understood why the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church must have a creed, beginning with "I believe in One God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth....."  To say those words in the countries I have visited could be very dangerous indeed!

Is Abraham a Template?

 Today I have more of a question than an answer.  In reflecting on the journey of Abraham, I asked myself if we could take Abraham's experience as a template of God's relationship with mankind.  In other words, does God reveal Himself in each person's life at some point, with an invitation to come out of our present situation to "a land which I will show you"?

I have read that faith is always based on an experience of love.  That is, we trust God and follow Him because we have first experienced in some way His absolute love and providence for us.  When we read the story of Abraham, we see not only the call of God to come out of paganism, but the providence of God in delivering Sarah from the harem of Egypt.  Later, we see the power of God on Abraham's behalf as Abraham sets out to deliver his kinsman Lot from the kings of surrounding cities.

In the New Testament Gospel of John, we see the first disciples encounter Jesus as He "sees" them for who they really are -- in their first encounter with them, He sees into their souls.  When He first meets Peter, He says, "You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas (Rock)."  When Jesus first meets Nathanael, He says, "Here is a true Israelite in whom there is nothing false."  "How do you know me?" asks Nathanael.  When Jesus replies that He saw Nathanael before Philip called him, Nathanael immediately recognizes who Jesus is:  "You are the Son of God; You are the king of Israel!"

Thomas Merton says that faith is the knowledge of God that is inseparable from an experience of love (The New Man, p. 71).  Abraham knew Who God Is because of God's love and providence for him.  Peter, Nathanael, Matthew, Mary Magdalene, and the other disciples encountered the personal love of God for them in the Person of Jesus.

So my question is this:  Does each person encounter in some way the revelation of God's love in his or her life?  Karl Rahner, the greatest theologian of the 20th century, asserts that we have encountered God in our lives, whether we recognize it or not.  "O yes," Rahner says, "you have encountered Him."  At this point, I need to re-read Karl Rahner for the 21st Century to recall the background and context for his statement, but I am intrigued with the question:  Is Abraham a template?  Does God reveal Himself to each person in some way?  

The Best Christmas Ever

 It's January 1, almost 4 a.m., and I'm sitting in the dark beside the Christmas tree with its deep red ornaments and scarlet ribbon.  Across the room is my creche set, highlighted with soft green lights and scented with handmade candles sent by my daughter.  It looks and smells like Christmas in this room.  Outside the window, the outdoor lights are still visible, the last ones in my neighborhood.  I had planned to leave them lit until January 6, when I take down the crib set, but I may cave in to social pressure before then.  

I had been traveling for a few weeks after Thanksgiving this year, so I missed most of the Christmas hype in stores and in the media this year.  No "Jingle Bells," no advertisements, no last-minute sales.....  Instead, I was traveling through Thailand and Vietnam, seeing all the Buddhist and Indian shrines, watching people come to worship the Buddha or their ancestors, or the 333 million gods of Hinduism.  And I could not help recalling the magnificent prologue to John's Gospel:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God....and the Word was God....In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it....The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world....He was in the world and though the world was made by Him, the world did not recognize Him.  Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, he gave the right to become children of God.....No one has ever seen God, but God the only Son, who is at the Father's side, has made Him known.

I returned home two weeks before Christmas, and since the family had all agreed this year to not exchange presents, all I had to do was to put up the Christmas tree and the crib. I had put up the outdoor lights before I left, but did not activate them until my return.  Our holiday get-together was scheduled for the week after Christmas, so the burden of cooking and house cleaning was postponed until then.  I had ordered a meditation book called Welcoming the Christ Child with Padre Pio before I left, so the two weeks before Christmas was a time of relaxation and reflection for me.

By the time Christmas morning arrived, I was welcoming and rejoicing in the Gift of the Light of the World. I knew the Light had come; I was ready to celebrate it!  That night, the opening statement of the news anchor was, "Goodbye Christmas. Hello, Mardi Gras!"  Wait, What?  I thought we were going to celebrate the birth of Christ here.....the Light of the World!  Kawaanza lasts for a week ---- What about Christmas?  It's Over!  No celebration ---- it's over.  The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has never understood it.  The light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness instead.

I realized then how out-of-step it is to live the liturgical year.  Our church will be ablaze with Christmas trees, poinsettias, and lights until Jan. 6 --- the celebration of the Light revealed to the nations (Feast of Epiphany --- the three kings).  And I too will keep my lights and candles lit until then, putting them away reluctantly until next year.  

Sometimes I wonder how God feels about sending His Son into the world, and watching the lights go off the next day:  Christmas is over. Next!