Why does the Creed follow the homily?
The Creed is all that Christ has come to teach us, and we do believe with all the strength of our souls. The symbol or Creed expresses our response and assent to what has been proclaimed in the readings taken from Sacred Scriptures and explained in the homily.
The Creed was not drawn up for use at Mass. In the earliest days of Christianity, a profession of faith was a prerequisite for being baptized. That explains why in the Creed we speak in the singular: “I believe...”
From this usage in the baptismal liturgy, the Creed later became an instrument to curb the heresy that threatened the principles of the faith. There arose the need to state these principles in precise and definite terms.
However, the familiar statements of the Apostles’ Creed did not measure up to the degree of precision needed. So, a more elaborate statement of belief or Creed was drawn up at the Council of Chalcedon (year 451). It combined the truths of the faith professed by the two earlier councils, one held in Nicaea (in 325) and the other at Constantinople (in 381). It is this Nicene Constantinopolitan Creed, basically, that we find in our Sunday Masses.
In the climate of doctrinal unrest in the fourth century, a heretic could easily steal into the assembly of the faithful. To prevent this, the whole congregation began to state the Catholic faith and affirm their adherence to it.
Such usage of the Creed in the liturgy began in Antioch and Constantinople. Then it spread to Spain, where it was adopted in the Council of Toledo (589). The council specified that the Creed should be recited before the Lord’s Prayer: “Let the Creed resound, so that the true faith may be declared in song, and that the souls of believers, in accepting that faith, may be ready to partake, in Communion, of the body and blood of Christ.”
The Creed thus became, together with the Lord’s Prayer, a preparation for Communion. From Spain, it passed to Western Europe, where it was placed after the Gospel. Rome itself did not adopt it in the Mass until the year 1014.
Nowadays, the Profession of Faith by the priest and the people is obligatory on Sundays and solemnities. It may also be said at special, more solemn celebrations.
It is worthwhile putting our lives on the line, giving ourselves completely, so as to respond to the love and confidence that God has placed in us.
It is worthwhile, above all, to decide to take our Christian life seriously. When we recite the Creed, we state that we believe in God the Father Almighty, in his Son Jesus Christ, who died and rose again, and in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life.
We affirm that the Church—one, holy, catholic, and apostolic—is the body of Christ enlivened by the Holy Spirit. We rejoice in the forgiveness of sins and in the hope of the resurrection.
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