Profession of Faith

In less than two weeks, the new Roman Missal will be unveiled, on the First Sunday of Advent. The people will notice the changes when it comes to responses and the priests will notice considerable changes when it comes to all the contents in the Roman Missal. Everything has been translated to the authentic latin language. As we know, Latin is still the official language of the Roman Catholic Church. One change that we will notice is with the Nicene Creed that we profess each week. For years that profession of faith has begun with, "We believe." Now, all the we's will become "I." The latin version of the Nicene Creed begins with the word, "Credo," which translated is, "I believe." In going back to "I," the creed puts the profession of faith back in our court. Instead of saying "we" in a general sense, we are saying that, "I" believe. This is our personal confession of faith and it is a gift that has been given to us by God. My personal faith is a gift to be professed and lived to the fullest. One commentary responded this way after listening to the gospel that we had for this past weekend, Matthew 25:14-30. "God has entrusted us with generous gifts that are no less valuable than that which the rich man entrusted to his servants, and like the rich man, what God expects is not an ordinary return. We have been given a gift called faith, and faith must be invested" (The Priest, October 2011, 28). When we live our faith, we invest it but we also take risks. We should not be afraid to live our faith in the world and in our respective communities. Each Sunday, we profess our faith in the peace and security of the church building, but the challenge is to live our faith outside the church doors. Our new, but old, profession of faith will make our confession of faith personal. As we recite this beautiful prayer, let us pray for the grace and courage to live our faith and share this beautiful gift with others! God Bless You!!!