beati quorum salute

We as followers of Christ know in our hearts what we believe as Christians, and the faith that has been passed on to us over the last two millennia.  It has been easier to know faith in your heart than it has been to articulate in through a formal means.  So great has the difficulty been, that it took nearly three centuries after Christ’s resurrection to put it in to words for the first time.  The venerable bishops of the early church convened at the behest of Constantine I in Nicea in the year 325.  From this council, came the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, known simply as the Nicene Creed.  While its deeper origins are up to debate, its truths came from the heart of our early church fathers, guided by the teachings of Jesus passed down by the Apostles and guided by the Holy Spirit.  Its text would be altered over time, even within short time of its inception, and as recently as this very century, but the message remains true.  This creed is such a focal point of our faith, we recite regularly and its counterpart the Apostle’s Creed is recited countless times by the faithful daily with the Holy Rosary.  While the Creeds are at the center of our structured faith, we have other core elements that have been passed down originating from Jesus which are easier to feel than they are to articulate, namely seeking forgiveness for and being absolved of our sins.

 From the creed we profess that we, “...acknowledge one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins…”  Through Baptism, we are given a clean slate and wiped clean of Original Sin passed down from our ancestors Adam and Eve.  From Christ we have been given a great sacrament and spiritual tool, that of Reconciliation.  This sacrament however, is not passive, it is not like faith, that we can know it in our heart and need only profess it occasionally en masse.  The Sacrament of Reconciliation is something that we must be active participants in, much like we are called to individually profess our faith.  St. Peter tells us, “It is the Baptism… which saves you now… the pledge of a good conscience given to God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” (1 Peter 3:21).  We are given the privilege of reaffirming our Baptismal promises again at the sacrament of Confirmation when we become sealed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, celebrating when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles on Pentecost.  Baptism and Confirmation are sacraments which we only receive once and are foundations of our lifelong path of faith.  To nourish this faith journey, there are two sacraments which we may receive repeatedly.  We can repeatedly partake in the sacrifice we commemorate with the Holy Eucharist which nourishes our souls with strength upon the journey.  To ensure we stay close to God, we are bestowed with the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Reconciliation allows us to articulate the sorrow for our sins we feel in our heart to God, and receive pardon from Him through the priest administering the sacrament.  This sacrament is rooted in our faith tradition as passed on from Jesus.  When Christ appeared in their midst at Pentecost, “... He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained,” (John 20:22-23).