Family Spirituality

Families can get more out of Mass

At Home with our Faith offered a series of 10 short articles on how your family can get more out of the Mass. We walked through the chronology of the Mass, from preparation and gathering through the final blessing and sending forth. Each week for ten issues we suggested ways that you and your family can better appreciate how the Mass can deepen and enrich our life together. What follows are the ten installments.

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!

Back when I was teaching religion to high-school sophomores they’d often question why they needed to recite the Creed every Sunday. They thought it was boring. I’d answer these students the same way Ms. Pam Plucinski, the math teacher across the hall, answered when they asked why they needed to learn algebra: "To make you a better person." And while most of the kids under Ms. Plucinski’s stern tutelage mastered the mysteries of x - y = the cosine of 8 to the third over z, none of us will ever master all the mysteries contained in the Creed.

So why say the Creed? Because it’s good for us. Here are some reasons why:

* The Creed is the most complete capsulization of what we as Christians believe about God and our relationship to God.

*It offers us evocative and elegant language in a world too full of hollow and empty words. Phrases like "God from God, light from light, true God from true God" are dense and packed with meaning. Such words can work like depth charges in our heart and soul.

* We gain strength from standing shoulder-to-shoulder with fellow believers and reciting these beliefs aloud. We make a declaration of intent. We say, in essence, "We will open our minds and hearts to the pursuit of these truths in our daily lives. We will hold true to the life they call us to."

* These words are not some passing fad. They have been spoken for centuries by kings and peons, saints and strugglers, monks and poets, and family members just like you.

* Over time, the prayer will imprint itself on your heart. Like those algebra concepts that are long forgotten but nonetheless created helpful pathways in your brain, these loaded words can create pathways in your heart that will translate into a deeper, richer life. It’s not magic, but we are formed by what we expose ourselves to. Take your pick: Jerry Springer or the Nicene Creed. You make the call.

How can the Creed make sense to your family? This is not light and breezy stuff we’re talking about. We’re talking about the most fundamental questions of our existence. But kids have those same questions. Take the Creed, as well as your kids, quite seriously.

A. Explain what the Creed is: a concise statement of the central beliefs of the Church. It presents our worldview. Many may say the world lacks meaning or any real truth. Our Creed thunders out a different view.

B. Explain that these are mysteries we must spend our lives examining and that while we will never completely comprehend them, it is a worthwhile and noble human activity to wrestle with mystery.

C. Pick one phrase and, after pondering it yourself, talk about it with your children. For example, examine the statement about the Holy Spirit, "He has spoken through the prophets." This may seem like a mere restatement of the obvious. But look a little deeper. In these times when many people feel there is no God, and others feel that God is remote and uncaring, we have a statement that reveals that God not only cares about us, but speaks to us through holy people in our midst. We have revelations from God that we can rely on, that are true. We’re not cut adrift.

You can talk with your children about other phrases from the Creed that strike you. Then, when you stand together at Mass you will not only be talking about the faith of the ancient church, but telling something, too, about the church that exists right in your own home.