The Bible also uses the term “death” to describe a power opposed to God, which threatens and seeks to destroy both physical and spiritual life.

Thus the Revelation of Jesus Christ figuratively describes death as a person: “So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him”

​

(Revelation 6: 8).

There is a distinction between the physical death and the spiritual death of a human being. Physical death signifies the end of life on earth. When it occurs, soul and spirit leave the body. Spiritual death is the separation of a human being from God. It is the consequence of sin.

When the Bible speaks of the “second death” (cf. Revelation 20: 6; 21: 8), this refers to the separation from God that takes effect after the Last Judgement.

​

Last Judgement: see Questions 579. et seq.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6: 23

Yes. Man is both a physical being and a spiritual being. He is an entity consisting of body, soul, and spirit.

The human body is mortal and is thus transitory. It is taken from the earth and will return to the earth (cf. Genesis 3: 19). Soul and spirit, by contrast, live on after physical death, and are thus immortal. The personhood of a human being—that is, his essence, that which comprises him, and that which he has experienced, felt, believed, and thought—thus continues to exist after physical death.

“For God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity.”

Wisdom of Solomon 2: 23

Eschatology is the study of the eschaton, of the last things. It deals with God’s eternity and man’s final relationship with God. And so it pertains to questions concerning heaven, hell, purgatory, the particular and final judgments, the resurrection of the body, and the new heavens and the new earth.

​

• Our teaching about the afterlife is also included in the Nicene Creed. “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.”

• We are reminded about the last things, about heaven, hell, final judgment, and eternal life.

•  We are reminded that Jesus will come again at the end of the world to judge the world and bring his work on earth to completion.

The Church is also catholic. St. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 100) used this word meaning "universal" to describe the Church (Letter to the Smyrnaens). The Church is indeed Catholic in that Christ is universally present in the Church and that He has commissioned the Church to evangelize the world — "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations" (Matthew 28:19).

​

Moreover, we must not forget that the Church here on earth — what we call the Church militant — is united to the Church triumphant in Heaven and the Church suffering in Purgatory. Here is the understanding of the communion of saints — the union of the faithful in Heaven, in Purgatory, and on earth.

• Today, we will look at the second mark, which says the Church is holy.
 

• The Church is holy because Jesus, who founded her, and the Holy Spirit, who dwells in and guides her, are holy. In the Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church, it explains that "The Church is holy, not because all her members are supposedly holy, but rather because God is holy and is at work in her" (YouCat 132). This is part of the "mystery" of the Church, that although comprised of sinners, she remains holy, sanctified by Christ. The Catechism refers to this as the "real, though imperfect" sanctity of the Church (CCC 825). Even if members and clergy within the Church are corrupt, the Church can never be corrupt. In fact, in the In catechism, we read that the Church is "unfailingly holy"

The "oneness" of the Church is also visible. As Catholics, we are united in our Creed and our other teachings, the celebration of the sacraments, and the hierarchical structure based on the apostolic succession preserved and handed on through the Sacrament of Holy Orders. For example, whether one attends Mass in Colombo, San Francisco, Moscow, Mexico City, or wherever, the Mass is the same — the same readings, structure, prayers, and the like except for a difference in language — celebrated by the faithful who share the same Catholic beliefs, and offered by a priest who is united to his bishop who is united to the Holy Father, the pope, the successor of St. Peter.

In our oneness, we do find diversity: The faithful bear witness to many different vocations and many different gifts but work together to continue the mission of our Lord. The various cultures and traditions enrich our Church in their expressions of one faith. In all, charity must permeate the Church, for it is through charity that the members are bound together and work together in harmonious unity.

• The Creed also teaches us about the four marks of the Church, that is, the four identifying characteristics of the Church.

• The Church is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.

• There is only one Church of Christ, and it subsists in the Catholic Church.

• All other Christian Churches are understood to be in some way part of the Catholic Church, united in baptism, but not all are in full communion.

• Many Catholics used to believe that Christians from other traditions were not saved. That is not true. The Second Vatican Council and all of our ecumenical efforts remind us that other Christian people are saved.

• They are in some mysterious way already a part of the Catholic Church through baptism.

• Some of them are not yet in full communion with the Catholic Church but they are a part of it nevertheless.

When we talk about the Paschal Mystery we are referring to God’s plan of salvation which was ultimately fulfilled through four events in Christ’s life. Those four events are:

•   His Passion  

•   Death

•   Resurrection

•   Ascension

The Church calls this the paschal mystery. We are all invited to share in that mystery.

We are invited to take up our cross and follow Jesus, the absolute invitation of every liturgy we celebrate.

• The Creed professes and affirms that Jesus took on human form. He became a human being. He was both human and divine.

• One of the most beautiful theologies of the Incarnation is that Jesus made all creation holy just by taking on human form.

• Since Jesus was divine, his incarnation made the entire created universe, men, women, and all created things, holy.

​​

• Our liturgy prays that a divine exchange took place. Jesus/God took human form and in so doing imbued us with his divinity, a spark of his divine life. Scriptures tell us we are made a little less than the Gods.

​​

• The Creed also professes that he was born of the Virgin Mary. The Creed upholds her very important place in God’s plan of salvation. This is why we honor Mary. She is the Theotokos, the Mother of God.

• In truth, there really is no language that adequately describes this or helps us get our heads around it. But still, we must try to understand it as it is a central part of Catholic Christian faith.

• ​

• The unity of the Trinity has always been perfect. There never was a time when Jesus did not exist. Jesus, the divine Son of God, who is God, was present at the creation of the world.

• ​

• However, each person of the Trinity, though one and in perfect unity, is nevertheless distinct from the other. They each have their own essences.  Each member of the Trinity has his own mission.

• ​

• The Father is the origin of all life. He and only he is the creator. The Son alone took on human form. The Son became incarnate. The Spirit flows from, comes out of, the Father and the Son as the greatest gift ever given to human beings. The Spirit carries on the work Jesus began in his incarnation.

• The establishment of the doctrine of the Trinity came in response to heresies that denied and doubted the humanity and the divinity of Jesus. For example, the words, "born of the Father before all ages" were inserted into the creed as a response to the Arian heresy that insisted that Jesus was created by the Father as a lesser being than the Father, not as the Father's equal. In other words, Jesus was not equal to the Father; he was somehow less than the Father.
   

• In the early Church, many of our doctrines had not been officially written or stated. Because of this, it did not take long for false ideas and assumptions to be made and promoted as Truth. These falsehoods are known today as "heresies," and the Arian heresy is one of the first and most prominent of them all.

• Arius taught that Christ was not fully God. Instead, he taught that the Son was a creature of God, created by Him, and therefore not the same nature or substance as Him. According to Arius, God the Father was the only being in existence, before the Son. He created the Son after Him.

• The problem with this idea is that it makes Christ almost inferior to God the Father and denies His divinity. The Catholic Church teaches that Christ was fully God and fully man.

• The Nicene Council refuted that heresy and inserted the fact that Jesus was always a part of the Godhead. Jesus was always divine and was present with the Father from the very beginning.

• When we call God “Father,” we do not mean that literally. God is not father as we understand the human father. The Catechism reminds us that God does not have gender as we do. “Father” is a metaphor for expressing God’s love, his compassion, his tenderness, and his desire to care for us. There are other biblical images of God besides “father.” The Wisdom tradition refers to God as the divine Sophia, another name for Wisdom.

•  

• The New Testament uses the image of a woman looking for a lost coin as a metaphor for God as well.  When we say “maker of heaven and earth,” we powerfully acknowledge that God is not just the God of Israel, but God is the only God there is! God is the creator. 

•  

• God is Lord of the universe, of the cosmos. God is ruler of all created things.

• Let us consider the first sentence. “I believe in one God.” The catechism tells us how we are to understand this first sentence.

• We affirm faith in one and only one God.

• We call on God in faith, and we abandon our lives to his providential care.

• We surrender our lives to God.

• We promise to love God with our whole heart, mind, and soul.

• We affirm that we are disciples and that we are in relationship with God

• God loved us so much that he revealed his name to us. When one person discloses his or her name to another person, that person makes himself or herself known to the other person. God made himself known to human beings by disclosing his name.

•  

• Believing in one God has huge consequences for the way we live our lives.

• We come to know God’s awesome majesty.

• We must adore him and serve him.

• We must have a thankful heart for all God has given to the human race.

• Believing in one God means that we appreciate and acknowledge the unity and dignity of all people—we are made in God’s image, and we must honor that image in every person.

• Believing in God means that we make good use of all that God has given us, all created things.

• We are to retain everything that brings us closer to God. We are to discard everything that distracts us from God.

• Believing in God means we are to trust God in every circumstance. The catechism cites St. Theresa: Let nothing trouble you. Let nothing frighten you. Patience obtains all. Whoever has God wants for nothing. God alone is enough.

• Isn’t it strange, first of all, that we say “I believe in” and not “we believe in”? Wouldn’t it make more sense, especially when reciting the creed as a Catholic community at Mass, to say “we believe in”? Wouldn’t “we believe” better reflect our identity as the corporate body of Christ? 

•  

• This reminds us that this is how we respond, as individuals, to the questions of our faith, even when we make this response in unison with others. Our faith demands an individual commitment.

• ​

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, #193, tells us that there are two Creeds that hold a special place in the Church’s life. One is called the Apostles’ Creed, and the other is called the Nicene Creed. 

The Apostles’ Creed is described as a summary of the apostle’s faith. Early Christians had to confess this faith if they were to be baptized a Christian. 

The second creed, the Nicene Creed, receives its authority from its origin in the first two ecumenical councils in 325 A.D. and 381 A.D. 

The Nicene Creed was first formulated at the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. and was accepted as the absolute expression of faith at the Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D.

Churches in both the east and the west use this creed to this very day. Both creeds are equally important—one is not considered more important than the other. Both creeds help us deepen our faith as they are intended to be summaries of our faith.