For our purposes, "creed" is defined as:

*a statement of beliefs
*a profession of faith
*a summary of the principal beliefs of the Church

I believe in God the Father, Almighty,
Creator of Heaven and Earth...

God is ALMIGHTY - meaning he is the most mighty and powerful - we call this OMNIPOTENT - all powerful.

We acknowledge and believe God really created heaven and earth...

... and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
(at this point, we should BOW our head)

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
(we should raise our head)
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
he descended into hell;
on the third day he rose again from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty;
from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy *catholic Church
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.

~ Amen

* notice the word catholic is NOT upper case. Why do you think this is?

Catholic with an capital C is how we denote the Roman Catholic Church.

catholic with a lower case C means "universal."

Even some Protestant religions include catholic in their version of the creeds.

What does AMEN mean?? Anytime we say amen, it is not just signaling the end of a prayer. It actually means I BELIEVE!

So, back in the day (mid 200's to early 300's), there was this guy named Arius and he had some distinct ideas about Jesus and how God the Son related to God the Father.

Arius taught that Jesus was a holy man but NOT equal to God the Father - that Jesus didn't ALWAYS exist but was created by God.

Our Catholic faith teaches us that God, the Father and God, the Son and God, the Holy Spirit were all one God in three persons.

We can trace this back to a scripture passage from Genesis (the first book of the Bible).
Genesis 1: 26
"Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness."

Arius and his subsequent teachings became known as Arianism. And, the Council of Nicea (council is like a big gathering of the people who are deemed "in charge") was convened (opened/started) in the year 325. Hence the Creed is now known as the Nicene (or Nicean) Creed. It was further defined in 381 when it was revised to the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (aka - Nicene Creed).

The Creed itself details the belief in the Triune God - the Holy Trinity - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten - NOT made,
*consubstantial with the Father..

Let's break for a moment here and talk about this.

One Lord, Jesus Christ - the only BEGOTTEN Son of God - that is important - so important they stress again - BEGOTTEN, not made. Jesus is PART of the Father, part of God. He is not MADE separately from the Father.

This is the mystery in the Holy Trinity - ONE God, three persons.

So continuing on...
through him all things were made.

For us men and our salvation, he came down from heaven...

(FROM this point forward - we should bow our head)
and by the Holy Spirit, was **incarnate of the Virgin Mary
and became man.
(We should raise our head)

** so let's stop again. INCARNATE. What on earth does that mean? It's a big fancy word that basically means took on the body of a human being.

Why do we BOW? Because it is the most sacred - the "incarnation"

For our sake, he was crucified under Pontius Pilate
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures. ++

++What does this mean - in accordance with the Scriptures? The coming of the Messiah has been foretold all throughout the Old Testament. Jesus' birth begins the New Testament. The "Scriptures"

He ascended in to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.**

** so we're stopping again - who proceeds from the Father and the Son... again, Jesus and God didn't have a DIY night making the Holy Spirit - the Holy Spirit is an equal person of the Holy Trinity.

And this - the role of the Holy Spirit, was defined more in detail and in depth during the later gathering in Constantinople. The Holy Spirit is an equal part of the Triune God.

.... who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets. +*

+* Prophets are from the "Scriptures"

I believe in one, holy, catholic (small C again) and apostolic Church ++

One, Holy, catholic and apostolic are known as the FOUR MARKS of the CHURCH (little trivia there)

I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.
~ Amen