What I Believe as a Catholic: Part Two

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J.M.J.

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Here is the link to Part One of this series.

The Nicene Creed
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;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
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.
He ascended into 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,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
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.
usccb.org

I'm going to take this line by line because it's just that important.

the Father Almighty

God is so powerful that He can take care of all your problems. You've heard it only a couple million times. It's on like every religious inspirational poster you've ever seen. Let's look at the big picture here, because if you're anything like me, you're SICK of inspirational quotes! (Or maybe it's just me. Huh.) God is so BIG! He's so big that you can't even comprehend it! I don't know about you but I'm glad that I'm not in charge. Don't get me wrong; I love being in charge. I want just enough power that I can control other people (honesty moment) but not too much that all the responsibility falls on my shoulders (sounds horrible, is horrible). Okay. So God is in control, He is Almighty. What does it mean that He is almighty? Let's look it up...oh! It means having complete power! Being omnipotent! God is totally powerful! Does that make you feel small? It should! God is BIGGER than you! AND all your problems! He really is! It's true! Not in a physical sense, mind. God is pure Spirit, so it's really hard to picture Him as a tangible Being (because He isn't). Another synonym is"supreme" (love that word)! This adjective is so important that sometimes people even use it as a synonym for God. They pray to the Almighty for help. In slang terms, almighty means enormous. So huge is a good way to think about how powerful God is. His power is huge. In other words, God is epic and Almighty. Chew on that for awhile. Thanks for reading this, fans. You have to put up with a lot to read my stuff, because you never know what style I'm going for. Truth is I never do either until I start typing.
Dictionary resource: Google

God bless you!
Stephanie