Day 27: The Gift of the Creed

The Apostles' Creed is so called because it is rightly considered to be a faithful summary of the apostles' faith. It is the ancient baptismal symbol of the Church of Rome. Its great authority arises from this fact: it is "the Creed of the Roman Church, the See of Peter the first of the apostles, to which he brought the common faith". [St. Ambrose] CCC 194

In today's reading, we finish the intro to the Creeds. I must first of all mention that I made a mistake yesterday because the Catechism clearly lays out in CCC 196 that it "will follow the Apostles' Creed, which constitutes, as it were, 'the oldest Roman catechism'". I had mistakenly said that the Catechism will follow the Nicene Creed, which was wrong, but that it will make "constant references" to this Creed since it is "often more explicit and more detailed". With that out the way, this section does a good job wrapping up our intro to the Creed. I like how St. Ambrose is used on this, noting that:

This Creed is the spiritual seal, our heart's meditation and an ever-present guardian; it is, unquestionably, the treasure of our soul. CCC 197

The history of the early Church shows that it can be quite easy to slip into heresy over Christological doctrines (as does our modern age), which the Creed acts to safeguard the faith. In ancient times the Creeds distinguished between who was truly Catholic and who was not, such as the Arians. Likewise, in our day they show us who is truly Catholic, or other Christians holding to orthodox Christology, and those who are not such as Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Oneness Pentecostals, etc. 

I like the way the Catechism Companion, Vol I (p. 58) puts it about the Creed:

The creed is meant to be a boundary for us so that we do not say something about God that is not true and we do not deny something about God that is true. The creed, as an ever-present guardian, continues to lead us in the path of truth so that we can dive more deeply day by day into the reality of who God truly is. 

Council of Nicaea 325. Fresco in Salone Sistino, Vatican (1590)