The Creed

[Psychotheosophy]

How do we all as Catholics,
Understand The Creed,
In terms of the Summa?

 

[Corki]

Can you be more specific? The Summa’s a big book and the Creed is a short prayer.

 

[Psychotheosophy]

Can you be more specific? The Summa’s a big book and the Creed is a short prayer.

“Creeds articulate the faith of Christians into different articles so-called, into connected parts.”
“Now what makes things objects of faith is Truth himself… And what the Truth makes believable includes God but also much else related to Truth himself,…”

The Summa and Creed are divided into articles,
But each of these articles,
Lead to belief,
In Truth.

Is there one you would like to begin with?

The Creed begins with,“We believe in God,…”

What we believe is what we consider as Truth,
So, we believe in God who is the Truth in Principle.

All people naturally desire the Truth in Principle,
And this is not a result from one’s own thinking.

Since our thinking and choosing are defective,
(We may reject that which we know is good for us,
Or think that something evil is good, and then choose it),
We may erroneously think about and reject that which comes naturally to us.

So, we need to make ourselves open to receiving the Truth,
Since we are not its source.

 

[Psychotheosophy]

The Creed also includes:
“He (Jesus) suffered, died, and was buried, And on the third day he rose again.”

We believe that Jesus (human and divine)
Died in his humanity, not in his divinity (Truth)
Rather he was resurrected by his divinity.

When we die with Christ (The Way to God),
We die to our own thinking and choosing (humanity),
And are resurrected by Truth (divinity).

Our thinking and choosing eventually becomes perfected.

 

[Psychotheosophy]

The Creed also includes:
“He (Jesus) suffered, died, and was buried, And on the third day he rose again.”

Beliefs (in humanity) change, the Principle of Truth (divinity) does not.

The Principle of Truth is both an End (Truth),
And a guide or Way to that End (Principle).
As beliefs are united to a Principle,
They can still change.

Therefore,

Jesus who is God and man,
His humanity is changeable,
His divinity is not changeable.
Though his beliefs never changed,
God could never forget that he is God,
Because Truth can never hold an untruth.

At some masses,
Some priests required adding to the Nicene Creed:

“He suffered, died, and was buried, and on the third day he rose again from the dead.”

They suggested that Jesus was reincarnated,
And eventually realized that he was God.
Jesus, again and again escaped death,
As others often sought to kill him.
But this is not reincarnation.

 

[Corki]

At some masses,
Some priests required adding to the Nicene Creed:

“He suffered, died, and was buried, and on the third day he rose again from the dead.”

I am keeping this thread alive because I am facinated by the discussion even though I am woefully unqualified to partake.

I just want to point out that “He rose again from the dead” is the wording in some of the translations of the Apostles Creed. It is the way I learned it as a child and the way I have heard it in most public Rosaries. I never thought it referred to reincarnation but rather was a short cut way of saying He rose from *the place of *the dead. I agree, I have never seen this wording in the Nicene Creed.

 

[Psychotheosophy]

I just want to point out that “He rose again from the dead” is the wording in some of the translations of the Apostles Creed. It is the way I learned it as a child and the way I have heard it in most public Rosaries. I never thought it referred to reincarnation but rather was a short cut way of saying He rose from *the place of *the dead. I agree, I have never seen this wording in the Nicene Creed.

It doesn’t refer to reincarnation.

“For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit; in which he went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly did not obey.” (1 Peter 3:18-20)

“To raise up or to awake from the dead, (Christ’s) soul before the Resurrection, was in the Empire of the Dead, that is, in the underworld.” (Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma)

He descended into Scheol in spirit,
Then,
He rose from Scheol in spirit,
Then,
He rose from bodily death through resurrection.

“The purpose of his descent into Hell was according to the general teaching of theologians, the freeing of the just in Limbo by the application of the fruits of the Redemption, that is by the communication of the Beatific Vision” (Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma)

We see God imperfectly (e.g. Truth, Principle, and the Unity of Truth in Principle),
And we dimly see God (Happiness as imperfect happiness),
Seeing Perfect Happiness (God) is the Beatific Vision.

“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)

“Courage’s ability to endure requires patience to remain unbroken by sorrow and perseverance to remain undefeated by hardship: and these too are both component parts of courage and its subsidiary virtues. Confidence is hope in oneself, though in subordination to God, of course.” (Summa Theologica: A Concise Translation)

Faith is related to hope in God,
Hope in God is related to,
Courage and patience.

“When God’s patience waiting in the days of Noah during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.” (1 Peter 3:20-21)

Souls in Scheol,
Who were patient,
United under God’s patience,
Which preceded baptism (the sacrament of faith in Jesus),
United them to God and helped them ultimately see the Beatific Vision.
(However, at least Moses and Elijah of the OT were assumed immediately into heaven.)

 

[Psychotheosophy]

“The debt of death is none the less in them, and that the punishment of death will be remitted by God, since He can also forgive the punishment due to actual sins.” (Summa Theologica Volume II, Article 3, Objection 1; also see 1 Cor 15:51)

Moses and Elijah never died,
But so will those when Christ comes again.

But even Moses would have died
If he received the Beatific Vision,
Before the end of his life,
As the sensory part of his body
Was covered in God’s presents. (Exodus 33:22)

Perfect Happiness is beyond the senses,
The soul must separate from the body (death) to first see Perfect Happiness, (2 Cor 5:1)
And this is the ultimate mortification of the senses,
And since the soul naturally
Gives unity to the body,
After the soul,
Is subjected to Perfect Happiness,
God (Unity, Perfect Happiness) reunites the body with the soul, glorifying it. (Phil 3:21)

“God is then to the soul a lamp of omnipotence which shines and bestows all knowledge in respect to this attribute. And the splendor of this lamp of God’s being insofar as He is wisdom grants the soul light and warmth of the love of God according to His wisdom. God is then a lamp of wisdom to it. And the splendor of this lamp insofar as it is goodness imparts to the soul light and warmth of love according to His goodness. God is then a lamp of goodness to it. He is also to the soul a lamp of justice, fortitude, and mercy, and of all the other attributes which are represented to it together in God. The light communicated to it from all these attributes together is enveloped in the warmth of God by which it loves Him because He is all these things.”

The Living Flame of Love, St. John of the Cross

God is metaphorically called “Light,”
Light gives more light to where there is dim light,
Light gives warmth which cauterizes (unites).
Happiness (Love, God) defines wisdom,
Wisdom contains attributes (such as fortitude)
Patience and perseverance are related to fortitude (courage)
Therefore, God continues to feed the souls in Scheol (Psalm 70:20-21)

Since God sees Himself exactly as He is,
By uniting to God, the soul shares in that vision we call Beatific.

 

[Psychotheosophy]

These attributes are like colors of a rainbow,
Refraction of the pure white Light,
Obscured by the clouds,
But seen by faith.

In these colors are the promise of seeing that pure white light.

We suffer through mortification of the senses,
And the suffering in spirit (such as patience),
But the payment of human suffering and death,
(The Way to the seeing Perfect Happiness),
Are insufficient in seeing that Vision,
Unless that Way is perfectly united,
To its End (Perfect Happiness).

Christ is the Principle of Perfect Happiness
He is the Way to that End,
And is the End itself.

“Baptism conforms us to the pattern of Christ’s sufferings and resurrection, making us dead to sin and starting a new life of justice.”

Summa Theologica: A Concise Translation

Therefore,

Christ ascends his humanity to Perfect Happiness,
And has the power to bring others,
Who unite to Him by faith.

All of this corresponds,
To the opening of the seven seals,
Mentioned in the Book of Revelation,
Events prior to the Second Coming of Christ.
(Chapters 6-8:1).

As the Creed states:

“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.”

 

[Psychotheosophy]

God continues to feed the souls in Scheol (Psalm 70:20-21)

After the fall of man,

An angel with a sword was established to separate and guard the way to the tree of Life (The Cross), (Genesis 3:24)
After being separation from God, being fed by God became more difficult, requiring suffering, (Genesis 3:17)
This sickness of original sin (defect of thinking and willing) also lead to physical death,
(Our weakness of will (like Pilate’s in the Creed) lead us to need Christ’s death),
And death was followed by Scheol, which needed a patience rooted in faith,

Which ended with the risen Christ.

The baptised fall who reject mortification,
But the faith of those who mortify,
Increases to eventually see,
The Beatific Vision.

Uniting to Christ,
We feed on him,
And he on us.
Through mortification.

(He delights in our virtues obtained by feeding on Him, our Happiness)

(We feed on Christ in the Eucharist.
Unfortunately, and for quite less than obvious reasons,
I have received only the transubstantiated wine, mixed with oil, once in the past two years)

 

[Psychotheosophy]

I have received only the transubstantiated wine, mixed with oil, once in the past two years)

Thanks to God,
The obstacles were lacking,
In preventing this.

On Promoting Devotion to the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
An Apostolic Letter from Blessed Pope John XXIII.
June 30, 1960

preciousbloodinternational.com/prayers_01.html

This Red Precious Blood,
Which flows from the Heart of Jesus,
Symbolic of His Love,
United to His mother’s Immaculate Heart, (the Virgin Mary),
Has extraordinary power.

Separating from His Life-giving Blood,
Is the development of gangrene,
Which is black and/or green,
And/or yellowish brown in color.

“(The splendor of this lamp of God’s being, insofar as He is omnipotent, imparts light to the soul and the warmth of love of Him according to His omnipotence.) God is then to the soul a lamp of omnipotence which shines and bestows all knowledge in respect to this attribute. And the splendor of this lamp of God’s being insofar as He is wisdom grants the soul light and warmth of the love of God according to His wisdom…”

The Living Flame of Love, St. John of the Cross

This lamp of power,
Gives all knowledge
In respect to God’s power,

As this same lamp of wisdom,
Gives fortitude and patience,
Rooted in faith,
(Where what we see,
Turns to what is unseen.)

 

[Psychotheosophy]

This corresponds with,
“The Miracle of the Sun”
Occurring in Fatima on October 13, 1917…

"After Our Lady had disappeared into the immense distance of the firmament, we beheld St. Joseph with the Child Jesus and Our Lady robed in white with a blue mantle, beside the sun. St. Joseph and the Child Jesus appeared to bless the world, for they traced the Sign of the Cross with their hands. When, a little later, this apparition disappeared, I saw Our Lord and Our Lady; it seemed to me that it was Our Lady of Dolor’s. Our Lord appeared to bless the world in the same manner as St. Joseph had done. This apparition also vanished, and I saw Our Lady once more, this time resembling Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, holding the child Jesus in one hand and the brown scapular in the other hand.

At the predetermined hour, the rain stopped, and the thick mass of clouds broke. The sun looked like a disc of dull silver, and began dancing wildly. The people shouted out: “MIRACLE!” It seems that the majority of the people saw the sun trembling and dancing, whirling around like a catherine wheel; it descended almost low enough to burn the earth with its rays. Many thought the end of the world had come, as the sun seemed to fall upon them. People reported color changes in objects on earth, caused by the rays of the sun. Some expressed sorrow for their sins aloud. Some who had come to ridicule now believed."

www.fatimaconference.org/sixthapparitionoctober131917.htm

1. As opposed to the heart of the earth…

The expression “heart of the earth” does not signify the grave, but the underworld (Scheol), which was visualized as being localized in the interior of the earth, as it were in its heart (Matthew 12:40)

Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma

…The Sacred Heart of Jesus,
Flows His blood and water (John 19:34),
Representing the water of baptism and His Precious Blood.
Which are represented by blue and red rays,
Portrayed in the picture of Divine Mercy.

1. Our Lady of Dolor’s (Sorrows),
   Corresponds to the seven sorrows,
   Associated with the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
2. Our Lady of Mount Carmel,
   Corresponds to the Ascent of Mount Carmel,
   Described by St. John of the Cross.
3. Faith is represented by the clouds covering the sun (The Source of Light).
4. Looking at the Sun, which usually damages the eyes, could be seen,
   Corresponds seeing God face to face without dying.
5. The sun descending low enough to burn the earth with its rays,
   Represents the uniting cautery of God.
6. Thoughts of the end of the world,
   Corresponds to the seven seals of Revelation.
7. People reporting color changes,
   Corresponds to restoration.

“It is coincidence that, in Lowland Scots the words “gang green” (going green) can be said to be an eggcorn for gangrene, as it describes the symptoms of the affliction.”

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangrene

1. The expression of sorrow for sins,
   Is followed by deep concern,
   Stated by Mary earlier that same day…

“They must amend their lives and ask forgiveness for their sins.” Looking very sad, Our Lady said: “Do not offend the Lord our God any more, because He is already so much offended.”

www.fatimaconference.org/sixthapparitionoctober131917.htm

“…exterior decorations and adornments which so engross the senses that your heart is impeded from turning toward God, loving Him, and forgetting all things out of love for Him? If you fail in this love because of these other objects, He will not merely fail to reward you, but will punish you for not having sought His pleasure in all things instead of your own… We get a clear understanding of this in the festivity that was celebrated in honor of His Majesty when (Jesus) entered Jerusalem while they were expressing thanks to Him with songs and palm branches, He was weeping because He knew in spite of those exterior signs and decorations their hearts were far from Him (Lk 19:35-44). Evidently they were celebrating their own selves more than God.”

The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book III, Chapter 38, Section 2

 

[Psychotheosophy]

The Creed also states:
“We acknowledge one baptism
for the forgiveness of sins.”

By baptism,
A person enters the Church,
Symbolically the “Bride of Christ.”

“The soul is indestructible; so character is imprinted on it indelibly. Grace has a complete existence within the soul, but character exists only as an instrumental power… Instrumental power is not properly speaking, a new or independent kind of power but an incomplete derivation of the complete power producing it… But instrumental power depends rather on the condition of the agent, and character exists indelibly in the soul: not because of any completeness of character as such, but because of the completeness of Christ’s priesthood from which the character is derived as a sort of instrumental power.”

Summa Theologica: A Concise Translation

The soul has existence,
Which can not be removed.
But is not Existence itself.

“Those who believed in Christ are released by baptism from liability of punishment for sins committed and from their inherited liability to exclusion from glory, yet remain bound to the inherited liability to die. They are renewed in spirit but not in body. Christ’s decent into the underworld freed those united by faith and love to his sufferings.”

Summa Theologica: A Concise Translation

The character of baptism,
Which also can not be removed,
Is imprinted on the soul, not the body.

“Now a form that exists complete in a subject puts on the conditions of that subject, and since the soul during our present life is subject to alteration according to our free will, so too is grace: it can come and go.”

Summa Theologica: A Concise Translation

Though the soul can change,
It’s character can not change,
So there is a need for only one baptism.

“After this life, there will be no more external worship, but the goal of that worship will still exist, and the character too, to the glory of the good and the shame of the bad, just as the soldier’s tattoo outlasts victory or defeat… (In ancient times, enlisted soldiers were tattooed on their bodies - their task being a bodily one - and the tattoo was called a character).”

Summa Theologica: A Concise Translation

Since the baptized soul can change according to the goal,
Which it freely chooses (Good or evil),
The baptized can still go to hell.

 

[Prophesy]

Sorry for being immensely off topic, but I wanted to let you know that the rules discourage from posting numerous times consecutively in order to surpass the maximum post size.

-Prophecy

 

[Psychotheosophy]

Sorry for being immensely off topic, but I wanted to let you know that the rules discourage from posting numerous times consecutively in order to surpass the maximum post size.

-Prophecy

Sorry, I didn’t mean to surpass the maximum post size,
These are thoughts which occur to me each day,
And hopefully generate discussion.

However, I’m glad you have been reading them.
Could you comment on the following?

“Sacramental character is an imprint on the soul, sharing in Christ’s priesthood,
Who offered himself as a sacrifice of Love for others.
It was a choice to which we too are appointed,
Through baptism.”

 

[Psychotheosophy]

I hope I’m not breaking any forum rules…

From the picture of Divine Mercy,
We see blue and red rays of light
Coming from the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Pure white light represents the light of Christ.
The blue and red rays of light represent,
The blue water of baptism,
And the red Precious Blood of Christ.

At Fátima,
Mary was robed in white with a blue mantle.
Representing the unity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
With the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Which brings us to baptism.

The Holy Spirit acts in Mary in a special way,
Bringing Christ to us,
And us to Christ,
Out of sin to baptism,
(As from the slavery of Egypt to the crossing of the Red Sea).

Baptism conforms us to His one time event,
Of death to resurrection,
In His humanity,
(Which is “The Ark of the Covenant” - Explanatio Apacalypsis 11, 19)

Baptism devotes us to the worship of God.
The worship of God involves external bodily worship,
Which leads to interior worship,
Uniting our hearts and minds to God.

Fr. Colgan, who founded the World Apostolate of Fátima (originally known as the Blue Army of Our Lady of Fátima), stated, “We will be the Blue army of Mary and Christ, against the red of the world and of Satan.” The red was comparable to the Red Army of Russia, as Pope Pius XII stated, “As the world chief against communism I bless you and all members of the Blue Army.”

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Army_of_Our_Lady_of_Fatima

The “Red” in the Red Army symbolically represents, “the blood shed by the working class in its struggling against capitalism, and the belief that all people are equal.”

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army

Though the blood of the working class
May unite with the Precious Blood of Christ,
It is mistaken to equate the blood of the working class,
With the Precious Blood of Christ.
The Precious Blood of Christ is far greater,
Since it is perfectly united to God.

 

[Psychotheosophy]

Certainly, the mindful detachment (shedding) from material things,
Such as money, belongings, and the body itself,
Allows us to conform to the Way to Happiness,
Giving us time to reflect on what is most meaningful,
Ultimately, which is Meaning itself.

 

[Psychotheosophy]

However, the error of spiritual materialism,
Is found in different countries,
Whether they are “Christian” or “Communist”,
They are attracted to wealth and power over God.