The new profession of faith

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Does anyone know where I could get a line by line explanation of the new profession of faith? I am only having some difficulty with 5 lines, but I’m stopped dead in my tracks. I can’t order a book and wait for it to get here, and I don’t have a kindle or a nook.
I know I’m impatient, but I’m trying to organize a class around this.
 
My recommendation would be to talk to your priest. We had a Baylor professor talk to us several weeks back about the new profession of faith. There is much to discuss on the subject. You could also look into contacting a Catholic in academia.
 
Thank you for replying. I am really just caught up in a few lines that seem confusing to me. I would love to have heard that professor speak on this topic.
 
Which five lines?

It really isn’t a new profession of faith just a new translation which is more faithfully translated.
 
It may be helpful to do a little research on the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite. The point of the new profession of faith is to bring it closer to the original Latin meanings that were not fully captured in original translations from Latin to English. Which lines are you are troubling you?
 
Ok here goes -
The problem I’m having is explaining the " the only begotten Son of God" with the following “born of the Father before all ages” and “begotten not made”. I do have a text that I’m trying to work with, but gees try to explain that to 8th graders. It’s definitely the “begotten” and “born” that are difficult for me to explain.
God the Father and God the Son are made of the same substance and are both timeless and eternal. The Father - Son thing is an analogy to describe the relationship between these two members of the trinity.
Any help/criticism is welcome.
 
Adrift
I am new to this whole way of communicating. I never did reply to what you said because I didn’t see it before I replied to Boo the engineer. I would love your feedback. I do understand that the “new” profession of faith is not really “new” it’s just more true to the Latin. I’m trying to break this apart for my 8th grade CCD class and it was going fine until I hit this one part. I just can’t put into words what I want to say here.
 
mary46 said:
Adrift
I am new to this whole way of communicating. I never did reply to what you said because I didn’t see it before I replied to Boo the engineer. I would love your feedback. I do understand that the “new” profession of faith is not really “new” it’s just more true to the Latin. I’m trying to break this apart for my 8th grade CCD class and it was going fine until I hit this one part. I just can’t put into words what I want to say here.
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That happens. I didn’t feel slighted since you answered Boo you answered me as well. I have a cd on it that I haven’t listened to yet. If it gives any insight I will post it.

The Creed came about because of the heresy of Arianism which denied the divinity of Jesus. Arianism was a paticularly stubborn heresy to fight. They had their own interpretation of Scripture that made it hard to pin them down. The Creed did just that. What it means is that Jesus is God and that He existed always. He was not created as the Arianis claimed. Hope I have helped

Welcome hope to see more of you here. 🙂
 
Adrift
You were helpful. I am trying to pick apart every little word, I think.
Thanks
 
mary46 said:
Does anyone know where I could get a line by line explanation of the new profession of faith? I am only having some difficulty with 5 lines, but I’m stopped dead in my tracks. I can’t order a book and wait for it to get here, and I don’t have a kindle or a nook.
I know I’m impatient, but I’m trying to organize a class around this.
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You mean this?

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,

At the words that follow up to and including and became man, all bow.

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.

You can find it at order-of-mass.pdf (application/pdf Object)
 
Michael,
Thanks. I actually have the words, but I’m trying to explain what they mean line by line. I just got stuck trying to find the words to explain some of the concepts.
 
Ah… Dr Edward Sri does a beautiful job in his CD from Lighthouse Catholic Media.

Try this though.

the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.

“Before all ages” means before time began, right?

Who else was there but God? So for Christ to be there means that Jesus is also God.
Tie that in with John 1:1-5 which makes it all the more clear. Being 8th graders they may ask how’d that work and if so point out that when dealing with God, we are dealing with the creator…the One who makes the rules, but isn’t bound by them.

You may get into the timelessness of God in that Jesus is referred to as “the Lamb, which was slain from the beginning of the world” (Revelation 13:8)
 
mary46 said:
Ok here goes -
The problem I’m having is explaining the " the only begotten Son of God" with the following “born of the Father before all ages” and “begotten not made”. I do have a text that I’m trying to work with, but gees try to explain that to 8th graders. It’s definitely the “begotten” and “born” that are difficult for me to explain.
.
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Actually, you picked out a couple of very important words from the Creed. There was an early heresy (the Docetists) that tried to claim that Jesus was 100% God and 0% human, because they believed it was impossible for him to have a flawed, human nature. Therefore, Jesus was really just God in the illusion of a human body. If this were true, then the sacrifice of Jesus meant nothing, because Jesus was just pretending to feel pain, and none of us are really saved. This is why the Creed emphasizes that Jesus was BORN from a human (not just created and deposited on earth). It also specifies that he was BEGOTTEN. In other words, he was made in the normal way, with Mary as the mother, and she gave birth to him the normal way. He didn’t just miraculously come down from heaven.
 
mary46 said:
Ok here goes -
The problem I’m having is explaining the " the only begotten Son of God" with the following “born of the Father before all ages” and “begotten not made”. I do have a text that I’m trying to work with, but gees try to explain that to 8th graders. It’s definitely the “begotten” and “born” that are difficult for me to explain.
God the Father and God the Son are made of the same substance and are both timeless and eternal. The Father - Son thing is an analogy to describe the relationship between these two members of the trinity.
Any help/criticism is welcome.
Click to expand...
Try explaining the Trinity to anyone!!! It is a concept beyond human understanding and experience. (Makes sense to me that God is beyond human understanding and experience!) It’s a glimpse into the nature of God, but I can’t see how we can understand it except in a limited way. 8th graders should be able to grasp that - at least as well as it is “graspable.” Pull out the Athanasiam Creed. Perhaps explain how human in their male/female/child relationship are an icon - imperfect icon, but an image nonetheless - of the Godhead. Humans made in the image and likeness of God; where the man and woman become one in the love relationship from which proceeds the outpouring of their love in the child. The begotten and born issues are getting at the issue that one is not created by the other, but that there is somehow an ontological relationship. It’s all rather inexact and yet a glimpse, nonetheless, of the ineffable nature of God that is love.
 
johnnykins said:
Try explaining the Trinity to anyone!!! It is a concept beyond human understanding and experience.
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Exactly. It’s one of the mysteries of Christianity that makes it interesting. 😉

That said I personally think the Preface of the Holy Trinity (in either form) expresses the mystery a little better. This is in simple Latin but there should be translations available.

youtube.com/watch?v=9eJAMZ2WSV8
 
To everyone who responded to my question about the profession of faith - I thank you! My 8th grade CCD class went very well! The funny thing is that when I asked the kids if they had any questions about concepts like “incarnation”, “paschal mystery”, or “trinity” - they all said that they had a good understanding of these concepts. I guess it takes years to realize that you do NOT have the ability to completely understand God. Oh to be a teenager…
Mary 46
 
A new question about the profession of faith. I just read that “the only begotten Son of God born of the Father before all ages” means that “Jesus was not merely born in Bethlehem, but that he is eternally begotten by the Father. The Son is always being born of the Father and the Father is always begetting the Son”. This is quoted from Bishop Boyea. I have never heard it explained like this before. What is your take on this?
Mary46
 
mary46 said:
A new question about the profession of faith. I just read that “the only begotten Son of God born of the Father before all ages” means that “Jesus was not merely born in Bethlehem, but that he is eternally begotten by the Father. The Son is always being born of the Father and the Father is always begetting the Son”. This is quoted from Bishop Boyea. I have never heard it explained like this before. What is your take on this?
Mary46
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I have heard this explanation before as well. It would seem that since God is immutable (unchanging) that God must be always the same. The Trinity of God therefore must always be as well. Therefore from all eternity the Father has poured Himself out in loving begetting of the Son and the Son, from all eternity, has been pouring Himself back into the Father in reciprocal love. From this self giving love between the Father and the Son the Holy Spirit is generated from all eternity as well.

I love this explanation because it truly demonstrates that God is actually love by His very being.
 
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