I Believe in God: A Reflection on the Apostles' Creed
I believe in God
who made us all
and whose divinity
infuses all of life
with the sacred.
I believe
in the multiple revelations
of that God
alive in every human heart,
expressed in every culture,
and found in all the wisdoms
of the world.
I believe that Jesus Christ,
the unique son of God,
is the face of God
on earth
in whom we see best
the divine justice,
divine mercy,
and divine compassion
to which we are all called.
I believe
in the Christ
who is One in being
with the Creator
and who shows us
the presence of God
in everything that is
and calls out
the sacred
in ourselves.
I believe
in Jesus, the Christ,
who leads us
to the fullness
of human stature,
to what we were
meant to become
before all time
and for all other things
that were made.
Through Christ
we become new people,
called beyond
the consequences
of our brokenness
and lifted to the fullness of life.
By the power
of the Holy Spirit
he was born
of the woman Mary,
pure in soul
and single-hearted—
a sign to the ages
of the exalted place
of womankind
in the divine plan
of human salvation.
He grew as we grow
through all the stages of life.
He lived as we live
prey to the pressures of evil
and intent on the good.
He broke no bonds
with the world
to which he was bound,
He sinned not.
He never strayed
from the mind of God.
He showed us the Way,
lived it for us,
suffered from it,
and died because of it
so that we might live
with new heart, new mind,
and new strength
despite all the death
to which
we are daily subjected.
For our sake and for the sake
of eternal Truth
he was hounded, harassed
and executed by those
who were their own gods
and who valued the sacred
in no other.
He suffered so that
we might realize
that the spirit in us
can never be killed
whatever price
we have to pay
for staying true
to the mind of God.
He died
but did not die
because he lives in us
still.
“On the third day”
in the tomb
he rose again
in those
he left behind
and in each of us
as well
to live in hearts
that will not succumb
to the enemies of life.
He changed all of life
for all of us thereafter.
He ascended into
the life of God
and waits there
for our own ascension
to the life
beyond life.
He waits there,
judging
what has gone before
and what is yet to come
against unending values
and, in behalf of
eternal virtue,
for the time
when all of life
will be gathered
into God,
full of life and light,
steeped in truth.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the breath of God on earth,
who keeps
the Christ vision present
to souls yet in darkness,
gives life
even to hearts now blind.
Infuses energy
into spirits yet weary,
isolated,
searching and confused.
The spirit has spoken
to the human heart
through the prophets
and gives new meaning
to the Word throughout time.
I believe in one
holy and universal church.
Bound together
by the holiness of creation
and the holiness of hearts
forever true.
I acknowledge the need
to be freed
from the compulsions
of my disordered life
and my need
for forgiveness
in the face of frailty.
I look for life eternal
in ways I cannot dream
and trust that creation
goes on creating
in this world
and in us forever.
Amen.
— Joan Chittister
Chittister, Joan. “I believe in God: A reflection on the Apostles’ Creed.” In Search of Belief. Liguori, MO: Liguori. 2006. Print.
