The Creed and the Holy Trinity

The Creed (“I believe”) sums up the faith of the Church. At Sunday Mass we pray the Nicene Creed, which comes from the Councils of Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381).

At its heart is the Holy Trinity: one God in three divine Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is not three gods. Each Person is fully God, and they are distinct in their relations to one another (CCC 253–255).

• The Father is the source, who creates all things out of love.
• The Son, Jesus Christ, is “God from God, Light from Light”, “consubstantial with the Father”. He became man to save us.
• The Holy Spirit is “the Lord, the giver of life”, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, and dwells in the Church and in our hearts.

The Trinity is a mystery: not a contradiction, but a truth so great that we can never fully understand it. Yet it tells us something beautiful: God is love (1 John 4:8), an eternal communion of persons. And we are invited to share in that life through Baptism.