Creeds/Sacraments

Q  I noticed that sometimes during Mass we recite the Nicene Creed and other times we recite the Apostles’ Creed.  Why do we change?
A The revised Roman Missal now gives permission to use either creed during Sunday Mass.  However, the normal routine is to use the Nicene Creed during most of the year and the Apostles’ Creed during Lent and Easter time.  The reason for this is that the Apostles’ Creed is more associated with baptism.  During Lent and Easter time, the elect are preparing for baptism, and many will be baptized at the Easter Vigil.  The Nicene Creed is more associated with the Eucharist.
According to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, the purpose of the creed “is that the whole gathered people may respond to the word of God proclaimed in the readings taken from sacred Scripture and explained in the homily and that they may also call to mind and confess the great mysteries of the faith by reciting the rule of faith in a formula approved for liturgical use before these mysteries are celebrated in the Eucharist.  The creed is to be sung or said by the priest together with the people on Sundays and solemnities. It may be said also at particular celebrations of a more solemn character.”
According to EWTN,  “The creed may not normally be omitted on any Sunday Mass, except as indicated below:
During the Easter Vigil and on Easter Sunday (but not on other Sundays of the Easter Season), the renewal of baptismal promises and sprinkling with holy water replaces the creed.
This is to emphasize the traditional connection of Easter Sunday with baptism and because the profession of faith is included in the baptismal promises.
Likewise, whenever baptism or confirmation is celebrated during Mass the profession of faith is omitted because the baptismal promises are either made or renewed during the rite.”
According to liturgical guidelines, neither creed is proclaimed on most weekday Masses, except on solemnities such as on holy days of obligation, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist and the feast of St. Peter and Paul.

Q What is the difference between a sacrament and a sacramental?

A The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “the sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions.”
Since the sacraments were instituted by Christ, they are limited to these seven:  baptism, confirmation, Eucharist, reconciliation, anointing of the sick, Matrimony and Holy Orders.  Hence, no new sacraments can be established.    
Sacramentals, however, are “sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments. They signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature, which are obtained through the intercession of the church.  By them men are disposed to receive the chief effect of the sacraments, and various occasions in life are rendered holy” (CCC1667).
Sacramentals are things that we do or touch.  They act as physical reminders of the graces we seek because we are a “physical” people.  They include blessings (of people, meals, objects or places), crucifixes, rosaries, holy water, holy medals, scapulars, blessed palms, blessed ashes, as well as other objects.  Even making the sign of the cross or holding and praying the rosary is a sacramental.
Unlike the sacraments which were instituted by Christ, sacramentals are instituted by the church.  The Catechism goes on to say “Sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the church’s prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it.”
Some people may think that wearing a medal or sprinkling holy water is superstitious, and it is, if done for the wrong reason.  If the only reason we use sacramentals is to try to change God’s mind or make him do something for us, we are practicing superstition.
But if we use sacramentals to help us think about God, to help remember how much he loves us and to put our trust in him, we are participating in God’s plan and can obtain graces from him.

Deacon Hooper is a deacon assistant at Immaculate Conception Church in Denham Springs. He can be reached at [email protected].