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Nihil Obstat:

Imprimatur

:

New York, April 2, 1938.

Arthur
J.

Scanlan. S.T.D.,

Censor Librorum

.

Patrick Cardinal Hayes,

Archbishop of New York.

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED IN THE U. S. A.

BY THE PAULI ST PRESS, NEW YORK, N. Y.



What Do You Believe?
(By

JOSEPH FINEGAN, C.S.P.

Catholics Believe

The Apostles* Creed

* »

THE PAULIST PRESS
401 West 59th Street

New York, N. Y.



THE APOSTLES’ CREED

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Cre-

ator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ,

His only Son, Our Lord: Who was conceived

by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified;

died, and was buried. He descended into hell;

the third day He arose again from the dead;

He ascended into heaven, sitteth at the right

hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence

He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic

Church, the Communion of Saints, the forgive-

ness of sins, the resurrection of the body, ana

life everlasting. Amen .



What Do You Believe?
By Joseph Finegan, C.S.P.

1. "| believe in God, the Father Almighty, Cre-

ator of Heaven and earth."

GOD is the Maker and the Father of all human be-

ings. He loves all men of every nation and race.

He never stops loving them.

GOD is the Maker of the whole universe. He made the

earth and all things on earth; He made the sky

and all it contains.

GOD made man so that man might always be happy.

He placed man’s real happiness in being always

true to God. Man, finishing his life upon earth,

was to go to Heaven and be everlastingly happy

with God.

GOD is greater than any human being. He is dif-

ferent from men, for God is the Perfect Spirit.

Human eyes do not see God : yet, because men see

the wonderful things God has made and keeps

beautiful for them, they know that God is in a

world they cannot see now.

GOD is all powerful. He can do all things, such as

give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, health

to the sick, life to the dead. He is free to choose

the manner in which He does all these things.

He makes the plants to grow by the use of the sun,

the rain and the air. In the same way He may

choose to make the sick well by the use of doctors

and other learned people. God is the Lord and

3



Master of all things that exist and of the manner

in which all things are done.

GOD knows all things. He is in the midst of the
most secret thoughts of every human being so that

He knows what every person is thinking and do-

ing even if no one else knows anything about it.

It matters not that a man may not be found out in

his wrongdoing by his friends or his enemies
;
he

must still answer to God for everything he has

done that is not right. God’s law of right and

wrong for man as He made man in the beginning

is in the “Ten Commandments.”

God makes Himself known to men in many

ways. He reveals Himself in the whole Creation

4



—the earth, sun, moon, stars and sky, and the
beauties and powers of nature. The first man and

woman, Adam and Eve, did not keep clearly in

their minds the Fatherly Goodness of God which

would have kept them happy and which was so clear-

ly to be seen in God’s creation. They easily gave up

the way of their true happiness.

God then found another way to make Himself

known to men as their Father and a way to return

to men their lost happiness. How Adam and Eve

lost the Fatherliness of God and the way in which

God returns His Fatherhood to all mem is told in

the story of Jesus Christ and His Church.

2. "And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord;

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the

Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was

crucified, died and was buried; He descended into

hell."

JESUS CHRIST came on earth, sent by His Father

to pay for mankind’s disobedience and to obtain

for men the priceless gifts of God that had been

lost by Adam and Eve.

JESUS CHRIST is the one true Son of God, the
Father. The Holy Ghost by miraculous action

caused Jesus to be conceived in the womb of the
Jewish Virgin, Mary. Jesus had no human fa-

ther. God appointed Joseph, of the tribe of David,

to act toward Jesus and Mary in the place of a

human father. The family of Jesus, Mary and

Joseph is called the “Holy Family.”

JESUS CHRIST was born into this world on the
first Christmas Day almost two thousand years

s



ago, in a stable at Bethlehem. He is a true man

as well as true God, because He was born into

this world of a human mother. He grew from in-

fancy to manhood as all other human beings.

He ate, drank, slept, laughed and wept as do other

men. His Mother, Mary, is called the Mother of

God because she is the human Mother of Jesus

Who is true God and true Man. Catholics honor

Mary as Jesus did because she is His Mother.

JESUS CHRIST redeemed all men from sin. When

God made the first man and woman, Adam and

Eve, He placed them in a state of happiness so

that they knew God well and could live without

trouble in their world. Adam and Eve had the

knowledge that is necessary to avoid sickness,

quarrels with other human beings, and the things

that make life hard on earth. God commanded

Adam and Eve that they should not eat of one

fruit in their Garden of Paradise, the fruit of the

“tree of knowledge.” This did not mean that they

6



were to have no learning, but, rather, that their

learning was to be such that it would bring them

happily through life to a perfect happiness with

God forever in Heaven.

Adam and Eve, however, did eat of this for-

bidden fruit. This was their first sin. They lost

7



their greatest happiness and brought on themselves

and on all their children, the whole human race,

trouble, sickness, suffering and the death of the

body. It became necessary, if men were to know

God and to be truly friendly, that the sin of Adam

and Eve and their children be corrected. Dis-

obedience to God must be paid for and the Truth

and Power of God must be brought to the lives of

men.

God sent His only Son, Jesus, to live among

men. Jesus was to earn the correction of man’s

disobedience and the priceless gifts of God that the

human race had lost.

JESUS CHRIST was nailed to a cross on Good Fri-

day afternoon, nineteen hundred years ago, died on

that cross and was buried in a tomb. Pontius
§

Pilate was the Roman governor of Jerusalem,

where Jesus was put To death.

*

From the time of Adam and Eve until the death

of Jesus the gates of Heaven were closed. No one

might enter. During these many centuries count-

less God-serving men and women had died. God

did not allow these to be in the eternity of suffering,

though they must wait until Jesus had opened the

gates of Heaven. God placed these souls in a place

of rest apart from Himself until their Deliverer,

Jesus, should come to them.

* * *

JESUS CHRIST descended into hell. His body was

laid in the tomb. His Soul went down to the

resting place of the just to proclaim the nearness

8



of their deliverance. This is what is meant when

the Apostles’ Creed says: “He descended into

hell.”

3. "The third day He arose again from the

dead; He ascended into Heaven."

JESUS CHRIST rose, Body and Soul, from the dead

the third day after His burial. He was seen by

many men and women among whom He had lived

before His Body had been in the tomb. He talked

with many of His followers and even ate with

them on at least two occasions.

Jesus Christ makes payment to the Justice of

God for the sins of all mankind. He is by His Life,

Death and Resurrection our Redeemer. He has

earned for all men the Divine Truth and Power

that men need if they are to live truly happy lives

in this world and the next.

All men must come to Jesus to receive pardon

for their sins and to receive those gifts of God that are

necessary to be in His friendship. Even Mary, His

Mother, received these gifts through her Son,

Jesus. Because Mary, ever Virgin, was to be the

Mother of Jesus, God gave these gifts to her at the

very moment He created her soul. Through Jesus

God protected Mary’s soul from the first sin of Adam

and Eve. This special favor is called the Immacu-

late Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

To have the pardon of God for sins and to receive

the full gifts of God’s friendship men must actually

join their lives to Jesus. They must do the things

9



that Jesus commands and in the manner in which

Jesus tells them.

* * *

JESUS CHRIST ascended into Heaven. After He

had risen from the dead and had remained with

His followers for forty days Jesus ascended into

Heaven. His followers had gathered on a hillside

near Jerusalem and from there they saw Him

taken by a cloud into the heavenly regions.

Jesus going into Heaven opened the gates of that

Kingdom to men. All men who join themselves to

Jesus, believing that He is the Son of God, have now

the hope of seeing God in the world to come.

4. "He sitteth at the right hand of God, the

Father Almighty, from thence He shall come to judge

the living and the dead."

JESUS CHRIST sits at the right hand of His Father

in Heaven. There He reigns forever. He is the

Eternal King of the heavenly court of angels and

men. Because He has overcome sin for all man-

kind all men owe Jesus allegiance before father,

mother, kinsfolk, or country.

JESUS CHRIST is the Eternal Judge of all man-

kind. No man is exempted from the judgment by

Jesus. Every human being is to be judged by the

teachings and the life of Jesus. The good shall be

forever with God in Heaven; the bad shall spend

their eternity in a living death. They will be for-

10



ever unhappy, being unworthy to share the happi-

ness of God in Heaven.

In the Apostles’ Creed the “living” means those

that live throughout eternity with God in happi-

ness
;
“the dead” means those who live throughout

eternity unhappy away from God.

11



5. "In the Holy Ghost."

THE HOLY GHOST or the Holy Spirit is the Spirit
of God’s Eternal Truth and Love. Jesus, as He

had promised, sent the Holy Spirit to dwell on

earth in the lives of men. The work of the Holy

Spirit is to continue on earth through all ages.

This work is the completion of that which Jesus

did while on earth. The Holy Spirit releases men

from the power of sin and gives them the full gifts

of God in their souls.

THE HOLY GHOST makes the redemption of Jesus
effective in each person who properly accepts

Jesus. The Holy Spirit makes each one a “child

of God and an heir to Heaven” if he or she is

willing to do what God asks. By the coming of

the Holy Spirit God comes into the everyday life

and thoughts of each human being. God is never

far away, but close to everyone who is in the

faith and love of Jesus.

THE HOLY GHOST never leaves the earth of men.
He will stay always to make them good and to keep

them good until the end of the world.

There is only One True God. God the Father is

God. God the Son is God. God the Holy Ghost is

God. This means that in the One True God there

are Three Divine Persons. This is called “THE

HOLY TRINITY.” It is the greatest of God’s
secrets. Man knows that it is true because God tells

him of it. Man cannot fully understand it now

because his mind needs the light of Heaven to

understand it. When man sees God face to face in

Heaven he will then understand it. This will be one

of the great joys of Heaven, seeing God face to face.

12



6. "In the Holy Catholic Church."

JESUS CHRIST formed a Church. When Jesus

was on earth the people could hear His teachings

from His own lips. Whenever anyone did not

understand clearly what Jesus meant that person

could ask Him and know His answer. Long be-

fore Jesus died He selected twelve men, known as

Apostles. He made Peter, also known as Simon

Bar Jona, the leader or head of this band. Jesus

taught these men just what He meant by all that

He said and did.

Jesus made this chosen band the beginning of

His Church. Before He died He commanded these

men to keep together in mind and heart and as a

church of living men to teach His Name to all other

13



human beings. He promised that He would stay

with His Church as long as the world should last.

* *

Much that Jesus taught was already part of the

ancient Jewish religion. This had been written into

a number of sacred books. Put together these books

make the Old Testament of the Bible.

After Jesus died His Apostles wrote down the

story of His life and teachings from His Birth to

His Ascension into Heaven. They also wrote let-

ters to the first Christians about the teachings of

Jesus. One, St. John, even wrote a prophecy about

the future of the Church on earth and in Heaven.

These writings make the New Testament of the

Bible.

The Old and the New Testaments were written

under the special suggestion and protection of God

and so form the Word of God. The Bible was pre-

served by the Apostles and those who were later

chosen to take the place of the Apostles when the

Apostles died. Nineteen hundred years after Jesus

died the world has God’s history of mankind up to

the coming of Jesus in the Bible, and also the Life

and Teachings of Jesus.

* * *

Peter, the leader appointed by Jesus for the

Apostles, went to the city of Rome, lived there the

rest of his life and died there. He become the

first Bishop of Rome. When Peter died the

Christians chose a man to take his place and to

be the leader of all the Christians as the Bishop

of Rome. Through all the centuries since that time

when the man who is Bishop of Rome dies another

14



man is chosen to take his place. In this way the

Church that Jesus Christ founded comes right

down to the present day through the Bishop of

Rome, who fills Peter’s place as the leader of all

Christians.

The Bishop of Rome is by most people called

“The Pope,” which means the earthly spiritual

Father of the children of Christ.

By this plan Jesus arranged that all men, no

matter how many centuries they should be born

after His Ascension into Heaven, could always be

sure they were members of His Church. Men

could always be sure that they were in the Church

of Jesus if they were members of the Church that

had the Bishop of Rome as its leader.

Jesus knew, of course, that no book could pos-

sibly contain all the teachings about God and men

with such full explanations that every people of

every race and language could understand all about

the Way of Truth. He, therefore, sent the Holy

Spirit to be the guiding Spirit of this Church He

founded. Jesus devised on this Church of living

men under the protection of His Holy Spirit to al-

ways teach the full meaning of God’s Word.

This was the sensible thing because men change

with the changes of the ages, know their own lan-

guages in the different places on earth, and can

explain whatever their people cannot easily under-

stand. The Holy Spirit is God and can keep the

Truth of Jesus safe through all ages. Men do not

have to guess at the meaning of Jesus about the

way to Heaven. They can learn His true teaching

from the Bishop of Rome. They can be as sure as

though they had asked Jesus Himself, for Jesus

is



promised that the Holy Spirit would guide His

Church until the end of time. Jesus is God and

His promises cannot fail.

The Church of Jesus is known as the Holy Cath-

olic Church under the Bishop of Rome. It teaches

men:—

(a) About the Truths of God and of man’s re-

demption.

(b) The exact meaning of the Ten Command-

ments and the Law of the Charity of Christ.

(c) The practices set by Jesus for the true wor-

ship of God and the salvation of men’s souls.

These are:

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

The Seven Sacraments of Jesus.

The ways of religious penance.

The way to pray.

* * *

Men who would know Jesus truly and fully do

so by becoming practicing members of the Church

of Jesus Christ because that is the way that Jesus

provides for accepting them as His own.

7. "In the Communion of Saints."

THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS includes all the
good people who have entered Heaven, the good

who have died with some little trace of sin which

must be removed before they are worthy of God,

and the people still living on earth who expect by

16



-

;

;

their good lives to be happy with God after their

death. It does not include the souls of those who

die in hatred of God and are condemned to ever-

lasting Hell.

HEAVEN is a state of everlasting happiness in
the Blessed vision of God. Only the wholly pure of

all sin can be happy in the sight of God. God is so

pure that any but the sinless are put to shame by

the brightness of His purity.

There are many people who live good lives in the

important things, but who have small sins; these

talk unkindly about their neighbors, boast about

themselves, tell small lies, are cranky, use rough

language. But they do these things sometimes with-

17



out thought of the harm they are doing. These

people mean no harm and do not mean to offend

God. When such persons die God purifies them

after death in a state of suffering, called PURGA-

TORY. Some day these people will go into the

blessed Presence of God. As soon as their souls

are purified of sin by suffering they will not be

ashamed to be in the Presence of God.

There are some people, too, who having lived

bad lives, are sorry for their sins and before they die

they repent of their sinfulness. Sometimes it is on

their deathbed that they repent of their sinfulness.

They want to be in the Brotherhood of Jesus in the

life to come. Like the Good Thief on the cross next

to Jesus they ask God’s pardon. God grants it. But

their sins have been so great that there may not be

time enough before death comes to pay up fully for

their sins. God, in His Infinite Mercy, has this state

of PURGATORY for purifying these souls after
they die. When they have been purified they can go

into God’s Presence without the shameful remem-

brance of their sins. All souls that go to PURGA-

TORY after dying will some day be in Heaven with
God. They are “the souls of the just made perfect.”

* * *

THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. The souls in
Heaven with God, the souls suffering in Purgatory

and the good people still living on earth all have

the same purpose—to love God and to bring others
to love Him. These are the “Communion of

Saints.” They might also be called the Brother-

hood of Jesus. The souls in Heaven help the souls

in Purgatory and the souls of the good on earth

by praying to' God for them. The souls in Heaven

18



are the proven friends of God. God listens to

them especially as one does listen to those who

have proved themselves by faithfulness.

The souls of those on earth can find courage

in the example of those who “have fought the good

fight” and have succeeded in reaching Heaven.

So those on earth honor those in Heaven, the Saints,

as the true friends of God. Good souls on earth

can pray and suffer in behalf of the souls that are

being purified in Purgatory. This is called “pray-

ing for the dead.”

THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS or “the Brother-
hood of Jesus” unites all good people with their

dear ones in Heaven, in Purgatory and on earth.

The “communion of saints” makes the good on

earth the special care of Jesus, His Blessed Mother,

St. Joseph, the Apostles, the Christian martyrs,

all the good souls of Old Testament times, and all

the good Christians of the nineteen centuries since

the Ascension of the Saviour into Heaven.

Many people have the statues of Jesus, His

Mother, and other famous saints of God of dif-

ferent times in the history of the world to re-

mind them how much the saints loved God and how

well they served Him. It is much the same as hav-

ing the photographs of one’s dear ones in the home.

All the good who are in Heaven are saints.

8. "In the Forgiveness of Sins."

God will forgive any and every kind of sin. There

is no sin that God will not forgive if the sinner asks

God’s pardon and promises to live a good life in the

future. God forgives sin forever so that once a sin

19



is forgiven God never brings it up again. Jesus has

obtained pardon for all sins of all men by His death

upon Calvary’s Cross. When God forgives sins He

starts a healing process in the soul of the sinner.

God starts the curing of the soul from the disease

of sinfulness. The forgiving of sin and the healing

of the soul are all part of the “forgiveness of sin.”

God provides the way in which He forgives sins

and heals the soul of the weakness caused by the

disease of sin. Jesus has set the way. Sinners must

use the way that Jesus has provided if their sins are

to be forgiven and their souls made healthy in the

20



goodness that is pleasing to God. One cannot choose

his own way, but must follow the way that Jesus has

appointed. Jesus has set two Sacraments for the

forgiving of sins and five more to heal the soul of

the weaknesses caused in the soul by sin. These

Sacraments Jesus gave to His Church so that His

Church could always give pardon for sins to sinners.

Baptism is the Sacrament that Jesus gave His

Church for the forgiving of the first sin of Adam and

Eve that descended to the whole human race and that

takes all men out of the close friendship of God.

Penance or Confession of sins to the priest is the

Sacrament that Jesus gave His Church for the for-

giveness of all sins that men might fall into after they

had been baptized. Baptism and Penance (or Con-

fession) require that a person be sorry for the

wrong he has done and that he intend to keep

himself good and sinless in the future. There is no

forgiving of sins unless the sinner intends to serve

God the rest of his life. Men are weak and some-

times do not keep the promises that they make to God.

21



God can forgive again, but always the sinner to be

forgiven must really try to be good in the future.

There are five other Sacraments of Jesus. Each

of these in a different way helps to heal the soul of

the weakness that sin has caused in it.

Holy Eucharist:—The True Body and Blood of
Jesus Christ under the form of bread and wine. This

is the spiritual food of Jesus’ followers.

Confirmation:—The strengthening of the soul
by the Holy Ghost that the soul may be powerful for

good and the Glory of God, and the Name of Jesus.

Matrimony:—Christian marriage to form the
Christian family.

Holy Orders:—This Sacrament makes certain
men priests to carry on the Church of Jesus in the

manner of the Apostles. They conduct the true wor-

ship of God for the people, give the people the Sac-

raments of Jesus and preach the Gospel.

Extreme Unction:—Prepares the soul that is
sick unto death for the journey to the Hereafter.

9. "In the Resurrection of the Body."

One day this entire earth in which man lives will

come to an end. This is the promise of Jesus. On

the last day of this world the bodies of all persons

who have lived and died on earth will be called forth

from their graves by the Angel of God. Each body

will be joined to the soul from which death on earth

had separated it. The bodies of “the just made per-

fect" will enjoy happiness forever with God; the

bodies of the souls condemned forever to Hell will

share the sufferings of their souls in Hell. The Body

22



of Jesus coming to life from the tomb is the first of

the Resurrection from the grave and the Ascension

of the Body into Heaven.

The bodies that will come forth from the grave

are the same bodies in which the soul lived upon this

earth. True Christians respect their bodies as the

house of their immortal souls. They will not defile

their bodies by any kind of sin. They expect, on the

word of Jesus, that their bodies, like His Own, will on

the last day come out of their graves to live forever

in Heaven with God. They will again be their own

selves just as they were on earth, but they will be

perfect in God’s love and they will know no sorrow

or trial, no sickness or death.

10. "In Life Everlasting."

Life in the world beyond the grave will never end.

All men are made by God to live forever in a life after

death. When each person dies God judges him or

her as to the goodness or badness of their life upon

23



earth. The good or just go into Heaven to be happy

with God forever. The bad or unjust are forever

unhappy separated from God in Hell. There is never

any change in this final judgment of God. It is just

because for each person God’s judgment is according

to the way that that person has lived.

Heaven is the happiness of the just and is forever.

Hell is the punishment of the unjust, is unhappi-

ness and is forever.

No person ever dies in Heaven or in Hell; each

one lives forever, happy if on earth they had been

faithful to the teachings of Jesus, unhappy and in

torment if they have been unfaithful to Jesus’ teach-

ings.

24





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