saint of the week

 

Feast of the First Ecumenical Council

 

 

I like tradition, especially the ones that revolve around holidays.  By and large they rekindle happy memories while creating new ones.  As our lives change, so does tradition.  Expecting things to remain the same would be ludicrous.  Take for example, our Memorial Day Tradition of watching the Aspinwall parade.  (Aspinwall is a small town along the Allegheny River just outside of Pittsburgh).

 

When I was a child growing up in Aspinwall, the Memorial Day parade meant decorating my bike with red, white and blue streamers and perhaps attaching a baseball card to the frame with a clothes pin to add the coveted "motor" sound.

As a young adult, in my 20's the Memorial Day parade meant watching the parade from our front porch with a few friends and a case of Molson.  Now that I am middle aged (pause here for a second and sigh with me), I anticipate the parade through the eyes of my children.  One decorates her scooter with streamers; the other vies for the best spot to gather the candy that is thrown from the fire trucks. Weather permitting we conclude with a picnic at the swimming pool.

 

Although how I have watched the parade has changed, one thing has not.  As long as I can remember I have applauded when the veteran soldiers marched by and as long as I can remember the sight of these men and women has brought me to tears.  My husband likes to tease me a bit about this, but what can I say, how I feel, is how I feel.  My tears are part of my tradition

 

As Catholics we have many traditions.  Today is the feast  of one of them; May 29 is the Feast of the First Ecumenical Council.  It was called by Constantine in 325 AD and held in Nicea.  Over 318 of the Christian hierarchy attended including St. Nicholas of Myra.  The reason for the council was the heretical proclamation of Arias who insisted that Christ was no co-eternal with the Father, but rather a mere creation of the Father.  Needless to say the council disagreed with Arias.  In fact, a result of this council is the Nicene Creed.< o:p>

 

This creed is quintessential statement of our Christianity.  It has survived for over 1700 years.  We should be proud to profess it and even prouder to live it.

 

Just like the veteran who marches with a flag while a mom on the sideline quietly sheds a couple of tears.

 

We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And we believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to

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"All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well". St. Julian of Norwich


Jamie Dillon