“I believe in the Holy Catholic Church,” is the next article of our Creed.  The Holy Ghost lives and operates in the Church.  This Church is a “Communion of Saints,” a communion of faithful, part of whom have already entered eternal life of bliss, and is called the Church Triumphant; another part is being cleansed from the remnants of sin in the place of purification, and is called the Suffering Church; a third part is still struggling on the battlefield of the world for the crown of eternal life, and is called the Church Militant.  All are true members of this great community of saints and children of God, allied through the bond of love.  This doctrine is very consoling to us.  It opens to us, as it were, even during our earthly life, the portals of eternity.  We may enter these in spirit, and seek and find help and consolation amongst our glorified brethren, and also carry help and consolation to our suffering brethren.  One thing alone bars us from this glorious communion and shuts heaven against us, and that is sin.  But in the Church there is provided for repentant sinners the Absolution from Sins, the remission of sin and its penalty.  When we finally die in the grace of God our soul shall enjoy eternal life, and our glorified body shall be joined to it on the great day of resurrection.

This, then, is what we are taught to believe in the Apostles’ Creed.  When we say this Creed with devotion and perfect faith, we honor and glorify first of all the Blessed Trinity.  But we refresh also the teaching of the Gospel in our minds, and thus strengthen our faith.  It is an excellent means of awakening exalted sentiments of faith within us, and of inspiring us to a courageous profession of our holy religion.

The Creed is possessed of great power against the temptations of the evil one.  The Apostle exhorts us “to resist the devil strong in faith” (I Pet. v, 8), and Holy Scripture calls the faith a shield against which the darts of Satan are broken.  Thus is the Creed, according to its origin, and its contents, and efficacy, a holy and excellent prayer.  In conclusion, let me quote an exhortation from St. Augustine:  “Forget not,” he says, “to recite the profession of your faith when you rise in the morning, nor when retiring at night; repeat it frequently, for its repetition is salutary for you, that no forgetfulness may arise.  Your creed should be your mirror.  Examine yourself therein as to whether you firmly believe everything you profess to believe, and rejoice daily in the possession of faith.”  Well, then, let us bear in mind this beautiful advice.  Let us say the Creed daily, in order to strengthen ourselves in the faith but especially let us say it with great devotion as part of the holy Rosary.  If here below we are true to the faith we shall one day behold in reality what we now see only with the eyes of faith, and in this vision enjoy eternal glory and bliss without end.  Amen.

VI.  THE EXCELLENCE OF THE VARIOUS PARTS OF THE ROSARY