Fr. Thomas reminds us of how we are nourished by Christ: “In the summer of A.D. 325, more than 300 bishops gathered in Nicaea — located in modern-day northern Turkey — to promulgate a common Christian creed, settle Christological disputes that arose from the Arian heresy, and promote unity in the Church.
This first ecumenical council, known as the Council of Nicaea, established the initial formulation of the Nicene Creed, which is the profession of faith still recited at the Catholic Mass especially on Sundays, at Orthodox liturgies, and at some Protestant services to this day.
1,700 years later we profess Christ to be fully human and fully divine. While we profess this Creed, with its theological statements, to be our true Faith in Christ, it is essential to reflect on the ways this Belief transforms us. Our Cistercian Father, William of St. Thierry, (+ 1148) writing in his Commentary on the Song of Songs found in the Old Testament, teaches that Christ nourishes and transforms our lives both by his humanity and divinity, and that this nourishing and transforming takes place in Christ himself. That is, we are lifted into Christ himself.
There is no better way for each on of us to commemorate this great Council and its Creed that to reflect on the ways Christ has and continues to nourish and transform us by his humanity and divinity.”
All Blessings in Our Communion in Christ,
Your brothers of New Clairvaux
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