Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
J.D. Long GarcíaApril 25, 2024
Photo from Unsplash.

A Reflection for the Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Find today’s readings here.

Remain in my love.” (Jn 15:9)

Every once in a while, Catholics hear St. Athanasius’ name at Mass. But many of us probably don’t realize who he was and how he shaped the church’s history. But he had a lot to do with the Creed we recite each Sunday—specifically, this part: “consubstantial with the Father.”

Those words are a relatively new English translation of the Nicene Creed. Before 2011, you may remember, we used to say “one in being with the Father” (which I’m told is not as close to the Latin consubstantialem Patri). During the councils that developed the Creed, this was a major point of contention and centered on the relationship between God the Father and Jesus Christ. While Jesus is the “Son of God,” as he refers to himself in Scripture, he is nevertheless “consubstantial with the Father,”meaning Jesus Christ is God.

I must confess that at times I have found myself downplaying the importance of Jesus Christ’s divinity. I was baptized Catholic as an infant, and not only were there several Bibles in our house, but my parents actually read them. So I almost took the divinity of Christ for granted, I suppose. The sky is blue and Jesus is God. He walked on earth, died on the cross, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. That’s what happened.

I didn’t realize just how big of a deal it was to believe this until, when I was in college, I discussed Christmas with a Muslim friend of mine. He was deeply offended by the idea that God would be a human being. “It’s ridiculous,” he told me. “What sense does it make for God to be a human being?”

I didn’t have an answer then, and I’m not sure I have much of an answer now. But I still believe it’s true. And it makes all the difference.

Take the Gospel reading for today, for example, which reads in part:

“As the Father loves me, so I also love you.

Remain in my love.

If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love,

just as I have kept my Father’s commandments

and remain in his love.”

This passage, and so much of what Jesus teaches us, only makes sense to me if Jesus is God. I see this passage echoing the Psalms, “Be still and know that I am God” (Ps 46:10). Why would I “remain in his love” if he were anything but God? And why should I keep his commandments if he was anything less?

Conceptually, it seems paradoxical that remaining in anything could somehow set me free, and further, complete my joy. But in fact, I will only find true freedom and joy if I remain in God’s infinite love. That message is so important that God took on human flesh to share it with us.

Correction: A previous version of this piece stated that an older translation of the Nicene Creed was closer to the original Latin. The piece has been updated to correct this error.

More: Scripture

The latest from america

“We must pray for the conversion of many people, inside and outside of the church, who still do not recognize the urgency of caring for our common home,” Pope Leo XIV said while celebrating a new formulary of the Mass “for the care of creation.”
A Reflection for the Thursday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time, by Ashley McKinless
Ashley McKinlessJuly 08, 2025
No one ever expected a U.S.-born pope. In this first-ever I “Inside the Vatican” Deep Dive series, those who know him best reveal who Pope Leo XIV—“the American pope”—really is. In Episode 1, we hear from the genealogist who uncovered his Louisiana roots, a teacher, and fellow Augustinian friars
Inside the VaticanJuly 08, 2025
The Vatican Synod office has released a set of guidelines for local churches and bishops to implement the proposals of the recent Synod on Synodality.