Amen

By RH

      What does Amen mean? My dictionary gives the meaning as: so be it. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: it comes from a Hebrew word meaning ‘truly, it is so’ or ‘let it be done’ signifying agreement with what has been said. The Encyclopedic Dictionary in my Bible says: It could be used at the beginning of a discourse where it means ‘truly’ or at the end of a statement where it means ‘so be it’.

      When we say the Creed, we begin with “We believe…” and end with “Amen”. That means that we truly believe that God the Father is the Creator of all things - that Jesus Christ is His Son and that He was born into the human race and allowed Himself to be beaten and killed for our benefit - that He rose again from the dead and that He physically ascended into Heaven and lives forever and will come to earth again - that the third person of the Trinity is the Holy Spirit - that we believe in the Catholic Church and we believe that we are part of the Communion of Saints - that confession is important and that we will rise again someday. Next time you pray the Creed, say it slowly and think about what you are professing. Then say “Amen, I believe”.

      When we receive the Body of Christ in Communion, the priest says “The Body of Christ” and we say “Amen” meaning that we truly believe that is the Body and Blood of Jesus. Jesus said “This is My Body, this is My Blood, do this in memory of Me” at the Last Supper. He didn’t say “This is a symbol of My Body and Blood” When we receive Communion, we are getting the greatest gift ever! Think of the suffering Jesus went through for our sake - because He loves us!