nor be deceived. With these words I submit my mind, my reason and my
will to the infallible authority of God.

"I believe in God the Father." This means that I believe that in God
there are three Persons, of whom the first Person is called the Father
because He is the origin of all existence; because from all eternity He
begot the Son, who is equal to Him in essence but different in Person.
Further, He is our Father because He created us His children.

"I believe in God, the Father Almighty." It is befitting that at the
beginning of the Creed the omnipotence of God should be emphasized. Our
faith contains many mysteries, which no created understanding can
comprehend. Because I firmly believe in the omnipotence of God I
profess that to God nothing is impossible.

In His omnipotence, God, the Father, created the world, calling it into
existence from nothing. Hence we say: "I believe in God, the Father
Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth." But God not only created
the world, He also preserves and rules it through His omnipotence. As
by virtue of His will He created the world, so does God cause it to
continue in existence. A building erected by a master hand remains
standing even though the master absent himself; yet the world,
according to St. Augustine, could not continue to exist for one moment
did not God preserve it. This world which God called forth from nothing
would, the very moment that God should withdraw His almighty hand, fall
back into nothing. "And how could anything endure if thou wouldst not?"
Thus we read of God in the Book of Wisdom (ii, 26). Since we are then
so utterly dependent upon God that at any moment He could cut the
thread of our lives, how greatly should we fear to offend Him?