Catecismo 1061-1065. AMÉN

AMEN 1061 The Creed, like the last book of Sacred Scripture (cf. Rev 22:21), ends with the Hebrew word Amen. It is also frequently found at the end of the prayers in the New Testament. Likewise, the Church ends her prayers with an Amen. 1062 In Hebrew, Amen belongs to the same root as the word "believe." This root expresses solidity, reliability, and faithfulness. Thus, we can understand why "Amen" can express both God's faithfulness to us and our trust in him. 1063 In the prophet Isaiah, we find the expression "God of truth," literally "God of Amen," that is, the God faithful to his promises: "Whoever desires to be blessed on earth will desire to be blessed by the God of Amen" (Is 65:16). Our Lord frequently uses the term "Amen" (cf. Mt 6:2, 5, 16), sometimes in a double form (cf. Jn 5:19), to emphasize the reliability of his teaching, his Authority founded on the Truth of God. 1064 Thus, the final "Amen" of the Creed gathers up and confirms its first word: "I believe." To believe is to say "Amen" to the words, the promises, the commandments of God; it is to trust completely in him, who is the Amen of infinite love and perfect fidelity. The Christian life of each day will also be the "Amen" to the "I believe" of the Profession of Faith at our Baptism: "Let your symbol be for you like a mirror. Look at yourself in it: to see if you believe all that you profess to believe. And rejoice every day in your faith" (St. Augustine, Sermon 58, 11, 13: PL 38, 399). 1065 Jesus Christ himself is the "Amen" (Rev 3:14). He is the definitive "Amen" of the Father's love for us; he assumes and completes our "Amen" to the Father: "For in him all the promises made by God have their 'yes,' and so through him we say 'Amen' to the glory of God" (2 Cor 1:20): "Through him, with him, and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory is yours, almighty Father, for ever and ever. AMEN" (Doxology after the Eucharistic Prayer, Roman Missal)