Posted on 05/24/2016 6:49:46 AM PDT by Salvation
Many of you know that I write the Question and Answer column for Our Sunday Visitor. Given the celebration of Trinity Sunday this past Sunday, I thought I might reproduce here on the blog a question/answer regarding the Trinity. It is a fairly common question; perhaps you have it, too. Remember that my answers in the column are required to be brief.
We read in a recent Sunday Gospel (May 1, 2016) that Jesus says that the Father is greater than He (Jn 14:28). Since we are all taught that each Divine Person of the Blessed Trinity fully possesses the nature of God, equally to be adored and glorified, what did Jesus mean by such a statement?” – Dick Smith, Carrolton, TX.
Theologically, Jesus means that the Father is the eternal source in the Trinity. All three persons of the Trinity are co-eternal, co-equal, and equally divine. But the Father is the Principium Deitatis (the Source in the Deity).
Hence, Jesus proceeds from the Father from all eternity. He is eternally begotten of the Father. In effect, Jesus is saying, “I delight that the Father is the eternal principle or source of my being, even though I have no origin in time.”
Devotionally, Jesus is saying that He always does what pleases His Father. Jesus loves His Father; He’s crazy about Him. He is always talking about Him and pointing to Him. By calling the Father greater, He says (in effect), “I look to my Father for everything. I do what I see Him doing (Jn 5:19) and what I know pleases Him (Jn 5:30). His will and mine are one. What I will to do proceeds from Him. I do what I know accords with His will.”
So although the members of the Trinity are all equal in dignity, there are processions in the Trinity, such that the Father is the source, the Son eternally proceeds from Him (Jn 8:42), and the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son as from one principal (Jn 15:26).
St Thomas speaks poetically of the Trinity as follows:
Genitori, Genitoque … Procedenti ab utroque … compar sit laudautio
(To the One Who Begets, and to the Begotton One, and to the One who proceeds from them both, be equal praise.)
The Athanasian Creed says the following regarding these processions:
The Father is made by none, neither created nor begotten.
The Son is of the Father alone, neither made nor created, but begotten.
The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son, not made, nor created, nor begotten, but he proceeds from them.
So although equal, processions do have an order. The Father is “greater” (as source), but is equal in dignity to Son and Holy Spirit.
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Things that make you go, “hmmmm”.
There's still good, ol' Vlad, but he has been quiet lately; too.
77 years a faithful Catholic, parochial grade school 5 years, Catholic high school last 3 years, 4th degree member of the Knights of Columbus, Catholic educator at a Juvenile detention facility, 1 of 3 sons a Notre Dame Graduate, all 3 sons in successful productive Catholic marriages.....no problems on this end because I NEVER doubt my faith.
Oh good grief, I feel like Muhammad Ali dealing with a bunch of lightweights....you can NEVER prove the truth wrong and your ?????leaders have been trying to do so for about 400 years to NO avail.
The technique of knowing a counterfeit bill from a real one used to be taught by immersing the teller in the real bill so that when the phony showed up, they knew something was wrong but may not have been able to pinpoint the discrepency
The Bible is that technique to the Christian
You are correct sir. When the Navigators led me out of the false religion that was a spiritual desert for me, they grounded us in the word very well, so that when false religionists showed up, we could detect the false doctrine.
I run into many false religionists here, that are willing to listen to the truth. I try to spend more time with people who want the truth, than with those who don't want it. I am sure we all have our own opinions of who does or does not want the truth, but we will keep our opinions to ourselves. 😀😃😂😆
I awoke 1 buntag after only 3 hrs... NOW maybe I can get some better sleep
Keep exposing the many false doctrines out there. False doctrine seems to proliferate, so we always have to be on our toes to recognize it, and counter it. Keep up the good work bro.
I'm sure you do!
Ping to post 1006
Excellent.
It’s not hard when you know the word, the Truth.
(...fixing our eyes on Rome, the Editor and Assembler of countless visitations and apparations...)
Perhaps you should be playing chess with the pigeons??
Why does the catholic always come across as being so arrogant?
Now there you go again posting those pesky little facts catholics completely disregard.
My point in posting that example of bank tellers being taught to know counterfeit by knowing the true bill
it’s a good example!
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