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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Careful now, you’ll erode TC’s Magic Thinking ... he might actually grasp a morsel of truth about catholic History.
I agree, there is only one right. The Navigators are right, but they are not the only ones who are right. There is Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Ex Mormons for Jesus, Ex Catholics for Jesus, a new organization that should be started. 😄 Now, is every person affiliated with these groups saved and on their way to Heaven? I don't know for sure, but remember, only born again Christians will go to Heaven. The rest will go to Hell, and don't give me this malarkey about being baptized in water makes one saved. That ain't gonna cut the mustard.
Catholicism, the origin of Christianity is right....all others are either wrong or, at best, incomplete
I disagree bro, but I seem to always disagree with you. I am completely comfortable with that. I do not believe the Catholic Church is the origin of Christianity. The Holy Spirit allows me to see the truth and allows me to be my own pope.
Being your own pope is a beautiful thing. You MUST try it. Don't rely on some sinner try to tell you what the truth is. They might be wrong, and then you are in deep kimchi.
I don't know about you, but I have no intention of trying to bluff my way into Heaven. Good luck with that. Remember, the truth has a certain intolerance of error. I KNOW the truth bro.
No.
I doubt they thought it was important. People are buried everyday. It's not important. Mary was an ordinary sinner, in need of a savior. Where she was buried, is not important enough that anyone needs to worry about. Don't worry about it.
Look bro, let me give you a dose of reality. In the world, about 4 babies are born every second. Approximately 345,000 a day. In the world, 2 people die ever second, approximately 170,000 a day. The vast majority, go to Hell. They are buried, and outside of family, no one knows where, and no one cares where. Just like no one will care where you or I are buried. I have no intention of trying to bluff my way into Heaven. Others might be bluffing, but not me.
Where is Moses' grave?
...isn't it amazing that the early Jews would have lost track of where Moses was buried?????
Provable to who???....Seems to me that the Catholic church would have made some corrections if anything they taught was provably wrong........have you found Mary's body????Can you show through some magic that the Eucharist, venerated for 2,016 years as the actual Body and Blood of Jesus is just a cookie????I didn't think so........sigh, It is VERY difficult to prove that an action on your part years ago was justified......it wasn't.
A dolt cannot be taught. A fool refuses to learn. Has it hit you yet that no one is trying any longer to get you to learn?
Probably not. ;o)
Doesn't matter bro. We haven't found the bodies of Adam, Eve, Abel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Esther, Ruth, Moses, Aaron, the Apostles, Paul, Timothy, Silas, Barnabas, but hey, it doesn't matter. Their bodies, and Mary's body, are doing the same thing that John Brown's body is doing.
Can you show through some magic that the Eucharist, venerated for 2,016 years as the actual Body and Blood of Jesus is just a cookie?
Don't need magic. When I was a Catholic, I ate that host many times, until I started committing a lot of mortal sins, at which time I stopped. I didn't want to commit a mortal sin of sacrilege, by receiving communion with a mortal sin on my soul. I knew for sure it was a plain, tasteless piece of bread, because I ate it a bunch of times. It didn't do anything for me.
Besides, some Catholic, told me that I didn't need the sacraments. I don't recall who it was, but I think it was you. 😀
It is VERY difficult to prove that an action on your part years ago was justified......it wasn't.
If you are referring to the day I became an ex Catholic, then I gotta disagree with you bro. Becoming an ex Catholic, was the most beautiful experience of my life. Now, I am no longer involved in a false religion. I think you need to do the same, bro.
A very good question bro.
Matt 15:14 says: Let them alone: they are blind guides. And if the blind guide the blind, both shall fall into a pit.
Do you suppose we have that situation developing here? If so, then there comes a time, when we either gotta fish, or cut bait.
I don't know for sure bro, but it might be near time to cut bait. What do you think?
Have you found Moses' body?
Totally different conditions....at Moses death, the Israelites were basically a group of nomads seeking the promised land....Mary, on the other hand, lived in a home, in an established community with her husband and single child. Every follower of Christ, at the time of her death, knew where she had been buried and would certainly have respected her burial place. She was the mother of their leader whom they worshiped as God.
Your imagination is still keen ... The Roman government and the Sanhedrin had a stake in suppressing the ‘new religion’, so it is more likely that Mary’s other children wanted to keep her death and burial out of public knowledge. Only the Catholic desperation to raise the Mother of Jesus to goddess status keeps these fool imaginings going.
Then where's that house with the historical plaque in front of it?
I don't know, since it was Jesus' boyhood home, you'd think they would have marked it.....they did to His tomb. Maybe they didn't think the way we do....president's homes, famous people's homes....oh well!
I disagree bro. Mary and Joseph had a ton of kids. Mary and Joseph had a normal marriage, after Jesus was born, including a normal married couple's sex life.
I think I’m re-instated
It would appear you are right sir. What happened to your tag line bro?
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