What You [Catholics] Need to Know: Trinity [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]

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What You Need to Know:

Trinity

It is not easy to describe the Trinity, let alone understand this great mystery of the Catholic Faith. Perhaps the most important thing we can say about the Trinity is that the one and only God is truly a dynamic and self-sufficient community of love, and is therefore the source, model and goal of all other love. Thus does God reveal Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

One of the best introductions to the Trinity is found in two sections of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, covering the formation of the Trinitarian dogma, the dogma itself, the Divine work of the Trinity, and the special missions of the three Persons of the Trinity.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s address on the Trinity in 1930, published as part of his book The Divine Romance in 1943, provides an eloquent second source which should move us to deeper understanding and, ultimately, to a conscious participation in the Divine love which the Trinity offers.

Finally, while it may be “cheating” to call it a third single source, CatholicCulture.org recommends for deeper meditation the use of Pope John Paul II’s twenty-one catechetical audiences delivered in the year 2000. Each one is a brief reflection on a different aspect of the Trinity, perfectly suitable for daily spiritual reading and reflection.

If you only have time to look at three things, LOOK AT THESE.

1. The Holy Trinity, The Divine Works, and the Trinitarian Missions
2. The Divine Romance: The Blessed Trinity (Archbishop Sheen)
3. Catechesis on the Holy Trinity (John Paul II)

And if you've got more time...

Among the many sets of notes, courses and writings in our collection of the works of the late Scripture scholar Fr. William Most, we have the material he developed for “The Living God” course offered by the Notre Dame Institute (now the Notre Dame Graduate School of Christendom College). Section six provides a large number of Scriptural, Patristic and theological quotations on The Holy Trinity.

[Salvation]

Mt 28:16-20

The eleven disciples went to Galilee,
to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them.
When they all saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.
Then Jesus approached and said to them,
"All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."

[Salvation]

These look fabulous!

Catechesis on the Holy Trinity

t | t | t | t

by Pope John Paul II

• The Trinity: Fountain of Love and Light
• Trinity Is Mysteriously Present in Creation
• Glory of the Trinity Is Revealed in History
• Incarnation Reveals Glory of the Trinity
• Holy Trinity Is Revealed at Jesus' Baptism
• The Promise of Tabor Is Fulfilled at Easter
• Christ's Passion Reveals Glory of the Trinity
• Trinity Is Present in Christ's Resurrection
• Glory of the Trinity in Christ's Ascension
• Pentecost Involves the Three Divine Persons
• Presence of the Trinity in Human Life
• The Trinity In the Life of the Church
• Glory of the Trinity in the Heavenly Jerusalem
• God Always Goes in Search of Man
• God Satisfies Our Longing for His Presence
• The Decisive Meeting with Christ, the Word Made Flesh
• Jesus Is Supreme Encounter of God and Man
• God Continually Calls Man To Repentance
• The Way Taught by Christ Is Demanding
• Holy Spirit Gives Life and Freedom to Christians
• Gift of Spirit Makes Us "Sons in the Son"

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What You [Catholics] Need to Know: Trinity [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
The Holy Trinity (excerpt from the Light of Faith by St. Thomas Aquinas)

The Concept of the Most Holy Trinity - The Relationship between the Three Persons in One God
A Brief Catechism for Adults - Lesson 3: God and the Holy Trinity
Sheed on the Trinity (Catholic Caucus)
The Father as the Source of the Whole Trinity - Greek and Latin Traditions About the Filioque
Trinity Facts

The Real Trinity
We believe in one only God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit
Brief Reflections on the Trinity, the Canon of Scripture, and the Protestant idea of Sola Scriptura
Why Do We Believe in the Trinity?
The Holy Trinity

Trinity Sunday (and the Trinity season)
Trinitarian Mystery
HaSheeloosh HaKadosh: The Holy Trinity
MARY’S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE TRINITY
The Divine Trinity

[Salvation]

Do check out the Archbishop Sheen link above too. Excellent.

[rarestia]

I’ve always adored the Trinity in Catholic teachings. Thank you for sharing this.

[Salvation]

You’re so welcome. Hope you enjoy reading some of the things posted about the Trinity on FR.

[Coleus]

 

[lightman]

For me, there is no finer explanation of the Holy Trinity than that expressed by the Athanasian (or more precisely, Athanasian-Constaninopolitan) Creed.

My congregation has been known to recite this antiphonally on Trinity Sunday.

http://www.bookofconcord.org/creeds.php#athanasian

Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith. Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.

And the catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost.

But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is all one: the glory equal, the majesty coeternal.

Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost.

The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate.

The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible.

The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal.

And yet they are not three Eternals, but one Eternal.

As there are not three Uncreated nor three Incomprehensibles, but one Uncreated and one Incomprehensible.

So likewise the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Ghost almighty.

And yet they are not three Almighties, but one Almighty.

So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God.

And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.

So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Ghost Lord.

And yet not three Lords, but one Lord.

For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by Himself to be God and Lord, So are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say, There be three Gods, or three Lords.

The Father is made of none: neither created nor begotten.

The Son is of the Father alone; not made, nor created, but begotten.

The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son: neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.

So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.

And in this Trinity none is before or after other; none is greater or less than another; But the whole three Persons are coeternal together, and coequal: so that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshiped.

He, therefore, that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity.

Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe faithfully the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For the right faith is, that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man; God of the Substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man of the substance of His mother, born in the world; Perfect God and perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.

Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood; Who, although He be God and Man, yet He is not two, but one Christ: One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking the manhood into God; One altogether; not by confusion of Substance, but by unity of Person.

For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ; Who suffered for our salvation; descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead; He ascended into heaven; He sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty; from whence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies, and shall give an account of their own works.

And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil, into everlasting fire.

This is the catholic faith; which except a man believe faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved.

[Salvation]

Beginning Catholic: Creeds: Apostles, Nicene, Athanasian [Ecumenical]

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What You [Catholics] Need to Know: Trinity [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
What You [Catholics] Need to Know: Tradition [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
What You [Catholics] Need to Know: Abortion
What You [Catholics] Need to Know: Baptism [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]

What You [Catholics] Need to Know: Penance (Reconciliation, Confession) [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
What You [Catholics] Need to Know: Priesthood (Holy Orders) [Catholic-Orthodox Caucus]
What You {Catholics} Need to Know: Celibacy [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
What You {Catholics} Need to Know: Mass (Sacred Liturgy) [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
What You [Catholics] Need to Know: The Vatican (or Holy See) [Catholic-Orthodox Caucus]

What You [Catholics] Need to Know: Marriage
What You [Catholics] Need to Know: Eucharistic Mystery [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
What You [Catholics] Need to Know: Eucharist (Real Presence) [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
[What Every Catholic Needs to Know about] Gaining Indulgences [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
What You [Catholics] Need to Know: Deacons and the Diaconate[Catholic-Orthodox Caucus]

[Salvation]

Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy: Principles and Guidelines

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

157. The solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity is celebrated on the Sunday after Pentecost. With the growth of devotion to the mystery of God in His Unity and Trinity, John XXII extended the feast of the Holy Trinity to the entire Latin Church in 1334. During the middle ages, especially during the carolingian period, devotion to the Blessed Trinity was a highly important feature of private devotion and inspired several liturgical expressions. These events were influential in the development of certain pious exercises.

In the present context, it would not appear appropriate to mention specific pious exercises connected with popular devotion to the Blessed Trinity, "the central mystery of the faith and of the Christian life"¹⁶⁵. It sufficies to recall that every genuine form of popular piety must necessarily refer to God, "the all-powerful Father, His only begotten Son and the Holy Spirit"¹⁶⁶. Such is the mystery of God, as revealed in Christ and through him. Such have been his manifestations in salvation history. The history of salvation "is the history of the revelation of the one true God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who reconciles and unites to Himself those who have been freed from sin" ¹⁶⁷.

Numerous pious exercises have a Trinitarian character or dimension. Most of them begin with the sign of the cross "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit", the same formula with which the disciples of Jesus are baptized (cf. Mt 28, 19), thereby beginning a life of intimacy with the God, as sons of the Father, brothers of Jesus, and temples of the Holy Spirit. Other pious exercises use formulas similar to those found in the Liturgy of the Hours and begin by giving "Glory to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit". Some pious exercises end with a blessing given in the name of the three divine Persons. Many of the prayers used in these pious exercises follow the typical liturgical form and are addressed to the "Father, through Christ, in the Holy Spirit", and conserve doxological formulas taken from the Liturgy.

158. Worship, as has been said in the first part of this Directory, is the dialogue of God with man through Christ in the Holy Spirit¹⁶⁸. A Trinitarian orientation is therefore an essential element in popular piety. It should be clear to the faithful that all pious exercises in honour of the Blessed Virgin May, and of the Angels and Saints have the Father as their final end, from Whom all thing come and to Whom all things return; the incarnate, dead and resurrected Son is the only mediator (1Tim 2,5) apart from whom access to the Father is impossible (cf. John 14,6); the Holy Spirit is the only source of grace and sanctification. It is important to avoid any concept of "divinity" which is abstract from the three Divine Persons.

159. Together with the little doxology (Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit....) and the great doxology (Glory be to God in the highest), pious exercises addressed directly to the Most Blessed Trinity often include formulas such as the biblical Trisagion (Holy, Holy, Holy) and also its liturgical form (Holy God, Holy Strong One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us), especially in the Eastern Churches, in some Western countries as well as among numerous religious orders and congregations.

The liturgical Trisagion is inspired by liturgical hymns and its biblical counterpart. Here mention could be made of the Sanctus used in the celebration of the Mass, the Te Deum, the improperia of Good Friday's veneration of the Cross, all of which are derived from Isaiah 6, 3 and Apocalypses 4, 8. The Trisagion is a pious exercise in which the faithful, united with the Angels, continually glorify God, the Holy, Powerful and Immortal One, while using expressions of praise drawn from Scripture and the Liturgy.