Light, radiance and grace are in the Trinity and from the Trinity

A letter by St Athanasius

It will not be out of place to consider the ancient tradition, teaching and faith of the Catholic Church, which was revealed by the Lord, proclaimed by the apostles and guarded by the fathers. For upon this faith the Church is built, and if anyone were to lapse from it, he would no longer be a Christian either in fact or in name. We acknowledge the Trinity, holy and perfect, to consist of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In this Trinity there is no intrusion of any alien element or of anything from outside, nor is the Trinity a blend of creative and created being. It is a wholly creative and energising reality, self-consistent and undivided in its active power, for the Father makes all things through the Word and in the Holy Spirit, and in this way the unity of the holy Trinity is preserved. Accordingly, in the Church, one God is preached, one God who is above all things and through all things and in all things. God is above all things as Father, for he is principle and source; he is through all things through the Word; and he is in all things in the Holy Spirit. Writing to the Corinthians about spiritual matters, Paul traces all reality back to one God, the Father, saying: Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of service but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in everyone. Even the gifts that the Spirit dispenses to individuals are given by the Father through the Word. For all that belongs to the Father belongs also to the Son, and so the graces given by the Son in the Spirit are true gifts of the Father. Similarly, when the Spirit dwells in us, the Word who bestows the Spirit is in us too, and the Father is present in the Word. This is the meaning of the text: My Father and I will come to him and make our home with him. For where the light is, there also is the radiance; and where the radiance is, there too are its power and its resplendent grace. This is also Paul’s teaching in his second letter to the Corinthians: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. For grace and the gift of the Trinity are given by the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. Just as grace is given from the Father through the Son, so there could be no communication of the gift to us except in the Holy Spirit. But when we share in the Spirit, we possess the love of the Father, the grace of the Son and the fellowship of the Spirit himself.

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DOCTRINE ON THE HOLY TRINITY

What is God?
GOD is the most perfect being, the highest, best Good, who exists, from all eternity, by whom heaven and earth are create, and from whom all things derive and hold life and existence, for of Him, and by Him, and in Him are all things. (Rom 11: 36)

What is the Blessed Trinity?
The Blessed Trinity is this one God who is one in nature and threefold in person, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Is each of these three persons God?
Yes, because each of them has the divine nature and substance.

Are they not three Gods?
No, because all three of these persons have one and the same divine nature and substance.

Is any one of these three persons older, mightier, or greater than the other?
By, no means, they are all three from eternity entirely equal to each .other in divine omnipotence greatness and majesty, and must, therefore, be equally adored and venerated.

Ought one to give himself up to the investigation of the most Blessed Trinity?
No; "For," says the saintly Bishop Martin, "the mystery of the Trinity cannot be comprehended by the human intellect, no one however eloquent can exhaust it; if entire books were written about it, so that the whole world were filled with them, yet the unspeakable wisdom of God would not be expressed. God who is indescribable, can in no way be described. When the human mind ceases to speak of Him, then it but begins to speak." Therefore the true Christian throws his intellect under the feet of faith, not seeking to understand that which the human mind can as little comprehend, as a tiny hole in the sand can contain the immeasurable sea. An humble and active faith will make us worthy some day in the other world, to see with ' the greatest bliss this mystery as it is, for in this consists eternal life, that by a pious life we may glorify and know the only true God, Christ Jesus His Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Credit: text from "The Church's Year" by Fr Goffine and "Trinity" painting by Luca Rossetti

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Trinity Sunday

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost!

"Blessed be the Holy Trinity, that is Unity undivided; we will ever give thanks to him who has shown us his mercy". (Introit)

The opening words of today's Introit are echoed again and again in the liturgy. Their meaning is profound - the Blessed Trinity is the origin of all grace. Men, and above all, the God-Man, Saviour of his fallen brethren, owe their existence to the decree of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

"Blessed be God the Father, and His only-begotten Son and His Holy Ghost; such mercy he has shown us." (Offertory)
Christ, the ambassador of God's true love, revealed to man, in confidence, the mystery of the Trinity. By His revelation of the trinity of Persons in the unity of the Godhead, He gave us to know something of its Being and its limitless life. Such a revelation is, of necessity, a sign of love. God reveals himself in confidence, because He reveals Himself in love. When He made a new alliance with man in Christ Jesus, His first act was to make Himself better known.
Man, by refusing to honour and to serve the God whom he now knows in three Persons, puts to shame the confidence which Christ reposed in Him. In the New Testament, the Blessed Trinity is, and must ever be, the very heart of our faith, our Christian life. It is a truth on which Holy Church repeatedly insists.
When a soul is baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and becomes a member of the Church, it is the Trinity that gives her access to those sources of grace, the Sacraments. Every word of the liturgy, by which the Christian prays with the Church, is a homage rendered to the Three in One. By every sign of the Cross, by every Gloria, he confesses the greatest of all mysteries: the mystery of the Triune God, whom he thanks for his creation, his redemption, his elevation to the supernatural order.
When a soul is baptized in the name of the Father and confesses his faith in the Creed, he declares his belief in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, who became man; and in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and life-giver, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
When, at Mass, he sings or recites the "Gloria in excelsis Deo", he says in other words, "Glory be to the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost." He praises and blesses, adores and glorifies the King of heaven, the Father Almighty, his Lord and God, and the Lamb of God, Son of the Father, who with the Holy Ghost shares in the glory of the Father. Whether he chooses the words of the Te Deum to express his thanks, or employs the three-fold "Kyrie eleison" by which to obtain mercy, he addresses himself to the God in three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Whoever follows the text of the liturgy attentively, honours the Blessed Trinity. The doxologies are so frequent that he has no need to ask himself if he indeed honours as he should the Triune God.

To you be praise, glory, and thanksgiving, all-Holy Father, unending Majesty, who by your infinite power created me from nothing. I praise and glorify and thank you, all-Holy Son, reflection of the father, who by your infinite wisdom saved me from death.
I bless and adore you, Spirit of the Father and the Son, who by your love and goodness have called me to a life of grace.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen

Credits: text from "With the Church" - meditations on the Missal and the Breviary, by Fr M. Goossens OFM. Picture is by Flemish artist, Hendrick van Balen "Trinity" 17 century.

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