Saint Michael the Archangel Parish

21 Manning St

Hudson, MA 01749

Blessed Trinity

 ...and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened and the holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Jesus approached and said to [the eleven disciples], "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." 

Matthew 28: 19

How can we understand the mystery of the Blessed Trinity as "three Persons in one God"?


Because it is a mystery, the Blessed Trinity is impossible to understand by reason alone. By faith we can affirm the truths about the Blessed Trinity that have been divinely revealed to us and handed down to us through Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.

 

The Blessed Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian Faith, the very source and light of all other mysteries of Faith.  As such, it is the most fundamental and indispensable truth of Christianity, one that has been revealed to the Church and articulated by her through her reflection upon Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. (Cf. CCC 234-250,252)

The Most Holy Trinity is one God in three divine Persons. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and each is of the same divine "substance", "essence," or "nature." They are differentiated as three Persons only in their relationship to one another: "It is the Father who generates, the Son who is begotten, and the Holy Spirit who proceeds." (Lateran Council IV [1215]: DS 804). Yet we ought not attempt to distinguish the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity by their perceived "functions," as though it is the Father alone who creates, the Son alone who redeems, and the Spirit alone who sanctifies. All three are united in will and share in all divine works.  (Cf. CCC 253-255, 257-267)

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the holy Spirit be with all of you. 

2 Corinthians 13:13

As is the case with all mysteries of faith, truths such as that of the Blessed Trinity are impossible to grasp with our finite, human minds. "In addition to things to which natural reason can attain, mysteries hidden in God are proposed to us for belief which, had they not been divinely revealed, could not become known" (Dei Filius, 4: DS 3015). We accept them on faith because it has been revealed to us as such, thus allowing faith to elevate our power of human reason to receive and come to know the other truths of Divine Revelation that have been entrusted to and handed on by the Church. (Cf. CCC 251, 256)


The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 237 and 267 addresses this question.

- The Didache Bible

Exalted at the right hand of God,  he received the promise of the holy Spirit from the Father and poured it forth, as you (both) see and hear.

Acts of the Apostles 2: 33

Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock of which the holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, in which you tend the church of God that he acquired with his own blood.

Acts of the Apostles 20:28

Mystery of the Holy Blessed Trinity

Before the Passion, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit as teacher, guide, and consoler. The Spirit’s appearance at Pentecost and at other events in the New Testament gives ample evidence of the Holy Spirit as the third Person of the Trinity. 


The mystery of the Holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith and life.  God reveals himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 


The doctrine of the Trinity includes three truths of faith:


1.)  The Trinity is One. We do not speak of three gods but of one 

God.  Each of the Persons is fully God. They are a unity of Persons in one divine nature.


2.)  The Divine Persons are distinct from each other. Father, Son, and Spirit are not three appearances or modes of God, but three identifiable persons, each fully God in a way distinct from the others.


3.). The Divine Persons are in relation to each other. The distinction of each is understood only in reference to the others. The Father cannot be the Father without the Son, nor can the Son be the Son without the Father. The Holy Spirit is related to the Father and the Son who both send him forth.


All Christians are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The Trinity illumines all the other mysteries of faith.


-United States Catholic Catechism for Adults

The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit


"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you...The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything and remind you of all that [I] told you."


John 14: 16-17, 26

    • Share by: