Day 38: Summary of the Trinity (261-267)
Today’s our McNugget Day!!
Our Nug Day!!
I don’t know if you say that!!
Today is a summary of what we’ve been talking about
So…
What have we been talking about??
We’ve been talking about the Revelation of God as TRINITY is the HEART of the Christian mystery
Not only does God REVEAL Himself as a TRINITY
The MANNER in which God reveals Himself is the SON who reveals the fact that God the Father is NOT JUST Father to Israel
NOT JUST a Father in the order of CREATION
BUT…
That the Father is ETERNALLY FATHER
WHICH IS REMARKABLE!!
The Second Person of the Trinity THE SON is ETERNALLY THE SON
AND…
The Father and the Son are REVEALED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
IT IS REMARKABLE!!
Also, the Lord is INVITING US to share His own blessed life
He is INVITING US into the MYSTERY OF THE TRINITY
One of the most INCREDIBLE lines in The Catechism is Paragraph 221, “By sending his only Son and the Spirit of Love in the fullness of time, God has revealed his innermost secret: God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and he has destined us to share in that exchange.”
The section we have been reading is all about HOW IT WORKS
We talked about words like SUBSTANCE
ESSENCE
NATURE
PERSON
HYPOSTASIS
We also talked about THEOLOGIA and OIKONOMIA
THEOLOGY AND ECONOMY
THEOLOGY/THEOLOGIA refers to the mystery of God’s inmost life WITHIN THE BLESSED TRINITY
THAT IS WHO HE IS IN HIMSELF!!
ECONOMY/OIKONOMIA are all the works by which God REVEALS HIMSELF and COMMUNICATES HIS LIFE
So whenever you hear DIVINE ECONOMY you might think, “PLEASE USE SOME OTHER WORDS!!”
Fr. Mike gets it, don’t worry 🤣🤣
BUT…
We are referring to all the works by which God REVEALS HIMSELF and COMMUNICATES HIS LIFE
(Oh I was worried Fr. Mike wasn’t going to remind us what ECONOMY was!! 🤪)
So in the DIVINE ECONOMY God reveals the FACT that HE is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
BUT ALSO…
The FACT that He is ONE GOD
BUT ALSO…
The FACT that the Father is the one FROM WHOM all things come
The Son is the one THROUGH WHOM all things come
The Holy Spirit is the one IN WHOM all things are
IT IS ONE OF THOSE INCREDIBLE GIFTS!!
We also talked about The Divine Works and the Trinitarian Missions yesterday
The whole DIVINE ECONOMY (Can I get an over/under for how many times Fr. Mike is going to say “Divine Economy” in these 365 days? I’m going to guess oh about 777 times 😉) aka the whole way in which God communicates Himself and invites us into His life…
Is the COMMON WORK of the Three Divine Persons
As the Holy Trinity has ONLY ONE AND THE SAME NATURE
So to does it have ONLY ONE AND THE SAME OPERATION
AND YET…
THIS IS REMARKABLE…
When ONE Person of the Trinity IS PRESENT…
THEY ARE ALL PRESENT!!
When ONE Person of the Trinity ACTS…
THEY ALL ACT!!
AND YET…
IN A VERY DISTINCTIVE WAY!!
That’s why we quoted The Second Council of Constantinople quite a few times
Paragraph 258, “One God and Father FROM WHOM all things are, and one Lord Jesus Christ, THROUGH WHOM all things are, and one Holy Spirit IN WHOM all things are.”
Sometimes we can imagine that on this IN BRIEF DAY…
This McNugget day…
That we are simply restating what we have been hearing for the last couple of days in The Catechism
There is that…
BUT…
There are some NEW THINGS
IN FACT…
We talked about the Apostles’ Creed in the past
We talked about the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed in the past
Today we are actually going to hear a little excerpt from the Athanasian Creed
Go look up the Athanasian Creed (I got you covered here and on the HOME PAGE of The Catechism in a Year Study Guide 😁 https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/athanasian-creed-12495 )
It’s long so that’s probably one of the reasons we do not say it in the context of the Mass
BUT…
IT IS VERY VERY BEAUTIFUL!!
There is a beauty that we are invited into today
So all of us are invited to reflect on each of these MCNUGGETS!!!
Allow what we have heard in the last few days to sink from our minds into our hearts
So let's pray and ask God to do that!!
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in heaven, we know. We know that we desire to know who you are, and yet you are mystery. We can't know you fully. But in some ways, we can love you fully. We want to know you more. We want to, even more than know you more, we want to love you more. Help us to know you more so that we can love you more. And above all, Lord God, by your grace, send your spirit to open our hearts so that we can love you the way you deserve. Send your grace into our hearts that we can love you the way you love us and bring us into your own blessed life, bring us into that relationship where you are Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen”
So there we have it!!
THE MCNUGGETS!!
Here is what the Church has been trying to communicate to us in The Catechism
Tomorrow we are going to read about some of the DIVINE ATTRIBUTES
IN FACT…
THE divine attribute that we are going to highlight is that GOD IS THE ALMIGHTY
GOD IS OMNIPOTENT!!
BUT…
Before that, we have been listening over the past few days about WHO GOD IS IN HIMSELF
What is God’s DEEPEST IDENTITY?
Paragraph 261 says, “The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith and of Christian life.”
We have heard this A THOUSAND TIMES!!
AND IT IS REALLY IMPORTANT!!
WE CAN NEVER EVER EVER FORGET IT!!
WE CAN NEVER EVER EVER UNDERESTIMATE IT!!
God ALONE can make it known
God ALONE can reveal to us that He is ONE GOD and THREE DIVINE PERSONS
He does this through the INCARNATION
When the Second Person of the Trinity takes on a HUMAN NATURE in Jesus Christ…
He reveals that God is ETERNALLY FATHER as He is ETERNALLY SON
And then we have the mission of the Holy Spirit in Paragraph 263, “...sent by the Father in the name of the Son (John 14:26) and by the Son ‘from the Father’ (John 15:26)...”
BOTH the Father and the Son are involved in this
This is why we talked about the FILIOQUE from the Nicene Creed
“The Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.”
And for our Orthodox brothers and sisters in the Eastern Church, it is acceptable to say “The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father THROUGH the Son.”
THAT COMES FROM SCRIPTURE!!
John 14:26
John 15:26
It reveals to us that THE SPIRIT IS ALSO CO-EQUAL AND CO-ETERNAL WITH GOD THE FATHER AND GOD THE SON
THAT IS INCREDIBLE!!
Not only because that’s who God is
Paragraph 265 says, “By the grace of Baptism ‘in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,’ we are called to share in the life of the Blessed Trinity, here on earth in the obscurity of faith, and after death in eternal light.”
We will talk about the OBSCURITY OF FAITH that St. Pope Paul VI talks about what it is to live in faith on this planet
BUT…
We will also talk about what is it to have that UNMEDIATED VISION OF GOD?
What is it to have this life with God IN HEAVEN?
When we get to the END THINGS
THE FOUR LAST THINGS
Here we have a little taste…
OUR DESTINY…
WE ARE CALLED TO SHARE IN THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED TRINITY!!
Even now, as the Holy Spirit dwells inside of us
We know that as the Holy Spirit is present, so are the Father and the Son
So here we are called to share in the life of the Trinity…
EVEN THOUGH IT IS IN THE OBSCURITY OF FAITH!!
Ultimately…
God WANTS for us…
God WILLS for us…
God DESIRES that we share in His blessed life in ETERNITY IN HEAVEN
WHICH WE KEEP PRAYING FOR!!
Fr. Mike loves the Athanasian Creed (again, here it is!! https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/athanasian-creed-12495)
IT IS BEAUTIFUL!!
IT IS SO POETIC!!
IT IS SO DEEP!!
IT IS SO PROFOUND!!
You could pray with it for weeks and months
Here is part of the Athanasian Creed that makes it CLEAR…
Paragraph 266 says, “We worship one God in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity, without either confusing the persons or dividing the substance…”
So the Father IS NOT the Son
The Son IS NOT the Holy Spirit
The Father IS NOT the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit IS NOT the Father
We are NOT CONFUSING THE PERSONS
BUT…
We are NOT DIVIDING THE SUBSTANCE
Remember that the SUBSTANCE is the VERY DIVINE NATURE
ONE DIVINE BEING!!
THREE DIVINE PERSONS!!
Paragraph 266 continues, “...their glory equal, their majesty coeternal.”
Reflect on the FACT that God’s GLORY and God’s MAJESTY exist RIGHT NOW!!
Wherever you are right now listening to this…
We could say that we are very busy with our day
It’s probably the case that all of us are
BUT…
IN THIS VERY MOMENT…
GOD EXISTS IN GLORY!!
IN THIS VERY MOMENT…
GOD EXISTS IN MAJESTY!!
GOD CONTINUES TO REIGN!!
Whatever it means for God to REIGN…
For God to exist in GLORY…
For God’s MAJESTY to be REAL AND ACTIVE IN THIS VERY MOMENT…
WHATEVER THAT MEANS…
THAT IS HAPPENING!!
We are going through our daily lives and affairs and doing the things that we need to be doing
WHICH IS GOOD!!
That is one of the ways that we can give glory to God
To realize that IN THIS MOMENT…
GOD IS ENTHRONED!!
IN THIS MOMENT…
GOD IS GLORIFIED!!
That same God who is GLORIFIED…
That same God who is ENTHRONED…
IS THE SAME GOD WHO IS CALLING YOU INTO HIS BLESSED LIFE!!
Even though He is GLORIFIED…
Even though He is ENTHRONED…
Even though His Majesty is WITHOUT END…
HE CARES ABOUT YOU!!
THAT IS ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!!
NEVER EVER FORGET THAT!!
Yes, we are going to talk about God being ALMIGHTY tomorrow
We are going to talk about God being OMNIPOTENT tomorrow
His might is UNIVERSAL
His power is LOVING
ABSOLUTELY!!
That POWER is loving YOU
That MIGHT cares about YOU
He is calling YOU (and me) to share His own Blessed Life
Fr. Mike asks all of us to pause on that for just a moment
As we go about our daily business, recognize that there is MORE to this life than JUST this life
So…
In order to SEE that and RESPOND to it, we need God’s Grace
Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!
Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!
I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!