Tag: Holy Trinity

4 min read

Church Teaching

Theological Anthropology 101: What does it mean to be a person?

Father Harrison Ayre

January 25, 2023 1:45 pm January 25, 2023

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4 min read

If we were to ask the average person what it means to be a person, they would struggle to give an answer. It’s something we intuitively know, but struggle to…

If we were to ask the average person what it means to be a person, they would struggle to give an answer. It’s something we intuitively know, but struggle to define. Perhaps we will simply exclaim that to be a person is to be my “self.” It’s a possibility that adjectives about reason or free will may be thrown into the mix. Generally, though, it is often difficult for us to define.

The concept of personhood has developed over time and is rooted, not so much in philosophy, but rather in the debates around the Trinity in the early Church. It is here, in trying to explain how God can be both monotheistic, and yet also Father, Son and Holy Spirit, they developed the already existing word “person” — in Greek hypostasis — to equate to a particular relation within the Trinity. Thus Father, Son and Holy Spirit are unique “persons” because they are unique relations yet co-equal with the same substance.

For humanity, then, the idea of personhood, as well as our dignity as human beings, flows from our being rooted in being made in God’s image and likeness. As God is a relation between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, man, made in that image and likeness of God, exists to be in relation with each other. To be in relation means you need a body to relate to others, a soul with the powers of intellect and will. But personhood is also the guarantee of uniqueness. By virtue of my body, my soul, my temperaments, etc., I am positioned to be truly unique in the world. Thus, personhood is a word to speak to this unrepeatable uniqueness, while humanity speaks more broadly to our nature. To be a human and to be a person are not the same thing, but you cannot have one without the other, either (Please note: this is an important distinction to always keep in mind about Jesus and the hypostatic union).

To be in relation

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in fact, will go on to emphasize this idea that to be a person is to be in relation. It emphasizes that man isolated and alone is incomplete, that man and woman are created to be a communion of persons. This communion is only possible because a person is endowed with a body to give, a will that chooses the other and a reason that apprehends and knows the other. Thus, to be a person means we are made to give ourselves to and for another. The Catechism talks about this in regard to her social teaching as well: man is by nature a social animal, and therefore persons need to live in a society (No. 1879). Society is not something extraneous to man but is a core expression of who he is as a person. Only in relationship with other persons is the individual able to fully realize their potential.

Mutual gift

This mutual gift of persons — whether on the larger level of society or in the specific vocation a person receives — is rooted in the Trinity itself. There we see the eternal exchange of love, a totally giving for the other between all three Persons. This exchange of love is revealed in Christ on the Cross, where Christ, in giving himself over to death, is also revealing the inner heart of Trinitarian life. By seeing this love on the cross, we see the heart of God, and thereby see the very life we are created for, because it is in that image that we are created. If God is this eternal exchange of love between Father, Son and Holy Spirit, then it follows that man is most a person when he gives himself. This is known as the Law of the Gift, and it was formulated by John Paul II, especially when, as cardinal, he gave us one of the most beautiful passages of the Second Vatican Council: “Indeed, the Lord Jesus, when He prayed to the Father, ‘that all may be one … as we are one’ (Jn 17:21-22) opened up vistas closed to human reason, for He implied a certain likeness between the union of the divine Persons, and the unity of God’s sons in truth and charity. This likeness reveals that man, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself” (Gaudium et Spes, No. 24).

Father Harrison Ayre is a priest of the Diocese of Victoria, British Columbia. Follow him on Twitter at @FrHarrison. Read more from his Theological Anthropology 101 series here.

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Trinity

Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit?

Simply Catholic Staff

October 29, 2022 7:07 am October 29, 2022

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1 min read

The two terms are interchangeable in many ways, however the usage of “Ghost” when referring to the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity has fallen from use in the last…

The two terms are interchangeable in many ways, however the usage of “Ghost” when referring to the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity has fallen from use in the last half-century or so for a variety of reasons. Included among those is the most likely: namely, the demonic or deathly connotations attached in recent decades with the word “ghost,” which comes from Old English and German. But then there’s the fact that the English word “Spirit,” which comes from the French, is a better translation of the Latin words Spiritus Sanctus. If used in the proper context, though, “Ghost” is certainly still permissible for use in private prayer.

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6 min read

Saints

What Does It Mean To Be A Mystic?

Kathryn Jean Lopez

August 1, 2022 7:29 am August 1, 2022

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6 min read

Have you ever wondered about the Holy Trinity? Have you ever noticed it was Trinity Sunday and hoped to learn more? You may know it is a mystery. Perhaps you…

Have you ever wondered about the Holy Trinity? Have you ever noticed it was Trinity Sunday and hoped to learn more? You may know it is a mystery. Perhaps you have thought that there must be a way to get to know these three Persons of the Trinity.

It’s a beautiful thing to set out to pray by first acknowledging the presence of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Each is a part of our lives, at the heart of our existence as God’s adopted sons and daughters. Give it a try, and you might just feel a little more comfortable reading about some of the great mystic saints and other holy ones of Christianity.

A number of years ago, one friend wrote a foreword to another’s book. Popular Catholic radio show host and author Jennifer Fulwiler said Gary Jansen, the author of a number of practical books on prayer, is a “mystic.” I gave this particular book, “Station to Station: An Ignatian Journey through the Stations of the Cross” (Loyola Press, $9.95), to a few people, and at least one commented: “You said the guy who wrote that book is a friend of yours. But he’s a mystic!”

You can almost hear the exotic music in the background, can’t you? We think of mysticism as something foreign to our experiences. But it needn’t be. It really shouldn’t be.

Intimate union with Christ

The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that:

“Spiritual progress tends toward ever more intimate union with Christ. This union is called ‘mystical’ because it participates in the mystery of Christ through the sacraments — ‘the holy mysteries’ — and, in him, in the mystery of the Holy Trinity. God calls us all to this intimate union with him, even if the special graces or extraordinary signs of this mystical life are granted only to some for the sake of manifesting the gratuitous gift given to all” (No. 2014).

That’s pretty clear. We’re all called to a deeper union with God. Really, when you think about it, this is the journey of our lives. And so, with each passing year, the liturgical seasons we celebrate should be richer. What that looks like will be different for each of us, but it’s amazing to me, when you are really praying and have some people in your life doing the same, you recognize God’s work more and more in one another and in the world. You see differently. You love differently. The beatitudes become the background music to your lives. It can be contagious. Jesus can truly radiate through you. And you’ll find the Holy Spirit giving you words that people need to hear. This is all possible because you know you are a beloved son or daughter of our heavenly Father, the creator of the world. And you know this miracle is, regardless of what tough servings of suffering you’ve been dealt in life. This is a little bit of what life in the Trinity looks like.

St. Maria Faustina Kowalska

A surefire way to get serious about this path is to invite the saints into your life. One of those saints was a contemporary to most of us. Pope St. John Paul II made it a point to introduce St. Maria Faustina Kowalska to the world. Hers was surely a mystical union with God, which resulted in the Divine Mercy devotion that has landed somewhat at the heart of the Church. So many pray for divine mercy on us and on the whole world. When we look and see the anger and misery all around us, we should see these as pleas to pray so we more and more can be instruments of God’s merciful love in the world.

In my book, “A Year with the Mystics: Visionary Wisdom for Daily Living” (St. Benedict Press, $44.95), I include this from Sister Faustina’s diary:

“On one occasion, God’s presence pervaded my whole being, and my mind was mysteriously enlightened in respect to His Essence. He allowed me to understand His interior life. In spirit, I saw the Three Divine Persons, but Their Essence was One. He is One, and One only, but in Three Persons; none of Them is either greater or smaller; there is no difference in either beauty or sanctity, for They are One. They are absolutely One. His Love transported me into this knowledge and united me with Himself. When I was united to One, I was equally united with the Second and to the Third in such a way that when we are united with One, by that very fact, we are equally united to the two Persons in the same way as with the One. Their will is One, one God, though in Three Persons. When One of the Three Persons communicates with a soul, by the power of that one will, it finds itself united with the Three Persons and is inundated in the happiness flowing from the Most Holy Trinity, the same happiness that nourishes the saints. This same happiness that streams from the Most Holy Trinity makes all creation happy; from it springs that life which vivifies and bestows all life which takes its beginning from Him” (“Diary of Sister Faustina, paragraph 911).

That may be very different from your prayer. That’s OK! But the depths she plunged are an invitation to give God time and see what he wants to show you, reveal about himself and his presence in your life and in the world.

To stay with Faustina for a moment: There is so much about Divine Mercy with which she can help us, and it’s something that so many need. Here’s the prayer John Paul II prayed on our behalf at Faustina’s canonization Mass in 2000:

And you, Faustina, a gift of God to our time, a gift from the land of Poland to the whole Church, obtain for us an awareness of the depth of divine mercy; help us to have a living experience of it and to bear witness to it among our brothers and sisters. May your message of light and hope spread throughout the world, spurring sinners to conversion, calming rivalries and hatred and opening individuals and nations to the practice of brotherhood. Today, fixing our gaze with you on the face of the risen Christ, let us make our own your prayer of trusting abandonment and say with firm hope: Christ Jesus, I trust in you!

May it be so! Make the Holy Trinity, Mary, and the communion of saints truly a part of your life.

Kathryn Jean Lopez is senior fellow at the National Review Institute, editor-at-large of National Review, a regular columnist in Our Sunday Visitor and author of “A Year with the Mystics: Visionary Wisdom for Daily Living.”

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8 min read

Church Documents

Origins Of The Creed

Father Richard Gribble

March 30, 2022 1:59 pm March 30, 2022

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8 min read

Each Sunday and solemnity Catholics profess at the transition between the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. This document of faith succinctly summarizes…

Each Sunday and solemnity Catholics profess at the transition between the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed.

This document of faith succinctly summarizes some of the basic teachings of the Church. Unfortunately, however, few of us, when reciting this most important statement of belief and faith, understand its radical nature and countercultural teachings, let alone the Church’s rationale in its creation or its historical origins. While some see the Creed as controversial, others sleepwalk through its recitation, understanding little about the controversies associated with it or why the document was determined necessary for the faithful.

The significance of the Creed in our liturgical celebration necessitates that Catholics know and appreciate how and why the document was created.

The nascent Christian community found itself in a hostile environment that asked many questions and wanted answers. The polytheistic Roman Empire, although it had dealt with the monotheism of Judaism, found the new way of Christianity to be even more problematic.

Not only did proponents of this new religious community refuse to worship the multiple gods of the Romans, but they expressed belief that Jesus, who had been put to death to satisfy the wishes of the Jewish elite, was himself God.

The Hebrew community, as well, from whom all the early followers of Jesus came, could never acknowledge Jesus as Messiah or God. For them, the messianic promise as described by the prophets in Jeremiah 23:5-6 and Micah 5:2-5 was not fulfilled in Jesus’ life.

The belief generally accepted by Jews concerning the Messiah was that he would be a great king who would return Israel to its former greatness, as described by Jeremiah and Micah.

Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, but the prophecy of old was not seemingly fulfilled, leading many to believe Jesus was a false prophet. The image of the Messiah as a Suffering Servant (see Is 42:1-4; 49:1-7; 50:4-7; 52:13—53:12) was not in the Jewish mindset.

The continuing presence of the Roman invaders and the failure of Israel to once again claim the greatness of the Davidic kingdom were clear proof to the Jews that Jesus could not be Cristos, the Messiah. For the Christian community to claim that Jesus was God was even more problematic, as the Hebrew understanding of monotheism would be violated.

This political and religious situation necessitated that the Christian community begin to respond, to better define itself and what followers of Jesus believed. First, early disciples of Christ had to define their experience of Jesus — who was He, what did He teach, and what was His command for his followers? Next, Christians had to clarify their complex understanding of God.

How could God be understood as Trinity and not violate the basic principle of monotheism? Because early Christians had not clearly answered the concerns and questions of those around them and defined their theology, many misunderstandings and incorrect assumptions about this new faith arose. Thus it was necessary to correct these errant beliefs in some systematic and formal way.

Christians needed to distinguish themselves from many other competing religious ideas, not only the polytheism of the Romans and the monotheism of the Jews, but also heresies such as Gnosticism and Docetism. Gnosticism was based on a dualism of good and evil where gnosis, knowledge necessary for salvation, was randomly bestowed upon individuals. Salvation, thus, was not determined by God, but was random by nature. Docetism was the belief that Jesus only appeared to be human, similar to a mirage. This heresy arose as a way to explain how Jesus could be simultaneously both human and divine.

Defining Belief

In response to these challenges, several of the early Church Fathers produced various treatises that began to define the Christian understanding of Jesus, God and the Church. From their spiritual roots, the first followers of Jesus looked to the Torah for inspiration and guidance. The famous Shema Israel provided a start: “Here, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord our God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Dt 6:4, RSV).

Within their newfound community there were several important contributors who, through their writings, initiated the process of defining the Christian message.

Ignatius of Antioch (c. 35-107) challenged the heresy of Docetism, forcefully stating that Jesus Christ was both human and divine, a basic tenant of faith for those of the “New Way.”

Justin Martyr (c. 100-165), in his “First Apology,” articulated the baptism formula first proclaimed by Jesus as recorded in Matthew’s Gospel (see 28:19).

Tertullian (160-220) produced “The Rule of Faith,” succinctly bringing together many of the teachings of Christianity.

It was Hippolytus (d.c. 235), however, who gave us the most significant precursor to the Nicene-Constantopolitan Creed in his “Apostolic Tradition,” wherein he provides the Apostles’ Creed, which today is recited to begin the Rosary and is utilized as a great statement of faith.

The aforementioned need of the early Christian community to better define its beliefs and to differentiate itself from competing ideologies and ideas provided the initial impetus for the construction of the Creed, but a more proximate catalyst arose in the early fourth century with the teachings of Arius, a priest from Alexandria, Egypt. In Psalm 2:7, Arius read, “You are my beloved son; today I have begotten you.” In passages in Hebrews 1:5 and 5:5, he found almost the exact same words, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.”

Arius fell into heresy, reasoning that if Jesus was begotten there was a time He did not exist. Therefore, Jesus could not possibly be divine, since He had a beginning. He concluded that Jesus was a perfect creature, a mediator between God and the world.

Arius’ ideas did not go unchallenged. Athanasius, who became bishop of Alexandria at the time Arius was proclaiming his ideas, totally rejected this heretical view. Rightly, he said that the Son, Jesus, was eternally begotten, and that the Father and the Son were of one substance.

He used the Greek word homoousius, a philosophical term meaning “of one substance,” to describe the relationship between Jesus and the Father. He discounted Arius’ idea that a non-divine person could save mankind. Only God could redeem humanity from the sin of Adam.

The controversy raised by Arius spread throughout the Eastern Church, causing a great furor and leading to the first ecumenical council of the Church, which met at Nicaea (present-day Turkey) in A.D. 325.

The principal work of the council was to condemn the heresy of Arius and to generate a formal written Creed that would express clearly and succinctly what the Church taught about Jesus and his relationship to the Father and the Holy Spirit. Thus the Nicene Creed was produced.

Arius was condemned, and the great statement of faith, the Creed, had been written. But the heretical ideas of Arius not only did not die, but actually spread. In a famous quote, St. Jerome, who produced the Latin Vulgate, once opined, “The world awoke and found itself Arian.”

Most bishops in the Eastern Church were led astray by the Arian controversy and thus it was necessary for the Church to once again reassert itself in a public way. Led by the Cappadocian Fathers, Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory Nazianzus, the bishops once again assembled in an ecumenical council at Constantinople in 381.

A Statement of Faith

Discussions at the council centered on describing that which was common, ousia, and that which was proper hypostases to each member of the Trinity. In the process the council fathers produced an updated Creed that clarified the relationship between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Arianism was finally defeated, and the Church had a statement of faith which we continue to use today in our celebrations of the Eucharist.

For almost 1,700 years the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed has served the Church as a statement of faith that articulates our belief in the Trinity, the relationship of its members, and the importance and significance of the Church as one, holy, Catholic and apostolic.

When reciting the Creed each week, however, few of us understand the rationale for its creation and the history behind it. A greater appreciation for the development of this great statement of faith can, hopefully, help us to profess and live its teachings better in our daily lives.

Father Richard Gribble is a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross.

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