Transcript The Trinity and Incarnation

The Trinity and Incarnation
The Twin Mysteries of Faith
References to Add
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¶234
Matthew 11:27
John 10:30
Matthew 28:19
John 1:1
Jesus Reveals the Trinity
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You’re hoping to spend eternity with the Blessed
Trinity and expect it to be a wholly blissful
experience…
Because of the gap between us and God, the
Trinity will always be a mystery (like an ant to a
human), and yet, we can have some insight via
analogy and should therefore pursue this
knowledge.
P. 114 in Fundamentals
Mysterious Trinity
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Why dive into something so mysterious?
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For Love: love of God, love of others, love of yourself
“We must often remember what Christ said, that
not he who begins, but he that perseveres to
the end, shall be saved.”
“One of the most excellent means of obtaining
perseverance is discretion; we must not wish to
do everything at once, or become a saint in four
days.” (or understand the Trinity in 16-18 years
of life)
-St. Philip Neri
Trinity
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¶234 The mystery of the most Holy Trinity
is the central mystery of Christian faith
and life…the source of all the other
mysteries of faith.
Our job, today and whenever discussing
mysteries of faith (alone) is to show how
they are not irrational even if we can not
get to them through reason alone.
Analogy
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The way we talk about God is through
analogy.
While analogies can provide us with some
insight and truth they will all necessarily
fall short.
Anything we ever say about God will
always be more dissimilar than similar,
that is, analogies will always be less true
than true.
Life
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Involves movement or activity
Immanence: comes from within
Transitive (transcendence): from without
The greater the immanent activity the
higher the life.
Human Powers
1.
Humans generative power of the mind
(thinking): to beget thoughts, ideas,
words
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2.
The fruit of our mind stays in our mind. It is
distinct from the mind but it is not separate
from the mind.
Power to love that which we think about
(truth)
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Our love is not something outside of
ourselves.
God’s Powers
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God thinks a perfect thought, one word (John
1:1), which is distinct from his mind but not
separate from his mind. (Father and Son)
The other power is to love (Holy Spirit) which is
a mysterious bond uniting the Father and Son.
Love is distinct from the thought (SON) but
proceeds from it and from the thinker. (FATHER)
God loves perfection: his thought/son/word
God expresses his love through a sigh (breath of
the Spirit)
The Doctrine Outlined
Reminder: this doctrine is a mystery which we
could not know at all unless it had been revealed.
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1.
2.
3.
4.
“But it cannot be wholly dark. God would not mock us
by revealing something of which we could make nothing
at all.”
One divine nature, three persons: Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit
No one of the persons is either of the others, each
is wholly himself.
The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit
is God.
They are not three Gods but one God.
The Doctrine Outlined
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There is no mathematical contradiction because it’s
not simply 1 and 3.
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Nature is what a thing is (1)
Person is who a thing is (3)
Person possesses nature, not vice versa. (my nature)
What actions are possible depends on the __________
The ___________ does the actions.
Can all 3 persons of the Trinity create? (Is it in their
nature?)
Who creates?
Can all 3 persons become incarnate?
Who became incarnate?
Mystery not Contradiction
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Who else is a mystery? Each and everyone of us.
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We know that we have a self but have a hard time
grasping it.
Though our experience of ourselves is one nature
with one person, who’s to say that this is the only
possible relationship, especially since we even
struggle understanding our own natures and
persons.
God reveals his Trinitarian nature. We have no
experience with this kind of nature therefore we
have to trust him and do our best to grasp what he
is saying.
Final Confusion (for today)
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3 different men (persons) cannot know with
another’s intellect or love with another’s will.
Though one nature, each person has their
own share/part of that nature.
In God the 3 persons know with the same
intellect and love with the same will. God’s
nature is simple and cannot be divided and
thus must be used by all at once.
If this was all…
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If the only thing we knew about the Trinity was that
it was not a logical contradiction and that it was 3
persons in 1 nature it seems that we have not
achieved more knowledge but only confusion.
Therefore, “it is in learning about the personalities of
the persons that we begin to find ourselves growing
in the light.”
God the Father: Creator
God the Son: Redeemer (Incarnation/Resurrection)
God the Holy Spirit: Advocate/Paraclete
Incarnation
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Humans are 1P possessing 1N
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Trinity is 3P possessing 1N
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Who are you? 1 answer.
What are you? 1 answer.
Who are you? 3 answers.
What are you? 1 answer.
Incarnation is 1P possessing 2N
=Jesus
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Who are you? 1 answer.
What are you? 2 answers.
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In order to properly understand Scripture, it is
important to always keep the 1 person/2 natures
of the Incarnation in mind.
There are things that Jesus could do because he
was human and there are things that he could
do because he was God.
But, there was only 1 person who performed
either the human or divine actions.
Transubstantiation
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Catholics refer to the Eucharist as the Real
Presence, that is, that Christ is really truly
present in the Eucharist and not just
symbolically, figuratively, or in any other way.
How does it work?
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Trans:
Substantia:
Tion:
*John 6: Bread of Life Discourse
*Luke 22:19: Last Supper “This is my body”
Literal vs. Figurative
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Where in the Bible do we turn? (3 places)
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John 6: Bread of Life Discourse
Luke 22:19 “Then he took bread, said the
blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying,
“This is my body, which will be given for you;
do this in memory of me.””
1 Corinthians 10/11
Is the Eucharist Cannibalism?
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“If it were truly immoral in any sense for
Christ to give us his flesh and blood to
eat, it would be contrary to his holiness to
command anyone to eat his body and
blood—even symbolically. Symbolically
performing an immoral act would be of its
nature immoral.” –Tim Staples
“Do this in memory of me”
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¶1362: Anamnesis what type of memory,
remembrance, remembering are we
talking about?
Jesus Reveals the Trinity


You’re hoping to spend eternity with the Blessed
Trinity and expect it to be a wholly blissful
experience…
Because of the gap between us and God, the
Trinity will always be a __________________
(like an ant to a human), and yet, we can have
some insight via __________________and
should therefore pursue this knowledge.
Mysterious Trinity

Why dive into something so mysterious?



For ______________
“We must often remember what Christ
said, that not he who begins, but he that
_________________to the end, shall be
saved.”
“One of the most excellent means of obtaining
perseverance is discretion; we must not wish to
do everything at once, or become a saint in four
days.” (or understand the Trinity in 16-18 years
of life)
-St. Philip Neri
Trinity


¶234 The mystery of the most Holy Trinity
is the ___________________mystery of
Christian faith and life…the source of all
the other mysteries of faith.
Our job, today, and whenever discussing
mysteries of faith (alone), is to show how
they are not ___________________even
if we can not get to them through
___________________alone.
Analogy



The way we talk about God is through
analogy.
While analogies can provide us with some
insight and truth they will all necessarily
fall short.
Anything we ever say about God will
always be more dissimilar than
________________, that is, analogies will
always be less true than true.
Life




Involves __________________ or activity
Immanence: comes from _____________
Transitive (transcendence): from without
The greater the immanent activity the
_________________ the life.
Human Powers
1.
Humans generative power of the mind
(____________________): to beget
thoughts, ideas, words
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2.
The fruit of our mind stays in our mind. It is
distinct from the mind but it is not separate
from the mind.
Power to _______________ that which
we think about (truth)

Our love is not something outside of
ourselves.
God’s Powers





God thinks a thought, __________________
__________, which is distinct from his mind but
not separate from his mind. (Father and Son)
The other power is to _____________(Holy
Spirit) which is a mysterious bond
______________ the Father and Son.
Love is distinct from the thought but proceeds
from it and from the thinker.
God loves _______________: his thought/son
God expresses his love through a
_______________(breath of the Spirit)
The Doctrine Outlined
Reminder: this doctrine is a mystery which we
could not know at all unless it had been revealed.


1.
2.
3.
4.
“But it cannot be wholly dark. God would not mock us
by revealing something of which we could make nothing
at all.”
_______divine nature, ____________ persons:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
No one of the persons is either of the others, each
is ___________ himself.
The Father is ______, the Son is ______, the Holy
Spirit is _______.
They are ______ three Gods but one God.
The Doctrine Outlined
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There is no mathematical ___________________
because it’s not simply 1 and 3.









Nature is ____________ a thing is (1)
Person is _________ a thing is (3)
Person possesses nature, not vice versa. (______nature)
What actions are possible depends on the __________
The ___________ does the actions.
Can all 3 persons of the Trinity create? (Is it in their
nature?)
Who creates? _____________________
Can all 3 persons become incarnate?
Who became incarnate? _____________________
Mystery not Contradiction

Who else is a mystery? Each and everyone of us.



We know that we have a self but have a hard time
grasping it.
Though our experience of ourselves is one nature
with one person, who says that this is the only
possible relationship, especially since we even
struggle understanding our own natures and
persons.
God reveals his ____________________ nature.
We have no experience with this kind of nature
therefore we have to trust him and do our best to
grasp what he is saying.
Final Confusion (for today)


3 different men (persons) _____________
know with another’s intellect or love with
another’s will. Though one nature, each
person has their own share/part of that
nature.
In God the 3 persons know with the same
intellect and love with the same will. God’s
nature is simple and cannot be divided and
thus must be used by all at once.
If this was all…





If the only thing we knew about the Trinity was that
it was not a logical contradiction and that it was 3
persons in 1 nature it seems that we have not
achieved more knowledge but only confusion.
Therefore, “it is in learning about the personalities of
the persons that we begin to find ourselves growing
in the light.”
God the Father: ___________________
God the Son: ___________________
(Incarnation/Resurrection)
God the Holy Spirit: __________________________