Blessed Trinity

Man could never have known there was a Trinity, until God Himself revealed it to man. He did so by sending Jesus.
Old Testament Hint of the Trinity Gen. 1:26 Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. The Jews could not have understood what this meant because their understanding of God was monotheistic (one God). They could not have understood 3 persons in one God. OT Reference to the Holy Spirit I will put my spirit in you that you may live. Ez. 37:14 This is also a foreshadow of the resurrection of the dead. Gen. 1:1-2 The wind swept over the waters. This is a reminder of Acts 2:2 There came a noise like a strong driving wind.

Trinity Revealed in the New Testament

In the New Testament there are three events in the life of Jesus, which reveal the Trinity. Annunciation- The angel Gabriel appeared to Mary. He said, you will conceive and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Luke 1: 31-32, Luke 1:35 The Baptism of Jesus--The heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended upon Him accompanied by the Fathers voice, who said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Matt. 3:17 The Transfiguration--Jesus took Peter, James and John up a high mountain and was transfigured. The Holy Spirit overshadowed them and they heard the voice of the Father say, This is my Son, my Chosen, listen to Him. Luke 9:35 In the Gospel of John there are many references to the Trinity. John 10:30 The Father and I are one.

Blessed Trinity

The end of the Gospel of Matthew reveals very plainly all three persons. Go therefore and make disciples, baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Matt. 28:19 The word in the name refers to one. It does not say names One name for all three persons.
St. Paul in his Second Letter to the Corinthians The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.. (2 Cor. 13:13)

Blessed Trinity Relationship between the Three Persons

The Father totally and eternally gives Himself to the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Son gives Himself totally and eternally to the Father and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives Himself totally and to the Father and the Son.

Existence of God
God is eternal- Always existed. All three persons always existed. There always was a Father, Son and Holy Spirit. However, the human nature of Jesus was created in the womb of Mary. Before time began, Jesus did not have a human nature. Now He eternally has a human nature.

About God
The Son is eternally begotten- The word begotten can be said to mean, comes from, but Jesus always existed yet was begotten by the Father. Jesus was not made by the Father.

Blessed Trinity
God is self-giving. God is a community of persons. The Trinity is a family of persons, whose life is love. The divine family wants our happiness and wants to dwell with us, that we may dwell with them in heaven.
The expression of love between the Father and the Son is so real, that a third person, the Holy Spirit, proceeds from both. The distinction between the Persons is their relation to one another. Each Divine Person is God. The Father is God. Jesus is God. The Holy Spirit is God. God created us to share His life forever. However, sin cut us off from God and our destiny. Nevertheless, the Father did not abandon us. When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, to reveal His plan, to show us how to live, and to pay the price for our sins. When this was accomplished, the Holy Spirit was sent to begin the new and eternal life won for us by Christs redemption. The Holy Spirit empowers and guides the Church to fulfill Her mission to preach the Good News of salvation to the whole world. God the Father created us out of love, the Son, who came among us to save us out of love, and God the Holy Spirit who infuses us with love and who sustains us in the Church. The Blessed Trinity comes to dwell within us at Baptism, and we share in Gods divine life through the indwelling within us.

Blessed Trinity

The Father (The Creator) God is the First Person of the Blessed Trinity. Almighty- Nothing is impossible for God. Protector of His people Israel. He commands obedience and holiness of life. He is tender, compassionate and forgiving. God is the first and perfect Fatherall fatherhood finds its origin in him. Jesus reveals God the Father to us. Creator- The Father is the origin of all that exists and ever will exist. God created Adam and Eve to reflect what God is like Himself.

Blessed Trinity

JESUS (The Redeemer) Jesus is the second person of the Trinity. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Carne refers to flesh. The incarnation is the moment when the divine person of Jesus took upon the human nature of flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. By way of the incarnation, Jesus became man, walked the face of the earth and became a historical person in worldly time, who lived on earth, died on the earth, rose from the dead here on earth and ascended into heaven. He had full human nature, keeping His full Divine nature. The Eucharist is the resurrected Jesus-- fully human and fully divine natures are present. The same Divine Jesus, who is in heaven, is the same Jesus fully human and divine in the Eucharist.

Blessed Trinity The Holy Spirit- (The Sanctifier)

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity.
God is love and the identity of this love defines the person of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is: The Lord and giver of life. He is co-equal with the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit in Salvation History. The Holy Spirit guides Joseph, Joshua, David and Ezekiel, revealing God and His plan and so prepared the people of God for the coming of Jesus. The New Testament begins with the action of the Holy Spirit- To the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Spirit will come upon you. The Holy Spirit is revealed at the baptism of Jesus, He is led into the desert by the Spirit, in the synagogue as He begins His public ministry He states, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Jesus promised that those who believed in Him would receive the Holy Spirit. He promised to send the Holy Spirit after He ascended into heaven. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit fell like fire from heaven. The Holy Spirit gave birth to the early Church and gives courage to the apostles to go out and spread the Gospel, even to martyrdom. The Holy Spirit gives power to the sacraments. The Holy Spirit safeguards the Church and keeps Her from error. The Holy Spirit is the sanctifier and mediates His power through the Church, giving Her life. He is always with us. The Holy Spirit bears witness that we are children of God. If we foster our relationship with the Holy Spirit, He makes us closer in communion with God.

Blessed Trinity

One God Three Persons The Father is God. Jesus is God. The Holy Spirit is God. Yet only one God. Jesus has two natures. Both human and divine. Yet He is a divine person. Co-Equal. Each person is equal. Perfect Unity. They are perfectly one. Perfect union. Jesus Declares Himself God. Jesus died as a result of His declaring Himself God. The reason why Jesus was crucified was because He claimed to be God. Jews could not understand Jesus was God, because they believed in only one God and they knew God the Father as God. Jesus said, I Am, which was claiming Himself to be God. The words I am were used as Gods name.

Blessed Trinity

CCC 234: The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in Himself. It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the hierarchy of the truths of faith. The whole history of salvation is identical with the history of the way and the means by which the one true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, reveals Himself to men and reconciles and unites with Himself those who turn away from sin. St. Caesarius of Arles said, The faith of all Christians rests on the Trinity.

Sign of the Cross

Blessed Trinity

By the sign of the Cross, all know that we are Catholic. In making the sign of the cross, we proclaim the abundance of the mysteries it signifies: The Trinity of Persons whom we name as the one God; that the Son who came to earth in the Incarnation suffered for us even to the point of sacrificing Himself on the Cross; the sure hope of our redemption from sin that flows from the Cross; and our original baptismal promises. The prefigurment of the Cross in the Old Testament may be found in Ezekiel 9:4-6 in which the foreheads of worshippers were marked and each person was sealed and thus saved from death. From the earliest times of the Catholic Church, the Sign of the Cross has been used in many important ways: at the beginning and end of prayers, especially Holy Mass, which commemorates what Christ did on the Cross, in administering the sacraments, and in all blessings. It is customary to begin and end our prayers with the sign of the Cross, and when we arrive and leave the Church, when receiving a blessing, in times of temptation, before meals, trips and meetings. At Mass we trace the Sign of the Cross on our forehead, lips and heart saying, May your words be on my mind, on my lips and in my heart. When made with reference the Sign of the Cross signifies our belief in God and our belief that in taking up the Cross, as Jesus asked us to do, we will make His sacrifice fruitful in our own salvation and enjoy eternal happiness with Him in heaven.
"Let us not then be ashamed to confess the Crucified. Be the Cross our seal made with boldness by our fingers on our brow and in everything; over the bread we eat, and the cups we drink; in our comings in, and goings out; before our sleep, when we lie down and when we awake; when we are in the way and when we are still. It is the Sign of the faithful, and the dread of evils; for He has triumphed over them in it, having made a show of them openly; for when they see the Cross, they are reminded of the Crucified; they are afraid of Him, Who hath bruised the heads of the dragon. Despise not the Seal, because of the freeness of the Gift; but for this rather honor thy Benefactor." -- St. Cyril of Jerusalem, A.D. 315 386 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"In all our travels and movements", says Tertullian (250AD), "in all our coming in and going out, in putting of our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting our candles, in lying down, in sitting down, whatever employment occupieth us, we mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross".