FAITH OF OUR FATHERS

New Zealand Tablet, 18 August 1921, Page 33

FAITH OF OUR FATHERS

[A Weekly Instruction for Young and Old.] Second Article: Mystery of the Holy Trinity. 8. By a mystery is generally meant a truth of whose existence we are certain, but which in itself we cannot understand, excepting in an imperfect manner. Thus, the l\ght of day, the seed which is sown in the earth, the blade of grass, and the grain of sand which we tread on, all contain inexplicablle secrets. They are mysteries of nature. There are, in like manner, mysteries of faith.

A mystery of faith is a revealed truth, which is so much exalted, above human intelligence that man could never have soared to its heights unaided by the light of faith and which, when he is thus enabled to know, he still remains incapable of understanding nr explaining.

9. A mystery of faith is above human reason, without, however, being contrary to it. It is a fact of the supernatural order, of which, by faith, we know the existence, though without understanding it; just as in the order of nature we know many facts which we cannot explain. If there is a mystery about the creatures that surround us on every side, it is not astonishing that in the supernatural and invisible world, and especially in that which concerns the infinite abyss of the divine nature, there should be depths which we are unable to sound. Reason must submit with docility to the word of God; it would be culpable temerity to try to penetrate into the profound secrets contained therein. The mysteries of faith are like the sun, impenetrable in themselves; they give life and light to those who walk sinv'ply in their rays; but they blind the eyes that would audaciously try to scrutinise their splendor.

10. The mystery of the Blessed Trinity consists in .the double fact of the plurality of Persons and the unity of nature in God. Here on earth each person has his own body and soul, constituting his own individual and incommunicable nature. In a family, father, mother, and child are three distinct persons, each possessing an individual nature; but in God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, though Three Persons, have only one and the same nature. A\ e cannot see how this is possible, because we do not understand the terms Divine Nature and Divine Persons. We only know that the Nature is not the Person; which is sufficient to show us that there is no contradiction in the declaration that u the Three Divine Persons have but one and the same divine nature, and are only one God.” 11. The common objection raised by infidelity, that the Trinity is a contradiction, and that to admit it is to say that three are one,” has no foundation. We deny, in the first place, the supposition ; faith does not say that three are one, that the number three is the same thing as _ unity, and that three persons are one person. What faith teaches is ( that the Three Divine Persons are only one God, because They have only one and the same Divine Nature. This is a mysterious doctrine, it is true, and apparently strange, but it contains no real contradiction. 12. Though this great mystery surpasses the limits of our intelligence, • and Ave are incapable of understanding it in this life, we find, neverthless, in nature some emblems of the Holy Trinity which facilitate our conception of the dogma and make us feel its propriety. The human soul is a type of the Holy Trinity, endowed as it is with its three distinct faculties of memory, understanding, and will, with which it seems to be blended. Another is the sun, which gives light and heat, and is itself light and heat. The root, the stem, and the branches form but one tree. Three distinct sparks when amalgamated give one and the same light. We say in the Mass that God the Son is God of God, light of light. We may add to the foregoing figures of the Blessed Trinity which are spoken of by the fathers that of the triangle, or mysterious union of three angles, symbolising the Trinity. But indeed these imperfect figures or emblems fall very far short of explaining the depths of the mystery. We can only bow our weak intelligence before the Supreme Wisdom, and believe with all our hearts the doctrine of the Holy Trinity as we believe all the other truths which God reveals to us’ and say, “I believe,‘my God, because Thou hast revealed

it, and Thy Word is infallible; and in this faith I wish to live and die.”