D.

Important Christian Faith Doctrines

1. Trinitarian Faith (CCC 124)

For us Christians, Faith is our adherence to the Triune God revealed through Jesus Christ
our Lord. It is our friendship with Christ and through Christ with the Father, in their Holy Spirit.
Through Christ’s witness to his Father in his teaching, preaching, miracles, and especially in his
Passion, Death and Resurrection, we come to believe in Christ our Savior, in the Father, and in the
Holy Spirit sent into our hearts. Our Faith as Catholics, then, consists in our personal conviction and
belief in God our Father, revealed by Jesus Christ, His own divine Son-made-man, and their
presence to us through the Holy Spirit, in the Church (cf. PCP II 64; CCC 151-52).

How do we exercise this “Trinitarian” relationship?

Our constant and continual relation to the Blessed Trinity:

• started with our Baptism in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
• continues in every Christian prayer begun with the “Sign of the Cross,” marked
by our “Glory be. . .” and
• is strengthened in our Eucharist/thanksgiving to the Father, through memory of His
Son’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection, made present through the power of the
Holy Spirt.

a. Using the Trinitarian Prayer/Worship

1. The basis for renewing our prayer life and religious practices is with the Church’s
Trinitarian prayer.
2. The function of the Church is to render God the Father and His Incarnate Son present
and as it were visible, while ceaselessly renewing and purifying herself under the
guidance of the Holy Spirit” (GS 21).
3. It is the Catholic worship of Father, Son and Spirit in the Christian community that can
most effectively purify and heal our prayer of “illusion” and individualistic self-
centeredness.
4. For Trinitarian faith calls us away from inauthentic “faith” seeking private security, to
outgoing self-giving in sharing Christ’s and the Church’s saving mission of loving
service.
5. The Creed affirms God as Almighty Father, Creator of all things, with the divine Son-
made-man Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, thus presenting the Holy Trinity. (CCC
300)
 b. The Blessed Trinity Is the Creator
The Creed links “Creator” directly with “Father Almighty”. This has led to the over-simplified,
mistaken idea that the Father alone creates (and the Son alone redeems, and the Holy Spirit alone
sanctifies). Actually, Christian Faith teaches that all three Divine Persons act together as ONE GOD
in creating, redeeming and sanctifying. Here we affirm God the Father creates through His Son,
Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit. Thus St. Paul wrote: “For us there is one God, the Father, from whom
all things come, and for whom we live; and one Lord Jesus Christ through whom everything was
made and through whom we live,” and the Holy Spirit who “gives life” (1 Cor 8:6; 2 Cor 3:6; cf. Jn
1:1-3; Col 1:15-17). (318).
St. Irenaeus explained how God is Father, Creator, Author, who made all things through His
Word (Son) and Wisdom (Spirit), who are like His “two hands” (CCC 292).
For with Him (Father) were always present the Word and Wisdom, the Son and Spirit, by
whom and in whom, freely and spontaneously, He made all things, saying “Let us make man after
our image and likeness” (Adv. Her., Bk. 3, Chap. 20, sec. 1).
Church teaching confirms that “the one true God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is the Creator of all
things” (Council of Florence, ND 408). “The works of the Trinity, in fact,” states Leo XIII, “are
undivided just as undivided is the essence of the Trinity, because as the three Divine Person cannot
be separated, they likewise operate inseparably.” (Encyclical Divinum illud, May 9, 1897. Cf. DS
3326). Therefore, “though the work of creation is attributed to the Father in particular, it is equally a
truth of faith that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit together are the one, individual principle of creation
(CCC 3166). 320.

c. Logos in Trinity

The opening verse of the Gospel according to John says: “In the beginning was the Word.
And the Word was with God and the Word was God; he was in the beginning with God” (Jn. 1:
1). This text is replete with theological meanings in regard to the person of Jesus Christ as the
divine Logos. That the Word was there at the beginning points to the reality that Jesus - the
Alpha and the Omega – is not a created being which is suggested in the teachings of Plotinus 1
that the word was with God is in opposition to Modalism of Sabellius2 which propagated the
belief that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are just different modes or aspects of the one God;

1
Plotinus (205-270 AD), a great philosopher of the ancient world, taught that there is a “supreme, totally
transcendent "One", containing no division, multiplicity or distinction; likewise, it is beyond all categories of being
and non-being” (http://encyclopedia.tfd.com/Plotinus).
2
Modalism also termed Sabellianism is the Trinitarian heresy proposed by Sabellius, a Christian priest and
theologian in the third century. According to him, God “was one indivisible substance, but with three fundamental
activities, or modes, appearing successively as the Father (the creator and lawgiver), as the Son (the redeemer), and
as the Holy Spirit (the maker of life and the divine presence within men).
 and that the Word was God is a clear refutation of the Arian heresy that considered Jesus as
merely the highest of all created beings.

The divinity of Jesus which these Biblical verses pay much attention is the subject of
discussion among scholastic theologians and the focus of the Christology of the different
councils such as Nicaea and Constantinople. In their attempt to understand the ineffable
mystery of the divinity of Jesus in relation to the Father and the Spirit, theologians used the
term immanent trinity. As suggested by the term immanent which means inherent or existing
within, immanent trinity refers to the operation or activity of the tripersonal God within himself.
This internal activity is one of perfect communion characterized by loving presence, constant
communication, and total act of self-giving and receiving.
In view of the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas, there are two immanent divine operations or
activities, namely, knowing and loving. As the omniscient being, the Father is engaged in a
constant act of infinitely knowing himself, a process which produces a concept, an image, a
Verbum – the Word (the Son) which is also God since there is nothing generated from God that
is not God. In relation to this process, the following is worth quoting, “God the Father, upon
knowing himself, engenders the Son, who is the perfect image of the Father. When he
loves himself as the Ultimate Good, he loves the Son and the Son necessarily loves the
Father”. This reciprocal act of loving between the Father and the Son is the Holy Spirit. As
the uncreated energy, the Holy Spirit is the breathing of love between the Father and the Son.
As already said, since there is nothing that comes from God that is not God, the Holy Spirit
shares the same power, glory, and majesty as the Father and the Son.
Experiential love is, thus far, the best context for understanding the dynamic relationship
among the three divine persons. Going by the idea of Richard of St. Victor6 that God, being
perfect, “must possess charity in the highest degree”, it can be said that God’s beloved, the
Son who, in turn loves him, must also be perfect and possess love to the greatest extent. This
supreme love which the Father gives to and receives from the Son and vice-versa overflows to
the third person, the Holy Spirit. So, the reality of Holy Spirit points to the reality that authentic
love always overflows. This superabundance of love God shares with his creation especially
with human beings is the reason that the Word was sent into the world so that human beings
can partake in.
Questions For Discussion:
1. What is the important role of the Holy Trinity/Trinitarian in understanding Christian Faith?
___________________________________________________________________________
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2. What is “Logos” in the Blessed Trinity?
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___________________________________________________________________________
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3. How do we invoke the understanding of Trinity in Worship/prayer?
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 ___________________________________________________________________________
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Activity 11. Provide an explanation of the following words:

1. Trinity - ______________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
2. Logos- __________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
3. Holy Spirit___________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
4. Son (Jesus Christ)-__________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
5. God (Father)-_________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

Doing the Message:

What recurring emotion have you been sensing at this point in your life? What is
the connection of your feeling to the topic discussed in class, that is, the meaning of the
word Trinity?

______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
What does this feeling tell you about yourself? Do you think it has something to
do with the reality of God? If yes, what is it?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Then, share your answers with a family member or a friend. Ask your
friend/family member to make a comment on your reflection paper before turning it in to
the teacher.
_______________________________________________________________________
Course References:

• Wostyn, Lode. DISCIPLESHIP IN COMMUNITY: A WORKBOOK FOR THEOLOGY 3. Quezon

City: Claretian Publications, 2003.
• Raas, Bernhard, SVD. LITURGY, MINISTRIES AND THE BIBLE. Manila: Logos Publications,Inc.,
2010.
• CBCP-ECCE. CATECHISM FOR FILIPINO CATHOLICS. Manila: Word and Life Publications,1997.
• Chupungco, Fr. Anscar, OSB. The Filipino Catholics and their Life of Worship And Prayer.
• DOCETE, Nos. 107 & 108, Issue Nos. 112, 113 & 114. Intramuros, Manila: ECCE National
Catechetical Office, Jan to Sept. 2003.
• Balon, Jess P. Liturgical Year, DOCETE, Nos. 107 & 108. MANILA: ECCE-National
Catechetical Office, 2015.

• Salud, Audrey Vincentine. Christ and the Church (Module 2), Letran Calamba Religious Education
Program. Katha Publishing Company, Inc., 2013.
• Knox, Ian. Theology for Teachers, Claretian Publications, 2011.