Tag Archives: Trinity

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Video Class: St Justin Martyr and Tatian the Heretic

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Today is the feast day of the Saint Justin Martyr of Rome. Below is a sample lesson video from the New Saint Thomas Institute featuring a brief bio of Saint Justin Martyr, an analysis of his contribution to Catholic Theology and a brief intro to one of his students named Tatian who became a heretic. Saint Justin Martyr, pray for us!

Question: Do you have questions about Saint Justin Martyr? If so leave a comment. You can leave a comment by clicking here.

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Is the Angel of the Lord the Pre-Incarnate Christ?

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The Church Fathers held an unwavering belief that the Second Person of the Trinity appeared frequently in the Old Testament in a variety of forms: the Angel of the Lord, the Burning Bush, the Son of Man, and the one like a Son of God in Daniel.

burning bush as christ

Today we’ll look at a debate regarding the Angel of the Lord. Is he or isn’t the Pre-Incarnate Son of God? There are various positions in early Christianity.

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Should you say "Individual" or "Person"?

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Has anyone ever called you a “bright individual” or a “gifted individual”? What does that word “individual” mean? It means “undivided one.” Stop for a moment and consider this, you “undivided one.” Isn’t “undivided one” a strange way to refer to people?
Referring to people as “individuals” became common in European languages after 1600, especially in English. It’s a feature of the so-called Enlightenment. 
Recall that the Enlightenment was that so-called Era of Light after the so-called Dark Ages of Christendom. For historical reference, the Enlightenment after the state establishment of the Protestant Reformation and ended with the bloody guillotines of the French Revolution…
The Enlightenment posited that the nation is divisible. The Church is divisible. The city is divisible. The town is divisible. The family unit is divisible. Even marriages were divisible. However, the person is not. He or she is triumphantly individual. 
The problem, you see, is that viewpoint becomes a very individualistic way of looking at reality. Now all major intellectual shifts succeed after linguistic shifts have become previously established. The debate over the definition of “marriage” is a contemporary example. The move away from person to individual signified the enshrinement and idolization of the human individual. Man truly became the measure of all things. 
You can see how the Reformation paved the way for this kind of language. To be an Enlightenment Christian all you need is yourself and the Bible. That’s it. 
We traded in the old communion of the saints and the universal fellowship of Christendom of previous centuries for that new shiny title of individual. Denominations will divide, but the believer never will. And so the individual believer trumped everything. 
Contrast “individual” with the word “person.” The term comes from the Latin personare meaning “to sound through.” It refers to a mask or a face and the act of speaking to others. The term person is relational and this is why Catholic theology refers to the three Persons of the Holy Trinity as three divine Persons and not three divine Individuals. There are other important theological reasons, as well. See Thomas Aquinas Summa theologiae I, q. 29, aa. 1-4.
In my discourse with others (and especially when I teach a class), I try not to use the word individual at all. I speak of people as persons. It reminds us that the three Divine Persons of the Blessed Trinity are truly the pattern for proper interpersonal relationships here on earth and beyond.

We can only truly find ourselves when we make ourselves a gift to others. There is no life, happiness, or salvation without personal and social relationships. I perceive that contemporary man is finally coming to undersand this. We don’t want to be individuals anymore. We want to be connected. I want to be a person with personal relationships. 

Do you?
Godspeed,
Taylor

Question for comments: Play with the ideas in your mind. Do you want to have a personal relationship or an individual relationship with other people? How do words transform the way we speak? I’d love to hear your comments about this below. What are other examples of “language wars”?

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Should We Say Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit? Is there a difference?

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Nowadays, the only English speakers using the term “Holy Ghost” are 1) Traditional Catholics; 2) Charismatics (“Holy Ghost Revival”); 3) King James only Fundamentalists; 4) Anglicans who use the older liturgies (which retain Holy Ghost throughout).
My first three children who were baptized in the Anglican tradition were each baptized, “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.” Their baptismal certificates also read “the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.”
The historic reason for employing the language of “Holy Ghost” is that the Douay-Rheims Bible (used by traditional Catholics) and the King James Version (used by Anglicans and Fundamentalists) employ the term “Holy Ghost” for the Third Person of Holy Trinity over 90% of the time. “Holy Ghost” is not used exclusively, however. Both versions also employs “Holy Spirit.” For example, the Douay Rheims uses “Holy Ghost” 95 times, and “Holy Spirit” 8 times. 
The 15th, 16th and 17th century English translators used “ghost” to translate the Latin “spiritus,” which in turn was a translation of the Greek “pneuma” (like pneumatic tools and catching pneumonia). 
Ghost derives from the Old English word gast which refers to personal immaterial being – a soul, an angel, or even a demon. It is directly related the German geist.
Today, “ghost” conjures up images of haunted houses. It is a shame that this is the case. Is it, however, a reason to abandon the term “Holy Ghost”?
I still know many Catholics who use “Holy Ghost.” I still like to say the Glory be as “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, etc.” because: A) that’s how I learned to say it as an Anglican; and B) it’s sounds beautiful and dignified.
There is also two theological reasons for using “Holy Ghost” from time to time. 
1) First, we live in a culture where being “spiritual” is increasingly popular and increasingly vague. Just think about that horrid song “Spirit in the Sky,” and you know what I mean. In neo-pagan parlance, “being spiritual” and “the spirit” have nothing to do with the personal God fo the Sacred Scriptures. This “spirit” is more like “the force” in Star Wars than it is the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. So when you say “Holy Ghost,” you’re clearly referring to traditional Trinitarian theology.
2) In English, “spirit” has always had a vague meaning and this is likely why the translators opted for “ghost.” Spirt is not wrong. In fact, the Latin spiritus is almost identical to the Greek pneuma. But spirit in English can refer to abstractions or it can refer to a person. 
Examples: 
“We’ve got spirit, yes we do! We’ve got spirit how ’bout you?” 
Spirit, here, refers to vigor and enthusiasm. Nobody assumes that the cheerleaders are possessed by a “ghost” or “spiritual being.”
“the spirit of Vatican 2”
I think every magisterial Catholic from Pope Benedict XVI on down knows that the so-called “spirit of Vatican 2” is certainly not the “Holy Spirit.” Here, “spirit” refers to a way of interpretation or a movement.
“Play this song with spirit!”
Here again, this doesn’t mean to invoke an immaterial person. It means to play a song with a certain tempo or feeling.
So then, “spirit” can be ambiguous. Ghost is not ambiguous. Ghost always refers to “immaterial person.”
So when people speak of the Holy Ghost, the orthodox theology of His status as a Divine Person is highlighted. There are however a couple of drawbacks to “Holy Ghost.” The most obvious is that “ghost” typically has a negative connotation. Ghosts are thought to dwell in haunted houses and most people assume that ghosts are the souls of dead people. We certainly don’t mean this when we refer to the Holy Ghost who is uncreated, immortal, and omnipotent. Still, ghost does in fact refer to the souls of dead humans:

“And saying this, he gave up the ghost.” (Luke 23:46, D-R)
My opinion is that ghost captures the reality that the Holy Ghost is a Divine Person. You can know Him and talk to Him. And yes, He dwells in you. We can have a personal relationship with Him. So I like “ghost” because it reveals a personal agent. Spirit is also good because it hearkens back to the Latin Vulgate and corresponds to the Latin of the liturgy. However, it is more ambiguous in English – especially in our time with “being spiritual” is so popular.
In summary, there are positives and negatives to both terms. This is why I often use both “Holy Ghost” and “Holy Spirit” interchangeably on the blog, in lectures, and in conversations. The English/American Catholic tradition always used both terms, but gave “Holy Ghost” the privileged place. In around 1970, most English speaking Catholics retreated almost entirely from “Holy Ghost.” (I think this is why “Holy Ghost” has become the secret handshake of traditional Catholics.) So why not use both terms?
Just one last thing. If you do begin to sprinkle your prayers and discourse with “Holy Ghost” and someone challenges you on it for being archaic, don’t worry about it. We still all say archaic things every day: “Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.” We also still say, “blessed art thou amongst women.” We don’t have to update our prayers every decade with latest lingo. There is a blessed confidence in retaining the phrases of our grandfathers and their grandfathers.
A blessed Pentecost to you.
Godspeed,
Taylor
PS: The Holy Ghost Third Person of the Trinity, coequal and consubstantial with the Father and the Son (Matthew 28:19; Acts 5:34, 28:25, 261 Corinthians 12:4-6). Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas teach that he is the Gift of the Father to His people on earth to initiate and complete the building of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). The Holy Ghost personally convicts the world of sin, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ, and transforms the baptized into His image (John 16:7-9; Acts 1:5; 2:4; Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 2:22).


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10 Questions Your 7-Year-Old Catholic Should be Able to Answer

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Ten Questions your seven-year-old should be able to answer (besides ‘Why did God make you?’):

  1. What are the two kinds of sin (original and actual)
  2. What are the two kinds of actual sin (mortal and venial)? What’s the difference?
  3. Name the three Persons of the Holy Trinity
  4. Is there one God or three Gods?
  5. Name the 7 Sacraments
  6. Name the 10 Commandments
  7. Name the 6 Precepts of the Catholic Church
  8. What happens if you die with original sin or mortal sin?
  9. What happens at the consecration during Holy Mass
  10. Please recite the Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, Apostles Creed, and Act of Contrition.

Question: Any others that I missed? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

 

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The Trinity Explained by Saint Basil the Great

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Below is a beautiful quote from Saint Basil (a Doctor of the Church) on the Holy Trinity:
“The Godhead is common; the fatherhood particular. We must therefore combine the two and say, ‘I believe in God the Father.’
The like course must be pursued in the confession of the Son; we must combine the particular with the common and say ‘I believe in God the Son,’ so in the case of the Holy Ghost we must make our utterance conform to the appellation and say ‘in God the Holy Ghost.’
Hence it results that there is a satisfactory preservation of the unity by the confession of the one Godhead, while in the distinction of the individual properties regarded in each there is the confession of the peculiar properties of the Persons.”
Saint Basil, Epistle to Amphilochius (Epistle 236:6)

   

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The Word took our nature from Mary (St Athanasius)

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In the passage below, Saint Athanasius describes how even though the Word (Second Person of the Trinity) assumed a human nature from Holy Mary, the Trinity remains a Trinity, with neither increase nor decrease. This is difficult to wrap your mind around, but it is worth a try. Nobody says it better than Athanasius!

From a letter of St Athanasius:

The Word took to himself the sons of Abraham, says the Apostle, and so had to be like his brothers in all things. He had then to take a body like ours. This explains the fact of Mary’s presence: she is to provide him with a body of his own, to be offered for our sake. Scripture records her giving birth, and says: She wrapped him in swaddling clothes. Her breasts, which fed him, were called blessed. Sacrifice was offered because the child was her firstborn. Gabriel used careful and prudent language when he announced his birth. He did not speak of “what will be born in you” to avoid the impression that a body would be introduced into her womb from outside; he spoke of “what will be born from you,” so that we might know by faith that her child originated within her and from her.
  By taking our nature and offering it in sacrifice, the Word was to destroy it completely and then invest it with his own nature, and so prompt the Apostle to say: This corruptible body must put on incorruption; this mortal body must put on immortality.
  This was not done in outward show only, as some have imagined. This is not so. Our Saviour truly became man, and from this has followed the salvation of man as a whole. Our salvation is in no way fictitious, nor does it apply only to the body. The salvation of the whole man, that is, of soul and body, has really been achieved in the Word himself.
  What was born of Mary was therefore human by nature, in accordance with the inspired Scriptures, and the body of the Lord was a true body: It was a true body because it was the same as ours. Mary, you see, is our sister, for we are all born from Adam.
  The words of St John, the Word was made flesh, bear the same meaning, as we may see from a similar turn of phrase in St Paul: Christ was made a curse for our sake. Man’s body has acquired something great through its communion and union with the Word. From being mortal it has been made immortal; though it was a living body it has become a spiritual one; though it was made from the earth it has passed through the gates of heaven.
  Even when the Word takes a body from Mary, the Trinity remains a Trinity, with neither increase nor decrease. It is for ever perfect. In the Trinity we acknowledge one Godhead, and thus one God, the Father of the Word, is proclaimed in the Church.

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Saint Basil on the Holy Trinity

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Below is a beautiful quote from Saint Basil on the Holy Trinity:

“The Godhead is common; the fatherhood particular. We must therefore combine the two and say, ‘I believe in God the Father.’

The like course must be pursued in the confession of the Son; we must combine the particular with the common and say ‘I believe in God the Son,’ so in the case of the Holy Ghost we must make our utterance conform to the appellation and say ‘in God the Holy Ghost.’

Hence it results that there is a satisfactory preservation of the unity by the confession of the one Godhead, while in the distinction of the individual properties regarded in each there is the confession of the peculiar properties of the Persons.”

Saint Basil, Epistle to Amphilochius (Epistle 236:6)