Msg Base:  AREA 5  - ASK FATHER            CIN ECHO   AMDG
  Msg No: 192.  Wed 11-13-91 23:52  (NO KILL)  (MAILED)
    From: Father Mateo
      To: Alan Simmons
 Subject: The Holy Trinity

³ Father, I have a problem that no one is willing to help me clarify.  I am
³ a church leader in a church in AZ.  I have asked people about the Trinity
³ and it seems that no one will answer, but as a leader, I feel that I need
³ to know.  I was taken in for a while by the Oneness movement, that is the
³ Jesus Only church and I guess I am confused.  It along with some other
³ things may cost me my pastorate.  Can you clarify that area for me.
³ Thank you Father.
³ Pastor Alan
³  
³                         If men were Homo sapiens there would be no war.
 
Dear Alan,
 
The most Holy Trinity is the central doctrine of the Christian faith.
God, who is one and unique in his infinite Nature, is three really
distinct Persons: the Father, the Son (or Word), and the Holy Spirit.
These three are the One and Only God.  There is no contradiction here
because there is one NATURE, but three PERSONS.
 
God the Father is not God the Son, but the Father generates the Son
eternally, as the Son is eternally begotten.
 
The Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son, but a distinct
Person, having his divine Nature from the Father and the Son by eternal
procession.
 
The three divine Persons are co-equal, co-eternal, and consubstantial.
Equal glory and adoration are given them.
 
This mystery, a truth too vast and deep for human minds to comprehend,
yet revealed to us in the pages of the New Testament, has great
importance for our spiritual lives.  Christians are and know themselves
to be children of God, adopted into God's family.  Christ, the
only-begotten Son of the Father, has revealed the Father to us and
taught and enabled us to call Him our Father.
 
In the Son we see the Father, and we go to the Father through the Son.
The Father sends us the Holy Spirit in the name of the Son, and the Son
sends us the Spirit from the Father.
 
In the name of all the divine Persons we are baptized, and we live our
Christian lives through "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the
love of God the Father, and the companionship of the Holy Spirit" (2
Cor. 13:13)
 
If you wish a fuller treatment of this Christian doctrine, I suggest
you order a copy of F.J. Sheed's "Theology for Beginners"
(ISBN 0-89283-124-3), paperback). This is available from Servant Books,
Box 8617, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48107.  It costs less than $10.  You
could write to the publisher or order from you local bookstore.
 
                                Cordially in Jesus Christ,
 
                                Father Mateo