Choose a topic from Part 1:
1. The divine persons are coeternal and coequal, for theyare, in undivided essence, one and the same God.
2. That the divine Persons are coeternal means that"whensoever the Father exists, the Son exists, and the HolyGhost exists." There is no time in God, no succession ofbefore-and-after. The eternal proceedings in God are one with histimeless essence and exist always in his changeless nature.
3. The standing or order of the Persons, as First, Second,Third, is not an order of priority, as though one Person should bein any way more excellent than another. It is an order of nature.Sometimes it is called an order of origin, taking the word originin the sense of principle, not in the sense of a start orbeginning, for there are no beginnings of the eternal Persons.
4. The Son is the Father's equal in greatness, as isthe Holy Ghost. For greatness is a perfection of nature, and thedivine nature is one and undivided in the three Persons.
5. By reason of the undivided divine essence, each Personis in each other Person of the Trinity. Our Lord says (John 14:10),"I am in the Father, and the Father is in me."
6. The divine Persons are equal in power, for power, likegreatness,is a perfection consequent upon nature, and thedivine nature is one and the same in the three divine Persons.
"What good does it do to speak learnedly about the Trinity if, lacking humility, you displease the Trinity? Indeed it is not learning that makes a man holy and just, but a virtuous life makes him pleasing to God. "
Thomas á Kempis
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"O Lord, my God, who will seek you with simple and pure love, and not find that you are all one can desire, for you show yourself first and go out to meet those who seek you?
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St John of the Cross, OCD - Doctor of the Church
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"A person who rails at God in adversity, suffers without merit; moreover by his lack of resignation he adds to his punishment in the next life and experiences greater disquietude of mind in this life."
St Alphonsus de Liguori
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