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42. The Equality of the Divine Persons

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.

"A single act of uniformity with the divine will suffices to make a saint."
St Alphonsus de Liguori

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"Many words do not satisfy the soul; but a good life eases the mind and a clean conscience inspires great trust in God."
Thomas á Kempis

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"God has no need of men."
St Philip Neri

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