GOD THE FATHER
What is the Trinity?
(CCC 232-260)
God is a Trinity of
three Persons in one God. Each Person of the Trinity (Father,
Son and Holy Spirit) is fully God and all three Persons have the
same divine nature. However, each Person is distinct from the
other. The Trinity is the central mystery of our Catholic faith.
Why is God a Trinity
and not simply one Person in one God?
There are many
answers to this question, for the mystery of the Trinity is
infinitely deep. However, we will look at one of the most
important answers. It is essential that God is Trinity, and in
fact, it is more correct to say that for God to be God, He must
be a Trinity of three Persons – otherwise He would not be God.
The simple reason is that God is Love. Love, by its nature has
two fundamental truths. One, Love is given away to another
without holding anything back. In other words, love cannot be
kept to itself; it is inherently unselfish. Two, love is
fruitful. The gift of love produces fruit. Therefore, for
God to be love, He must be able to give Himself away fully to
another. In an oversimplified explanation, the Father gives
Himself to the Son, the Son gives Himself back fully to the
Father, and the Love flowing between them is the Person of the
Holy Spirit. Love = gift and fruit.
What did God mean
when He said His name is “I AM”? (CCC 203-209, 212-213)
“God is the fullness
of Being and of every perfection, without origin and without
end” (CCC 213). More simply. To have being means you exist. We
all exist, and therefore, we all have being. But there was a
time each one of us did not exist. We were not; we lacked being.
However, God has always had Being – He has always existed.
Furthermore, He is the Cause of our existence. In other words
we did not make ourselves exist – He did. As well, He is the
fullness of Being and perfection. In other words, everything
that does exist and could exist He has in its entirety. For
example, creatures are beautiful, but they could be more
beautiful. God is Beauty itself – He possesses infinite beauty.
Why do we call God a
Father and not a mother? Does this mean that God is a man? (CCC
370)
To begin, God is
neither male nor female, for He is pure Spirit and has no
physical parts or matter. However, God refers to Himself
as Father, and this is the primary reason we do the same. Many
ask why this is and whether or not it is important. To begin,
because God refers to Himself as Father, we must automatically
and humbly do the same; however, we can also assume there is a
good and important reason. We were created male and female
because we were created to love. To love implies another. The
male and female bodies clearly show us that they are made to
love one another, and each has a distinct role in this act of
loving. The male initiates and is “first;” he is the life
giver. First not just in order of creation, but in the act
of producing life, he must first give before the woman
can receive. The woman, in turn, receives that
which is given by the man and nurtures that life within her
person. She gives to the life, sustaining it and bringing into
more mature being. Together they produce fruit. Because of these
distinct, God-given roles, it follows that God must primarily
play the role of Father (we are assuming that all perfections of
both woman and man are from God). In the order of creation, God
is the initiator, the live giver. He gives life and humanity
receives it. The Church is rightly referred to as His Bride
because she receives His life within herself, nurtures it and
produces fruit for the world. When we try to call God a mother,
we are inherently stealing from Him the role of life giver, and
potentially trying to take the role ourselves. Therefore, it is
essential that we give God the title that designates Him as the
first Cause of everything.
Who is God? (CCC
210-211, 215-221)
God is Truth and
Love. He is pure Truth and the source of all Truth. God is Love.
This love manifests itself primarily as mercy before we reach
Heaven. Mercy is a faithful Love that will always forgive. Each
of these attributes of God – Truth and Love – was put into
question by Satan in the garden: is God really good and
to be believed? He sent His Son to reveal to us the truth
– that He is love. Not believing that God is good and
Someone Who can be trusted is the root of every sin.
