The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1953-05-29
Just Among Ourselves
Passing Comment considered or Ineonsidersts

We again to the great Feast of the Blessed
Trinity. The Sunday which is the Octave of Pente-
cost Is the day which the Church reioices TO paw
deepest devotion TO what Father Faber calls 1.-The
Queen Mystery" of holy religion This is the
mystery of Three Persons really distinct and equal
in the One undivided God.
There is one God and cannot be more than
This is so because God is infinite that is
unlimited IN any way whatever. And why must God
be infinite? Because God is the First Being No
matter how people Try TO explain the universe they
must come at last to First Cause which is itself
uncaused And the First Cause must be completely
selfaccounting The things in the world around us
are fleeing and whole experience is tissue
OF cause-and-efect Things come into existence they
change, usually they disappear, often they are
changed into other things.
Whether by nature or by art or by scientific
manipulation, things change and leave other things
behind them. The effect Of one cause becomes in
turn the cause of a further effect And nothing
in our universe explains itself its explanation lies
in the things that produced ii. Now, no chain Of
cause-and-effect is Self-explanatory. And no such
chain Is endless We must come at last to
thing which explains cause and effect and the ex-
istence OF all creatural causes and effects And
this something must be a First Cause cause
which is in wise derived from prior cause, for
il is first.
The First Cause must be infinite. For finiteness
or limitation is thing imposed II is itself an ef-
feet And in the First Cause there is no effect
There is nothing prior to the first cause which
could limit it or affect il in any way, Hence the
First Cause,-whch must be supremey excellent,
since il is selfexplanatory and selfexsting-s not
limited That is, the First Cause is infinite.
The First Cause we call God. God is infinite And
there cannot be more than one infinite being. For
infinite being lacks nothing and cannot be in any
wise increased II has greater less; it is the
fullness of being; nothing can be added to it,
nothing can be taken away. For if anything could
be added ii would mean that the being was not in
finite. not the fullness of being. for now new being
Is added. And if anything could be taken away,
the subtraction would leave the being defective,
and therefore limited by its loss
And now suppose the impossible. Suppose that
there are two infinite beings, Then either (aJ the
.perfectons OF the two are the same identical per.
feclons and they not two, but one: OF (b) each
of the two beings has its proper perfections
which the other lacks; each then would lack some
thing and neither would be infinite. II is manifest
therefore that there cannot be more than in
finite being Since God is First Cause. God is in
finite. Since God is infinite. God is
All this we can show.-as we have briefly shown
hereby the power of human reason. But we
thing which VIC know supcrnaurally Gods own
word And that is that the one and only God is
Three in Persons, In His being, essence nature,
and substance, God is one and undivided Yet this
one undivided essence and nature subsists in Three
Persons, each of whom Is God, and the same God;
yet as Persons they are really distinct.
For things 10 be really distinct they need not
be separate. And the Persons in God are new
er separated nor are they separabe; they
dad ia,
to be really distinct, they must be distinguish
able one from the other thing and thing. For n-
stance, the coldness and the whiteness of the
qualities distinct from each other, and both are
distinct from the substance of the snow, by real
distinction: yet these things neither separate
separable
The Persons in God are not Person, but
Three Persons, And the substance, essence, and ma
ture of God, Is not triple, but single God is One
And here we have the great mystery of the Blessed
Trinity We believe In God in three divine per
sons neither dividing the substance nor confuS-
ing the persons We believe this truth on Gods
own word We cannot prove this truth in itself, nor
disproye II find any valid objection
against its possibility ii is thing simply beyond
the reach of human reason TO prove disprove, dis
pute, analyze.
A mystery in religion is another name for su-
pernaturally revealed truth. For the truths of faith
are Supernaturally known on the authority of God
who is Truth Itself The truths are supernaura
our powers natural Hence cannot fully
plain these truths. We know they are true, for
Truth itself has taught them but cannot fully
explain them in themselves although and
do take JOY in their beauty and their meaning both
in themselves and as regards the eternal benefit
they bestow
Indeed the human mind cannot carry any truth
to its ultimate explanation, so to comprehend it.
The planest facts of ordinary experience are clear
pictures cast against backdrop of mystery Who
can answer the last hoU and tclg about such things
life the power of thought, the ability TO speak.
even the pleasing flavor of favorte food?
great convert TO the faith, and notable writer,
once said that when he considering the oneness
OF God which reason manfests inevitable
fact he was oppressed by what he could only call
feeling that there is loneliness in God. When he
heard OF the Trinity when, as he puts If. he heard
that God is kind of society III Himself, his heart
sang for JOY. The mans expression is not accurate
enough to suit theoogian, but know what he
means.
The finite mind of man is enobled most of al
by the gift of truths that come to il directly from
Vaf tgcalf