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The equilateral triangle is commonly proposed as a symbol
expressive of this mystery, and the symbol expresses more
than is sometimes thought. It very tangibly expresses an
outline of the mystery with respect to the distinction
between the persons and those things that flow from it.
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(a) The three angles are really distinct from each other
although they are not really distinct from the area of the
triangle, which is numerically the same for all three
angles. Thus the three divine persons are really distinct
from each other but not from the divine essence, which is
numerically the same in all three persons. Further, the
three angles are really distinguished from each other by
opposite relations but not from the area to which they are
in no way opposed; so also it is with the three divine
persons.
(b) The three angles are equal and, as it were,
consubstantial because they are constituted by the same
surface which is no greater in the three than it is in
one. Thus there is one surface in three distinct angles
but not distinguished into three angles.
(c) Each angle renders the surface incommunicable in its
own way, nevertheless when the first angle is formed it
does not cause the surface of the other angles although it
communicates its surface to the second angle, and through
the second angle to the third. Thus the first angle,
although not really distinct from its surface,
communicates that surface without communicating itself.
In the Trinity the Father communicates the divine nature
but not Himself; likewise the Son with respect to the
Holy Ghost.
(d) Lastly, even though the angles are equal, there is
among them an order of origin without causality: the first
angle once formed becomes the principle of the second, and
both of these are the principle of the third. At the same
time the second and third are not caused by the first
because their surfaces are not caused, but it is the
surface of the first which is communicated to them. This
analogy will become clearer when the principal definitions
of the Church on the Trinity are reduced to the following
propositions, which are often written around an
equilateral triangle as below.
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The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Ghost
is God, and yet the Father is not the Son, because He
does not generate Himself; nor is the Father the Holy
Ghost, or the Son the Holy Ghost, because those who
spirate are distinguished from that which is spirated as he
who generates is distinguished from that which is
generated. In the statement of this mystery we see the
profound meaning of the word "is" and of the negation
"is not." As St. Thomas says:[46] In every
affirmative proposition about some reality the word "is"
expresses the real identity of the subject and predicate.
Here it expresses the real identity of the three divine
persons with the divine essence, and the negation "is
not" expresses the real distinction of the persons from
each other. In this statement of the mystery the apparent
contradiction is explained, that contradiction arising if
God would be said to be one and three under the same
aspects, e. g., nature.
In the Catholic Catechism, written by Cardinal
Gasparri, this mystery is defined as:
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(a) "God is one in the unity of nature in three really
distinct persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost, who constitute the Holy Trinity."[47]
Thus the Father is the Godhead but He is not the
Trinity.
(b) How are the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost distinguished from one another?
Answer. By the opposite relations of the persons,
inasmuch as the Father generates the Son, and the Holy
Ghost proceeds from both. (The Father does not
generate Himself.)
(c) How are the three divine persons one God?
A. Because they are consubstantial, that is, they have
one and the same divine nature and therefore the same
attributes or perfections and operations "ad
extra." (The operations "ad extra"
proceed from omnipotence, which is common to the three
persons.)
(d) Is not power usually attributed to the Father,
wisdom to the Son, and goodness to the Holy Ghost in
the Scriptures?
A. Although all the attributes of divinity are common to
the three divine persons, the Scriptures usually
attribute power to the Father because He is the font of
origin, wisdom to the Son because He is the word of the
Father, and goodness and holiness to the Holy Ghost
because He is the love of the other two.[48]
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We will spend no more time in the simple statement of this
mystery; the explanation of the terms nature, person,
and so on will be found in St. Thomas' articles.
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