Holy Trinity
Sunday
From a letter by Saint
Athanasius, bishop
It will not be out
of place to consider the ancient tradition, teaching and faith of the Catholic
Church, which was revealed by the Lord, proclaimed by the apostles and guarded
by the fathers. For upon this faith the
Church is built.
We acknowledge the
Trinity, holy and perfect, to consist of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. It is a wholly creative and
energizing reality, self-consistent and undivided in its active power, for the
Father makes all things though the Word and in the Holy Spirit, and in this way
the unity of the holy Trinity is preserved.
Accordingly, in the Church one God is preached, one God who is above all things and though all things
and in all things. God is above all things as Father, for his is
principle and source; he is through all
things through the Word; and he is in
all things in the Holy Spirit.
Writing to the
Corinthians about spiritual matters, Paul traces all reality back to one God,
the Father, saying: Now there are
varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and varieties of service, but the same
Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires
them all in everyone.
Even
the gifts that the Spirit dispenses to individuals are given by the Father
through the Word. For all that belongs
to the Father belongs also to the Son, and so the graces given by the Son in
the Spirit are true gifts of the Father.
Similarly, when the spirit dwells in us, the Word who bestows the Spirit
is in us too, and the Father is present in the Word. This is the meaning of the text: My
Father and I will come to him and make our home with him. For where the light is, there also is the
radiance; and where the radiance is, there too are its power and its
resplendent grace.
This is also
Paul’s teaching in his second letter to the Corinthians: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
For grace and the gift of the Trinity are given by the Father
through the Son in the Holy Spirit. Just
as grace is given from the Father through the Son, so there could be no
communication of the gift to us except in the Holy Spirit. But when we share in the Spirit, we possess
the love of the Father, the grace of the Son and the fellowship of the Spirit
himself.
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