Expert: Edward Bode - 1/31/2010

Question
Hello Mr. Bode.  I'm not clear about the Trinity.  Three persons but still one God?  How is that not polytheistic?  If it is three "persons" then is it more accurate then to speak not of "God" but the "Godhead?"  Or is it three facets of the one God?  Sorry, multiple questions it seems.  Thanks for your assistance!

Answer
From natural reasoning, we know there can only be one supreme Being [divine nature], whom we call God.
The challenge of the New Testament is to reconcile its teachings with what we can know from reason about the existence of God.
The Church decided as early as the fourth century that the answer was that while there one Divine nature [God], there are three distinct Persons Who possess that nature.  Succintly stated, The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God; the Father is not the Son nor the Holy Spirit, the Son is not the Father nor the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father nor the Son.
The three distinct Persons differ only in their relationship to each other:  The Father "begot" the Son; the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.
This relationship is a mystery -- one that the human intellect cannot completely understand.
There is a fascinating story told of the greast theologian, St. Augustine who explained that it was impossible to do such a thing.  Walking along the southern beach of the Mediterraen Sea, he saw a small child.  The child was taking a shell full of seawater and emptying it into a small hole.  Augusinte informed the child that it was impossible to do such a thing.  The child replied that it would be easier to do that than for Augustine to understand the Trinity.
Augustine explained in his book on the Trinity by using this analogy:  The Father knows Himself and expressed that knowlege in one Word, the Son.  Unlike human knowledge, that Word is not only a thought but also a Person.  The Father and the Son knowing each other produces an infinite Love, which is a Person, whom we call the Holy Spirit.
For more on the official teaching of the Church, please refer to The Catechism of the Catholic Church, available on line at:  www.usccb.org/catechism/text/index.htm
The relevant paragraphs are: 202, 238-256, 261-267, 689.
If you should have further questions, please feel free to write again.
Best wished, Mick.