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To: HarleyD; ninenot; sandyeggo; Aquinasfan
But the Holy Spirit is far more than just "love".

Harley, the scriptural references are appreciated; thank you for taking time to compose.  I sort of agree with your initial comment....  

I believe that any human trying to find the absolute correct phrasing, and "box" to hold a tidy description of any part of the Trinity will fall short on words.  Thomas Aquinas didn't finish Summa after a revelation to him; I may be mistaken, but I surmised that what was revealed to him was beyond words, beyond his senses and he became aware of the reality that his efforts would've fallen short.  Additional information and/or correction here is most definitely welcome!  

The "family" reference put forth is personally very meaningful and encompasses so much goodness; it is beyond comprehension when the perfect-ness of God and the Trinity is considered and contemplated.  Do you agree, or appreciate what I mean to say?

A discussion on the Almighty Ever Living God will need an absolute infinite number of posts in order to *maybe* come close to capturing in words all that can be said.  It's not an unpleasant exercise by any means though.  :-)  Just my two cents.  Thanks again.
75 posted on 03/13/2004 12:26:42 AM PST by GirlShortstop
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To: GirlShortstop; HarleyD; ninenot; sandyeggo
I looked up the Trinity in Ott's "Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma." There isn't a lot of De fide teaching regarding the relationships between the Divine Persons.

1)In God there are two Internal Divine Processions.
2) The Divine Persons, not the Divine Nature, are the subject of the Internal Divine processions (in the active and in the passive sense).
3) The Second Divine Person proceeds from the First Divine Person by Generation, and therefore is related to Him as Son to a Father.
4) The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and from the Son as from a Single Principle through a Single Spiration.
These points follow logically from Scripture. Scripture tells us that Jesus is the Son of the Father. The essence of Fatherhood is generation. Therefore, the Son proceeds from the Father by way of generation, in a logical sense. Similarly, Scripture tells us that the Spirit was "sent" by the Father and Son, so in this logical sense we say that the Spirit proceeds by way of Spiration from the Father and Son.

The next section in Ott's book regards speculative explanations for the dogma of the Trinity. The main speculative explanation for the spiration of the Holy Spirit is that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the will or from the mutual love of the Father and the Son. Ott cites many Scriptural verses for this explanation.

Personally, I find this explanation compelling because it provides a great insight into the mystery of the family. The family somehow reflects the "image of God," just as the human person does.

(Ott's book is a must for every Catholic).

78 posted on 03/13/2004 6:33:32 AM PST by Aquinasfan (Isaiah 22:22, Rev 3:7, Mat 16:19)
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