The Trinity 

Implicit Beliefs 

Purpose of Man and Perfection 

Evolution at the Vatican 

Book - The Catechism Explained

Caritas Newsletter

June 1, 1997
by Fr. Lucian Pulvermacher, OFM Cap.

The Trinity
from the Athanasian Creed ("Quicumque")

"Whoever wishes to be saved, needs above all to hold the Catholic faith. Unless each one preserves this whole and inviolate, he will without doubt perish in eternity. But the Catholic faith is this, that we venerate one God in the Trinity, and the Trinity in oneness; neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance; for there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, (and) another of the Holy Spirit; but the divine nature of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is one, their glory is equal, their majesty is co-eternal. Of such a nature as the Father is, so is the Son, so (also) is the Holy Spirit; the Father is uncreated, the Son is uncreated, (and) the Holy Spirit is uncreated. The Father is immense, the Son is immense, (and) the Holy Spirit is immense. The Father is eternal, the Son is eternal , (and) the Holy Spirit is eternal: and nevertheless there are not three eternals, but one eternal. Just as there are not three uncreated beings, not three infinite beings, but one uncreated and one infinite. Similarly, the Father is omnipotent, the Son is omnipotent, (and) the Holy Spirit is omnipotent. And yet there are not three omnipotents, but one omnipotent..." 

"This is the Catholic faith; unless every one believes this faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved."

---

Implicit Beliefs of Church Teachings 

1. How many Gods are there?
   Answer: There is one God. 
2. How many persons are there in God?
   Answer: There are three persons in God.

With the above knowledge, which he or she receives from the Catholic Church, he or she exceeds above measure the pagan world, the Muslim world, and the Jewish world.  

You might say the child still does not know all the distinctions in the formula of the creed as expressed above. Still he is set up to believe all those distinctions at the use of reason. Why? It is because he accepts that teaching in an abbreviated form from the Church, and that includes all of it implicitly. 

Our Catholic faith tells us that we must believe everything that the Church teaches us in matters of faith and morals. Even when our knowledge of the faith is quite shallow we have the entire content of faith at least implicitly. 

In my approach to the teachings of faith and morals I profess that I believe all of them even though I have not heard them yet. I give you this teaching for two reasons. First of all, we just celebrated the feast of the Holy Trinity, and secondly, in order to fine tune your faith. In the early Church the heretics did almost unbelievable harm to the Catholic community by questioning and even denying certain elements of the Creed. 

It is easy to fall into the error that the Son is less "God" than the Father. Why? Because the Son has His origin from the Father, and the Holy Ghost has His origin from the Father and the Son as from one principle. Parents are principles of their children, and they are older than their children. They are the superiors of their children. That is not the case within the Blessed Trinity, as is explained (in prayer) in the Catholic Creed. 

All of us, no matter how well (or how poorly) we are schooled in Catholic doctrine must believe explicitly what we know and implicitly what we do not know. Tell God in your profession of faith that you believe everything that God teaches you through His Church, the Holy Roman Catholic Church, the Church given to man by Christ through his Apostles and their true successors. 

---

The Purpose of Man and Perfection

Those who are in original sin and mortal sin are outside of God's love of friendship in this world and in the next. They are damned souls, and if that condition continues through death they are damned forever in hell. Those in original sin go to the limbo of the infants, and those in mortal sin go to their hell of everlasting punishment. 

Both heaven and hell have degrees of reward and punishment. Every sin (unforgiven at death) brings its own added punishment. At the same time, every good work done in the state of sanctifying grace as a merit gives one a higher degree of union with God and a higher degree of happiness forever. 

Let us move up the ladder of salvation. The first step is to be without mortal sin. Then move up to very few venial sins. Unless one has a special assistance from God he cannot avoid all venial sin. Let us contemplate being without any mortal sin, and being without venial sin as understood above. We still have a problem of self-love. 

Self-love amounts to pride or putting oneself ahead of others. It also amounts to taking things for oneself when he should be taking things for the love of God. A few examples will make this clear, hopefully. 

A man wants to become a cop. Why? He may do so in order to be a boss in the community, or he may do so in order to assist in keeping law and order, for the good of all the citizens, and it may even cost him his life. A young man may want to become a priest. Why? Is it to become a superior over the faithful? Or is it to bring men to heaven, even to the great sacrifice of his life itself in that service. 

Selfishness is out. All for the greater honor and glory of God is in. When I see children reading even innocent novels I am horrified, and they all know it. Still they do it. They want that needless and useless pleasure. They could read good books that lead them into the embrace of God, but selfishness keeps them doing something that is self-centered. It is idol worship in a small degree, and it hampers their progress in holiness. 

We see our people purchase needful things, and yet they include that which is not needful. A simple Chevrolet could do the job well. However, to puff his ego he gets a BMW for sixty thousand dollars. That what is above his reasonable needs is done for his ego - leaving out God to that extent. 

We must be careful to practice this self-denial under the direction of the gift of counsel and the virtue of prudence. There are simple things (not absolutely needed) that contribute to joy and peace. Our Lord changed water into wine to contribute to the joy of the wedding feast in Cana. In the service of God, Mary Magdalen anointed the feet of Jesus with an expensive and fragrant oil. It should be as in the above two cases, Our Lord did not change the water into wine to puff His ego. Mary Magdalin did not anoint the feet of Jesus to puff her ego. All for the greater honor of God and the salvation of souls. Of course, the salvation of souls is always for the honor and glory of God. 

Once again we come back to the purpose of man. He is not in this world to puff his ego. Man is to love God and be loved by God. Loving himself even in a small degree stops the progress in holiness, stops his love for God and God's love for him. Now you know that monks in the same monastery are not all the same. A simple Brother who never says Mass, never preaches a sermon, never becomes the superior, and yet can become a great Saint. You can have a great priest, a great bishop, and a great Pope: and yet the simple Catholic who abandons his ego more than the priest, bishop or Pope will be higher in heaven. 

It is known that God calls certain persons to certain offices. If they take those offices without puffing their egos they can get a high place in heaven, not because of the office but because of the proper motive with which they received that office. When I went to become a priest my motives were questioned. If I wanted it to become a big shot in the Catholic community I would have been dropped as being unworthy to become a priest. That is the constant test for all vocations in the Church. In all things, when the ego comes into play we must imitate Our Divine Savior in His agony. He said to His Father in heaven, "Not my will be done but Thy will be done." Our Lady, at the Annunciation, finally said, "Fiat." "Be it done unto me according to Thy word." Whatever we do must be in the pattern of us loving God, and in turn being loved by God - in time and in eternity. 

The overview is this: 

1. Drop mortal sin.
2. Drop venial sin.
3. Drop our ego.

---

Evolution at the Vatican --
Tragic and Humorous Monkey-Business

John Paul II is quoted as saying to a group of Vatican scientists that evolution was "more than just a hypothesis." That can mean only one thing, it is no longer a hypothesis but a reality. Mind you, evolutionism is atheism. 

When the communists took over in China the first thing they taught the people was evolutionism. As long as men believe that God exists and that He made them so they can go to heaven (if they die in sanctifying grace) they will not accept atheistic communism. Once belief in evolution takes over, and men become atheistic, communism can take over. 

I am indebted to DE FIDE US, 2706 So. 18th St., Omaha, NB 68108 for a series of newspaper clippings on the matter of evolution in the Novus Ordo. In December 1996, Cardinal John O'Connor of New York announced his retirement. He is 77, and his replacement is Cardinal Mandrill, presently the auxiliary cardinal of Berlin, Germany. 

Cardinal O'Connor made the following almost incredible statements:  

Adam and Eve may have been "some other form" than human and it is possible that the first living creature was a "lower animal." 

"It is possible that when the two persons we speak of as Adam and Eve were created, it was in some other form and God breathed life into them - that's a scientific question." He continued, "Perhaps the spirit of God that breathed forth life into the Earth...was a lower animal."

---

Book - The Catechism Explained

TAN Books and Publishers, Inc. 
P.O. Box 424 
Rockford, IL 61105 
Phone Toll Free 1-800-437-5876.

---

Prayer of St. Francis