Catholic Saints, who have written on the Spiritual Life, suggest that a "remote preparation" is necessary in order to better understand the Word of God.  This includes being a lover of the Truth as well as the practice the Virtues of Humility, Meekness, and Docility to God the Holy Ghost.  "Proximate preparation" includes two prayers:  1) The Act of Contrition; and, 2) The Veni, Sancte Spiritus.

An Act of Contrition

O my God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, because I love Thee above all things with my whole heart and soul.  I detest all of my sins because it was for them and His Love for me that Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, my Lord and my God, suffered, was crucified, and died on the cross.  O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee by my sins, faults, imperfections, negligences and carelessness, Who art all good and deserving of all of my love.

I firmly resolve with the help of Thy Grace, to sin no more, to confess my sins, to do penance, to amend my life, to avoid all of the near occasions of sin, and always give to Thee freely, liberally and generously what is of supererogation and perfection, not only in greater things, but especially in lesser things, so that I may gain beforehand Thy efficacious, superabundant, particular and special Graces and Helps so that I will always be victorious in resisting and overcoming all temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil and his followers.  Grant me those Graces and Helps needed so that my every thought, word and action may be done solely out of love for Thee, Who art Love.  Amen.

Saint John Chrysostom

It was the custom of Patriarch Saint John Chrysostom [b. Antioch, c. 347 A.D. - d. at Commana in Pontus on Friday, September 14, 407 A.D.], Patriarch of Constantinople [Thursday, February 26, 398 A.D. - Thursday, June 24, 404 A.D.], exiled from his See the 2nd time on Thursday, June 24, 404 A.D., Father and Doctor of the Catholic Church, to properly prepare himself and his Congregation before preaching. He taught that unless God the Holy Ghost prepares the minds and hearts of the Preacher and of the Congregation, the Preacher preaches in vain and the Congregation listens in vain.

Therefore, so as not to waste your time, please pray the Veni, Sancte Spiritus, remembering how one Holy Saint was of the opinion that a Sermon is a Sacramental.

Veni, Sancte Spiritus

Come, O Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful
And kindle in them the fire of Thy love.

V. Send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be created;
R. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

Let Us Pray

O God, who didst instruct the hearts of Thy faithful by the light of Thy Holy Spirit, grant us in the same Spirit to relish what is right and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary; pray for us.
Saint Thomas Aquinas, Patron Saint of Catholic Schools, pray for us.

“And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying:  All power is given to Me in Heaven and in earth.  Going therefore, teach ye all nations; Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” (GOSPEL of today’s Mass [Matthew 28:18-19]).
 
 

V  In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.

The “Trinity” is the word used to signify the primary doctrine of the Catholic Faith, namely the Truth that in the unity of the Godhead there are Three distinct Persons:  the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

In the Athanasian Creed one reads:

“the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God, and yet there are not three Gods but one God.”

In this Trinity of Persons, God the Father begets God the Son by an eternal generation.  God the Holy Ghost proceeds by an eternal procession from God the Father according to God the Son Who teaches all of us in the Gospel of Saint John about “the Spirit of Truth, Who proceedeth from the Father” (John 15:26).

At the Center of the picture - the Holy Roman Emperor Theodosius I
[b. at Cauca, Gallaecia [Spain] on Saturday, January 11, 347 A.D.
d. at Mediolanum - Roman Milan, Italy on Tuesday, January 17, 395 A.D.]
Roman Emperor of the East [379 A.D. - 392 A.D.]
and of East and West (392 – 395)
Convoked the Second Œcumenical Council,
the First Council of Constantinople
[May, 381 A.D. -Thursday, July 30, 381 A.D.]

Also pictured are four of the many Council Fathers at
the First Council of Constantinople who wrote the Dogmatic Creed
the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed for the Catholic Church
The Text shown in the above graphic is in its Original Greek

This same teaching by God the Son about God the Holy Ghost is also found in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (Second Œcumenical Council, the First Council of Constantinople - [May, 381 A.D. -Thursday, July 30, 381 A.D.]).

Pope Leo III

It was this very same Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed which Pope Leo III [Tuesday, December 26, 795 - Sunday, June 12, 816] ordered chiseled in both Greek and in Latin onto tablets of gold and silver.  Upon completion, these two tablets were fastened to the walls of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. The happened as the result of a controversy which arose during a Synodal Council convoked by Charlemagne [b. at Aix-la-Chapelle or Liége on Thursday, April 2, 742 A.D. - d. at Aix-la-Chapelle on Monday, January 28, 814 A.D.; King of the Franks from 771 A.D. to 814 A.D.; Pacific Emperor from 800 A.D. to 814 A.D.] at Aix-la-Chapelle in France in the year 809 A.D. and which was brought to the Pope’s attention by a delegation of two Bishops, an Abbot, and an Eastern Rite Monk.

This resulted in the Pope deciding in favor of the original Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (which never used the word "Filioque") and deciding against the interpolated Creed, a.k.a. the "Carolingian Creed", of the amateur theologian Charlemagne and the 809 A.D. Synodal Council of Aix-la-Chapelle with its interpolated inclusion of the word "Filioque" contrary to the infallible Word of God (John 15:26) and contrary to the Infallible teachings of the Second Œcumenical Council, the First Council of Constantinople - [May, 381 A.D. -Thursday, July 30, 381 A.D.].

Pope John VIII

70 years later, in 879 A.D., Pope John VIII  [Wednesday, December 14, 872 - Wednesday, December 16, 882] wrote a letter saying:

“We are aware of the negative reports you have heard about Us and Our Church.  Therefore, I seek to explain myself to you before you write to me on the subject.  You are aware that your envoy discussed the issue of the Creed with Us and that he found We preserve it as We originally received it without adding anything or taking anything from it. For We know that anyone who tampers with it deserves punishment.

We assure you, therefore, concerning this issue which has been a scandal to the Church, that We not only recite it [in the original version] but even condemn those foolish ones who have had the presumption to act otherwise [i.e. those who deserve punishment for using Filioque]... as violators of the Divine words and distorters of the teachings of Christ the Lord... and of the Fathers who transmitted the Holy Creed to Us through the Councils.

We judge them with Judas because they have done as he [Judas] did, since, although it is not the Body of Christ which they subject to death, they nevertheless bring schism to the Faithful who are His members....” (Archbishop Gian Domenico Mansi, a.k.a. Archbishop Giovanni Mansi, [b. in Lucca on Saturday, February 16, 1692 A.D. - d. in Lucca on Wednesday, September 27, 1769 A.D.], an Italian Church Historian, who wrote a voluminous history of the Church Councils up to the Seventeenth Œcumenical Council, the First Council of Basel, Ferrara, Florence [Monday, April 9, 1438 A.D. - Thursday, August 7, 1445 A.D.], in 31 folio volumes, entitled Sacrorum Conciliorum Nova et Amplissima Collectio, published in Florence and Venice between 1758 A.D. - 1798 A.D., Letter of Pope John VIII to Patriarch Photius of Constantinople in 879 A.D., Columns 17, 523 and 526).

This Papal Document, since it touches an article of Faith, is, according to the definition of Papal Infallibility, an infallible document.  In other words, Pope John VIII INFALLIBLY teaches that Filioque [and the Son] is not to be used in the Creed of the Catholic Church which is the Creed used exclusively during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Not only that but, to slightly paraphrase Pope John VIII, the Pope clearly states:  We preserve the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed as We originally received it without adding anything or taking anything from it.

Pope John VIII has clearly followed in the footsteps of Pope Leo III by NOT using the interpolated and condemned "Carolingian Creed" with its use of Filioque because We know that anyone who tampers with the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed deserves punishment. This last statement is a clear reference to Charlemagne and the Fathers - the Bishops - of the 809 A.D. Synodal Council of Aix-la-Chapelle!]

The Pope continues to defend the Catholic Church in the West, and especially himself, where he writes to Patriarch Photius that We not only recite it [i.e. the Creed, in its original version] but even condemn those foolish ones who have had the presumption to act otherwise [i.e. those who deserve punishment for using Filioque] because they are violators of the Divine words and distorters of the teachings of Christ the Lord... and of the Fathers who transmitted the Holy Creed to Us through the Councils.

Here Pope John VIII tells the Patriarch that not only does he, the Pope, recite the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed without the word Filioque, but also that he condemns those who use the word Filioque which is to be found, not in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, but rather in the Carolingian Creed.

He goes on to say that he judges Filioque users with Judas because they have done as he [Judas] did, since, although it is not the Body of Christ which they subject to death, they nevertheless bring schism to the Faithful who are His members.

So, just as Judas betrayed Christ, Who is the Truth, all those who use Filioque betray Christ and betray the Truths Christ taught, e.g. that Truth Christ teaches in John 15:26 where Christ teaches that the Spirit of Truth... proceedeth from the Father.
In other words, even Christ Himself did not use the word Filioque.

Furthermore, Filioque users subject the Mystical Body of Christ to death because they bring schism to the Faithful who are His members.

So here one finds a Pope of the Roman Catholic Church who used his Papal Infallibility to proclaim that anyone who uses the word Filioque in the Creed deserves punishment because such a person is a traitor, just like Judas, because such a person, who is a schismatic, subjects the Mystical Body of Christ to death by bringing schism to the Faithful.

Catholic Douay Rheims Bible

The Bible does not use the word “Trinity”, by which the Three Divine Persons are denoted together, the word “trias”, of which the Latin word “trinitas” is a translation, is first found in the writings of Patriarch Theophilus of Antioch, entitled “Ad Autolychum”, in about 180A.D. where he writes about “the Trinity of God, His Word and His Wisdom” (Ad Autolychum, Book II, Chapter 15).  Of course, it is still possible that this term could have been in use before 180 A.D.  Afterwards, it appears in its Latin form of “trinitas” in the “De Pudicitia” of Tertullian (Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus [ b. Carthage, 155 A.D. - d. 225 A.D.], De Pudicitia, Chapter xxi).

Origen of Alexandria

In the next century the word “trinitas” is in general use. It is found in many passages of Origen (Origen of Alexandria [b. Alexandria, Egypt in 185 A.D. - d. Tyre, Phenicia in 254 A.D.], On Psalm 17:15).

Bishop Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus

The first Creed in which it appears is that of Origen’s pupil, Bishop Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus of Neocæsarea in Pontus, Asia Minor [b. at Neocæsarea in Pontus, Asia Minor, c. 213 A.D. - d.  at Neocæsarea in Pontus, Asia Minor between c. 270 A.D. - 275 A.D.], who is also the Patron Saint against earthquakes, floods, and desperate and impossible cases.

In his “Ekthesis tes Pisteos” (Exposition of the Faith), composed between 260 A.D. and 270 A.D., Bishop Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus writes:

“There is one God, the Father of the living Word, Who is His subsistent Wisdom and Power and Eternal Image: perfect Begetter of the perfect Begotten, Father of the only-begotten Son.

There is one Lord, Only of the Only, God of God, Image and Likeness of Deity, Efficient Word, Wisdom comprehensive of the constitution of all things, and Power formative of the whole creation, true Son of true Father, Invisible of Invisible, and Incorruptible of Incorruptible, and Immortal of Immortal and Eternal of Eternal.

And there is One Holy Spirit, having His subsistence from God, and being made manifest by the Son, to wit to men: Image of the Son, Perfect Image of the Perfect; Life, the Cause of the living; Holy Fount; Sanctity, the Supplier, or Leader, of Sanctification; in Whom is manifested God the Father, Who is above all and in all, and God the Son, Who is through all.

There is a perfect Trinity, in glory and eternity and sovereignty, neither divided nor estranged.  There is therefore nothing created, nothing greater or less [literally - “nothing subject”] in the Trinity (oute oun ktiston ti, he doulon en te triadi), nothing superadded, as though it had not existed before, but never been without the Son, nor the Son without the Spirit; and this same Trinity is without variation and without change, immutable and unalterable forever” (Jacques Paul Migne [b. Saint-Flour, France on Saturday, October 25, 1800 - d. Paris, France on  Sunday, October 24, 1875], Patrologiæ Graecæ Cursus Completus, 2nd series, published in 166 volumes [1857 - 1866], Volume X, Column 986, Bishop Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus, Ekthesis tes Pisteos).
 

Such a formula clearly states the distinction between the Persons in the Trinity, and emphasizes the eternity, equality, immortality, and perfection, not only of the Father, but also of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

The evidence for the Holy Trinity in the Gospels culminates in the Baptismal commission of Matthew 28:18-19. It is manifest from the narratives of the Evangelists that Christ only made the Truth of this Great Mystery known to the Twelve Apostles gradually, step by step.

First He taught His Apostles to recognize in Himself the Eternal Son of God. When His public ministry was ending, He promised that He would send another Divine Person, God the Holy Ghost, in His place.

Finally, after His resurrection from the dead, He revealed the doctrine of the Trinity in explicit terms, bidding them to go and to teach all nations, “Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”.

The force of this passage is decisive. That “the Father” and “the Son” are distinct Persons follows from the terms themselves, which are mutually exclusive. The mention of “the Holy Ghost” in the same series, the names being connected one with the other by the conjunctions “and ... and” is evidence that a Third Person co-ordinates things with the Father and the Son.

The phrase “in the name” (eis to onoma) affirms alike the Godhead of the Persons and their unity of nature. Among the Jews, as well as in the Apostolic Church, the Divine name was representative of God.  It is incredible that the phrase “in the name” should be used here because all the Persons were mentioned as being equally Divine.

Also, the use of the singular word “name”, and not the plural “names”, indicates that these Three Persons are the One Omnipotent God in Whom the Apostles believed. The unity of God is so fundamental a tenet, both in the Hebrew and in the Catholic Faith, and is affirmed in so many passages of the Old and New Testaments, that any explanation inconsistent with this doctrine would be altogether inadmissible.

Resolutions

For your resolutions, let all of us thank the good God for revealing this very deep Mystery of the Most Blessed Trinity to us because, without this Divine Revelation, mankind would have no absolute certitude of the existence of the Three Divine Persons in only One God.
 
 

Finally, IF you feel overwhelmed by just thinking about the depths of the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity, like Saint Augustine who felt the full force of the finiteness of the human mind in an attempt to understand the Infinite God, you might want to think about how Saint Patrick explained it by using a simple shamrock of 3 leaves.  A shamrock of 3 leaves is only ONE shamrock, but each of its THREE leaves represent each of the 3 Divine Persons in only ONE God.
 

“And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying:  All power is given to Me in Heaven and in earth.  Going therefore, teach ye all nations; Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” (GOSPEL of today’s Mass [Matthew 28:18-19]).

V  In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.

 

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