Wednesday 14 June 2017

ON THE TRINITY GOD MADE MANIFEST THREE TIMES NOT THREE 'PERSONS' IN ONE GOD: A REFLECTION ON SUNDAY 10TH JUNE 2017 (TRINITY SUNDAY)


BY JF. Dabo
Jubalfreemandabo@gmail.com
www.freemanjubal.blogspot.com.ng

PREAMBLE
Today the holy mother church (Catholic Church) celebrates the trinity Sunday, this is a reflection coming not from a theologian but a Philosopher, if the reflection does you no good, please do not allow it do you harm.

Mine here is an opinion on understanding the Trinitarian doctrine. I have spend a lot of time between 2011 till date trying to investigate for my self such controversial topics as the trinity, operation of the soul, spirit, and mind, other issues are separating man from person, the person as immortal, truth, goodness and badness among others. These should be put together in a book form in the coming years. But, today offers us an opportunity to meditate on the Trinity, may the grace of the trinity Sunday abide with us and make reveal to us the knowledge we need from this doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

ON THE TRINITY
Many philosophers and Theologians have attempt a study into the mystery of the Holy Trinity, it most certainly will end in a surrender to faith and nothing more. In one occasion of St. Augustine's search for the trinity, the little child by the sea shore believed to be an angel told the Hippo Saint that searching for the trinity is just perfectly compared to the folly in a little boy's attempt to empty the water of an entire sea into a small hole. That suggest how impossible a venture into unveling the mystery of the trinity stands.

In my opinion, the Holy trinity is not three persons in one God. Understanding this take is dependant on understanding my definition of person. By my definition of person you will understand that to say the trinity is three persons in one God suggest that it is a case of three different Souls in One God by conventional definition. Then the question, who is God? Is he a spirit, a body, or another being that has no definition?

GOD
I have been unable to put one and two together to lead me into understanding God as a body. It is much more easy to ascribe to God the spirit nature. That is what will enable the believe of his existing and living everywhere and always. For to ascribe to God the nature of a body (matter) is to confine him within a particular space and time, yes, a particular space because it is necessary to hold the fact that every body no matter it shape, size or age of being necessarily occupies a particular place and time within which it is perceivable through every means empirical. A body is no body until it is seeable, touchable, 'feelable', 'smellable' and what have you. It is simply perceivable through the five human senseable organs.

PERSON [PERSONA (LATIN), PROSOPON (πρόσωπον); (GREEK)]
The concept of person was developed during the Trinitarian and Christological debates of the 4th and 5th centuries in contrast to the word nature. During the theological debates, some philosophical tools (concepts)
were needed so that the debates could be held on common basis to all theological schools. The purpose of the debate was to establish the relation, similarities and differences between the Λóγος/ Verbum and God. The
philosophical concept of person arose, taking the word " prosopon " (πρόσωπον) from the Greek theatre . Therefore, Christus (the Λóγος/ Verbum ) and God were defined as different "persons". This concept was applied later to the Holy Ghost, the angels and to all human beings.

By the Latin and Greek definition of person, in the original sense of the word, a person simply means an appearance as it relates to a particular act. The Romance of the word person and the Greek Theatre suggests that the word person in fact does not stand for a being, but the perceived quality of a being as it appears to the spectator. It means, it is not in fact the face behind the mask that is the person who I should call the person of ... In the event. For instance, in a 2004 Movie titled " Submission", Patience Ozokwor acted the character of "Sussana" who was a very wicked mother-in law that caused great havoc to her daughter (Azuka)'s marriage. By the definition of person, it means that, the wicked mother in-law is not Patience Ozokwor but Sussana. But it is not again any Sussana in your neighborhood but the particular Sussana in the 2004 Nollywood movie. After the Movie, Patience acted a lot others, there are some she is a nice mother, in another, she could be a hardworking widow. These are three different appearances of the actress Patience Ozokwor and in each she appeared differently for a purpose.

It is against this background that I define a person as the perceived qualities in a being as it relates to the spectator. It is how a being appears not how a being looks. Here 'appearance' means a true manifestation of a whole self and 'looks' is just an appeal to the sense of sight capable of being deceptive mostly. Appearance is to both internal and external senses while looks is just to one external sense of sight. The person Jubal is who you see, feel, touch ... In my talk, walk, work, ... Not simply the face here. The definition of my person is more on my impact in your life and how I appear to you in truth from how I appeal to both your internal and external sense. I may look a crook but by the act of relating with me you meet a different person. It means I only look a crook, but my true appearance may not be a crook.

The definition of Trinity as three persons by the church could largely be ascribed the definition of the original definition of Person as in the Greek mask. This then will land us into concluding that, the Trinity in fact is not three beings in one God but three different 'masky' appearances of God. I love this.

THE TRINITY IS ONE GOD IN THREE MASKS
By the original definition of a person above, we will better understand the trinity as One God who appear by action in three different masks (appearance) to mankind. As Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the hol spirit being to me the original being of God (God is Spirit).

As Father:
As God the Father, we see, feel and relate with God in the very act of creation. (... In him all things hold their being). A father especially in the African community is the should owner of everything in the family. More practically in ideal African society, he is the bread winner of the family for he provide all for all hence 'owns' all in, and all. God is the genesis of every thing that is, he owns the whole world and all there in, he is the soul provider hence holding all even lives. But for him, there is no creation. That is the first appearance. We first encounter God in the stage of creation, wearing the mask of a Father.

As Son:
As God the son, he took the form of his most superior child (human) to come to the world and dwell with his children in the act of salvation. If a father must enjoy his children, he must reduce himself from the seat of fatherhood to the floor where the children play, enjoy their toys with them, he must some times eat their biscuits first before the child will agree to be feed by him with the biscuits. There was no other way to gain acceptance by many than for the Father to wear the mask of the son and come to earth. In fact, recall that he got to the Cross for using the tag son of God. Besides Matter is necessary for living on earth. The body is the only machine that allows you live on earth else you will only be existing. (God in the mask of Son).

As Spirit:
As the spirit he came in the days of the acts of the apostles. As the comforter, the sustainer. The child who is about to start a competition enjoys it when he turns around and oh! Daddy is seated up there watching, that child envelopes by the comfort the presence of his parent gives him enjoys and gives out the best in the game. So wearing the spirit mask is necessary. I use is because that is the only appearance of God that still exist.

Once upon a time there was a Father who created all things, after creation he left, no one knows him beyond the disgraceful encounter at the garden of Eden. Once upon a time there was a son that came, lived and died, rose on the third day and flew body and soul to sky, till now he is yet to be back. And there is a spirit that came and till now yet to leave us.

ABOUT THE TRINITY SUNDAY

In the early Church, no special Office or day was assigned for the Holy Trinity. When the Arian heresy was spreading, the Fathers prepared an Office with canticles, responses, a Preface, and hymns, to be recited on Sundays. In the Sacramentary of St. Gregory the Great (P.L., LXXVIII, 116) there are prayers and the Preface of the Trinity. The Micrologies (P.L., CLI, 1020), written during the pontificate of Gregory VII (Nilles, II, 460), call the Sunday after Pentecost a Dominica vacans , with no special Office, but add that in some places they recited the Office of the Holy Trinity composed by Bishop Stephen of Liège (903-20). By others the Office was said on the Sunday before Advent. Alexander II (1061–1073), refused a petition for a special feast on the plea, that such a feast was not customary in the Roman Church which daily honoured the Holy Trinity by the Gloria Patri , etc., but he did not forbid the celebration where it already existed. John XXII (1316–1334) ordered the feast for the entire Church on the first Sunday after Pentecost. A new Office had been made by the Franciscan John Peckham, Canon of Lyons, later Archbishop of Canterbury (d.1292). The feast ranked as a double of the second class but was raised to the dignity of a primary of the first class, 24 July 1911, by Pius X (Acta Ap. Sedis, III, 351). Since it was after the first great Pentecost that the doctrine of the Trinity was proclaimed to the world, the feast becomingly follows that of Pentecost.

Trinity Sunday is celebrated in all the Western liturgical churches: Roman Catholic, Anglican , Lutheran , Presbyterian , United Church of Christ , and Methodist .The Sundays following Pentecost, until Advent , are numbered from this day. In traditional Catholic usage, the First Sunday After Pentecost is on the same day as Trinity Sunday .

In the revised Roman rite , Ordinary Time resumes one week earlier, on the Monday after Pentecost, with the Sundays that would otherwise fall on Pentecost and Trinity Sunday omitted that year. In the Church of England, following the pre-Reformation Sarum use ,the following Sunday is the "First Sunday after Trinity", while the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA) now follows the Catholic usage, calling it the Second Sunday after Pentecost. The liturgical colour used on Trinity Sunday is white.

In the Catholic Church, the Sunday after Pentecost sunday is officially known as the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. Prior to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council , it marked the end of a three-week period when church weddings were forbidden. The period began on Rogation Sunday, the fifth Sunday after Easter . Trinity Sunday was established as a Double of the Second Class by Pope John XXII to celebrate the Trinity .It was raised to the dignity of a Double of the First Class by Pope Pius X on 24 July 1911. During the Middle Ages, especially during the Carolingian period, devotion to the Blessed Trinity was a highly important feature of private devotion and inspired several liturgical expressions. The currently prescribed liturgical color is

In the traditional Divine Office, the Athanasian Creed ( Quicumque vult) is said on this day at Prime . Before 1960, it was said on all Sundays after Epiphany and Pentecost which do not fall within Octaves or on which a feast of Double rank or higher was celebrated or commemorated, as well as on Trinity Sunday. The 1960 reforms reduced it to once a year, on this Sunday.

In the 1962 Missal, the Mass for the First Sunday After Pentecost is not said or commemorated on Sunday (it is permanently impeded there by Trinity Sunday), but is used during the week if the ferial Mass is being said. The Thursday after Trinity Sunday is observed as the Feast of Corpus Christi . In some countries, including the United States, Canada, and Spain, it may be celebrated on the following Sunday, when parishioners are more likely to attend Mass and be able to celebrate the feast. The Athanasian Creed, although not often used, is recited.

In the Anglican Church particularly, Trinity Sunday has the status of a Principal Feast in the Church of England and is one of seven principal feast days in the Episcopal Church . Thomas Becket (1118–70) was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury on the Sunday after Pentecost ( Whitsun ), and his first act was to ordain that the day of his consecration should be held as a new festival in honour of the Holy Trinity. This observance spread from Canterbury throughout the whole of western Christendom.

HOLY SPIRIT AS ORINAL NATURE OF GOD: A CONCLUSION
To me, the Holy Spirit is the original nature of God, he lives forever, he made himself manifest to mankind in two different appearances before finally taking his full nature. The first to appearance were necessary for the understanding of himself my the created things. He needed to be a Father to create, since he created every being out of nothing and with some limitations, the being itself knows not its origin, hence lacks the sense of focus, to redirect this being, The spirit needed to put an appearance of the son, when man met the son, interact with the son in the most cruel way, latter learned to believe more strongly in the son, then to provide a link, the son said, "I am going to send down the holy spirit". Before now he had always told us, " the father ... The father... I and the father..." But at easter he told us "I will". To mean posessing such authority over the spirit. Of cause only myself can send myself where I want to be. But because he is limited by the human body living on earth, he of cause needed to go up, unveil and return to live among us and comfort us. Sadly we today acknowledge the Father and Son (Mather and Matter related) than the Holy spirit who we only take for a force like fire to fight the devil.

Lord, I thank you for revealing yourself to your little ones, living Spirit of God. Be praise both now and forever. Amen.

References
1. "Christianity: The Trinity" . BBC . BBC. Retrieved 2016-05-20.

2. Anniversaries and holidays by Bernard Trawicky, Ruth Wilhelme Gregory 2000 ISBN 0-8389-0695-8 page 225

3. "Trinity Sunday in United Kingdom", Time and Date

4. "Questions and answers about Trinity Sunday", St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Kingsville

5.  "Trinity Sunday", Presbyterian Mission Agency

6. "Trinity Sunday", UCC Worship Ways ,

7. "Trinity Sunday/First Sunday after Pentecost" . United Methodist Church Discipleship Ministries. Retrieved 17 March 2016.

8. "Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity", Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy , 157, Vatican City, 17 December 2001

9. "First Sunday after Pentecost: Trinity Sunday", The Lectionary Page
10. Mershman, Francis. "Trinity Sunday." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 17 Jun. 2013.

11. For corporations, see "Justices, 5-4, Reject Corporate Spending Limit" , The New York Times , January 21, 2010.

12 Stefaroi, P. (2015). Humanistic Personology: A Humanistic-Ontological Theory of the Person & Personality. Applications in Therapy, Social Work, Education, Management and Art (Theatre). Charleston SC, USA: CreateSpace.

13. For a discussion of post-mortal personhood, see Roth, S. (2013) Dying is only human. The case death makes for the immortality of the person. Tamara Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 35-39.

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