Monday, May 24, 2010

The one Triune God



Jesus our Lord and God, is the one Triune God that never lets us down. Jesus has been with God from day one (John 1:1-5), “In the beginning was the Word(How is the Word you might ask? The Word is Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anythings made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and darkness has not overcome it.”
Jesus Christ has been with us in spirit. In the Old Testament he is known to the people as Wisdom (Prv. 8). All this in Proverbs is a foreshadowing of the wisdom in Jesus the incarnate Word of God. We must remember that God has no gender. We are all in the image of God(Gn.1:26), in body and soul All humans have a body and soul as our Father does. Jesus is His flash The Holy Spirit is His soul and God is Love, who puts all three together in one person. As we end our prayers we end them in the name of the Father, Son and, the Holy Spirit (We do not say in the names but in the name). Three divine persons and only one Nature. As St. Patrick teaches us with a three leaf clover and in his teaching on the Holy Trinity. God created the universe, send the Word down for the redemption of mankind, and gave us sanctification through His Son the perfect sacrifice.

St. Thomas, is one that proclaimed Jesus as God. When we read (John 20:24-29) we read, “Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So The other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” Jesus did not correct Thomas, instead Jesus said “Blessed are those who... This here strong evidence that Jesus is God and not a god.

God's word became flesh for us to follow Him in his own foot step. What “god” or king would do that for his own people? As God spoke to Mary's heart He spoke Jesus into her heart. God, His spoken Word that became flesh for humanity to know Him, who is God. His Spirit came down and dwelt in her heart and in her womb, and through men He became a man and dwelt through the world preaching the Word to men. So that men can hear the Word through a man who is our Lord and savior Jesus Christ who is true man and true God.

-Matthew E. Trevino



Early Church Fathers
Ignatius of Antioch
"Ignatius, also called Theophorus, to the Church at Ephesus in Asia . . . predestined from eternity for a glory that is lasting and unchanging, united and chosen through true suffering by the will of the Father in Jesus Christ our God" (Letter to the Ephesians 1 [A.D. 110]).

"For our God, Jesus Christ, was conceived by Mary in accord with God’s plan: of the seed of David, it is true, but also of the Holy Spirit" (ibid., 18:2).

"[T]o the Church beloved and enlightened after the love of Jesus Christ, our God, by the will of him that has willed everything which is" (Letter to the Romans 1 [A.D. 110]).

Aristides
"[Christians] are they who, above every people of the earth, have found the truth, for they acknowledge God, the Creator and maker of all things, in the only-begotten Son and in the Holy Spirit" (Apology 16 [A.D. 140]).

Tatian the Syrian
"We are not playing the fool, you Greeks, nor do we talk nonsense, when we report that God was born in the form of a man" (Address to the Greeks 21 [A.D. 170]).

Irenaeus
"For the Church, although dispersed throughout the whole world even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and from their disciples the faith in one God, Father Almighty, the creator of heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them; and in one Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became flesh for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who announced through the prophets the dispensations and the comings, and the birth from a Virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the bodily ascension into heaven of the beloved Christ Jesus our Lord, and his coming from heaven in the glory of the Father to reestablish all things; and the raising up again of all flesh of all humanity, in order that to Jesus Christ our Lord and God and Savior and King, in accord with the approval of the invisible Father, every knee shall bend of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth . . . " (Against Heresies 1:10:1 [A.D. 189]).
"Nevertheless, what cannot be said of anyone else who ever lived, that he is himself in his own right God and Lord . . . may be seen by all who have attained to even a small portion of the truth" (ibid., 3:19:1).

Bible
In John 8:58, when quizzed about how he has special knowledge of Abraham, Jesus replies, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I Am"—invoking and applying to himself the personal name of God—"I Am" (Ex. 3:14). His audience understood exactly what he was claiming about himself. "So they took up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple" (John 8:59).

In John 20:28, Thomas falls at Jesus’ feet, exclaiming, "My Lord and my God!" (Greek: Ho Kurios mou kai ho Theos mou—literally, "The Lord of me and the God of me!")

In Philippians 2:6, Paul tells us that Christ Jesus "[w]ho, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be g.asped" (New International Version). So Jesus chose to be born in humble, human form though he could have simply remained in equal glory with the Father for he was "in very nature God."

Also significant are passages that apply the title "the First and the Last" to Jesus. This is one of the Old Testament titles of Yahweh: "Thus says Yahweh, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, Yahweh of armies: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; besides me there is no god’" (Is. 44:6; cf. 41:4, 48:12).

This title is directly applied to Jesus three times in the book of Revelation: "When I saw him [Christ], I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand upon me, saying, ‘Fear not, I am the First and the Last’" (Rev. 1:17). "And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the First and the Last, who died and came to life’" (Rev. 2:8). "Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense, to repay every one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the beginning and the end" (Rev. 22:12–13).

This last quote is especially significant since it applies to Jesus the parallel title "the Alpha and the Omega," which Revelation earlier applied to the Lord God: "‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty" (Rev. 1:8).

Sunday, May 23, 2010

The Faith of the Church


Christ works through the Holy Spirit in our world. Through the Spirit he arouses in human hearts the desire for the age to come. Christ purifies and strengthens the noble longings of the human family to perfect all of creation and to render all people more responsive to compassion and goodness (Cf. Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World 38)

Thanks to God for sending the Holy Spirit down to the Church. We must remember that it is the Holy Spirit that keeps us together, united under the one Family of God. Jesus came down to tear families apart meaning that those who wish to walk away for not believing in His teachings can do so at their own will. Then God sent down the Holy Spirit to fill us with the truth, and uniting all minds and thoughts together under ONE Family. When we trust in the Holy Spirit and allow Him to work with us, we will be all under the same Spirit therefore with his help we will all come to the same conclusion.

There is one thing that we must all do first and that is to believe before we try to understand. If one does not believe one can never see the TRUTH." I believe because it's true then I understand because I believe."-I'm trying to remember who wrote this quotation.

"We believe then we understand" St. Augustine

"Faith no more perverts reason than a telescope perverts the unnatural unaided eye, faith takes you further places but It's never contradistinction to definings in the basis of reason" Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

So we must open our hearts to the Holy Spirit to allow us to believe in ALL the teachings of the Church which is Jesus Christ our Lord. I do not worry about anything that the Church teaches because of what happened to the Church on the day of Pentecost and he who hears the apostles and his successors hear Jesus Christ, therefore I believe first then come to knowledge.

Matthew E. Trevino


The day the Holy Spirit came upon the Church. Pentecost.



Happy Birthday to Mother Church!!! The is the day the Church began WITH FIRE! We must feel this way every day!!! We must all feel this Fire run through our veins AND PROCLAIM the Word of God with OUT fear!!! Come Holy Spirit and fill the hearts of those in the Church. Let us be the Light God wants us to be. Let us shine on the highest mountain, just as Jesus willed this for us. It is His will not my own. It is not I who speaks but Christ who speaks through me! I will walk with Jesus and Mary and believe in all that the Holy Catholic Church (who is Christ) has taught us!- Matthew E. Trevino