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30. The Plurality of Persons in God

1. A divine Person is a real divine relation as subsisting in the divine nature or essence. Since there are several real relations in God, there are several Persons in God.

2. There are, in fact, three and only three Persons in God. The four real relations (paternity, filiation, relation consequent on spiration, relation consequent on procession) involve not four, but three, relatively opposed or contrasted terminals.These three are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

3. When we call God "One," we indicate the undivided divine essence or nature. When we call the Persons"Three," we mean that each is really distinct from the others as a Person, but not as God.

4. The meaning of the term person is common to the three Persons in God. Whether applied to Father, Son, or Holy Ghost, the term person means a really distinct divine relation, in which subsists one and the same undivided divine nature or essence.

"When the devil has failed in making a man fall, he puts forward all his energies to create distrust between the penitent and the confessor, and so by little and little he gains his end at last."
St Philip Neri

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"It is vanity to be concerned with the present only and not to make provision for things to come."
Thomas á Kempis

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"To think of oneself as nothing, and always to think well and highly of others is the best and most perfect wisdom. Wherefore, if you see another sin openly or commit a serious crime, do not consider yourself better, for you do not know how long you can remain in good estate. All men are frail, but you must admit that none is more frail than yourself. "
Thomas á Kempis

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