God The Father And Holy Spirit

[tinytherese]

Does anyone else have a hard time with their relationship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit? Its just that I tend to focus on Jesus, when speaking to the divine. The other two members of the trinity get so little attention from me.

I have issues with my own dad and I feel as if I really don't know Our Heavenly Father that well. Really both Him and The Holy Spirit are so mysterious to me, expecially the second who is never even quoted in scripture. I know Jesus much more, (not that I know Him completely because that's impossible.) I can relate to Him more, especially since He became flesh for all of us and I've got images of Him in my mind when communicating with Him.

Any advice?

[LouisvilleFan]

Not sure there's anything wrong with that... there's no affirmative action in our relationship with God that says one-third of our prayers must be address to the Father, one-third to the Son, and one-third to the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, part of Jesus' purpose is bringing us into relationship with the Father, so if you feel comfortable praying to Jesus, pray for a deeper relationship with His divine posse.

Some people around phatmass have put forth this opinion that excessively praying to Jesus is a "Protestant" thing or causes one to deny the Trinity in practice, regardless of what you believe theologically. I wouldn't worry about that. You know what you believe and you aren't denying the Father or Holy Spirit, but you relate to God through your devotion to Christ. That's just being a Christian.

[Mr.Cat]

[quote][b]Athanasian Creed[/b] [color="#C0C0C0"][Excerpts, Emphases added][/color]
"... This is what the catholic faith teaches: [b][u]we worship one God in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity[/u][/b]. Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the substance. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Spirit. But the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit have one divinity, equal glory, and coeternal majesty. What the Father is, the Son is, and the Holy Spirit is... For as we are obliged by Christian truth to acknowledge every Person singly to be God and Lord, so too are we forbidden by the Catholic religion to say that there are three Gods or Lords...

... The Father was not made, nor created, nor generated by anyone. The Son is not made, nor created, but begotten by the Father alone. The Holy Spirit is not made, nor created, nor generated, but proceeds from the Father and the Son... In this Trinity, there is nothing before or after, nothing greater or less. The entire three Persons are coeternal and coequal with one another... [b][u]So that in all things, as is has been said above, the Unity is to be worshiped in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity[/u][/b]."
[url="http://www.preces-latinae.org/thesaurus/Symbola/Quicumque.html"]http://www.preces-latinae.org/thesaurus/Sy.../Quicumque.html[/url][/quote] The Athanasian Creed is, in my personal opinion, a beautiful creed. The Athanasian Creed focuses on, in some capacity, the belief in the Trinity and Incarnation. I would personally recommend its recital by anyone, and to at least be aware of. The Athanasian Creed it is an authoritative creed of the Church.

“[i]Pater Noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum.[/i]” ([i]Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.[/i]) It should be at least considered that when we recite the Lord’s prayer, that when we say “[i]Pater Noster[/i]” ([i]Our Father[/i]), we are addressing all three persons of the Holy Trinity.

[url="http://saints.sqpn.com/saintv08.htm"][b]Saint Veronica Giuliani[/b][/url] gives the impression that in a special way, with or in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, there is not only the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, but in a special way all Three Persons of the Holy Trinity. [i]"... in some way, the Three Divine Persons, present in the most Holy Sacrament revealed themselves to my soul, and my soul received a deep and penetrating understanding of this Divine Mystery...[/i]" - [url="http://faithofthefathersapparitions.blogspot.com/2006/01/visions-of-saint-veronica-giuliani.html"][b]Saint Veronica Giuliani[/b][/url]

Some people in reflection upon the Holy Trinity seem to find, [i]in a lesser manner[/i], a parallel between the Holy Family and the Holy Trinity. While our earthly parents may have an impact upon our perceptions of the three persons of the Trinity, [i]maybe we should focus on the Holy Family as a frame of reference[/i], though it could be thought that God the Father took the name “[i][b]Father[/b][/i]” to give us confidence in Him; as thought by [url="http://saints.sqpn.com/saintj18.htm"][b]Saint John Mary Vianney[/b][/url].

I would personally suggest, in realizing that when we approach God, regardless of which Person of the Trinity we approach, we are approaching all three persons. For we "[i][b]worship one God in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity. Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the substance.[/b][/i]” ([url="http://www.preces-latinae.org/thesaurus/Symbola/Quicumque.html"]Athanasian Creed[/url])

To incorporate our lives and mentalities into the life of the three Divine Persons, keeping always mindful of their "[url="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Omnipresence"][i]Omnipresence[/i][/url]"; with the help of the whole Heavenly Court, in particular our Holy Queen, [i]Our Lady of the Trinity[/i], who is the “[i]Daughter of the Father[/i]”, “[i]Mother of the Son[/i]”, and “[i]Spouse of the Holy Ghost[/i]”. It is an inclusive relationship that we desire and yearn to become involved in, through the Sacramental life as a Catholic, more particularly in Sanctifying grace.

For it is by God the Son, "[i]God Incarnate[/i]", in His Divine Mediation, that we can approach the Most Holy Trinity through His redemption and sacrifice of the cross. That is in a special way perpetually renewed upon our Altars, by the Priesthood who act in the "[i]Persona of Christ[/i]". [i]With devotion therefore we should look upon the Crucifix, make the Sign of the Cross, and attend frequently the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass[/i].

[i]Be particularly mindful of God the Holy Ghost, the Sacrament of Confirmation, and grow in the zeal of God the Holy Ghost.[/i]

Edited October 22, 2008 by Mr.CatholicCat

[tinytherese]

Thank you LouisvilleFan and Mr.CatholicCat.

[Mr.Cat]

[quote name='tinytherese' post='1683519' date='Oct 22 2008, 02:32 PM']Thank you LouisvilleFan and Mr.CatholicCat. [/quote]Hopefully people have better advice to offer than me, this is a good topic, in my opinion. [i]One that I can easily relate to[/i].

[Paddington]

Therese, I'm not a Catholic, but I can't help being captivated by a lot of stuff here.
So, FWIW....
Hebrews 1:3a seems to say that your view of Christ is your view of the Father also.
"The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being..." (NIV)
And, since you and Jesus both pray the Our Father, you can think about Christ praying it with you. That could be worth something.
And the Spirit prays for you too. And makes Christ known to you.
Also, Christ clearly has gotten the most "air time" (if you don't get semantical anyways) making Him easiest to think about and that is the result of God's plan not yours.
I think that is all Catholic.

[tinytherese]

[quote name='Paddington' post='1683546' date='Oct 22 2008, 03:32 PM']Therese, I'm not a Catholic, but I can't help being captivated by a lot of stuff here.
So, FWIW....
Hebrews 1:3a seems to say that your view of Christ is your view of the Father also.
"The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being..." (NIV)
And, since you and Jesus both pray the Our Father, you can think about Christ praying it with you. That could be worth something.
And the Spirit prays for you too. And makes Christ known to you.
Also, Christ clearly has gotten the most "air time" (if you don't get semantical anyways) making Him easiest to think about and that is the result of God's plan not yours.
I think that is all Catholic. [/quote]

Interesting thoughts!

[frenchfry]

It's funny, because I grew up protestant and it took me a long time to be able to relate to Jesus as much as God the Father and the Holy Spirit! Just through habit, my default when I start to pray (outside of a church, that is) is to address God the Father. And I tend to be introspective, so I spend a lot of time talking to the Holy Spirit - I think of Him when I pray about my virtues/vices, prayer or lack therof, feelings, etc. I never really spoke to Jesus until I began to receive sacraments...now I am falling more in love with Him every day.