Day 31 (CCC 222 - 231): These are the implications of faith in one God, meaning these ought to be our response to God's revelation to and love for us. First, know God's greatness and majesty because He is the Creator of all things around us. Second, live in thanksgiving because, out of His abundant love for us, He sustains us each and every day. Third, know the unity and true dignity of all man because our true identity rests in us being beloved sons and daughters of the Father and not what the world says about us. Fourth, make good use of created things because everything we have is a gift from God, which He graciously gives to us as; we are stewards of these gifts. Last of all, trust God in every circumstance, even in adversity, because we know that God is good and His plan is for our well-being and not for our woe.
Day 32 (CCC 232 - 237): When we do the sign of the cross, we say in the "name", not "names", because we believe in one God, who is Three Persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - One God. The Holy Trinity is the central belief of our Christian faith and, although God reveals Himself to us in the Second Person of the Trinity - our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ - He is still a Mystery to us. Saint Augustine said, "If I understood him, it would not be God."
I love this analogy in CCC 236: "God's works revel who he is in himself; the mystery of his inmost being enlightens our understanding of all his works. So it is, analogously, among human persons. A person discloses himself in his actions; and the better we know a person, the better we understand his actions."
Day 33 (CCC 238 - 242): God is Father because He creates outside of Himself; He creates the world out of nothing. (While a mother creates inside herself.) However, God's tenderness and intimacy is like that of a mother. Therefore, the first representatives of God is father and mother but, human fathers and mothers are fallible. In that way, it is important to remember that "no one is father as God is Father" (CCC 239).
Something very important for us to consider is, God is the standard of fatherhood and motherhood, not the other way around. I know several people who cannot see God as a loving Father because their biological, earthly father was/is not a nurturing and loving Father. Therefore, they project their image of what a father is from their own experience on God the Father.
Finally, a simple understanding of the Trinity - three Persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) - is that they are God (recall that we say in the "name", not "names"). When we pray to the Father, all three Persons come to our aide. In other words, they are a "three-fer" of love and communion.
Day 34 (CCC 243 - 248): The Holy Spirit is revealed as another divine person with Jesus and the Father. The eternal original of the Holy Spirit is revealed in his mission in time (CCC 243). The Father reveals Himself in the Old Testament. The Son reveals Himself in the New Testament. The Holy Spirit reveals Himself in the age of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. The Holy Spirit comes forth from the Father and the Son and this is one of the causes of contention and schism between the Latin Church and the Orthodox Church.
Day 35 (CCC 249 - 252): All Christians are baptized in the Trinitarian formula. Jesus tells us to go forth, baptizing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Saint Paul has a similar Trinitarian greeting in his epistles. The Church has biblical language, as well as philosophical language, to help articulate the dogma on the Trinity. However, as Pope Paul VI said about the Mystery of the Trinity: "infinitely beyond all that we can humanly understand." The infinite knowledge of God cannot fit into our finite, limited mind; however, we continue to learn and growth in faith while at the same time, trusting in God's wisdom and the Truth that He has revealed to us.
Day 36 (CCC 253 - 256): Three points on the dogma of the Holy Trinity: (1) the Trinity is One; (2) the divine persons are really distinct from one another; and (3) the divine persons are relative to one another. God is not one monolithic god in three modes but One God and Three Distinct Persons - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There is no ranking each Person of the Trinity. We often think: the Father begets the Son and the Son sends the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit directs us to the Son and the Son reveals the Father to us. Yet all of this is from eternity and beyond our ability to full grasp: a Mystery. This is why, preaching on Holy Trinity Sunday can be quite precarious as the clergy tries not to be heretics. LOL
Day 37 (CCC 257 - 260): We call the Father the Creator, the Son the Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit the Sanctifier because they each bring something unique. Yet, the Trinity acts as One and have one mission, the "common work" of the "three divine persons."
Here is the beautiful prayer of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity (CCC 26):
"O my God, whom I adore, help me to forget myself entirely so to establish myself in you, unmovable and peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity. May nothing be able to trouble my peace or make me leave you, O my unchanging God, but may each minute bring me more deeply into your mystery! Grant my soul peace. Make it your heaven, your beloved dwelling and the place of your rest. May I never abandon you there, but may I be there, whole and entire, completely vigilant in my faith, entirely adoring, and wholly given over to your creative action."
Day 38 (CCC 261 - 267): Today is the "In Brief", which is the summary of CCC 232 to 260. Here is a link to the Athanasian Creed: https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/teachings/athanasian-creed-209. There is a little bit about the Athanasian Creed: https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/athanasian-creed. CCC 261 reminds us that the Mystery of the Holy Trinity is the most important mystery of Christian belief.
Day 39 (CCC 268 - 278): This quote from the Roman Catechism (CCC 274), I think, is important for us not only to understanding but meditate on and take to heart:
"Nothing is more apt to confirm our faith and hope than holding it fixed in our minds that nothing is impossible with God. Once our reason has grasped the idea of God's almighty power, it will easily and without any hesitation admit everything that [the Creed] will afterwards propose for us to believe - even if they be great and marvelous things, far above the ordinary laws of nature."
God does not remove suffering and pain in the world; He redeems it so as to help us grow closer in our relationship with Him, trusting in His love and mercy for us.
Day 40 (CCC 279 - 284): Our scientists discover wondrous things about our world - from the atomic level to the cosmic level. Yet, these "discoveries invite us to even greater admiration for the greatness of the Creator, prompting us to give him thanks for all his works and for the understanding and wisdom he gives to scholars and researchers" (CCC 283). This world that we live in is not an accident, not by chance, because there would not be freewill - we do not have right or wrong, only preference or utility, which can only exist when there is freewill. We need God to know what evil is because without God, there is no good - just preference, utility, and chance. Therefore, God created this world on purpose and for a purpose. We are called to explore God, His Creation, why we are here, and what is our purpose.
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