Youcat commented through CCC. Question n. 35 – Part IV.

YOUCAT Question n. 35 - Part IV. Do we believe in one God or in three Gods?

(Youcat answer - repeated) We believe in one God in three persons (Trinity). “God is not solitude but perfect communion.” (Pope Benedict XVI, May 22, 2005).      

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 254) The divine persons are really distinct from one another. "God is one but not solitary" (Fides Damasi: DS 71). "Father", "Son", "Holy Spirit" are not simply names designating modalities of the divine being, for they are really distinct from one another: "He is not the Father who is the Son, nor is the Son he who is the Father, nor is the Holy Spirit he who is the Father or the Son" (Council of Toledo XI (675): DS 530:25). They are distinct from one another in their relations of origin: "It is the Father who generates, the Son who is begotten, and the Holy Spirit who proceeds" (Lateran Council IV (1215): DS 804). The divine Unity is Triune. (CCC 265) By the grace of Baptism "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit", we are called to share in the life of the Blessed Trinity, here on earth in the obscurity of faith, and after death in eternal light (cf. Paul VI, CPG § 9).       

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) Christians do not worship three different Gods, but one single Being that is threefold and yet remains one. We know that God is triune from Jesus Christ: He, the Son, speaks about his Father in heaven (“I and the Father are one”, Jn 10:30). He prays to him and sends us the Holy Spirit, who is the love of the Father and the Son. That is why we are baptized “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19).

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 255) The divine persons are relative to one another. Because it does not divide the divine unity, the real distinction of the persons from one another resides solely in the relationships which relate them to one another: "In the relational names of the persons the Father is related to the Son, the Son to the Father, and the Holy Spirit to both. While they are called three persons in view of their relations, we believe in one nature or substance" (Council of Toledo XI (675): DS 528). Indeed "everything (in them) is one where there is no opposition of relationship" (Council of Florence (1442): DS 1330). "Because of that unity the Father is wholly in the Son and wholly in the Holy Spirit; the Son is wholly in the Father and wholly in the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is wholly in the Father and wholly in the Son" (Council of Florence (1442): DS 1331).       

(This question is continued: Do we believe in one God or in three Gods?)