Okay, so we're trying to keep together.

Real distinction, so distinction in the real order, so not just according to our way of knowing that it's like, you know, your mother could be your mother, president of the bank, and, you know, police officers, so three logical perspectives on one same person.

No, distinct in the real order, but they're

co-equally got one same essence. How can we keep that together? So we're looking for some

analogy, some image, okay? And so we're going to come up, I'll review some things to start

with, and then as I was saying, you know, we in second grade, those can have second grade And so we're going to come up, I'll review some things to start with.

And then, as I was saying, you know, we in second grade, those can have second grade images,

but then we should move up as we get older.

And then we'll, as we have time, we'll deal with the concept of relation,

which is really a crowning achievement in Aquinas. So it's already beginning in ancient fathers like Gregor of Nazianzus and Basil and Augustine.

But Aquinas really perfects it and makes it do the heavy lifting his theology.

Okay, so what are some of these models of the Trinity?

Okay, so you probably heard the Clover.

In fact, Father Sebastian asked me if I'd seen this YouTube video

where it's a humorous thing about the Trinity and Patrick's trying various articulations

of the Trinity. So the Clover, so I mean, there's one life, has three leaves. So does that

work? Okay, where you could similarly, like three match sticks, one fire,

or ice water vapor, it's the same substance, but it's three phases. Okay, but you can see the problem

with any of those physical images is that one of them is not the whole thing. So like a one leaf

is not the whole plant. You could pull one leaf off and then you'd have one third.

Whereas the father is the whole divine essence.

He's not like a third of the divine essence.

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