“In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” This is how we Christians begin all our prayers because we believe in and worship a triune God. But, what do we actually mean when we say that God is a Trinity? As we celebrate Trinity Sunday, allow me to offer some reflections on this very important mystery of our faith.
First of all, it is important to realize we are dealing with a mystery, a reality that is well beyond our total understanding, just as the Incarnation and Resurrection are mysteries beyond our comprehension. Our words, our concepts, our minds, cannot adequately grasp or describe this aspect of God – just as we are incapable of completely understanding or expressing any aspect of God. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states so well, “[t]he mystery of the Trinity in itself is inaccessible to the human mind and is the object of faith only because it was revealed by Jesus Christ, the divine Son of the eternal Father”(CCC, p. 902). But, we can speak about God as a Trinity through analogies, images and metaphors.
At the same time, it is very important for us to reflect on the Trinity because it is at the center of our faith. To quote the Catechism again, “[t]he mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in himself. It is, therefore, the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the ‘hierarchy of the truths of faith’” (CCC, 234). So, it is essential that we have some understanding and appreciation of this “most fundamental” mystery of our faith.
As we profess every Sunday when we recite the Nicene Creed, “I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.” God first revealed himself to Israel as the almighty creator and heavenly father. The two Genesis creation accounts speak of his creative power and demonstrate his fatherly care as he prepares the Garden of Eden and places humanity there. In his final address to Israel before his death, Moses reminds Israel: “Is he not your father who created you?” (Dt 32:6)
After Jesus was baptized in the Jordan, “the skies opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in visible form like a dove. A voice from heaven was heard to say: ‘You are my beloved Son. On you my favor rests’” (Lk 3:22). And so we see Jesus begin to be revealed as the Son of God, a revelation that is expressed most clearly in Jesus’ address to his apostles on the night before he was crucified: “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me” (Jn 14:11) [and in his prayer for his followers that same night: “I pray…that all may be one as you, Father, are in me, and I in you” (Jn 17:21). As we profess in the creed, Jesus is “the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father.”]
Although the Holy Spirit has been at work since the creation of the world and has, as we recognize in the creed when we say, “spoken through the prophets,” it is Jesus who reveals him to us. At the Last Supper, Jesus tells his apostles that “I will ask the Father and he will give you another Paraclete” (Jn 14:16). [He then assures them that “the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will instruct you in everything, and remind you of all that I told you” (Jn 14:26).] We profess in the creed that we “believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.”
But, who is this Blessed Trinity? Perhaps the best way to explain the Trinity is through imagery or analogy. St. Augustine used fire to point to the Trinity. He explained that a single flame has three elements: heat, light, and color. Also, a flame cannot burn without its brightness and its warmth. The flame represents the Father, the brightness is the Son of God shining into the world, and the warmth of the flame is the Holy Spirit, the love poured into our hearts. Augustine also used the image of an artist and a lover. An artist has an image in his mind that he wishes to present. His artistic ability allows him to make this image outside of himself, using canvas or marble. In a similar manner, God the Father knows himself and begets the Son who is the Father’s perfect self-knowledge of himself. The Father and the Son, in knowing each other perfectly, also love each other perfectly. And, as a man and woman bring about a new life in their child as a result of their love for one another, the Father and the Son bring about the Spirit who proceeds as the perfect love between them.
[St. Patrick, when he was out on the land bringing the Good News to the people in Ireland, would stoop down and pick a three-leaf clover to explain the mystery of the Blessed Trinity. Each plant is one, yet has three leaves.]
All of these revelations and analogies help us to embrace the mystery of the Triune God. In the end, however, we humbly bow and acknowledge that we cannot understand this mystery; we simply accept it, grateful that God would want to reveal this about himself to us. And, this is all very important to us because, in revealing himself, he reveals something about us, since we are made in God’s image and likeness. Just as God is a Communion of Persons, so we are called to be a community of persons. As the Father, Son and Spirit are in an all-knowing, loving embrace, so we are called to know and love each other. And, as each Person of the Blessed Trinity has specific roles to play, yet all are involved in all that is, we each have specific roles to play and yet are all involved in all that we are called to do.
Here at St. Katharine’s, we have many ways to experience the life and work of the Trinity in our midst! Whether it is in the daily or Sunday Eucharistic celebration – the most important work of our faith community – or through any of the many other parish organizations and activities, even during these challenging times, we are sharing in the life of the Blessed Trinity! As God’s faithful stewards, we build community here in the parish, reflecting the mystery of the Trinity and making it known right here in our midst! “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all!”