The Trinity

The Catechism teaches us that “the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life” (CCC 234).  Despite being mystery, God wants to be known by us.  Over time He has revealed Himself to mankind.

The first thing we must know about God is the first big thing that God revealed about Himself.  In the Old Testament reading today, Moses exhorts the people of Israel, “you must now know, and fix in our heart, that the LORD is God in the heavens above and on earth below, and that there is no other.”  God is one - the one and only God.  

All Jewish people were raised to pray in the morning and evening the Shema.  This prayer declares God’s singularity as it begins, “Hear O’ Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One”.

We Catholics believe, as do the Jewish people, that there is one God.  You might ask, but Tom, aren’t we talking about a trinity today?  Doesn’t trinity imply three not just one?  

Yes, we believe further that God has revealed a mystery, through His Son Jesus Christ, that He is one, yet His perfect existence is a union of three persons. 

In today’s gospel, Jesus commissions His disciples to bring the good news to the entire world.  He gave specific instructions to baptize all new followers in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  

The greatest of minds have contemplated and taught on the three in oneness of God.  And the Church has battled heretics over the centuries in protecting this truth in our teachings.

There is one analogy I heard, that I find beautiful and compelling that I would like to share with you.  It is called the love analogy.  It goes like this.  

Love cannot be solitary/alone.  Love must be ordered toward another.  Because of this, in love there are 3 elements:  the lover, the beloved and their love itself.  Just three Sundays ago in the Epistle reading from the first letter of Saint John, we read “He who does not love does not know God; for God is love”.  Later in that same chapter, Saint John says, “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him”.  Saint John does not simply say that God loves or is loving but rather that He is love.

Back to the 3 elements of love – lover, beloved and love itself.  If God is love then he must be some form of three.  In divine revelation that three is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Notice that these names are names of relations not of functions.  That is important in understanding God as love. These are persons in relationship.

Within the analogy it looks something like this: the Father is the one who loves, the Son is the one who is loved, and the Holy Spirit is the love that flows between them.  

This trinity of love has always existed.  God is existence itself, perfect, outside of time, no beginning and no end, having no needs outside of Himself.  Therefore, He is the complete system of love.

We Catholics believe that God is love and has revealed that He is a singular communion of love in three persons.  

Don’t worry if this is difficult to grasp.  It has taken the greatest minds centuries to even find the words to describe the Trinity.  

We Catholics also believe that God so loved that he wanted to share His love, His Self with us.  This perfect, eternal trinity of love is available to you.  Right from this altar, we are going to be given the body, blood, soul and divinity of our Lord.  Offer your heart as His home as you receive communion.

As you depart the Mass, bring the contemplation of our one God as the perfect loving union of persons into your week.  Take 5 quiet minutes each morning and offer your heart again as His home.  He loves you perfectly. He wants you to know Him and to know His perfect love for you.