May 26, 2024
The Feast of the Holy Trinity
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Trinity, the central mystery of our faith. It is the belief that there are three distinct persons in one God, co-equal, co-divine, and fully united in will. This is a tradition which sets Christians apart from other faiths, like Judaism and Islam. These other religions sometimes accuse Christians of being polytheistic for this teaching, but the Catechism of the Catholic Church clarifies: “Christians are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: not in their “names,” for there is only one God, the almighty Father, his only Son and the Holy Spirit: The Most Holy Trinity.” (CCC 233).
The Jewish disciples who formed the early Church and who began to teach about God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, were criticized by other Jews who said the belief in the Trinity violated the basic tenet of their faith, known as the Shema. This is a prayer composed from the book of Deuteronomy which confirms the monotheistic principle that there is only one God: “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.” (Deut. 6:4).
Because of their experience with the death and resurrection of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the first Christians began to refer to Jesus, not only as the Son of God, but also as the “Word” who was equal to and divine like God. According to the Gospel of John, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1-2). This doctrine, however, was not something that they established on their own. Rather, it was a belief that had a basis in the Old Testament from before the time of Jesus which the writers of the New Testament further developed based on their interactions with Jesus and some of his teachings.
The early Jewish Christians would have been familiar with God’s self-revelation as Father, Word, and Spirit from the many theophanies, or appearances of God, in their Hebrew Scriptures. It can be seen in the very beginning of the Bible in the book of Genesis where the Spirit and the Word cooperate with the Father at the time of creation. The Spirit of the Lord hovers over the water as a mighty wind while the Word of God speaks creation into being (Gen. 1:1-2).
We also see something similar in the First Reading today where Moses is speaking to the Israelites just before their entrance into the Promised Land (Deut. 3:32-34, 39-40). He is reminding the people of the greatness of the Lord who has worked miraculous “signs and wonders” in bringing about their release from slavery in Egypt. Moses makes an allusion to the three persons of the Trinity when he asks them, “Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you did, and live?” (Deut. 4:33). Once again, we detect the Word in the “voice of God speaking” and the Spirit in the “midst of the fire.”
Without these personifications of God as both Word and Spirit in the Old Testament the first Christians may not have been as prepared to acknowledge the Trinity in their teaching. However, one good example of how easily it evolves is from Paul in the Second Reading where he explicitly describes the three persons of the Trinity (Rom. 8:14-17). Here Paul offers encouragement to his fellow Christians living amidst the tyranny of Rome reassuring them that their suffering is not in vain. Rather, they are led by the “Spirit of God” whom they address as “Abba, Father” as children and “joint heirs with Christ.”
Of course, there is no clearer proclamation of the Trinity in the New Testament than the baptismal formula we find in the Gospel from Matthew (Mt. 28:16-20). It occurs when Jesus takes the disciples to the mountain in Galilee before his Ascension and tells them, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Mt. 28:19-20b).
Although we find such references throughout both the Old and New Testaments to the three persons of the Trinity, it took the Church several centuries and numerous councils to define the relationship among the three, as well as how the Son and Spirit could be distinct from the Father yet maintain the unity of one God. Thus, we ended up with a Creed where we use a lot of complicated words and phrases, such as “only Begotten,” “consubstantial,” and “proceeds from the Father and the Son,” in order to profess what we believe about God.
Yet for all of this theology, the idea that there are three persons in one God does not seem to make sense. It is a mystery that Christians have not figured out. This is because God is infinitely more complex than anything we can fit into our capacity for reason. Even St. Augustine said in relation to the Trinity, “We are talking about God. What wonder is it that you do not understand?”
Perhaps for ordinary Christians understanding the concept of the Holy Trinity is not so essential. Rather, it is important to realize that we all become members in the life of the Trinity when we are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. We confirm this reality every time we enter into a church, dip our fingers into the baptismal font, and make the Sign of the Cross.
Our share in the life of the Trinity enables us to become members of the Body of Christ conformed to the unity which binds the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Their flawless unity of love becomes for us the perfect model as we strive to live in harmony amidst our diversity. As such, when we leave the church at the end of Mass, we take with us the challenge to improve our presence to one another as families, communities, and members of society as we live the Gospel message.
This means that we bring the mercy and compassion of the Father, Son, and Spirit into a world where there is so much hatred and discord. We work as co-creators to bring the hope of a better life to those who dwell in the despair of poverty and substandard living conditions. We offer consolation and healing to the ill, the unstable and those who mourn. And we bring the good news of the salvation that comes from the love of God, through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit to all whom we encounter as we introduce them to the Triune God.
