The Most Holy Trinity - Mystery and Model

Life in general is full of mysteries – there are things that we can never hope to fully understand nor explain and our Catholic faith is no exception – it too is full of mysteries – for example when we pray the rosary – depending upon what day of the week it is, we meditate on either the Luminous, the Joyful, the Sorrowful or the Glorious mysteries – we find 20 different mysteries of our faith just in praying the Rosary – but there are also more mysteries of our faith than just those found in the Rosary.

Today we celebrate what the Catechism of the Catholic Church calls the central mystery of our Christian faith and of our Christian life - the Most Holy Trinity – it is our belief that there is one God and that this God of ours has three divine natures – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

We start and end our liturgies – in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit – we baptize as Jesus instructed his apostles to do – in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit – and we profess our faith in the Creed when we say that we believe in God the Father, His only Son – our Lord and savior – Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

The Most Holy Trinity is not just something we dreamed up – it is through divine revelation – God revealing Himself to us in the person of His Son Jesus Christ – that the Most Holy Trinity is revealed and made known to us.

Paraphrasing St. John of the Cross, the great Doctor or our Church, “God our Father spoke but one word in the eternal silences of the Trinity, his eternal Word: Jesus. He has no more to say.”

Jesus Christ is the Word of God. All of the words found in the Bible, all of the words in the Church's official teaching…all of it can be distilled, condensed, and synthesized into one word: the Word who is Jesus. This is the substance of our faith. “He who has seen me has seen the Father,” Jesus says.

In order to better understand and accept the mysteries of our faith we need to understand just what divine revelation is:

This revelation of God the Father to us in the Person of his only Son is divine revelation simply and accurately put. This revelation is transmitted to us in a Trinitarian way. There is one God. There is one Word of God. However, we know that God, although One is three divine Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Wherever one Person of the most holy Trinity is there the other two must be due to the absolute unity of the Trinity.

Drawing an analogy from this Trinitarian theology, God's revelation to us is one and three. There is but one Word transmitted, but it comes to us in three essential modes. The Word of God is transmitted to us in an oral way and a written way, however, when you have any word or words there must be an authentic and authoritative translator of the word(s), otherwise there is only personal opinions, misunderstandings and ultimately chaos.

Jesus Christ, while on the earth as the “Son of Man”, taught orally. He said and did many things, and as St. John says that he doubted that the world could contain enough books to write it all. Jesus did not write a book, although the Bible surely has God as its primary Author.

Hence there are two main wellsprings of revelation: an oral one and a written one. The oral teaching of Jesus Christ given to the Apostles and handed on by them under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit—the apostolic kerygma—has equal weight in the Catholic Church with the written word of God, the Bible.

This oral mode of transmitting God's revelation is called “Sacred Tradition.” Either the written word or the oral must be authentically and authoritatively interpreted. This is done by the Magisterium of the Church.

The Magisterium of the Church, or “teaching office”, is the Holy Father and all of the bishops united to him in teaching the substance of the faith given to us by the Father through his only Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit. God our Father reveals himself to us in the Person of his only Son. This revelation is transmitted in an oral way, Sacred Tradition and a written way, the Bible. Both are interpreted authentically and authoritatively only by the Magisterium of the Church.

So, Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture (the Bible), and the Magisterium of the Church are so intimately integral that no one of them can subsist without the other two. Just as God in fact would not be God if He were only Father, or only Son, so too God's revelation to us is not authentic unless it is in fact the revelation of the one God transmitted to us in a Trinitarian way: through Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture, and authentically and authoritatively interpreted by the Magisterium of the Church.

Mysteries, however – like the Most Holy Trinity – challenge our faith. For those whose faith is weak – no explanation of these mysteries will ever be sufficient – for those whose faith is strong – no explanation of these mysteries is necessary.

The reality is that unless we accept these mysteries like a child – we will never enter the kingdom of God. Too many people today want to rely on science and what can be scientifically proven or they want to rely on popular opinion or even worse many people want to water down our beliefs and Church teachings. These things – science and popular opinion – will never explain the mysteries of our faith.

Fortunately for us we hear in our first reading that our God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity. So when we do doubt these mysteries – which we all do at times, when we stray from the truth and fall into sin – which we all do – our God is merciful and kind – always waiting for us – always willing to accept us back – and why is this – because the Father gives glory and honor to the Son’s sacrifice on the cross by forgiving the repentant sinner – and this is all possible only because His Son purchased our salvation by accepting death on a cross.

In our second reading St. Paul reminds us how we are to live – in peace with one another – we are to mend our ways, we are to encourage each other and agree with each other and live in peace – and if we do this – if we live that way then God will be with us. We have to ask ourselves does that describe how we live – do we live in peace with one another – do we mend our ways – do we encourage one another?

The Most Holy Trinity in light of our second reading then becomes more than a mystery – it becomes a model for each of us – a model of love. The love that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit share is the same Love we are called to share with them and each other. For we know that the greatest commandments are: We are to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, with all our minds, and with all our strength and we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus also gave his disciples and us a new commandment – love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples – if you have love for one another.

In our Gospel we hear of God’s great love for the world – so great is His love that He gave His only Son so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but have eternal life. Only those of us that have lost a child have but a faint understanding of what our heavenly Father sacrificed for us sending His only Son for us to the cross.

God we are told did not send Jesus to condemn the world even though He knew the world would condemn His Son – Jesus doesn’t have to condemn us – when He confronted sinners what did He do – He forgave them their sins and told them to go and sin no more – because sin is what separates us from God. Jesus doesn’t have to condemn us because we do that to ourselves – we make the right or the wrong choices during our lifetimes and in those choices we either turn towards God or away – God doesn’t condemn us – He only asks that we believe in His Son – and if we truly believe in His Son we will repent and change our lives and make the right choices and have eternal life. That choice is up to us and when we stand in judgment it is not God who will condemn us but our very actions – all we will be able to do is say yes Lord.

On this Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity – we have to ask ourselves – do we believe the mysteries of our faith and do we love each other as we are called to do – do our actions reflect our belief and that love? Each of us are called to radiate love – love is supposed to be the identifying element or trademark of a Christian – how well do we live up to that commandment – love each other as I have loved you.

May each of us come to know the love and wisdom of our Heavenly Father; May each of us reflect the humility, obedience, and sacrifice of our Lord and Savior – Jesus Christ; May each of us participate in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit;

And may God bless us – in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit – AMEN!