BLESSED TRINITY

Trinity Sunday

There is a story about St. Augustine. One day Augustine was reflecting about the mystery of the Trinity and wanted to understand it. At the end of the day he was tired and decided to walk at the beach to relax his mind. Then he saw a boy at the beach who had dug a hole in the sand and was going back and forth taking water from the sea and pouring it into that hole. Then Augustine asked him, “What are you doing little boy?” “I want to take the entire sea and put it into this hole,” the boy answered. “That is impossible boy, this hole cannot contain the entire sea,” said Augustine. The boy then replied, “And you cannot put the Trinity in your tiny little brain young man.” The story concludes by saying that the boy vanished.  

I choose to start with this story because, first of all we have to agree that Trinity is a mystery beyond ourselves. Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Blessed Trinity. It is an occasion to reflect on a very important teaching of our faith. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (no. 234), the mystery of the Trinity is “the central mystery of Christian faith and Christian life. It is the mystery of God Himself.”

What is the Holy Trinity? Like Augustine we will probably not be able to understand what is Trinity but I think it is very important to understand the why the Trinity. Going through the Scripture we find Jesus talking a lot about His Father. He also makes a number of references to the Holy Spirit who will come after Him. And the best-known reference to the three persons of the Holy Trinity is found in the gospel passage we just heard. Jesus is saying to His disciples: “Go then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples, baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

            It is true that there is no clear and elaborate presentation of the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity in the Sacred Scripture. The doctrine of three persons in one God, equal in divinity yet distinct in personality, is not explicitly spelt out in the Bible. In fact the very word, “Trinity” is not found in the Bible. What is Trinity?

           The idea of the Trinity came from how people experienced God in their life. Early Christians discovered that they simply could not speak about God without speaking about the three ways in which He had revealed Himself to them. This does not mean that there are three Gods. It means that there is only One God who has shown Himself in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

            It is important to understand that the doctrine of the Trinity does not attempt to explain God. It only presents how God has revealed himself to us. We Christians affirm the Trinity, not as an explanation of God, but simply as a way of describing what we know about God; a way of saying how we experience God; a God who has revealed himself to us as Father, the creator; Son, the savior, and Spirit, the sanctifier.

            On a practical level, why this mystery? What is Trinity in our daily life? How does the mystery of the Trinity fit in our day-to-day life as Christians? To ponder this mystery more deeply, what comes out is: Community. If there are Three Persons in One God, then, there has to be a community, and unity among the Three.

We are made in the image and likeness of God. Just as God is God only in a Trinitarian community, so we can be fully human only in a community. We are called to be the mirror of this Trinitarian community in our families, in our workplaces and in our society. This solemnity calls us to unity, understanding, love, peace and harmony. May the grace of the Holy Trinity help us to banish all traces of self-centeredness in our lives and to live in the love of God and of the neighbor.