Solemnity of the Holy Trinity
It’s said that Fr. Karl Rahner, SJ—one of the great theological minds of the 20th century—was once asked by a priest-friend how he should explain the Holy Trinity when preaching. Fr. Rahner’s reply was simple: “Don’t!” Perhaps good advice. The mystery we celebrate today and profess every time we make the Sign of the Cross, is beyond our ability to understand, much less, put into words, and yet it is so core to who we are as Christians.
But as faith seeks understanding, we say that this one God, experienced by us in three Divine Persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—does not function in three separate missions or with three distinct wills, but instead are utterly unified in it all: creating, redeeming and sanctifying. Always, where there is one, there are all three.
Still, so hard to wrap our minds around, even with the use of clever analogies and symbols: such as water, one substance that can either be liquid, ice or steam; or the sun, high above us, manifesting itself to us in three distinct forms: heat, light and energy; or St. Patrick’s (+461) use of a shamrock with its three leaves formed into a single stem; or St. Ignatius’ (+1556) description of three musical notes that comprise a single sound as a cord. We do our best, realizing that its ultimately beyond us, even as faith seeks understanding.
I recall a bishop once describing how a child asked him,
“So what exactly is the Holy Trinity?”
“Well, think of a shamrock…(blah, blah, blah)…”
“Okay, well I still don’t get it.”
“Right. So let me explain it another way,….(blah, blah, blah)…”
“But that still doesn’t make sense.”
“Okay. You’re not supposed to understand, because it’s a mystery.”
“But you’re a priest. You’re supposed to understand God.”
“Yeah?....Well….shut up, kid!”
But more than just being incomprehensible, we might not even see it as relevant or meaningful. It was St. Augustine (+430), in his book De Trinitate, who proposed that the Holy Trinity is not just an abstract and remote notion, pertaining only to God. His way of explaining it is that every one of us bears a reflection of the life of the Holy Trinity. What a beautiful thought: that just as within Father, Son, and Holy Spirit there is relationship, dynamism, movement, will, freedom and love—so there is within us. And we see it expressed perhaps most powerfully in the family and the life-giving capacities of mother and father.
So therefore, this doctrine also speaks to the notion of diversity among the human family. As Father, Son and Holy Spirit are distinct expressions of God, so we are not all the same. Even within the broad umbrella that is Christianity, and for that matter, this parish, there exists a variety of people, skin colors, ethnicities, sociological ideologies, personalities, and spiritual expressions. Nor are we equally gifted, even within a community of faith. Some are gifted in one way, and some in others. There is richness in this diversity, and it benefits the larger community itself.
But at the same time, I bear in mind today’s second reading. St. Paul wrote to the Christians of Corinth—also a diverse group, yet experiencing divisions. He said to them, “Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you”. His purpose was to remind them that they were one body, and that their unity was their greatest attribute. With us too, even with our variety and diversity, it’s our unity in Christ Jesus that is our greatest attribute. It’s in that collective identity, that we have in communion through Jesus, that we then find our individual identity, and thus reflect our one God, manifest in three Divine Persons. ”The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.”