Today, we celebrate Trinity Sunday, a celebration of God Himself, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is said to be the hardest homily for a deacon or priest to prepare because it is very easy, by its very nature, to get deeply theological, overly complex and incredibly philosophical, in fact, I once heard a homily where the priest gave handouts so that the Congregation could follow along, not because we are incapable of pondering the reality of God, but because contemplation of the Trinity forces us to delve into the very mystery and the very essence of God Himself, who He is, what He is, and the relational aspect that exists between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Given that, the question is, what is the Trinity? Let’s make it simple, Tri is three and une, is one, so the Trinity is 3 in 1. 3 Persons, one God. I had to teach RCIA for the children last weekend and briefly introduced the Trinity, and gave them a different example, but one that hopefully helped them to think in these terms. I asked them if they had ever seen or have themselves, a tricycle. Some said they did. I then asked them how many wheels were on the tricycle. They said three. I then asked them how many tricycles there were? They said one.

Granted, it is a very simple explanation, and pales in comparison to the Trinity itself, but that is essentially the language and the way in which we seek to understand the Trinity, and it is difficult, because, at heart, it is a mystery. That is not an excuse but a reality and by pondering the Trinity we walk into this reality, we walk into the very mystery of our Christian lives, the deepest, most profound, and most beautiful facet of our identity, in fact, the same in which we were baptized, the same in which we begin any prayer, marked by God, our soul His own.

And truly that is a mystery, truly that is what makes us ourselves a mystery, because God’s hands have touched us, formed us and made us in His image and His likeness.

And, because of this, because we have been touched by this same eternal reality, every now and then, in prayer, our soul will remember or God will show us and we will have glimmers, moments of revelation, fleeting glances of God Himself, and parts of the mystery will make sense, if even for a moment.

This is why to truly understand the Trinity we have to begin in prayer, we have to come to know this same Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In fact, when Jesus spoke the way He did in our Gospel today, or when any of the saints put pen to paper to begin to comprehend this vast mystery, they spent countless hours in the presence of the Trinity. When faith takes us beyond what we can know or comprehend.

It was St. Thomas Aquinas, a great Doctor and scholar of the Church, who wrote thousands upon thousands of pages of theology, that is the study of God, a lot of which the Church still uses today, who puts it all in perspective. One day, it is believed, he had a vision of the Trinity, and afterwards said he will never write again, when asked why he said: “I can write no more. I have seen things which make all my writings like straw.”

This is why even that small glance, all of our learning can not even come close to this most beautiful of mysteries, and though we should never stop trying to plumb its depths, it will be only a speck of what is in store for us. As St. Paul has said elsewhere: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard what God has in store for those who love Him.” Therefore, let us seek to enter into the fullness of this mystery, the very essence of God Himself beginning and ending, in the name of this most great and holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.