Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, the day in which we celebrate one of if not the greatest mysteries of our Catholic faith. A mystery that has eluded countless scholars, theologians, Doctors of the Church, and some of our greatest saints, and, it is even said to be the hardest homily for a deacon or priest to prepare because, by its very nature, it is very easy to get deeply theological, overly complex and incredibly philosophical.

To give you an idea of this, I once heard a homily where the priest gave handouts so that the Congregation could follow along, (something I will not be doing) and it is even said that St. Augustine, a great saint, theologian and Doctor of the Church only understood this difficulty after an experience he had.

It is said he was walking on the beach one day, contemplating the mystery of the Trinity, when he came across a little child who dug a hole in the beach close to the water. He watched as this little child took a spoon and went back and forth with a spoonful of the ocean and dumped it into the hole. Finally, St. Augustine went over to this child and asked him what he was doing, to which the child responded that he was trying to empty the sea into that hole. St. Augustine told him it couldn’t be done, to which the child responded that he would be more successful in doing that than St. Augustine would be in comprehending and fully understanding the Blessed Trinity.

So, then logical question is why even bother trying to contemplate the Trinity in the first place?

It was the great Catholic author and apologist, Frank Sheed, who gives us the answer, he says: “The doctrine of the Trinity is the inner, the innermost, life of God. His profoundest secret. He did not have to reveal it to us. We could have been saved without knowing that ultimate truth. In the strictest sense it is His business, not ours.” Sheed then explains that even given this, it was revealed to us for no other reason, than out of love, for, as Sheed beautifully puts it: “It is the surest mark of love to want to be known.”

God then revealed Himself as a Trinity not to cause confusion and frustration, but to help us to grow in love of Him and to come know Him better, for, truly, God wants to be known.

And, so then the next logical question is what does He want us to know?

Simply stated, He wants us to know that “eternity” that “infinity” are not fancy scientific terms, but where He dwells, and that despite being outside from where we are, we are being held in existence, at this very moment, by Him, so that as remote as that may feel, He is, at the same time, closer to us than anyone could ever be. And that though Jesus became man, giving God a human face, as it were, He is only the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, not the entire Trinity, for the Trinity, is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And, within that Trinity, a deep intimacy exists that we could never fully fathom but get a glimpse of as we do in our second reading today with St. Paul’s greeting: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.”

That is why we say that The Trinity is God in three persons, Father, Son, and Spirit and that they are three distinct persons, yet one in divine nature and that the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, and the Father is not the Holy Spirit. Which is why we also say with countless creeds that: “They are all equal in glory, uncreated, boundless and eternal.” Something we profess each Sunday and confidently say we believe.

But why would God want to reveal such a deep mystery to us? Why would He want us to ponder the very essence of who He is knowing how limited our minds truly are?

Perhaps, it is because by pondering the Trinity we walk into the very mystery of our Christian lives, the deepest, most profound, and most beautiful facet of our identity, the same in which we were baptized, the same in which we begin any prayer, the same that we bless ourselves with when walking into this church, marked by God, our soul His own.

Perhaps, God could have allowed us to understand more, to be a greater part of this mystery, as it were, but maybe that is the mystery itself, or maybe it is because of this that we constantly desire Him, His love, His intimacy, and go to Him in prayer, because, if we can never fully know someone completely here on earth, how much more when it is God Himself?

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 any of the saints put pen to paper to begin to comprehend this vast mystery, they spent countless hours in the presence of the Blessed Trinity, where faith can take 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, 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.” He stopped writing, and died about a year later.

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: “we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.”

The Trinity is the heart, the greatest secret of God, yet, a secret He has chosen to reveal to us, for us, and that is what we celebrate today, this intimate mystery, that is what we contemplate always, knowing that there is constantly more to learn, knowing His depths are inexhaustible. And giving, in the end, all glory to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.