Today, we
are called to celebrate and contemplate who God is. For, now that Jesus has
Ascended and the Holy Spirit descended, it follows that we now try to
understand the very Trinity itself, the three Persons of the Father, the Son
and the Holy Spirit.
This is a Solemnity that is both complex and amazing, beautiful and confusing, which is why countless scholars, philosophers, theologians, priests, bishops, popes, classes and books have all sought to answer this great mystery.
In fact, a medieval saint by the name of St. Thomas Aquinas spent most of his life writing volumes upon volumes of the deepest and the most profound theology and philosophy, so much so, that the Church has gotten much of its theology from his writings.
One day however, he had a vision of the Most Blessed Trinity, a vision that was so overwhelming, so overpowering and so humbling that he never wrote a single word again. When asked why, he simply said: “I can write no more. I have seen things which make all of my writings like straw.”
He was one of the greatest minds of the Church and he was left dumbstruck by this vision, we are still pondering things he wrote yet, after that vision, to him, his words meant nothing.
This is why, in all honestly, anything I try to say today about the Trinity will pale in comparison to the truth of who God truly is, what He is and what He can do and has done in each and every one of our lives.
The Trinity is a mystery, and I know we hear that often, and it almost sounds like an excuse, but the reason, believe it or not, is actually quite simple, we are trying to understand eternity and an eternal being while constrained by the limits of time. What that means is that we are trying to speak about God, who created the very universe outside of the universe, and we are trying to speak about something we know by faith but cannot truly express in the language that we have.
Our creed, and countless other creeds throughout history have tried to express this mystery with the limits of our language, in fact, many saints and mystics always lament the fact that they don’t have the proper language to explain who God truly is, look at the Book of Revelation, John had to use metaphor and symbolism to explain the depths of his vision, he didn’t have the right words.
This should be evident in the Creed that we profess, properly known as the Nicaean-Constantinoplian Creed, because, as the name implies, it took two Councils to find the right words to express what we want to say. Yet, even then, it still sounds awkward, especially, when we say things like: “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, Consubstantial with the Father,” because we are trying to say that Jesus, while God, was not created by the Father, but begotten of the Father. It sounds strange, but it is the best word we have to explain something that happened in eternity.
The same is true with Consubstantial, an intentional change, during the new translation, to underscore that the Father and Jesus are both God, sharing in the same substance, the same divine nature, but still distinct persons of the Blessed Trinity.
That, too, is why we say that the Holy Spirit “proceeds” from the Father and the Son. To proceed implies a continuation, so that, in essence, the Holy Spirit is the “continuation” of the perfect love of the Father and Son, equally infinite, eternal, and living. In fact, one theologian explained the Holy Spirit as the “sigh that lovers breathe.”
An ancient creed, known as the Athanasian Creed tries to clarify this as best it can when it says: “There is, then, one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three sons; one Holy Spirit, not three holy spirits. In this Trinity, there is nothing before or after, nothing greater or less.”
And, while that may almost make it seem like God is incredibly distant in eternity, an early Church Father by the name of Tertullian put it well, he said: “The expression God the Father had never been revealed to anyone…The Father's name has been revealed to us in the Son, for the name “Son” implies the new name “Father.”
What that means and what we see and learn throughout the Scriptures is that we are meant to understand God as Father, as Son and Holy Spirit and that, given our devotion to each, we see the fullness of love that only God can provide.
This is a Solemnity that is both complex and amazing, beautiful and confusing, which is why countless scholars, philosophers, theologians, priests, bishops, popes, classes and books have all sought to answer this great mystery.
In fact, a medieval saint by the name of St. Thomas Aquinas spent most of his life writing volumes upon volumes of the deepest and the most profound theology and philosophy, so much so, that the Church has gotten much of its theology from his writings.
One day however, he had a vision of the Most Blessed Trinity, a vision that was so overwhelming, so overpowering and so humbling that he never wrote a single word again. When asked why, he simply said: “I can write no more. I have seen things which make all of my writings like straw.”
He was one of the greatest minds of the Church and he was left dumbstruck by this vision, we are still pondering things he wrote yet, after that vision, to him, his words meant nothing.
This is why, in all honestly, anything I try to say today about the Trinity will pale in comparison to the truth of who God truly is, what He is and what He can do and has done in each and every one of our lives.
The Trinity is a mystery, and I know we hear that often, and it almost sounds like an excuse, but the reason, believe it or not, is actually quite simple, we are trying to understand eternity and an eternal being while constrained by the limits of time. What that means is that we are trying to speak about God, who created the very universe outside of the universe, and we are trying to speak about something we know by faith but cannot truly express in the language that we have.
Our creed, and countless other creeds throughout history have tried to express this mystery with the limits of our language, in fact, many saints and mystics always lament the fact that they don’t have the proper language to explain who God truly is, look at the Book of Revelation, John had to use metaphor and symbolism to explain the depths of his vision, he didn’t have the right words.
This should be evident in the Creed that we profess, properly known as the Nicaean-Constantinoplian Creed, because, as the name implies, it took two Councils to find the right words to express what we want to say. Yet, even then, it still sounds awkward, especially, when we say things like: “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, Consubstantial with the Father,” because we are trying to say that Jesus, while God, was not created by the Father, but begotten of the Father. It sounds strange, but it is the best word we have to explain something that happened in eternity.
The same is true with Consubstantial, an intentional change, during the new translation, to underscore that the Father and Jesus are both God, sharing in the same substance, the same divine nature, but still distinct persons of the Blessed Trinity.
That, too, is why we say that the Holy Spirit “proceeds” from the Father and the Son. To proceed implies a continuation, so that, in essence, the Holy Spirit is the “continuation” of the perfect love of the Father and Son, equally infinite, eternal, and living. In fact, one theologian explained the Holy Spirit as the “sigh that lovers breathe.”
An ancient creed, known as the Athanasian Creed tries to clarify this as best it can when it says: “There is, then, one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three sons; one Holy Spirit, not three holy spirits. In this Trinity, there is nothing before or after, nothing greater or less.”
And, while that may almost make it seem like God is incredibly distant in eternity, an early Church Father by the name of Tertullian put it well, he said: “The expression God the Father had never been revealed to anyone…The Father's name has been revealed to us in the Son, for the name “Son” implies the new name “Father.”
What that means and what we see and learn throughout the Scriptures is that we are meant to understand God as Father, as Son and Holy Spirit and that, given our devotion to each, we see the fullness of love that only God can provide.
Many if
not most of us, had our experience with the Holy Trinity even before we could
understand the depths of this great mystery, because, by our Baptism we were
made children of God by being marked in the name of that same Trinity.
In fact, every single time we make the sign of the cross, we are not just reminding ourselves of the cross that claimed us but that we are opening our souls to the grace that God wants to give, we are beginning our prayer, we are beginning our meals, beginning our day in the name of the same Most Holy Trinity who made us His own.
Tertullian, again, puts it well, he says: “In all our travels and movements, in all our coming in and going out, in putting on our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting our candles, in lying down, in sitting down, whatever employment occupies us, we mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross”
Because, the Trinity is more than just a mystery, it is more than something, or rather, someone to be understood, studied and written about it, is the very essence, the very heart of who God is and what He wants us to know about Him.
In fact, every single time we make the sign of the cross, we are not just reminding ourselves of the cross that claimed us but that we are opening our souls to the grace that God wants to give, we are beginning our prayer, we are beginning our meals, beginning our day in the name of the same Most Holy Trinity who made us His own.
Tertullian, again, puts it well, he says: “In all our travels and movements, in all our coming in and going out, in putting on our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting our candles, in lying down, in sitting down, whatever employment occupies us, we mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross”
Because, the Trinity is more than just a mystery, it is more than something, or rather, someone to be understood, studied and written about it, is the very essence, the very heart of who God is and what He wants us to know about Him.
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?
That is why the Trinity, in the end, is still the most beautiful, most intimate, most amazing mystery of God, though not fully comprehensible, a mystery He has chosen to reveal, the same we celebrate today, the same we are called to contemplate often, knowing that there is constantly always more to learn, because His eternal depths are inexhaustible and His love infinite. Therefore, let us today and always give thanks and glory to this Most Holy Trinity, as we sign ourselves in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
That is why the Trinity, in the end, is still the most beautiful, most intimate, most amazing mystery of God, though not fully comprehensible, a mystery He has chosen to reveal, the same we celebrate today, the same we are called to contemplate often, knowing that there is constantly always more to learn, because His eternal depths are inexhaustible and His love infinite. Therefore, let us today and always give thanks and glory to this Most Holy Trinity, as we sign ourselves in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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