Trinity

The civilizations of the ancient world put their faith in many pagan gods.

The Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians,

And most all nations and tribes.

Even the highly intellectual Greeks, who still impact our culture today.

They had Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Apollo, and a hundred other gods.

In those ancient times, around 2000 BC or so,

A fellow named Abram lived in the City of Ur.

The people of Ur worshiped many pagan gods.

But the one true God decided to make himself known to Abram.

Renamed Abraham, he and his descendants embraced that one true God.

His Jews, and later the Christians, and later still the Muslims,

All recognize the God of Abraham as the one true God.

A fundamental point in those religions is that there is only one God.

The first of the Ten Commandments stresses that:

I am the Lord thy God

Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.

When asked what Commandment was the greatest, Jesus began with:

Hear, O Israel!

The Lord our God is Lord alone!

We would not have known God if he had not revealed himself to Abraham.

And we would not know nearly as much about him as we do,

If he had not so loved the world that he sent his Son 2000 years later.

Sent to live among us and teach us, and save us.

We have the teaching of the one preeminent authority on God, Jesus.

His word is passed on to us through the voices of oral tradition.

Through the authors of Scripture.

Through the interpreters of language.

And through the analyzers of meaning.

Through all these processes, overseen and verified by the Church,

Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

And we also have that same Holy Spirit speaking within us.

Through Jesus’ words and actions,

He revealed or confirmed the supernatural mysteries about God.

We couldn’t have figured out that God was a Trinity

If God himself hadn’t revealed that to us.

The Jews had some concept of a Holy Spirit, and of a Messiah.

But they didn’t have a concept of God as a Trinity.

It was Jesus who revealed that there are

Three distinct but unified persons within the one true God.

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And yet, God remains one.

Jesus also revealed that there were two natures within his one person.

He himself was both human and Divine. 

Fully God and fully man.

Further, he revealed that God dwells in all his creation, especially in us.

And that bread and wine could become his body and blood.

We Catholics are very familiar with all these truths.

But we have only a limited understanding of them.

They’re not natural, they’re mysteries, they’re miraculous.

They’re super-natural.

But how do our Catholic beliefs strike others?

Many Jews and Muslims—those other followers of the God of Abraham—Find the idea of Trinity to be complete heresy.

A violation of their most fundamental belief about the oneness of God.

Many of our fellow Christians reject our belief in Christ’s true presence

In the Eucharist.

People of other religions or no religion

Would reject most of what we believe about God.

The mysteries are just too much for many to accept.

But maybe some will find them intriguing and seek more understanding.

No one should be surprised that the God who always was,

The God who created the Universe and everything in it—including us,

Is beyond our full comprehension.

Perhaps others will someday agree and say,

Yes, I don’t fully understand, but a voice within me tells me,

It makes sense.

How is it that we Catholics already accept these mysteries?

Consider the Trinity.

We’ve heard about it all our lives.

It’s been presented to us in Church as truth.

We have schools and colleges and parishes and hospitals named Trinity.

We’re familiar with it.

We may have even researched it and studied it.

We still can’t fully understand it, but we accept it as truth.

Formally or informally, we’re all theologians.

St Anselm defined Theology as faith seeking understanding.

It’s that gift of faith that lets us accept the mystery.

It’s faith that opens our minds as we set out in prayer or study

Seeking a deeper understanding.

Thank God for the gift of faith!

We really should; Thank God—for the gift of faith.

Feast of the Holy Trinity

Jn 3:16-18   Read this Scripture @usccb.org