The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
To God who is, who was, and who is to come.
Brothers and Sisters in the Lord,
The Sunday after Pentecost, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We invoke them at the beginning and at the end of our prayers as we make the Sign of the Cross or when we receive a blessing or something is blessed for us. This celebration is that God is One in Being or Nature, but Three in Divine Persons.
Theology calls it the Triune God, meaning God is One and God is Three. It is not contradictory, just this is how He is, wholly deep in mystery. He is beyond our comprehension, for if we are to know Him as He is, He will no longer be God. Our human intellect is too small to comprehend the immensity and greatness of such a mystery. St. Augustine, for example tried to comprehend it and failed.
The summary about Him is gathered together in the Nicene Creed, which we recite every Sunday and on the days of Solemnity. None of the three Persons of the Trinity has a beginning and none has an end. They are equal in all respects. At the same time, they are ascribed each with different functions: The Father is the Creator, the Son is the Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit is the Sanctifier. At the same time, they operate in unison.
The Preface of this Mass says, “For with your Only Begotten Son and the Holy Spirit, you are one God, one Lord: not in the unity of a single person, but in the Trinity of one substance. For what you have revealed to us of your glory, we believe equally of your Son and of the Holy spirit, so that in the confessing of the true and eternal Godhead, you might be adored in what is proper to each person, their unity in substance, and their equality in majesty”.
One writer says that if you discuss the Trinity for more than a few minutes, you might run into heresy because you are probing the depth of God deeply in mystery. For whatever we do not understand of our God, who is both our hope and faith, will be fulfilled since the Holy Spirit has been given to us for its perfection. Amen.
Fr. Chris
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