Talking with a friend the other day, I complained about having to write the most difficult bulletin column of the year: this one for Trinity Sunday.  He laughed and said I could write anything I wanted, because no one really knows anything about the Trinity, “It’s a mystery!”  

We’ve all heard someone try to explain that mystery.  St. Patrick’s famous shamrock, the three leaf clover that legend says Patrick used to symbolize the Great Three-In-One.  I remember a priest using water as an example, teaching that just as H2O was the same in three different forms, solid (ice) liquid (water) and vapor (steam), so God could be the same in three different persons.   But I always thought that such analogies were “cute” at best.  

Of course, there are the deeply theological discussions about the Trinity.  Tertullian, the great theologian of the third century, is credited with first using the words “Trinity” and “Person” to explain that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit were “one in essence—not one in Person”.   A century later, the Council of Nicea established the doctrine of the Trinity, which we proclaim at mass every week in the Nicene Creed.  Scholars have written volumes to explain the belief, whereas I’ve only got a column.

We remember that Council of Nicea as the very first Ecumenical Council.  Think of it as the Vatican II of the early church.  The Council was convened by the Emperor Constantine in the year 325 AD because of the Arian heresy. This heresy denied the divinity of Jesus. It “regarded the Son of God as standing midway between God and creatures.” (from The New Catholic Dictionary).

The Council of Nicea adopted the doctrine of the divinity of Christ which “expressed the identity of the Son in essence, nature, substance with the Father.”  Their decision has held in all orthodox Christian churches to this day.   We proclaim the Nicene creed every Sunday, when we begin: “I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth… I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ… I believe in the Holy Spirit….”

We celebrate that Council’s vision when we sing our closing hymn for today: “Holy Holy Holy.”   Composer John Dykes set the words written by Anglican Bishop Reginald Heber to music in 1861.  Dykes called the tune NICEA, in honor of the Council. (You often find hymn tunes noted in capital letters in the fine print beneath the song.)

The last line of the hymn recalls the words of the Council’s statement:

      “God in three persons, blessed Trinity.”

We’re certainly familiar with the concept of the Trinity; we begin and end every Mass (and many of our prayers) with “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”  

While saying those words, we make the Sign of the Cross; and by doing so, we claim an identity.  As we address God as the great Three-in-One - we sign ourselves to enter into this mystery.   It is a mystery far from our understanding.  But at its core, it’s about relationship.

There is God the Father, the creative force who formed the world and everything in it. God the Father spoke blazing words with light and fire and spoke words of comfort as soothing as water in the desert.

 There is God the Son, who took human form, who embraces us and understands our human successes and our human failures. God the Son walks at our side, laughs, cries and suffers with us.

 And there is God the Holy Spirit who fills us with God’s love, inspires our imaginations, and gives energy to our creativity. The Spirit who keeps our memories of Jesus fresh and alive, and who helps us to find our way through this life while guiding us into the next.

Those Three Persons are intimately interconnected, and the mystery of the Trinity invites us to ponder the interrelationship of God, and our relationship with God.   God is present, active and working in our lives.   God helps us learn the truth about ourselves as we seek the truth about God.  

We will never stop yearning to learn more about God, but for now it probably best to simply live the mystery of the Trinity rather than trying to understand it.

Do we recognize God the Father in the beauty of Creation?  Do we know the presence of the Son who walks our human journey with us?   Do we allow the Holy Spirit to open our hearts and minds to all that God has done and is doing in our lives?   Do we nurture the presence of this Triune God in us?

The Trinity is at the very core of our beings as Christians, for we are baptized “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

Steve Raml  
Liturgy & Music Director