Trinity Thoughts

John Paul II of the Trinity said, “A great mystery, a mystery of love, an ineffable mystery, before which words must give way to the silence of wonder and worship. A divine mystery that challenges and involves us, because a share in the Trinitarian life was given to us through grace, through the redemptive Incarnation of the Word and the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

There is a danger for Christians to think of the Trinity as a post incarnation phenomenon, but this is to limit and undercut the eternal truth. Just look at at Luke’s introductory verses of his Gospel and God’s message to Mary.

Luke1:35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” The futility of trying to fathom the mystery of God has puzzled the greatest of Christian thinkers.

 

One day, when St. Augustine was at his wits' end to understand and explain the Trinity, he went out for a walk. He kept turning over in his mind, "One God, but three Persons. Three Persons--not three Gods but one God. What does it mean? How can it be explained? How can my mind take it in?”

And so he was torturing his mind and beating his brains out, when he saw a little boy on the beach. He approached him to see what he was doing. The child had dug a small hole in the sand. With his hands he was carrying water from the ocean and was dumping it in the little hole. St. Augustine asked, "What are you doing, my child?”

The child replied, "I want to put all of the water of the ocean into this hole.”

St. Augustine asked, "But is it possible for all of the water of this great ocean to be contained in this little hole?”

And then it dawned on Augustine, "If the water of the ocean cannot be contained in this little hole, then how can the Infinite Trinitarian God be contained in your mind?”

Perhaps we should be more like Mary and accept the mystery of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Faithful God,

you chose Mary, full of grace,

to be the mother of our Sovereign and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Now fill us with your grace, that with her,

we may understand your ways,

rejoice in your salvation,

and embrace your will;

through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever. Amen.