From the very beginning Christians have looked upon God as three persons in one, recognizing that we don’t worship three gods but that we worship one God that has three persons, hence we see God as the Holy Trinity, a mystery we cannot fully explain but we accept as an article of faith.
That hasn’t always been the case. Prior to the time of the Israelites, every nation had many gods. We are familiar with the gods of ancient Egypt, Rome and Greece. God revealed himself to Abraham as the one and only God. As Moses pointed out to the Israelites after they had left Egypt, “Did anything so great ever happen before?”
No but something greater happened when Jesus came upon the scene, revealing to his followers God in a new light when he commissioned them to go and “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
Alas, not all believers in the early Church accepted that mandate. Some doubted this unique relationship described by Jesus. During the fourth century a popular heresy arose known as Arianism that taught Jesus was not fully God. Those who believed this heresy contended that Jesus was a creature higher than the angels but not equal to God the Father. The council of Nicea in the year 325 proclaimed that Jesus was equal to God the Father in every way. We proclaim that belief in the Creed at Mass every weekend.
Granted the Holy Trinity is a mystery; not in the sense of a crime scene when we are left pondering who is guilty, but realizing that this tenet of our faith cannot be fully explained. The Trinity can be described in different ways but each endeavor is limited. St. Patrick is renowned for using a shamrock. Another imperfect attempt would be to think of the three stages of water: ice, liquid, and steam. Liturgically, one of my seminary professors described God as creator, redeemer and sanctifier, highlighting the roles assigned to each person. Our triune God has three persons to somehow give us a glimpse of all God truly is.
However we attempt to define the Trinity, the best way is to see this as an expression of love. St. Augustine spoke of God as lover, beloved, and the love between them. I recall a painting in my cousin’s home that depicted the Father embracing the Son and the Holy Spirit was the whirlwind that bound them together. Love is the driving force behind the Trinity and our relationship with God. The very reason why there are three persons in this one God is that God is not self-centered. In one of his letters, St. John wrote the shortest sentence in scripture, “God is love.” God needs to love and be loved. Since God is love itself, wherever we find self-giving love, we find God.
Out of love, God created us to be his children. From the beginning, he gave humanity the free will to love and all that is needed to live in the midst of this beautiful creation we call earth. God is our caring, loving parent, blessing us with the intellect to make full use of our earth’s resources, inviting us to also be caring and loving toward all life from start to the finish, from conception to natural death.
In his letter to the Romans, Paul points out that those who are baptized receive the Holy Spirit and become children of God. God becomes our father in an intimate personal way; we are enabled by the Holy Spirit to call him “Papa” and Jesus becomes our big brother.
In our everyday experience we have seen that love has the power to draw two people together and make them one in mind and heart and yet the two people retain their individuality. Likewise, the power of divine love makes Father, Son and Holy Spirit one God without destroying the distinctions between these three persons.
That divine love overflowed and created the universe. That love overflowed and created this unique planet to sustain life. That love made us, redeemed us and has repeatedly forgiven our sins. That love invites us to live this life with the goal of living eternal life by observing all that we have been commanded to do, which can be summed up as “to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind and soul and to love our neighbor as ourselves.”
Think about that. God is the love we find in our own hearts. God is the love between husband and wife, between parents and their children, between siblings, between friends. God is the love we have for one another, and the love we show to the stranger and the least among us. Wherever there is charity and love, there is God.
We haven’t solved the mystery of the Trinity yet and we never will but maybe these reflections have given us something to ponder; something we can take home that can make a practical difference in our lives and our relationships with God and with one another.