The Trinity Mystery

Another Trinity Sunday and another "The Trinity is a Mystery" homily. I have to admit to a little prideful frustration with Trinity Sunday homilies. Even otherwise good homilists give the "The Trinity is a Mystery" homilies. Of course, I don't have a problem saying that the Trinity is a mystery. My problem with these homilies is that they leave it there. "The Trinity is a mystery so you can never understand it." But there are explanations to the Trinity. There are theological models, mystical insights, and even wonderful parallels to the marital relationship that go largely unshared on Trinity Sunday. Is it because our priests have such a low opinion of the ability of the laity to grasp theological constructs? I do not believe for a minute it is because our priests are so poorly educated that they do not know what the Trinity is. Maybe it is because our priests are too educated - or at least that they are educated in theology and philosophy but not in how to make their knowledge accessible to the laity.

If I had the hubris to give priests advice on how to preach on the Trinity, I would tell them to begin with the basic definition. Many people still believe that the formulation for the Trinity is "God is three Persons in One." When a priest says simply that the Trinity is an incomprehensible mystery, this is the error that most people accept as mysterious. The true formulation for the Trinity is "God is three Persons with one Nature." Of course, the next step in a good homily would be to define these terms. "Nature" is what a being or a thing is. The nature of God can be described using the attributes of God. God is transcendent & imminent, omniscient, omnipotent, perfect, eternal, etc. "Person" describe who we are as individuals. A basic definition of a person is any being with an intellect and a free will. However, the term person also indicates the individual being. So, the Trinity means that God is three individual beings who all perfectly share the same nature. While the explanation of this formulation may be a bit over some people's heads, it is much more comprehensible than "God is three persons in one."

Next, I would ask priests to explain that the Trinity teaches us that God is love. The three Divine Persons of the Holy Trinity exist in a relationship of perfect love with each other. God did not create human beings because He was lonely or bored. His perfection includes the perfection of love within His very nature. The Father gives Himself completely and perfectly to the Son and the Holy Spirit as a perpetual gift of love. The Son does the same to the Father and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does the same to the Father and to the Son. If human beings were to try to imitate this perfect love by giving ourselves to others completely, we would die. To give ourselves completely would mean to give our very lives. Human beings are finite beings. However, the nature of God is that He is infinite. Each person of the Trinity can eternally give all that He is to the other two Divine Persons and never exhaust Himself. Yes, these truths boggle the mind. Here is where the true mystery of the Trinity lies. Contemplating these truths as much as we can understand them can lead us to truly beautiful and fruitful meditation.

A brave priest may even include St. Augustine's understanding of the Trinity. Like all rational beings, God has self-knowledge. However, God does not know the same way that human beings know. When humans know something, they learn about something that already exists. God's knowledge actually creates reality. So, when the Father knows Himself, His knowledge generates the reality of the Second Person of the Trinity. The Son, the Word of God, God's Wisdom, is the Father's self-knowledge. Now, the Father looks at the Son and sees perfect goodness. The Son looks at the Father and sees perfect goodness. The response to goodness is love. The Father and the Son generate perfect love of one another. This perfect love also generates a true Person - the Holy Spirit. It is true that most people will be confused by St. Augustine's Trinitarian theology. However, how greatly does St. Augustine deepen our understanding of Jesus as the Word of God and the Holy Spirit as the very Love of God. We do not need to understand these truths perfectly in order for them to be fruitful in our lives.

Finally, priests could talk about how the sacramental meaning of marriage is intimately tied to Trinitarian love. Since the Son is the Father's knowledge of Himself, the Father and the Son know each other perfectly. In imitation of this perfect knowledge, spouses are called to know each other intimately. No other human relationship opens itself to such complete intimacy as does marriage. So, no other relationship mirrors the Trinitarian intimacy as much as marriage. Furthermore, the love between the Father and the Son generates new life. True love is always life-giving, at least in a spiritual sense. However, only marriage is properly life-giving in the complete sense. The love between a husband and a wife is designed to bring forth new life. Babies are the personified love between the husband and the wife, just as the Holy Spirit is the personified love between the Father and the Son. Again, we do not have to completely understand these truths in order for them to be fruitful in our lives. Might not a deeper understanding of the sacramental meaning of marriage and family deepen and strengthen marriages? Might such an understanding bring healing to hurting marriages and help stem the tide of rising divorce rates?

Dear priests, do not be afraid to share with the laity some of the deeper truths of the Holy Trinity. Don't be afraid to go over their heads a little bit. The theological term "mystery" does not mean incomprehensible. It means inexhaustible. Let the laity meditate on some of these truths. Draw them deeper into the mystery.

In the love of Christ,

Brother Thomas