HOLY TRINITY

AWESOME THREESOME

The Holy Trinity

A famous story has it that the early 5^th. century Augustine of Hippo was taking his summer holiday along the North African seashore. Strolling down the water’s edge on a delightful day, he was pondering, of all things, the mystery of the Holy Trinity! All this genius was getting for his efforts was a thundering headache. Finally he thought he was breaking the code of the enigma and was about to download the mystery, when suddenly at his feet he saw a boy of five or six. The little fellow had made a hole in the sand and was filling it with water from the ocean. The bishop asked him sharply what he was doing. The tyke replied tersely, “Can’t you see? I’m pouring the whole ocean into this pit.” The much too literal Augustine said, “That’s nonsense.” (He could have said, “Blistering Barnacles !”) “No one can do that.” Not at all intimidated by the towering figure above him, the mite sallied mightily, “Well, sir, neither can you contain the mystery of the Trinity in your head.” (He could have said, “Sir, you’re just as nutty.”)

Whether this account is true or false, I leave to your good judgement. But I think we all get the point. The Holy Trinity will remain a mystery forever and a day. The author, Jack Miller wrote a book, God: a Biography. After reading the book, a critic wrote these lines, “You cannot plumb the depth of the human heart, nor find out what a man is thinking; how do you expect to search out God and comprehend his thoughts?”  So you can see what we are up against on the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity.

Jesus’ disciples didn’t fare better, though they had every advantage: they had spent time with Jesus, heard his teaching, witnessed his miracles, and the way he dealt with the people who came to him. And most of all, they sensed his love for them personally. Yet despite all this, the disciples didn’t understand. Jesus recognised their cerebral struggle, and promised them the Holy Spirit.

The early 17^th. Century poet, John Donne, wrote breathlessly, “Batter my heart, three person’d God; for you as yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend.” We should just as breathlessly repeat that prayer. But having said it, should we forget the Trinity and get on with our lives? No, never !  For how could we ever forget Jesus, the second Person of the Holy Trinity? And Jesus, in his great discourse at the Last Supper, referred to his Father an awesome 45 times. “Holy Father, keep those you have given me true to your name…..Father, I pray that where I am, they also may be (John chap. 17)….I shall ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, the Spirit of Truth” (John 14, 16). These are just the lines we love to hear  -  so consoling, so reassuring.

At the heart of all true love lies both mystery and wonder. Anyone who has been in love knows this. We can only wonder that we are so unworthy and yet are objects of someone’s affection. And the gift of love has to be just that  -  an outpouring of our hearts, something that comes naturally from within and cannot be manufactured. The point is that two people in love do not stop to dissect the origin and complexities of their feelings  -  they merely rejoice in them and abandon themselves to their self-giving.

Forget the Trinity, and we do so at our peril.  You know that there is only one God and that God is one: but you want to find words to speak of how you experience him and invite others to experience him too. You experience him as Father, creator and sustainer of life, exalted in power and glory as Lord God, yet rich in sympathy, kindness and love. You experience him as the man (God-man, in fact), Jesus of Nazareth, God’s anointed one, who had lived so amazingly and still lives – risen, ascended, glorified. You experience him as Spirit, the holy and life-giving presence within you and among your brothers and sisters. The One, Eternal, God, encountered and experienced as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that is the good news you want to share. You don’t use the “Trinity” word, but you want people to have a trinity experience.

There is much spiritual richness to be wrestled from a devotion to the Holy Trinity.

We must all remember that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not up there somewhere in the heavens, but rather in each of our honourable selves; sometimes despite our dishonourable selves. We have gained a God who is not only cleverer and more subtle than we thought, but also more generous. Please note, that the sacrament of Baptism not only dunked us into the water but also drowned us into the Trinity. And the three divine Persons are delighted to take up residence in us. We in them and they in us. And that’s what Jesus said through John’s gospel. “Father, Son and Spirit blest, come and dwell within my breast,” is one of my favourite seven-syllable mantras.

Many people visiting Kolkata in the cool months tell us, “It’s a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to stay here.” Happily the Trinity do not say the same of us. They say, “We’re not just tourists; we’d love to stay. Any objections?” The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit have pitched a four-season tent in each one of us, to be cultivated, called upon, prayed to, get angry with….you name it.  If you understand that, then the sky is the limit. The 14^th. Century German mystic, Meister Eckhart said light-heartedly, “God laughed and his Son was born. Together they laughed and the Holy Spirit was born. And from the laughter of all three the universe was born !” Laughter is symptomatic of bliss. So let’s all laugh with the Trinity, without laughing them off !

PRAYER (by Richard Harries):

O God, Father, moment by moment you hold me in being,

on you I depend.

O God, eternal Son, friend and brother beside me,

in you I trust.

O God, Holy Spirit, life and love within me,

from you I live.

  

Exodus 34:4b-6, 8-9
Daniel 3:52, 53, 54, 55, 56
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
John 3:16-18

Today is the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity--one God in Three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The words "Holy Spirit" and "Holy Ghost" are interchangeable, since "spirit" is directly translated from the Latin Sanctus Spiritus, while "ghost" is the Old English word for spirit. How do you explain the Holy Trinity? You don't really. It's beyond our human reason. Just use multiplication--3 times one still equals three. Right? But three Persons times One God equals One God. Now, if you want to carry it further, you'll get dizzy and may even suffer a headache. At this point, you really should give up!

Logic doesn't carry us very far in trying to explain the mystery of three Persons in one God. St. Anselm had it right a long time ago when he wrote, "I don't understand so that I can believe; I believe so that I can understand." Just believe Jesus' teaching that there is a Holy Trinity. From there, let's look at our heart's experience of God's beauty, His wisdom, His mercy, and His limitless love. It's as though someone were to ask you, "Do you believe in sunsets, or mountain tops or starry nights?" We'd tell them, "Just go out and watch a sunset--just go up and sit on a mountain top--just go out on a warm summer evening, lie on your back, and gaze up at a sky filled with stars!

God is powerful, and eternally in motion. Think of a celebration that never comes to an end. At a celebration, there are people--there is action, music, food and drink, and a good time. So, the life of the Holy Trinity is like an eternal party. God the Father loves the Son without interruption, and the Son returns that Love with every breath of His being--and that breath becomes the Holy Spirit of them both--full of the power of love and jubilant motion.

God the Father is like a beautiful sunset, soothing and quieting my soul. God the Son is like a lover, forgiving and tender, feeding my hunger, satisfying my desire. And the Holy Spirit is like a hot scorching fire, a whirlwind of inspiration, stirring me to intense praise and dynamic action.

Through faith, we believe that this Holy Trinity actually dwells inside the souls of the baptized when they are in a state of grace. Our only proper response to that awesome truth is: Wow! No wonder we speak of the dignity of the Christian.

Three-personed God, I gape at the wonder of Your beauty, May I glow with the light of Your Truth, May I burn with the excitement of Your Life! Someday I pray that I will see You face to face, and enjoy Your life and love forever.