Sunday, June 3, 2012

Holy Trinity

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity.  We remind ourselves of this important truth of the faith that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  


There are NOT 3 gods, but rather 3 persons who are ONE God or one being.  For centuries the brightest minds, both within and without the Church have tried to fully comprehend and explain this, but they could not.  


God cannot be understood completely by mortals.  Human beings are limited to space, time and matter and can only understand things within the laws and experiences of each.



What human being has experience infinity in order to define it?  What human being has experience being all benevolent, all omnipotent, all sapient and all knowing?  There are none.   Human beings are finite creatures with finite minds.  
It is important to understand that the Father is not the Son nor the Son the Father.  Moreover, the Father and Son are not the Holy Spirit and vice versa.  Each are distinct Divine persons who are of the same singular Divine substance.  


Think of it in this way:  Human beings have the Super Ego, Ego and Id.  Each is distinct but are of one person.  Or, human beings have reason, conscience and self awareness.  Each are distinct, but are of one person.  The same with God, but each (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) are distinct persons, not attributes of personality. 


There are some sects today who deny the Holy Trinity such as, Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons.  Jehovah's Witnesses even went as far as altering the Gospel of John 1:1 to read ".. the Word was A god..." which was done to support their idea that Jesus is some sort of a lower god.  In Genesis 1:26, God says, "Let US make man in OUR image, to be like US."  The words "US" and "OUR" signify plurality of persons.  God describes Himself as a community of persons.  


God will never be completely understood by any creature.  If any creature understands God completely, then He would not be God.


There is a story about Augustine of Hippo who is a Catholic saint and bishop. He is a well known philosopher and a celebrated champion of Christian thought. 

Anyhow, one day he was trying to figure out God - in particular the idea of Father Son Holy Spirit as one God - he thought and thought and thought wondering how can God be 3 persons in one, how can God be God. Well while sleeping he had a dream that he was by the shore. He saw a small child digging a hole in the sand. Once dug, the child took a shell and went to the ocean and took water. He brought it back and poured it into the hole. The child then ran back and repeated the same action. Augustine smiled and went to the child and asked the child, "what are you trying to do?" the child answered, "I am trying to put the ocean in this hole." Augustine smiled again thinking the child said something cute. Augustine told the child, "The ocean is vast and immense, there is no way you can put it all into this small hole." The child looked at him smiling and replied, "neither can you put all of God in your mind." At that Augustine woke and realized that no one can truly grasp God. It would be like putting the ocean into a small hole dug in the sand on a beach.



Glory be to the Father,
And to the Son,
And to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen  

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