Catholic Caucus: Sunday Mass Readings, 05-22-05, Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

USCCB.org/New American Bible ^ | 05-22-05 | New American Bible

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The Holy Trinity

by Rev. William G. Most

Perhaps the deepest, the most profound of all mysteries is the mystery of the Trinity. The Church teaches us that although there is only one God, yet, somehow, there are three Persons in God. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, yet we do not speak of three Gods, but only one God. They have the same nature, substance, and being.

We came to know this immense mystery because Christ revealed it to us. Just before ascending He told them: "Go teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). We know that these Three are not just different ways of looking at one person. For at the Last Supper, Jesus told us: "I came forth from the Father." So He is different from the Father. But He also promised: "If I go, I will send Him [the Paraclete] to you. . . . He will guide you to all truth" (John 16:28, 7, 13). So the Holy Spirit is also different.

Even though the Three Persons are One God, yet they are distinct: for the Father has no origin, He came from no one. But the Son is begotten, He comes from the Father alone. The Holy Spirit comes or proceeds from both the Father and the Son. These different relations of origin tell us there are three distinct Persons, who have one and the same divine nature.

Even though everything the Three Persons do outside the Divine nature is done by all Three, yet it is suitable that we attribute some works specially to one or the other Person. So we speak of the Father especially as the power of creation, of the Son as the wisdom of the Father, of the Holy Spirit as goodness and sanctification.

The two doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation are the foundation of Christian life and worship. By becoming man, God the Son offered us a share in the inner life of the Trinity. By grace, we are brought into the perfect communion of life and love which is God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This sharing in the life of the Trinity is meant to culminate in heaven, where we will see the three Persons face to face, united to them in unspeakable love.

---

Taken from The Basic Catholic Catechism
PART TWO: The Apostle's Creed
First Article of the Creed: "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth."

By William G. Most. (c)Copyright 1990 by William G. Most

[Salvation]

From: Exodus 34:4b-6, 8-9


The Covenant is Renewed

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[4b] He (Moses) rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the
LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand two tables of stone. [5] And
the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the
name of the LORD.


God Appears

---

[6] The LORD passed before him, and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD, a God
merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and
faithfulness." [8] And Moses made haste to bow his his head toward the earth,
and worshiped. [9] And he said, "If now I have found favor in thy sight, 0
Lord, let the Lord, I pray thee, go in the midst of us, although it is a
stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for
thy inheritance."

---

Commentary:


34:1-28. This chapter narrating the renewal of the Covenant follows the same
pattern as the account of its original establishment (cf. Ex 19-24); but it
is shorter, concentrating on the two main protagonists, God and Moses. Thus,
it begins with the preparations for the theophany and for the encounter with
the Lord (vv. 1-5); then follows the revelation of God, and Moses' prayer
(vv. 6-9); and it ends with the renewal of the Covenant and the so-called
Rite of the Covenant (vv. 10-28). The account hinges on the remaking of the
tables of stone after the sin of the golden calf; the tables symbolize God's
offer to keep to the pact and never to go back on it.


34:1-5. The theophany is described very soberly here, but it has exactly the
same elements as given in chapter 19: very careful preparation by Moses (v.
2; cf 19:10-11); the people forbidden to approach the mountain (v. 3; of.
19:12-13); God appearing wrapped in the cloud (v. 5; of. 19:16-20).


Comparing the two accounts, this one says less about the transcendence of
God and puts more stress on his closeness to Moses: "he stood with him
there" (v. 5). God's initiative in drawing close to man is clear to see; it
lies at the very basis of the Covenant.


"He proclaimed the name of the Lord" (v. 6); the context would suggest that
it is Moses who proclaims the name of the Lord, but the Hebrew could indeed
be as the RSV has it, "and he proclaimed his name, 'Lord' ". The same
wording appears in v. 6 implying that it is the Lord who is "proclaiming",
defining himself as he promised he would (cf. 33:19). The sacred writer may
have intentionally left these words open to either interpretation; whether
spoken by Moses or said directly by God, they are equal from the revelation
point of view.


34:6-7. In response to Moses' pleading, the Lord makes himself manifest. The
solemn repetition of the name of Yahweh (Lord) emphasizes that the Lord is
introducing himself liturgically to the assembled Israelites. In the
description of himself which follows (and which is repeated elsewhere, cf.
20:5-6; Num 14:18; Deut 5:9-18; etc.), two key attributes of God are
underlined--justice and mercy. God cannot let sin go unpunished, nor does
he; the prophets, too, will teach that sin is, first and foremost, something
personal (cf. Jer 31:29; Ezek 18:2ff). But this ancient text refers only in
a general way to the fact that God is just, and puts more stress on his
mercy. A person who is conscious of his own sin has access to God only if he
is sure that God can and will forgive him. "The concept of 'mercy' in the
Old Testament," John Paul II comments, "has a long and rich history. We have
to refer back to it in order that the mercy revealed by Christ may shine
forth more clearly. [...] Sin too constitutes man's misery. The people of
the Old Covenant experienced this misery from the time of the Exodus, when
they set up the golden calf. The Lord himself triumphed over this act of
breaking the covenant when he solemnly declared to Moses that he was a 'God
merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and
faithfulness' (Ex 34:6). It is in this central revelation that the chosen
people, and each of its members, will find, every time that they have
sinned, the strength and the motive for turning to the Lord to remind him of
what he had exactly revealed about himself and to beseech his forgiveness"
("Dives In Misericordia", 4). On
"God's jealousy", see the note on 20:5-6.


34:8-9. Moses once more implores the Lord on behalf of his people; he makes
three requests, which sum up many earlier petitions: he begs God to stay
with the people and protect them in their hazardous journeying in the desert
(cf. 33:15-17), to forgive the very grave sin they have committed (cf.
32:11-14), and finally to make them his own property, thereby distinguishing
them from all other peoples (cf. 33:16) and restoring them to their status
as "his own possession" (cf. 19:5). These three requests are ones that were
constantly on the lips of the people of Israel and in the hearts of everyone
who acknowledges God (cf. Ps 86:1-15; 103:8-10; etc.).

---

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

[Salvation]

From: 2 Corinthians 13: 11-13


Epilogue

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[11] Finally, brethren, farewell. Mend your ways, heed my appeal, agree
with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with
you. [12] Greet one another with a holy kiss. [13] All the saints greet you.

---

Commentary:


11. In his words of farewell, the Apostle once more shows his great
affection for the faithful of Corinth, exhorting them to practise the
fraternity proper to Christians and thus live in concord and peace (cf. I
Cor 1:10-17). And, St John Chrysostom comments, he tells them what this will
lead to: "Live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you, for
God is a God of love and a God of peace, and in these he takes his delight.
It is love that will give you peace and remove every evil from your church"
("Hom. on 2 Cor", 30).


St Paul's call to the faithful to be cheerful is particularly
significant--"gaudete"(rejoice) in the New Vulgate--contains a rnessage he
repeats on other occasions: "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say,
Rejoice" (Phil 4:4; cf. 3:1). Joy is something very characteristic of
Christians because their awareness of being children of God tells them that
they are in the hands of God, who knows everything and can do everything
(cf. note on 5:10). Therefore, we should never be sad; on the contrary: we
should go out into the world, Monsignor Escrivd says, "to be sowers of peace
and joy through everything we say and do" ("Christ Is Passing By", 168).


12. On the "holy kiss", see the note on 1 Cor 16:20.


"The saints" who send greetings to the Corinthians are the Christians of
Macedonia, from where St Paul is writing. Regarding this description of
Christians, see the note on 1 Cor 1:2.

---

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

[Salvation]

From: John 3:16-18


The Visit of Nicodemus (Continuation)

---

(Jesus said to Nicodemus,) [16] "For God so loved the world that He
gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but
have eternal life. [17] For God sent the Son into the world, not to
condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. [18]
He who believes in Him is not condemned; He who does not believe is
condemned already, because He had not believed in the name of the only
Son of God."

---

Commentary:


16-21. These words, so charged with meaning, summarize how Christ's
death is the supreme sign of God's love for men (cf. the section on
charity in the "Introduction to the Gospel according to John": pp. 31ff
above). "`For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son' for
its salvation. All our religion is a revelation of God's kindness,
mercy and love for us. `God is love' (1 John 4:16), that is, love
poured forth unsparingly. All is summed up in this supreme truth,
which explains and illuminates everything. The story of Jesus must be
seen in this light. `(He) loved me', St. Paul writes. Each of us can
and must repeat it for himself--`He loved me, and gave Himself for me'
(Galatians 2:20)" ([Pope] Paul VI, "Homily on Corpus Christi", 13 June
1976).


Christ's self-surrender is a pressing call to respond to His great love
for us: "If it is true that God has created us, that He has redeemed
us, that He loves us so much that He has given up His only-begotten Son
for us (John 3:16), that He waits for us--every day!--as eagerly as the
father of the prodigal son did (cf. Luke 15:11-32), how can we doubt
that He wants us to respond to Him with all our love? The strange
thing would be not to talk to God, to draw away and forget Him, and
busy ourselves in activities which are closed to the constant
promptings of His grace" ([St] J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 251).


"Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is
incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not
revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not
experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate
intimately in it. This [...] is why Christ the Redeemer `fully reveals
man to himself'. If we may use the expression, this is the human
dimension of the mystery of the Redemption. In this dimension man
finds again the greatness, dignity and value that belong to his
humanity. [...] The one who wishes to understand himself thoroughly
[...] must, with his unrest and uncertainty and even his weakness and
sinfulness, with his life and death, draw near to Christ. He must, so
to speak, enter into Him with all his own self, he must `appropriate'
and assimilate the whole of the reality of the Incarnation and
Redemption in order to find himself. If this profound process takes
place within him, he then bears fruit not only of adoration of God but
also of deep wonder at himself.


How precious must man be in the eyes of the Creator, if he `gained so
great a Redeemer', ("Roman Missal, Exultet" at Easter Vigil), and if
God `gave His only Son' in order that man `should not perish but have
eternal life'. [...]


`Increasingly contemplating the whole of Christ's mystery, the Church
knows with all the certainty of faith that the Redemption that took
place through the Cross has definitively restored his dignity to man
and given back meaning to his life in the world, a meaning that was
lost to a considerable extent because of sin. And for that reason, the
Redemption was accomplished in the paschal mystery, leading through the
Cross and death to Resurrection" ([Pope] John Paul II, "Redemptor
Hominis", 10).


Jesus demands that we have faith in Him as a first prerequisite to
sharing in His love. Faith brings us out of darkness into the light,
and sets us on the road to salvation. "He who does not believe is
condemned already" (verse 18).


"The words of Christ are at once words of judgment and grace, of life
and death. For it is only by putting to death that which is old that
we can come to newness of life. Now, although this refers primarily to
people, it is also true of various worldly goods which bear the mark
both of man's sin and the blessing of God. [...] No one is freed from
sin by himself or by his own efforts, no one is raised above himself or
completely delivered from his own weakness, solitude or slavery; all
have need of Christ, who is the model, master, liberator, savior, and
giver of life. Even in the secular history of mankind the Gospel has
acted as a leaven in the interests of liberty and progress, and it
always offers itself as a leaven with regard to brotherhood, unity and
peace" (Vatican II, "Ad Gentes", 8).

---

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

[Salvation]

Trinity Sunday (and the Trinity season)

HaSheeloosh HaKadosh: The Holy Trinity

Trinitarian Mystery

MARY’S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE TRINITY

The Divine Trinity

[NYer]

Trinity Sunday

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Catholic Culture

 

Collect: Father, you sent your Word to bring us truth and your Spirit to make us holy. Through them we come to know the mystery of your life. Help us to worship you, one God in three Persons, by proclaiming and living our faith in you. We ask you this, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God, true and living, for ever and ever. Recipes: » Elegant Barbecued Chicken » Superb Barbecue Sauce Activities: » Feast of the Holy Trinity » Prayers to the Blessed Trinity » Stitching Feast-Day Symbols » Teaching the Trinity more » The Trinity and the Mass less Prayers: » Prayer Cards for Easter Grace at Meals » Prayer for Trinity Sunday » Te Deum » Litany of the Most Holy Trinity

May 22, 2005 Solemnity of the Trinity The fundamental dogma on which everything in Christianity is based, is that of the Blessed Trinity in whose name all Christians are baptized. The feast of the Blessed Trinity needs to be understood and celebrated as a prolongation of the mysteries of Christ and as the solemn expression of our faith in this triune life of the Divine Persons, to which we have been given access by Baptism and by the Redemption won for us by Christ. Only in heaven shall we properly understand what it means, in union with Christ, to share as sons in the very life of God. The feast of the Blessed Trinity was introduced in the ninth century and was only inserted in the general calendar of the Church in the fourteenth century by Pope John XXII. But the cultus of the Trinity is, of course, to be found throughout the liturgy. Constantly the Church causes us to praise and adore the thrice-holy God who has so shown His mercy towards us and has given us to share in His life. Trinity Sunday The dogma of faith which forms the object of the feast is this: There is one God and in this one God there are three divine Persons; the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God. Yet there are not three Gods, but one, eternal, incomprehensible God! The Father is not more God than the Son, neither is the Son more God than the Holy Spirit. The Father is the first divine Person; the Son is the second divine Person, begotten from the nature of the Father from eternity; the Holy Spirit is the third divine Person, proceeding from the Father and the Son. No mortal can fully fathom this sublime truth. But I submit humbly and say: Lord, I believe, help my weak faith. Why is this feast celebrated at this particular time? It may be interpreted as a finale to all the preceding feasts. All three Persons contributed to and shared in the work of redemption. The Father sent His Son to earth, for "God so loved the world as to give His only-begotten Son." The Father called us to the faith. The Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, became man and died for us. He redeemed us and made us children of God. He ever remains the liturgist par excellence to whom we are united in all sacred functions. After Christ's ascension the Holy Spirit, however, became our Teacher, our Leader, our Guide, our Consoler. On solemn occasions a thanksgiving Te Deum rises spontaneously from Christian hearts. The feast of the Most Holy Trinity may well be regarded as the Church's Te Deum of gratitude over all the blessings of the Christmas and Easter seasons; for this mystery is a synthesis of Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost. This feast, which falls on the first Sunday after Pentecost, should make us mindful that actually every Sunday is devoted to the honor of the Most Holy Trinity, that every Sunday is sanctified and consecrated to the triune God. Sunday after Sunday we should recall in a spirit of gratitude the gifts which the Blessed Trinity is bestowing upon us. The Father created and predestined us; on the first day of the week He began the work of creation. The Son redeemed us; Sunday is the "Day of the Lord," the day of His resurrection. The Holy Spirit sanctified us, made us His temple; on Sunday the Holy Spirit descended upon the infant Church. Sunday, therefore, is the day of the Most Holy Trinity. — (Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Volume 4, by Dr. Pius Parsch) Symbols of the Trinity: Equilateral Triange; Circle of Eternity; Three Interwoven circles; Triangle in Circle; Circle Within Triangle; Interwoven Circle and Triangle; Two Triangles interwoven in shape of Star of David; Two Triangles in shape of Star of David interwoven with Circle; Trefoil; Trefoil and Triangle; Trefoil with points; Triquetra; Triquetra and circle; Sheild of the Holy Trinity; Three Fishes linked together in shape of a triangle; Cross and Triangle overlapping; Fleur de Lys; St. Patrick's Shamrock. Things to Do: Depending on the ages of family members, research symbols of the Trinity and create something for the centerpiece of your family table, or something for your family altar, such as a small banner or poster. It can be as little as a 4 x 6 photograph or something to use every year as a backdrop or wallhanging. Think of different foods to serve that can reflect the symbolism of the Trinity. One example is clover leaf rolls. These rolls are formed with three balls of dough put into one hole of the muffin tin for each roll. They are easy to make. Use your favorite roll recipe (you can even buy frozen bread or roll dough), or search on the Internet for one of many examples. The Directory on Popular Piety explains some of the pious exercises related to the devotion of the Holy or Blessed Trinity. Three very simple prayers are the Sign of the Cross, Gloria Patri (Glory Be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, etc.) and the Trisagion (meaning "thrice holy"): "Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy on us." This is just one version, there are many others, and it is usually found in the Eastern liturgies.

[Salvation]

Prayers to the Blessed Trinity

DIRECTIONS

The making of the sign of the cross, which professes faith both in the redemption of Christ and in the Trinity, was practiced from the earliest centuries. St. Augustine (431) mentioned and described it many times in his sermons and letters. In those days Christians made the sign of the cross (Redemption) with three fingers (Trinity) on their foreheads. The words ("In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit") were added later. Almost two hundred years before Augustine, in the third century, Tertullian had already reported this touching and beautiful early Christian practice:

In all our undertakings—when we enter a place or leave it; before we dress; before we bathe; when we take our meals; when we light the lamps in the evening; before we retire at night; when we sit down to read; before each new task--we trace the sign of the cross on our foreheads. — (Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs, by Francis X. Weiser)

The "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen." Surely no prayer is said more often. It forms the conclusion to every psalm, and every Hour of the Divine Office is begun with it. Truly the "Glory be" is like a chime in the church tower that is ever ringing.

The soul-stirring Te Deum, a praise and thanksgiving chant to the triune God, is prayed very frequently at the end of Matins (Evening Prayer).

[Salvation]

Te Deum

Te Deum, also sometimes called the Ambrosian Hymn because if its association with St. Ambrose, is a traditional hymn of joy and thanksgiving. First attributed to Sts. Ambrose, Augustine, or Hilary, it is now accredited to Nicetas, Bishop of Remesiana (4th century). It is used at the conclusion of the Office of the Readings for the Liturgy of the Hours on Sundays outside Lent, daily during the Octaves of Christmas and Easter, and on Solemnities and Feast Days. The petitions at the end were added at a later time and are optional. A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful who recite it in thanksgiving and a plenary indulgence is granted if the hymn is recited publicly on the last day of the year.

O God, we praise Thee, and acknowledge Thee to be the supreme Lord.
Everlasting Father, all the earth worships Thee.
All the Angels, the heavens and all angelic powers,
All the Cherubim and Seraphim, continuously cry to Thee:
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts!
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of Thy glory.
The glorious choir of the Apostles,
The wonderful company of Prophets,
The white-robed army of Martyrs, praise Thee.
Holy Church throughout the world acknowledges Thee:
The Father of infinite Majesty;
Thy adorable, true and only Son;
Also the Holy Spirit, the Comforter.
O Christ, Thou art the King of glory!
Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.
When Thou tookest it upon Thyself to deliver man,
Thou didst not disdain the Virgin's womb.
Having overcome the sting of death, Thou opened the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.
Thou sitest at the right hand of God in the glory of the Father.
We believe that Thou willst come to be our Judge.
We, therefore, beg Thee to help Thy servants whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy Precious Blood.
Let them be numbered with Thy Saints in everlasting glory.

V. Save Thy people, O Lord, and bless Thy inheritance!
R. Govern them, and raise them up forever.

V. Every day we thank Thee.
R. And we praise Thy Name forever, yes, forever and ever.

V. O Lord, deign to keep us from sin this day.
R. Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us.

V. Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, for we have hoped in Thee.
R. O Lord, in Thee I have hoped; let me never be put to shame.

[Salvation]

Sunday, May 22, 2005
(Eighth Week in Ordinary Time) The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

First Reading: Psalm: Second Reading: Gospel:

Exodus 34:4-6, 8-9 Daniel 3:52-55 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 John 3:16-18 As by the Word of God, Jesus our Savior was made Flesh and had both Flesh and Blood for our salvation, so also the food which has been blessed by the word of prayer instituted by Him is both the Flesh and Blood of Jesus Incarnate. -- St Justin Martyr

[Fritzy]

I am still sending prayers and thankfulness your way... I truly appreciate these morning pauses... if I am traveling.. it is always waiting for me when I return...
Blessings to you and your family...

[lightman]

[annalex]

Jn 3:16-18
#	Douay-Rheims	Vulgate
16	For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son: that whosoever believeth in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting.	sic enim dilexit Deus mundum ut Filium suum unigenitum daret ut omnis qui credit in eum non pereat sed habeat vitam aeternam
17	For God sent not his Son into the world, to judge the world: but that the world may be saved by him.	non enim misit Deus Filium suum in mundum ut iudicet mundum sed ut salvetur mundus per ipsum
18	He that believeth in him is not judged. But he that doth not believe is already judged: because he believeth not in the name of the only begotten Son of God.	qui credit in eum non iudicatur qui autem non credit iam iudicatus est quia non credidit in nomine unigeniti Filii Dei

[annalex]

Holy Trinity (Pala della Convertite)
Sandro Botticelli, 1491-1493

The altarpiece shows the Holy Trinity with Mary Magdalene, St John the Baptist and Tobias and the Angel

The Holy Trinity appears as a vision between the penitent saints Magdalene and John in a bleak desert landscape. The Baptist is inviting the observer to worship the Trinity, and Mary Magdalene is turning to face it full of emotion. The exhausted figure of the penitent, a late work of Donatello's, had a decisive influence on Botticelli's Magdalene.

The penitent sinner was the patron saint of the nuns' monastery of the Magdalenes, and this pala or altarpiece was ordered for their church. The figures of Tobias and the angel are very small compared to the others. They might be a reference to the donors of the altar, the guild of doctors and apothecaries: archangel Raphael was their patron saint.

(Source: Web Gallery of Art)

[Salvation]

Does the Trinity Matter?

by Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D.

Other Articles by Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D.

Does the Trinity Matter?

05/23/05

Many are ready to give a polite nod of some sort to Jesus of Nazareth. Most honor Him as a great moral teacher. Many even confess Him as Savior. But the Incarnation of the Eternal God? Second person of the Holy Trinity?

God can’t be one and three at the same time. Such a notion is at worst illogical, at best meaningless. “This was all invented by the Roman Emperor Constantine in 313 AD,” scoffs a motley crew ranging from the Jehovah’s Witnesses to the DaVinci Code.

Of course this charge has no historical leg to stand on. St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote seven brief letters around 110 AD in which he called Jesus “God” 16 times.

True, the word “Trinity” is not in the Bible. But everywhere the New Testament refers to three distinct persons who seem to be equally divine, yet one (e.g. 2 Cor 13:13). So over 100 years before Constantine, a Christian writer named Tertullian coined the term “Trinity” as a handy way to refer to this reality of three distinct, equal persons in one God. It stuck.

But if the doctrine of the Trinity is authentically biblical, is it relevant? Does it really matter?

If Christianity were simply a religion of keeping the law, the inner life of the lawgiver would not matter. But if Christianity is about personal relationship with God, then Who God really is matters totally. Common sense tells us that some Supreme Bbeing made the universe and that we owe Him homage. But that this Creator is a Trinity of Persons Who invites us to intimate friendship with Himself — we never could have guessed. We only know it because God has revealed it.

God is love, says 1 John 4:8 (see also Jn 3:16). If God were solitary, how could He have been love before He created the world? Who would there have been to love? Jesus reveals a God Who is eternally a community of three Persons pouring Themselves out in love to one another before the dawn of time.

The Father does not create the Son and then, with the Son, create the Spirit. No, the Father eternally generates the Son. And with and through the Son, this Father eternally “breathes” the Spirit as a sort of personalized sigh of love. “As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be.” That’s what the conclusion of the Glory Be really means, that the self-giving of the three divine Persons did not begin at a moment in time, but was, is, and is to come. This trinitarian love is the fundamental ground of all reality.

If we are truly to “know” our God, we must know this. But if we are ever to understand ourselves, we must also know this. For we were made in the image and likeness of God, and God is a community of self-donating love. That means that we can never be happy isolated from others, protecting ourselves from others, holding ourselves back selfishly from others. Unless we give ourselves in love, we can never be fully human. And unless we participate in the life of God’s people, we can never be truly Christian, either. Because Christianity is about building up the community of divine love which is called the Church. If God is Trinity, then there really is no place for free-lance, lone-ranger Christians.

Trinitarian traces abound everywhere in creation. The atom is proton, neutron, and electron. Our experience of time is triune — past, present, and future. The family too is a reflection of trinitarian love — the love of husband and wife, distinct and very different persons, generates the child who is from them but is nonetheless distinct from them, indeed absolutely unique.

And that is the final point. One of the greatest treasures of Western culture is the concept of the uniqueness and dignity of the individual person. You really don’t find this idea in the ancient societies of Greece and Rome. And you really don’t find it either in cultures formed by other great world religions, such as Islam.

The concept of the irreplaceable uniqueness of each person came into Western culture straight from the doctrine of the Trinity, three who possess the exact same divine nature, but who are yet irreplaceably unique in their personhood.

The irony? As it progressively abandons the Triune God and His commandments in the name of “choice,” the Western world is undermining the very foundation of personhood, dignity, individuality, and freedom.

That’s how much the Trinity matters.


Dr. D'Ambrosio studied under Avery Cardinal Dulles for his Ph.D. in historical theology and taught for many years at the University of Dallas. He now directs www.crossroadsinitiative.com, which offers Catholic resources for RCIA, adult faith formation, and teens, with a special emphasis on the Year of the Eucharist, the Theology of the Body, the early Church Fathers, and the sacrament of confirmation.