Let’s talk about the Holy Trinity for a minute. The church teaches that this is the central mystery of our faith (see Catechism of the Catholic Church 234). But most of us claim to not understand it very well, consigning it to the “too hard to explain” file of dogmas.
Images of the Trinity
When we do attempt to explain what we mean by three persons in one God, we often regress back to grade school images of shamrocks, apples, eggs, or ice-water-vapor. For the sake of the conversion and faith of our catechumens — and for our own conversion and faith — we have to do better.
The first step is to stop misusing the word “mystery.” I remember asking my grandmother to explain the Holy Trinity to me when I was a child, and she simply said, “it’s a mystery.” I’ve heard homilists stumble through their seminary notes or catechism definitions without ever getting at the heart of what the Holy Trinity means for our faith and then excusing themselves for being vague because, after all, “it’s a mystery.”
The mystery of the Trinity is not a puzzle that is too hard to figure out or something concealed behind a divine veil that will only be parted after we die. The Trinity is a mystery in the way your child or grandchild can know you and love you before she can speak. It is a mystery in the way you grieve deeply with your spouse over a great loss — crying, embracing, just-getting-through-the-day together. It is a mystery in the way that you would drive across town or fly across an ocean to be with a brother or friend who needed you. We should use the word “mystery” like that when talking about the Holy Trinity.
The mystery of the Trinity is not a puzzle that is too hard to figure out or something concealed behind a divine veil that will only be parted after we die. The Trinity is a mystery in the way your child or grandchild can know you and love you before she can speak.
Understanding the unity
Then next step is stop thinking of God as a set of parts that click together like a Transformer toy. God is not three leaves of a clover or an egg that has a shell, a yolk, and a white. God is God. There is only one.
The importance of understanding this unity of God is emphasized in the way we celebrate initiation in the catechumenate.
According to an ancient practice preserved in the Roman Liturgy itself, an adult may not be baptized without receiving Confirmation immediately after Baptism, unless very serious reasons stand in the way (cf. no. 14). This linking indicates the unity of the Paschal Mystery, the connection between the mission of the Son and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and the unity of the Sacraments by means of which both of these divine Persons come together with the Father to those baptized.
OCIA 215
What trips us up, I think, is the word “persons” — there are three persons in one God. However, the distinction between the persons of the Trinity is not like modern conceptions of distinct persons as completely separate individuals. The persons of the Trinity possess the divine nature fully and completely while maintaining a distinctness.
In the fourth century, three saints, known as the Cappadocian Fathers, synthesized a way to think about the distinctness of the persons of the Holy Trinity. They said the three co-equal persons of the Trinity are distinguishable based on their relationships. Their relationship is like a dance (perichoresis) in which the Father moves outward through the Son in the Spirit to us. In return, we, through Christ and inspired by the Spirit, move back to the Father.
How do we think about mysteries?
When we think about the Trinity as a relationship engaged in a divine dance, we begin to see why the dogma of the Trinity is the central mystery of our faith.
- The teaching about the Trinity tells us something vital about who God is (a relationship of love)
- It also tells us what God does (moves towards us to save us)
- It is a summation of our entire Christian story (God constantly intervening in history and us responding)
- It is a model and template for the way we worship (God speaks and we respond in thanksgiving)
- It is a prophesy for the destiny of creation (communion and intimacy with the Creator)
Having said all this, I want to return to how we think about the word “mystery.” The Holy Trinity, as we said, is not puzzle to be solved. The divine dance of the Trinity is ultimately the mystery of Love.
There is a lot we can say about love, but we can never adequately define it. If God is Love, human language will always be inadequate to describe the Trinity. But that should never stop us from singing, proclaiming, acting, painting, writing, poetizing, sculpting, embracing, worshiping, and dancing as ways of revealing to the catechumens and to the world the central mystery of our faith.
When we think about the Trinity as a relationship engaged in a divine dance, we begin to see why the dogma of the Trinity is the central mystery of our faith.
Can you help me out?
I’d love to know how this is landing. Can you share a word or a phrase about how this article resonates with you? Does it speak to your experience? Share your thoughts in the comments box below. Thanks for being part of the conversion!
The mystery of faith is a complex term. Obviously no human can unlock the trinity. I heard a Priest some time back say that even the angels in Heaven know better than to ask Him to explain it. Here’s what I tell my catachumens and candidates during the formation process. God spoke and the word became flesh , out of His great love for us he became Christ, a human being for our salvation and sent his spirit to guide and develop us . Think of a single cell that divides itself to reach an end if that helps you to understand. Of course we will never be able to unlock this “ mystery “ fully until we meet our destiny. It is our responsibility as Christians to accept the teachings of our Church fully and childlike and not try to unlock what we don’t understand. After all we are only humans on a path to salvation. As the great modern story teller Stan Lee says “ Nuff Said”
Another perspective on explaining the Trinity – I did not see you using the term community in your article. You did use the term communion.
Here is how we sometimes describe or offer a partial explanation of the Trinity.
The Trinity gives us a peak at the interior life of God – an insight and partial understanding which we could never have figured out just by our own thinking. It is a Divine revelation. The interior life of God is a community of perfect and infinite love – out of which flows the entire universe and all created beings.
It is our eternal destiny to enter that community of love – when we are ready – when we have been perfected in charity and love. This helps to explain our understanding of purgatory – who of us are perfected in love and charity? So purgatory – it’s not so much a place of punishment – it’s a hospital where we get fixed up. But there can be some pain when in the hospital.
Fr. David Couturier in his book “The Four Conversions” offers a wonderful understanding of the Trinity.
Tom Faranda, RCIA facilitator, Holy Name of Mary Church, Croton NY.
This is clear and accessible, without trivializing the deep mystery of Trinity. Hypostatic union is too much for most people. Perichoresis as a dance is a wonderful metaphor; perhaps we should use the song about joining the dance of Trinity more often and more intentionally.
When it comes to these matters (The Trinity), I highly recommend a book entitled “the mystery of FAITH, an introduction to Catholicism” by Fr. Michael J. Himes.
Chapter 1 is entitled “Trinity” and Chapter 2 is entitled “Grace”.
These two chapters alone beautifully explain what God offers us, and implicitly what we can offer Him (our thanks).
Chapter 1: Himes says: “The best statement of the Trinity is found in the New Testament, in the document we call the First Letter of John. In the fourth chapter at verse 8 and again at verse 16 we read that ‘God is love.'” He then develops that by suggesting that we not be confused by the meaning of the word “love” but instead think of God’s love as “self-gift”.
Chapter 2: Himes simply says: “By ‘grace’ I meaan the love of God outside the Trinity.”
I have had this book in my library for use in my RCIA sessions and when one meditates on just these two chapters alone, for me it does cause my knees “to bend” as St. Paul says.
Love that chapter two line – another insight!
Thanks, Nick. I appreciated your presentation of mystery, and I’m grateful for your summary of the Cappadocians and their emphasis on relationships as a key to thinking about the Trinity. Thanks also to the other respondents for your insights and approaches.
Because all doctrines are rooted in human experiences–how could it be otherwise?–another approach I like to take to the Trinity is to consider the experiences of Jesus’ first disciples.
As good Jews, they knew that there was only one God, Lord of all creation and the One who guided and formed Israel. But then came Jesus. The experience of his ministry, passion and (especially) resurrection changed everything. Very quickly, they began to speak of Jesus in terms that Jews had previously reserved for God. In addition, they began to experience Jesus as powerfully present within their communities, and understood this presence as the Spirit of Jesus and of the Father. When Gentiles began to enter, they particularly felt the action of the Spirit in their moral conversion from their previous ways of living.
It took a lot of time–and the Cappadocians!–to work out the theological language to describe what was happening, but it was rooted in experience.
The experiences of the early disciples were unique and foundational, but we experience the Trinity as well! We do so when we feel God present in Creation and in relationship; when we feel drawn by the Spirit to worship, self-giving and communion; and when we experience Christ in sacrament and in encounters with those he loves. That’s how we enter the mystery of the Trinity.
Very helpful insights, Nick and all commentors. We emphasize love as the stuff of the Trinity with our seekers. We use both circular drawings and Oreos as illustrations. Circle like this: God begat Jesus and from their love flows the Spirit. The 2 cookies of an oreo are like God & Jesus–identical and divine. The white stuff–the glue–is the Spirit, their love that binds them all together and us to them. It’s a fun and concrete explanation.
I love Richard Rohr’s description of The Trinity as a circle dance of love -Each person eternally emptying self in perfect love of other and being filled with perfect love from other. Our destiny is to join the dance.
When I was attending LMU, one of the Jesuits remarked “A mystery isn’t something we can’t know anything about; it’s something we can’t know everything about.” I have always liked that message. I very much enjoy the examples of mystery above concerning love and will likely use them. When I discuss the Trinity in OCIA I start the discussion by saying everyone here is a son or daughter. In my own case I’m a son but also a husband and a father also an employee. As I live my life, I present myself a little differently depending on who I’m involved with at the moment. My employee self is slightly different from my husband self and the relationship between my parents and me is different than between my children and me. Yet I am one person. I try to develop the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as different ways (personalities) in which God is trying to reach us.
When we discuss Trinity, I emphasize yo my students to remember that is only One God. Therefore, where the Father is, so is the Son, so is the Holy Spirit. One God. I remind them that they are one person, but different identities according to their relationships: husband/wife, father/ mother, son/ daughter, etc. still only one person. The relationship is separate, but equal. Where the husband is, so is the father& son. When we receive Eucharist, we receive the Body of Christ, but Father & Spirit as well. We consume our Savior, our Creator, & our Sanctifier together at the same time. Awe inspiring! The crucifixion, One God. The scourging, one God. The Incarnation, one God. The infinite love of the Trinity is the source of all life. Their unity of love impels is to be His Resurrecton & carry that love to every relationship & encounter every day. My students through the years have related confidently to this inadequate analogy. They experience Mass & the Gospels with a new insight. Alway God’s Will upon my efforts. God bless you & our ministry 🙏
Jean Corbon’s ‘The Wellspring of Worship’, is the best book I’ve ever read, bar none. The first 8 chapters are the mystery of our salvation. His writing drips with his worship and love for God. In Chapter 1, Trinity is presented. “…the living and true God is a Father. For this God who is the creative source of all that exists is eternally a source within the Trinity itself. The Father is there the source of the Word which he speaks and the Breath which he breathes. But he is thereby also the source of a communion, for his Son is wholly “toward” him, offering in his reflected glory all that he is and all that the Father has “begotten” in him; the Father’s Spirit is wholly “from” him, and by his acceptance gives back the gift which he is and which “proceeds” from the Father. In the communion of the Blessed Trinity no person is named for himself. There is here neither “in itself” nor “for itself”: terms which among us are signs of barrenness and death. in the communion of the living God the mystery of each person is to be for the other: “O Thou!”
I, too, love Richard Rohr’s “Divine Dance” where the three persons of the Triune God are in a continual dance of love, breathing out, receiving, and giving back love. The most beautiful part is that everyone is invited to participate in this Trinitarian Dance of Love. Rublev’s icon, Trinity, shows Father, Son, and Spirit in loving relationship each giving and receiving love. The oneness of God is LOVE. In this icon, at the front of the table, is a mirror so that, whoever looks at this icon, is invited to join the circle of the Divine Dance of love with the three persons of he Trinity. Our true DNA is of GOD, made in God’s image and called to grow into God’s likeness. We are invited to live in and through God, a life of love. God is Trinity and this pattern is repeated everywhere: atom, God’s basic building block – protons, neutrons, electrons, constantly revolving in an orb where the energy of the atom is in the space among the three, a dance of energy. We also repeat the pattern: body, mind, spirit/soul. When we see God as Trinity, we see God, Trinity, everywhere, and we are called into the relationship of love that is the Triune God. I always bring Rublev’s icon to RCIA meeetngs.
Hi Joy. Thank you so much for your insightful comments. Blessings on your ministry.