Readings: Prov 8:22-31; Rom 5:1-5; Jn 16:12-15
Today we celebrate Trinity Sunday. A number of years ago I heard a theologian call it “heresy Sunday” because most priests do not adequately present the theology of the Trinity. This is, after all, the most difficult area in all of Theology to understand. However, my concern today is not so much with being able to present or understand the theology of the Trinity; rather, my concern has to do with belief in the Holy Trinity.
A Protestant professor recently conducted a poll in which he asked about belief in the Trinity. The results may be somewhat skewed by perspective, or it may have been the way he asked the question, but the reported results were horrifying. Among Catholics, 9% responded that they believe in the Holy Trinity as Three Persons subsisting in One God.
The belief in the Trinity is what defines us as Christians. We profess every Sunday at Mass and every day in the Rosary, our belief in one God the Father Almighty, and in His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit. This means that we profess that there is only one God, but we make clear our belief that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. There are not three gods; there are three divine Persons Who are all absolutely perfect, share the same substance, and form a perfect unity so they are one.
While the word “Trinity” is not used in Scripture, there are many places that reveal this truth. In the Old Testament, God is sometimes referred to as Elohim, which is plural, yet when pronouns are used in the same context they are always singular. We see reference to the plurality of God right from the beginning of the Scriptures: “Let us make man in our image and likeness,” “Let us go down and there confuse their language.” When God appeared to Abraham regarding the city of Sodom it was in the form of three angels.
In the second Psalm we read, “You are my son, today I have begotten you.” This is similar to what we hear in the first reading today where we hear about Wisdom being brought forth in the beginning, before God began His work of creation. St. Paul says in his first Letter to the Corinthians that (Jesus) Christ is the Wisdom of God and the Power of God. In other words, it makes perfect sense that in the Old Testament Wisdom is personified because Jesus is the Incarnate Wisdom.
We recall when Jesus asked His Apostles who they say He is, Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” When our Lord appeared to His Apostles after the resurrection and showed His wounds to Thomas, the Apostle replied: “My Lord and My God.” We are further told that when went with Jesus to the Mount of Olives at the time of the Ascension, the Apostles worshipped Him. St. Paul, in the beginning of his Letter to the Hebrews, includes seven Scripture quotations to show that Jesus is not an angel, but that He is the Son of God.
Throughout the New Testament we read about the extraordinary things the Apostles were able to do through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus told us, as we read in today’s Gospel, that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth; recall that Jesus called Himself the Truth. Our Lord says the Spirit will “take from what is mine and declare it to you.” Then He goes on to say, “Everything that the Father has is mine.”
St. Peter tells us in the second reading that “the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” St. Paul tells us we are Temples of the God because of the Holy Spirit Who dwells in us. So, we have divine life through the Holy Spirit, we have divine truth through the Holy Spirit, and we have the love of God given us through the Holy Spirit. Only God can give His life, truth, and love.
You are made in the image and likeness of God. You are not three in one, but you have a soul which is the principle of life, you have a mind that is made for truth, and you have a will that is made for love. Moreover, you are made to be in relationship with God Who is Life, Truth, and Love. It is imperative that we know the Person we love. We may not understand the Holy Trinity any more than St. Thomas understood the resurrection, but our Lord’s words to Thomas in that context can be repeated to us regarding the Trinity: doubt no longer, but believe!
Fr. Altier’s column appears regularly in The Wanderer, a national Catholic weekly published in St. Paul, Minn. For information about subscribing to The Wanderer, please visit www.thewandererpress.com.
