Dear Parishioners,

Happy Holy Trinity Sunday! It is such a glorious day because the Church asks us to reflect on one of the central mysteries of the faith: who God is. We believe that God is three persons who possess one divine nature. However, it is hard to explain to people what that means. So, many have tried to explain it using analogies that have unfortunately confused people rather than explained it.

For instance, some may claim that God is like the different states of matter like how water can be solid ice, liquid or gas. The problem with this analogy is that it makes it sound like God is just taking on different roles. But the Church teaches that each person of the Trinity is a different answer to the question of who, not a different answer to what they do. In other words, each person is distinct from each other person of the Trinity.

Some might say that the God is like the sun which gives off light and heat. The problem with this analogy is that neither the light nor heat are actually the sun, but things produced by the sun. So this analogy would cause one or more of the persons of God to be a product caused by another person of God. This goes against our belief that each person is coequal and coeternal.

Others might say that God is like a three leaf clover: each person being like a leaf. This can’t be true because it would mean that each person makes up a part of God. You need three leaves to make a clover or you just have part of a clover. On the other hand, when we are just speaking of one person of God, we can rightfully call Him completely and totally God because that is what He is.

While analogies are useful as a stepping stone to a concept, we have to drop the analogy in order to get closer to what is actually true. When talking about the Trinity, we can neither collapse one person into another or divide the divine nature. And this is all very important because what we say about the Trinity has immediate effect of what we think about Our Lord Jesus Christ.

The great thing about the Church’s teaching about the Trinity is that it shows that there is always something more to learn about the faith. We should never be complacent or think that we understand everything. Likewise, we should never be discouraged to learn more since God wants to reveal Himself to us. As we contemplate this mystery, may we be in awe of God who is three in one.

God bless!

Fr. Carter