Trinity Sunday emphasizes a tenet of our faith we say every day
by Sister Ann Rehrauer
This weekend’s feast celebrates one of the central mysteries of our faith – our belief in One God who is a Trinity of Persons: Father, Son, and Spirit. While some of the other doctrines of our faith can be deduced from things around us or experiences in life – the mystery of the Trinity is clearly made known to us through divine revelation – through the words of Scripture.
Throughout his life, Jesus prayed to his Father – so we know that the Father is a separate person who shares the divine nature with Jesus, the Son. And in John’s Gospel we heard Jesus promise to send the Spirit as an advocate for us – so we know the Spirit is separate from, but sharing the divine nature with the Father and the Son.
While we struggle to understand how this one-ness of being and three-ness of persons happens, and find it even more difficult to explain, the mystery of the Trinity is at the very basis of our faith. Each of us was baptized “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” As we begin our formal prayers, we do so “in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Even the greeting at Mass contains the prayer for the grace of the Lord Jesus, the love of the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit to be with us. In our personal prayer we sometimes call upon the Father; sometimes we speak directly to Jesus; and at other times we ask inspiration from the Spirit.
This weekend, even though I have more time for reflection, I’ll allow theologians to grapple with explanations and doctrinal language to explain this great mystery. I’ll simply be grateful that in my life I have the words and actions of Jesus, the Son, to follow, the love of the Father who continues to give me life to sustain me, and the inspiration and gifts of grace from the Spirit to help me live as God’s beloved daughter. May our prayer be often:
Glory 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
Reflection question
In your prayer to which member of the Trinity do you most often direct your thoughts?
Excellent reflection this morning! Job well done.