THE BLESSED TRINITY

Just before He ascended to Heaven the risen Lord commissioned His followers to continue His work.   “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."  (Matt. 28. 19-20). The Church was to make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Blessed Trinity -the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.   Though He would no longer be visibly present Jesus would always be with us.

So, what does being baptised in the name of the Blessed Trinity mean for us?   Well, our names denote who we are. I belong to the Clarke family.   Baptism in the name of the Blessed Trinity gives us our identity, as God’s children, who enjoy the very life of the Blessed Trinity.  Through the life-giving sacrament of baptism we are raised beyond our human, creaturely limitations to share the very life of the Blessed Trinity and are called to share its happiness.   The Trinity makes its home in us, and we in the Trinity.   Each of us – our very selves - becomes God’s temple, His sacred dwelling place.

As God’s children there’s a family resemblance between us and God.   We’ve been made in His image and likeness.   Our perfection and happiness lies in becoming ever more like God –in knowing and loving God as He really is, living lovingly as God lives.   That means becoming like the Trinitarian God, and knowing and loving God as Trinity.

So, what is the Trinity like?    The simple answer is –nothing on earth!   God is completely different from the physical world in which we live.  He transcends the whole of His creation.   In other words, God is mysterious.

But let’s not panic!   We’re used to living with mysteries in our daily lives.   We don’t fully understand ourselves, let alone anybody else. We’re constantly being taken by surprise.  But that doesn’t prevent us loving each other. In fact the mystery makes us much more interesting to know and love.   We can destroy love by too much analysis –by trying to define and categorise people.   So, we shouldn’t be put off by God being the greatest of all mysteries.  Instead, we should welcome, love and praise the mystery of the Trinity, which is God.  We want to be loved for ourselves, as we really are, and not as some fantasy of us -so does God. It’s exceedingly insulting to love a fantasy, rather than welcome the real person. If we try to force God to fit into our limited understanding of Him we will end up with fashioning our own god.  That would be idolatry.

God has revealed something of Himself by attributing to each member of the Blessed Trinity a different way of being involved in our salvation… the Father – Creator; the Son – Saviour; the Holy Spirit – Sanctifier!

In John’s Gospel we’re told that God loved the world so much that He sent His only Son into the world to save us.  The Son expressed God’s love for us by becoming one of us and sacrificed His human life so that we could share His divine life.       No one could show us greater love than that!           And after ascending to heaven Jesus sent God’s Spirit into the world so that we could receive the divine happiness which He’d won for us on the cross.   Without the activity of each member of the Blessed Trinity our lives as Christians would be meaningless, impossible.

Obviously there’s much more that could be said about the Blessed Trinity.   But in the end, we have to admit that God can’t be pinned down by intellectual analysis and definitions -nor can we!              We will draw far closer to God by welcoming Him with love as He is in Himself –as the mysterious Blessed Trinity.   We will know, love and praise God much, much better in heaven. That will be our eternal happiness.

Isidore O.P.