Three In One - The Most Holy Trinity
The Sunday after the feast of Pentecost invites us to live in the awareness of the presence of the Triune God within us: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The mystery of the Holy Trinity, a doctrine enunciated by the ecumenical councils of Nicaea and Constantinople, is one of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity and the greatest mystery of our Faith, namely, that there are Three Divine Persons, sharing the same Divine nature in one God. We have the Father, who is the Creator, the Son, who is the Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit, who is the Sanctifier and the Counselor.
St. Cyril, the teacher of the Slavs, tried to explain the Mystery of the Most Holy Trinity using the sun as an example. He said, “God the Father is that blazing sun. God the Son is its light and God the Holy Spirit is its heat — but there is only one sun. So, there are three Persons in the Holy Trinity, but God is One and indivisible.” St. John Maria Vianney used to explain the Holy Trinity using lighted candles and roses on the altar. “The flame has color, warmth and shape. But these are expressions of one flame. Similarly, the rose has color, fragrance and shape. But these are expressions of one reality, namely, rose.”
· The Most Holy Trinity is the perfect model of Unity – Three different persons in an inseparable union. Unity doesn’t mean uniformity. The beauty of the Holy Catholic Church is that it is the communion of twenty-four individual churches. Still, we recite in our Creed that ‘we believe in One, Holy, Catholic and apostolic Church’. All these individual Churches sharing the same faith, worshiping the Lord differently according to their liturgical traditions. We call our church ‘Community’ meaning we are called to be in communion with God and our brothers and sisters.
· Everyone has a unique role – Each person in the Holy Trinity has a definite role attributed to - We have the Father, who is the Creator, the Son who is the Redeemer and the Holy Spirit who is the Sanctifier and the Counselor. Likewise in the church we all have our own role to play. We have different ministries in the church to participate. It is our responsibility to find out which ministry God is calling us to serve, and to respond to it positively, saying “here I am Lord”.
May The Triune God Bless You All…
- Fr. John Samuel