2013-05-23                  Daniel Daring                    2013 articles                     2012 articles

Meditation on the Holy Trinity
Trinity Sunday: Proverbs 8:22-31; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15

“We believe in one God, the Father Almighty . . . , and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God . . . , and in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life . . . .” is the solemn proclamation of the First Council of Constantinople (381 CE), known as the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. The Creed is rooted in the scriptural passages such as Matthew 28:20 and 2 Corinthians 13:14, for example, which suggest three different manifestations of God: as the Father, as the Son, and as the Holy Spirit. How can we comprehend this truth? Probably, we cannot. But we may try to see its significance in our lives.  

The Father – the unseen source of goodness and divinity  

We call God, “Our Father,” but we immediately add “who art in heaven.” In the Book of Exodus, God spoke to Moses: “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live” (33:20). And the Gospel of John states: “No one has even seen God . . .” (1:18); “No one has ever seen the Father . . .” (6:46). The truth that comes from these passages is that the Source cannot be seen. He is invisible. “God . . . who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever” (1 Timothy 6:16; see also Colossians 1:15, Romans 1:20). Recently, I was told that a new devotion to God the Father is spreading in the Philippines. The devotees pray in front of an image of “god,” which looks like an old man. It clearly goes against the above mentioned passages of the Scriptures. We are incapable of portraying our Father, who art in heaven. And He himself prohibits any attempt to put Him into an image (Exodus 20:4; see also Exodus 32:1-33:6).

If things would stay that way, however, we would be left alone to run the affairs of this world, and God would also live alone in His aloofness, somewhere in heaven in unapproachable light. Yet, He wants to commune with us; He wants to reveal Himself to us. At Bethel, Jacob had a dream that made him to exclaim: “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven” (Genesis 28:17). In that dream, he saw a ladder connecting heaven with earth and “the angels of God were ascending and descending on it” (Genesis 28:12). This ladder is replaced by Jesus Christ in John 1:51: “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending.”

The Son – the Image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15)

It is an amazing thing to state that the invisible God made himself visible in the man, Jesus of Nazareth. Immanuel – God is with us (Matthew 1:23), we proclaim on Christmas Day. Jesus of Nazareth, the way he lived, taught and acted, revealed who God is. “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known” (John 1:18). Jesus made us to realize the incredible truth about our God, who, although he lives “in a high and holy place” has also decided to live among the lowly (Isaiah 57:17).

We often use the saying, ‘like the father, so the son,’ to indicate that a boy resembles certain characteristics and attitudes of his father. Applying this saying to the mystery of God, we may draw an important statement of faith: only through Jesus we can know something about the invisible Father. And if this is the case, then in order to know who God truly is, it is necessary to know Jesus.

The Spirit – the Promise of the Father (Luke 24:49)

In June 1945 the theme for the Congress of the Apostolate of Prayer and the Eucharistic Crusade was: “The Apostolate of Prayer in the service of Christ by devotions to the Sacred Heart, the Eucharist, the Blessed Virgin and the Pope.” Twelve years after the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), in 1977, Bishop Lefebvre was still preaching that “the three main gifts God has given us [are]: the Pope, the most holy Virgin and the Eucharistic sacrifice.” On May 27, 2007 the Feast of Pentecost,  a certain parish in the Philippines celebrated the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary instead. What happened to the Holy Spirit? No wonder that She (pneuma – spirit, in Greek this noun is feminine) is often called the Forgotten One; no wonder that our Church has been often criticized for substituting the Holy Spirit with Eucharist, Pope, and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

“But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7). The Father made Himself visible in the Son who became man. But it took place two thousand years ago. What about us? It is the Holy Spirit who makes the experience of God’s presence available to us. She, who proceeds from the Father and is given to us through the Son is that ‘downpayment or first installment’ as a pledge and guarantee that the Father will complete His work of salvation within us and in the world: “Having believed, you were marked in him [Christ] with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:14). He is the main Gift God has given to us.

Conclusion

“One God in three Persons,” we use to teach the children about the Trinity and they ended up with ‘three gods,’ because logic tells them that three cannot equal one. We have to be aware that no formula can match the mystery of God. It is better to hold on to the language of the Creed that so carefully expresses the mystery of our faith: when it speaks of one God, it refers to the Father Almighty; when it speaks of one Lord, it refers to the Son; and while speaking about the Spirit, it uses the phrase, ‘the Lord and Giver of life.’ Even these expressions can be confusing and lead to misunderstanding or heresies; beyond that, however, I do not think we are able to venture.

Let me end up with the experience of one of the greatest theologians in the Western Church, St. Thomas Aquinas. Suddenly, a few years before his death, he stopped writing his theological treaties. When asked for the reason, he is supposed to have answered: ‘Some months ago I experienced something of the Absolute, so all I have ever written about God seems to me now to be like straw.’ It is my wish that we experience something of that Absolute, who reveals Himself as “only one God, the Father, from who all things come, and only one Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things are, and only one Spirit, the Gift, in all things” (St. Hilary).

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