Holy Trinity
For many folks, including myself, the mystery of the Trinity can seem to be an abstract concept, and a confusing one at that. We do know that early Church councils took hundreds of years to put into words the reality of God as revealed by Jesus and as “captured” by the Scripture writers. These councils gave us acceptable language which we can trust as faithfully expressing basic facts: there is one God, one God only, and the very nature of this one God is dynamic love. They remind us that “for any lover there must be a beloved, and love shared abounds in creative power.” Love gives love (Father to Son), shares love (Son and Father) and becomes a fountain of love and life (Holy Spirit).
I do not think we have to understand how God is one and three, or how Jesus is both human and divine, in order to appreciate teachings about the Trinity. Rather, they represent a human effort to bear witness to the truth of God as believers have experienced him. They ask a simple question: Who is the God we have come to know? And they answer: A God of love, a Son who dwelled among us and who gave his life for us, and a God who remains in our midst as an ongoing Spirit.
The definitive statement of God’s love for us is found in Jesus. It is in him who shared our human nature and who walked among us that we have come to know with certainty that God’s response to our troubled lives and our troubled world is saving love. Perhaps we might thank God for those in our lives who convey God’s love through their own love for us, a love which like God’s is protective, generous, forgiving, and challenging.
-Fr. Frank Reale, SJ
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