After the solemnity of Pentecost, we are back in Ordinary Time. And we resume this season of the liturgical calendar with the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. Sadly, some people think that the Holy Trinity is a virgin, like St. Cecilia, St. Pudentiana, or St. Glyceria; however, the Holy Trinity is not a virgin, but the most important person that all of believers have: God Himself. The Most Holy Trinity is the most perfect manifestation of love: the Father loves the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Son loves the Father and the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit loves the Father and the Son. Many saints of the Church have thought about this beautiful mystery, but they never understood its real meaning. St. Augustine or St. Thomas Aquinas, for instance, tried to understand the mystery, but they couldn’t. Other Saints, priests, and people from the Church have tried to explain a little bit of this mystery in their preaching or catechesis, but their explanation was not enough in comparison to the real dimension of God. St. Patrick, for example, made an analogy to explain God.
According to a legend, “St. Patrick was traveling and happened upon a number of Irish chieftains along a meadow. The tribal leaders were curious about the Trinity and asked St. Patrick for an explanation. So, he bent down, picked a shamrock, and showed it to them, and explained how the three leaves are part of the one plant, and how similarly the three Persons, Father, Son, and Spirit, are part of one Supreme Being.”
Saint Patrick, The Shamrock, and The Trinity
There is an interesting story about St. Augustine trying to understand the Holy Trinity.
“While Augustine was working on his book On the Trinity, he was walking by the seaside one day, meditating on the difficult problem of how God could be three Persons at once. He came upon a little child. The child had dug a little hole in the sand, and with a small spoon or seashell was scooping water from the sea into the small hole. Augustine watched him for a while and finally asked the child what he was doing. The child answered that he would scoop all the water from the sea and pour it into the little hole in the sand. ‘What?’ Augustine said. ‘That is impossible. Obviously, the sea is too large and the hole too small.’ ‘Indeed,’ said the child, ‘but I will sooner draw all the water from the sea and empty it into this hole than you will succeed in penetrating the mystery of the Holy Trinity with your limited understanding.’ Augustine turned away in amazement and when he looked back the child had disappeared.”
The child by the seaside: a medieval story about Saint Augustine
It is not important to understand the mystery of God, but to believe in Him. We need to accept and believe the words of St. John, “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Because God is love, the Father created us, sent His Son to save us, and sent the Holy Spirit to sanctify us. God is love, and He is present in each one of the persons of the Most Holy Trinity.
God bless you, and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!
Fr. Jorge Ramirez
