Stay close to the trinity

You may have heard the story of Augustine. Once, as he walked along the beach, he noticed a small boy. The child was running back and forth between the ocean and a small hole he had dug in the sand. With each trip, the boy scooped water from the sea to pour into the tiny hole. Augustine approached the boy and asked: "My child, what are you doing?" The boy replied cheerfully: "I am trying to empty the entire ocean into this hole." Augustine smiled and gently explained, "That is impossible. The sea is vast and infinite compared to this tiny hole. You will never be able to pour all the water of the ocean into it." Then the child looked up at Augustine and replied: "And you, likewise, will never be able to fully comprehend or fit the mystery of the Holy Trinity into your finite human mind."

 

Many people have tried to describe the mystery of the Holy Trinity, which continues to distinguish Christians from all other religions. Sometime after his experience with the boy on the beach, St. Augustine would use the analogy of our soul having three parts: memory, intellect, and will, to describe how God can be three persons in one. Each faculty is distinct from the others, yet they cannot be separated and are all inseparably part of the same soul. Each faculty relies on the others to fulfill the needs of the whole.

 

St. Augustine then offers another analogy. In this example, he describes the Holy Trinity as a Lover, a Beloved, and Love itself. The Father (Lover) begets the Son, who is the Beloved. The Holy Spirit, who proceeds from both, is described as the love that proceeds from the Father and the Son. This love between the Father and the Son is so profound that a third person proceeds in this manner.

 

While St. Patrick used the simple analogy of a shamrock, a single plant with three leaves, perhaps the young Russian artist Andrei Rublev expressed it best in his world-famous Holy Trinity Icons, also known as Hospitality. This icon depicts the visit of three angels to Abraham, an iconic Old Testament scene (Gn 18:1-8). All three persons are seated around a table, equidistant from one another, yet somehow inviting the observer to sit at the table with them. This invitation to sit with the three persons reflects the invitation to fallen humanity to enter the eternal banquet, where the family of persons (Holy Trinity) already resides.

 

What does all of this mean for us? A divine family of persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit has created us in His image. Families reflect this trinitarian relationship in the union that married couples share. The love shared between husband and wife is the source from which the incredible gift of children often flows. It has been said that family life is the first school where children learn to be loved and to love.

 

As adopted sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, we can and ought to have a unique, intimate relationship with each person of the Blessed Trinity. Speaking to each person can be as natural as speaking to those around us. The Father has begotten the Son, even before time began.

 

He wants to hear from us. The Son was sent to earth, becoming one of us to save us from our sins and restore our relationship with the Father (Philippians 2:6-11). In turn, the Son has sent the Holy Spirit to us. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. St. Augustine said in one of his homilies that what the soul is to the body, the Holy Spirit is to the Church. In other words, just as the soul gives life to the body, "the Holy Spirit gives supernatural life, unity and activity to the Church" (Sermon 267). The Trinity of persons invites us to the banquet. Let us always remember to rejoice and celebrate fully with all three persons.