Trinity Sunday

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Fr. Todd Bragg

St. Margaret of Scotland Anglican Church,

Indianapolis, Indiana

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of Man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."  (St. John 3:1 ff)

Did you hear the one about the snail that got mugged by the tortoise and when the police arrived to interview the snail, they asked him, 'Can you describe who did this to you?'  And the snail responded, 'no, it happened too fast.'

Some things in life are very difficult to comprehend . . .  sort of like that last joke . . .  And today is perhaps one of those things that is just very difficult to understand because today the Church celebrates the Feast of Trinity Sunday.

The earliest reference to the term "Trinity" in Christianity seems to come from Terulian, who used the term to try to explain the "Three in One" aspect of God.  Three Persons but only One God.  The "Tri-unity," if you will.

Now the whole concept of the Trinity is something that very few people can understand how it is even possible.  And for me to stand here before you and try to put into words something that, quite honestly, I do not understand myself, is beyond comprehension.  But it does make me feel better, to know that I am not alone when I found the following quote from one of my absolute favorite Church Fathers.  St. Augustine wrote the following:  "If you deny the Trinity, you will lose your soul, if you try to explain the Trinity, you will lose your mind."  So, if a great mind and thinker such as St. Augustine admits just how difficult concept the whole idea of the Trinity is to comprehend, then I don't feel so bad after all.

St. Thomas Aquinas wrote in the Summa:  "It is impossible to believe explicitly in the mystery of Christ without faith in the Trinity; since the mystery of Christ includes that the Son of God took Flesh; that He renewed the world through the Holy Ghost, and again conceived by the Holy Ghost."

And, again, we find in the Catechism:  "The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity" is the central mystery of the Christian faith and life.  It is the mystery of God in Himself.  It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them." (CCC #234)

I believe that what we can take away from all of this in regards for our understanding in the Trinity is to remember what Our Blessed Lord stated:  "If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father."  In responding to a question posed to Him first by St. Thomas, we hear Our Blessed Lord's response:

  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.  If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.  Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.  Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?  Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.  Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.  And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.  (St. John 14:6-14)

 In this exchange between Our Blessed Lord and His apostles, what we hear is that if you look at Our Lord you will see the Father.  Our Blessed Lord so closely emulates His Heavenly Father that when you see Him you see the Father.  And Our Lord chastises St. Phillip especially when He says "Have I been with you so long and yet thou has not known Me."  Again, Our Lord is saying to us that the Three Persons of the Trinity are One because they work as one, they think as one, they are one in their purpose and their resolve.  Thus, if you have seen the Son, you have seen the Father and the Holy Ghost.  

In St. John's Gospel, we hear the following:  "That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee; that they also may be one in Us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me." (St. John 17:21)

For our part, what we can learn from the Trinity is that the more we will follow Our Blessed Saviour's commands, the more that we follow His actions, the more that we emulate the way in which He treats others, the more that we do all of these things, it is then that we will be recognized as a Christian.  In other words, if we are loving in the way in which we treat others, if we are forgiving when we are wronged, if we are humble in our attitude toward those around us, if we are giving to those in need, in these ways will we be so closely identified with Our Blessed Saviour that people will know that we are Christians.  Of course, we will not always do everything correctly as we should.  We are not perfect.  If we were perfect, there would be no need for Our Blessed Lord to die on the Cross to atone for our sins.

Thus, in short, if we want to comprehend the Holy Trinity, let us think of the Holy Trinity as love.  Love for those around us . . .  love for those whom we come into contact with . . . love for those in need of God's grace.  We are called to follow God's commandments, let us follow His commandment to love one another and to show the love of God to those around us.