Trinity Sunday, June 16th, 2019

Today the Church celebrates Trinity Sunday, the liturgical day in which we celebrate God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.  God in Three Persons.  Surely this is a concept that none of us will be able to fully understand or to fully grasp with our "tiny" human minds.  I cannot help but think about St. Augustine of Hippo.  You see, St. Augustine . . .  one of the greatest Doctors of the Church . . . .  even had difficulty with this subject.  One of his greatest books, "About the Holy Trinity," took him thirty years to write.  Imagine that.  Such a brilliant mind and even with that it took him thirty years to write his book concerning the Holy Trinity.   The story comes up that while St. Augustine was writing this volume, he took a walk along the sea shore.  And as he walked along the beach he saw a young boy running back and forth from the ocean to a small hole in the sand.  And he was carrying the water in a sea shell.  As St. Augustine watched, he saw the boy fill up the sea shell with water and then he would run over to the hole in the beach and pour the water in the hole.  After St. Augustine watched the boy repeat this action over and over again, he could not resist asking the boy exactly what he was doing.  The boy responded to St. Augustine that he was putting all the water of the ocean in to this hole on the beach.  St. Augustine stated to the boy, "That is impossible, child.  You can not put an entire ocean into that tiny hole.  The ocean is so great and immense that it will not fit into this hole."  To this, the child responded:  "It is no more impossible than what you are trying to do - trying to comprehend the concept of the Holy Trinity with your small intellect."  With that the child vanished from his sight.  It has been said that this vision which St. Augustine had an angel had appeared to him or even the Christ Child Himself had appeared to St. Augustine.  In either event, the point is the same.  How can we ponder something so great with our human intellect?  

In regards to spiritual things or matters of faith, we can certainly do our best to explain things, to understand things.  This is what theologians do.  The great Doctors of the Church . . .  such as St. Augustine . . .  they ponder the great mysteries of faith.  But for the rest of us, our faith is best understood in our heart.  Our faith is best lived in our daily lives.   For as St. Paul writes that "we walk by faith and not by sight." (II Corinthians 5:7)   As long as we are trying to "comprehend" and "understand" mysteries about God, here's another question which is certainly unsolvable:  why does God love me?   And an even greater mystery:  The same God who knows everything about me . . .  my sins . . . my faults . . .  my failures . . .  still loved me enough to send His only begotten Son into the world to save me from my sins.  Why would God do this?  Why would God love me that much to send His only begotten Son into the world to save me from my sins?  And yet I know He did.  I know through faith that Our Blessed Saviour carried His Cross to that Hill at Calvary to save me from my sins.  With my human intellect I most certainly will never be able to fully comprehend how there are Three Persons but One God.  And I will never be able to fully comprehend why God chose to send His Son into the world to save me from my sins.  But I know these things to be true in my heart through faith.  

St. Margaret Church meets each and every Sunday at 9:30 AM at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.  Join us as we hear the Word of God found in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer and the King James Bible.  Come dedicate one hour of your week to God.  Step away from the busy-ness of the world for just one hour and focus totally on God.  Come and worship Him.  Let Him feed you spiritually.   Receive the Precious Body and Blood at Communion time.