This aims to explain this "central mystery of the Christian faith," a mystery not too many Catholics understand, much less able to explain to others.
But before you start reading, I suggest you get a cup of coffee and a comfortable chair because this is not an easy read, but may be worthwhile in trying to understand what "three persons in one God" means.
Can you explain the Holy Trinity to others?
The mystery of the Holy Trinity “is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the hierarchy of the truths of faith” (CCC 234). How would you explain this mystery to a Muslim, for example?
When asked by our fellow Christians, our response is usually “it means there are three persons in one God.” When probed what exactly that means, we are likely to say “I can’t really explain that, that’s why it’s a mystery.”
Let's start with this thought:
There are religions who recognize their God as creator of all things and source of all life. But these religions depict their God as “one-person.” Unlike this “one person” concept of God, the God revealed to us (by God himself) is a God who is Trinitarian, i.e. “three persons in one God.”
Our God is a communicating God. God wants to make Himself known to us. God does not want to be mysterious and unknown. On the contrary, God knows that when we truly know him, we will fall in love with him. Thus, the whole Bible is about how God continually communicates himself to us.
So how does God reveal himself?
Answer: God first revealed himself as Yahweh.
Very early in the bible, there was a point when God communicated to men and women the name by which he wanted to be known: "Yahweh." It means “I am who am.” In Tagalog, it could translate to “A, basta. Ako si ako.” It means that God is simply being, being in its fullness, or unlimited being.
Biblical scholars who study the nuances of language believe that the more accurate translation of Yahweh is “I am who will show myself to be by the actions, which I will do on your behalf.” This translation suggests two things:
- God wants to be known progressively, not in a one time kind revelation. This means that the God of the Old Testament must be known also through what is revealed by God in the New Testament.
- Secondly, the translation suggests that God will be known by the actions that he will do for his people.
What then do we know about who God is and the nature of God based on the actions that God has done?
Answer:
- God liberated the Jews from slavery. The Jews could not help but marvel at what Yahweh has done. Imagine, they were previously a bunch of slaves oppressed by the Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they became a people with their own king and land!
- However, the Israelites frequently disobeyed and turned away from Yahweh many times in their history as a nation. They would worship other gods, commit acts of injustice to their own people especially the poor, widow and orphans, and disobey the laws given to Moses. But despite all these, Yahweh never gave up on them.
Through these actions, Yahweh became known not just as a powerful God, but a God “abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” His justice is tempered with mercy. It is not a vindictive kind of justice, but a saving kind of justice.
The people would backslide, yet Yahweh never gives up on the sinner. “For a brief moment I have abandoned you, but with great tenderness I will gather my people. For a moment, in an outburst of anger, I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I have had mercy on you, says Yahweh, our Redeemer.” (Isaiah 54:7-8)
The disobedience continued; but Yahweh’s persistent love also prevailed.
Then, one day Yahweh did the most unexpected and undreamed of action of all time. Yahweh no longer spoke through signs, but through a Son, Jesus of Nazareth.
“God has spoken in the past to our ancestors through the prophets, in many different ways, although never completely; but in our times he has spoken definitively to us through his Son.” (Hebrews 1:1-2)
What did the words and actions of Jesus reveal about who God is?
Answer:
In his ministry, Jesus speaks of Yahweh in a very unusual way. He calls Yahweh: “Father.” This is a radical idea since this invokes an intimate relationship with God, something akin to the relationship of father and child, and not king and subjects as the Jews were used to. In fact, Jesus says that we should use the word “abba,” which is the way a little child endearingly calls his/her father. Throughout his life, Jesus speaks and acts in a way which suggests a personal and intimate relationship with God as Father.
Jesus also reveals the Spirit of God which came down upon him during baptism. He promises the Spirit to his disciples at the Last Supper, saying that the Father will send him, and that he (Jesus) himself will send him (John 14:16-17, 25; 15:26; 16:7-14). But the Spirit is given only after Jesus has been glorified (John 7:39). Then Jesus gives the Spirit on the day of the Resurrection to the disciples, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). And in Pentecost, there is the outpouring of the Spirit to Mary and the disciples gathered in the upper room.
Through the words and actions of Jesus, the name of God has changed. It is no longer “Yahweh,” (the God who will reveal who he is through the actions he will do for his people).
After God becomes man in the person of Jesus, and the sending of the Holy Spirit in Pentecost, God’s name is now: “Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
So what is the Holy Trinity?
Answer:
Through his actions and words, we now know that God has a Son, who was with him in the beginning, and who was God like him. It is this Son who became flesh and lived among us. God does not only have a Son, but also a Spirit. This Spirit is the one who pours out the love of God into our hearts (Romans 5:5).
Can you tell us more about the Holy Spirit? I don’t have a mental picture of the Holy Spirit, unlike the Father and the Son.
Answer:
This Spirit is not the Father nor the Son but is sent by them both not as another spirit like an angel, but as their common Spirit, and thus God like them.
The Spirit is first of all, a spirit and is a person. He does not have a material body, and yet he is someone. He is someone who performs spiritual functions, acts of the intellect, for example. Christ said that the Spirit would lead the disciples to all the truth (John 16:12), that the Spirit would also bear witness regarding him (John 15:26), and would speak for the disciples when they faced the tribunals (Matthew 10:19-20).
The Holy Spirit is Love in Person. It is because he is Love in person that the Holy Spirit can pour forth into our hearts the love of God when he is given as gift to us. (Romans 5:5)
(My own mental picture of the Holy Spirit is a “spiritual presence” who is with me wherever I go).
So God changed his name from Yahweh to the Holy Trinity?
Answer:
Yes, the name of God is now Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is in that name we are baptized. We enter into the life of one God-Community of Persons.
In other words, the one God really exists as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. From all eternity God is a Trinity of Persons, but this truth was revealed only through the sending of Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit. So in God, there is one What and three Who’s.
What is the implication of the Holy Trinity in my life?
Answer:
The fact that now we are told by God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, that God is a communion of Persons bonded together by love, means that we human begins are called to live in a communion of love with each other.
Reference:
The two main sources used in this article are the Catechism of the Catholic Church (or CCC) and the book of Bishop Teodoro Bacani entitled From Yahweh to the Trinity (Manila: Gift of God Publications, undated). In many parts of my article, I quoted complete sentences verbatim from Bishop Ted’s book without citing them in footnotes. I am hoping that this citation will suffice in acknowledging his ideas).
Gospel:
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.” As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
Gospel Trivia:
This gospel account for Pentecost Sunday does not jive with what we recall as the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples. It was supposed to have happened fifty days after the Resurrection when the disciples were gathered in the upper room.
In today's Gospel, Jesus breathes on the disciples and says, "Receive the Holy Spirit" and, according to John the evangelist, this took place on the night of Easter Sunday.
Is there a conflict in the recording of the events? Or are these two events: one is the sending of the Holy Spirit right after the Resurrection (according to John's gospel), and another time when the disciples were in the upper room (according to the Acts of the Apostles, written by Luke)?
Biblical scholars interpret these as the same event, but reflect two different theological perspectives of the two authors.
What, then, is John's intended message in his gospel account of the sending of the Holy Spirit? There are three:
- The coming of the Holy Spirit marks a new creation. Jesus BREATHES on the disciples as he says, "Receive the Holy Spirit." The word used for "breathes" is reminiscent of the creation of humankind in Genesis: "The Lord God formed man out of the clay of the ground and BLEW into his nostrils the BREATH of life, and so man became a living being." (Genesis 2:7). Soon, Jesus will disappear physically; but his presence remains with the disciples through the Spirit that will guide them in their mission of proclaiming a new way of life and relationship with God.
- The Holy Spirit brings peace. "Peace be with you" is the traditional Jewish greeting. In this account, Jesus says this greeting twice; thus, the close association between the Spirit and the peace that it brings.
- The sending of the Holy Spirit coincides with the sending of the disciples. "As the Father has sent me, so I send you," Jesus says. The disciples' mission is a continuation of Jesus' mission and, and they will be accompanied by Jesus' continuing presence in the Spirit. It will bring them sustenance and peace despite the travails and trials they will face.
We may have been baptized in the Holy Spirit -- whether in baptism and/or again in a Life in the Spirit Seminar -- but receiving the Spirit means you have a mission. What is your mission?
Reference:
*Nil Guillemette, SJ, Hungry No More (Manila: St. Paul's Publications, 1989), pp. 255-259.
Gospel:
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.
Gospel Trivia:
Biblical scholars generally agree that this ending in the gospel of Mark was added much later after the earlier and original ending of Mark's gospel on verse 16:8 - "Then they went out and fled from the tomb, seized with trembling and bewilderment. They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid."
Such a disappointing ending, isn't it?
The purpose of the the "added ending" is to capture the transformation of the converted Christians after Jesus ascended to heaven (or, when Jesus was no longer physically with them). They were transformed from a group of people trembling and hiding, to a band of disciples who "proclaimed the gospel to every creature" and performed miracles.
How do we evaluate our Christian life? Are we afraid and in hiding when asked to make an unpopular, but Christian, choice? Or do we go forth and confirm our faith in our action and options?
Reference:
- Nil Guillemette, SJ, A Kingdom for All (Makati: St. Paul's Publications), pp. 109-110.
Gospel:
Jesus said to his disciples:
“As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.”
Gospel Trivia:
This gospel passage contains some of the most beautiful and perhaps sweetest verses that Jesus said. However, these verses are more than beautiful and sweet words, but also reflects what a personal relationship with Jesus entails:
- John 15:10 – “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.” Love of God is not just a “feel good” thing. It requires action, keeping his commandments.
- John 15: 12 – “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
This is the second time that Jesus says this, but with a slight twist. The first time was during the last supper but at that time he referred to this as a “NEW” commandment. This time, Jesus refers to it as “MY” commandment. It is a personal commandment of Jesus himself. We must love one another “AS I LOVED YOU.” Jesus’ love is the new standard, which means a personal relationship based on sacrificial love and forgiveness; and NOT the legalistic approach of the Pharisees who equate righteousness before God in terms simply of obeying the laws of Moses
- John 15:13 – “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Jesus’ standards includes sacrificing one’s life for others, perhaps not in terms of actual physical death, but love based on “dying” to one’s self.
- John 15:15 – “I no longer call you slaves. I have called you friends.”
Jesus love is also not just a decision or commitment, but has the character of intimacy, reciprocity, and heart to heart, which are elements of true friendship.
- John 15:11 – “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you.”
Joy was considered in the Old Testament as the characteristic of the time of salvation and everlasting peace. It is the ultimate reward of a relationship based on love and friendship.
Loving God is serious business. It entails a certain kind of “dying” to one’s self such as loving the unlovable, taking the initiative to repair a relationship even though it is not your fault, choosing the difficult right instead of the easy wrong.
Doesn’t a part of ourselves “die” when we humble ourselves and do these things?
God loves us seriously. How serious do you love God? What expressions of God’s love can you do that entails a “dying” to one’s self?
Reference:
- Nil Guillemette, SJ, Hungry No More (Makati: St. Paul's Publications, 1989), 210-212
Gospel:
Jesus said to his disciples:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”
Gospel Trivia:
The vine is often used in Scripture to refer to the people of Israel, initially referred to as God's chosen people but have been unfaithful to Yahweh as described in the Old Testament:
Jeremiah 2:21: I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine?
As well as by Jesus himself in the New Testament through the parable of the idle workers who had to be invited by Jesus to work in the vineyard. (Matthew 20:1-8)
Jesus now declares himself as the true vine, i.e. no longer the false vine which was Israel. The branches are those who follow him.
Those who bear fruit are those who live out Jesus' life and teachings. Pruning is the inevitable trials that a disciple goes through, but which further strengthens and increases the fruits of their discipleship. One's fruitfulness depends on the closeness of the relationship between the branch and Jesus, the true vine.
How will you measure the fruitfulness of your discipleship? How strong is your relationship with the true vine?
Reference:
- Nil Guillemette, SJ, Hungry No More (Makati: St. Paul's Publications, 1989), 204-206.
