Feast of the Holy Trinity

Feast of the Holy Trinity
May 30, 2021
Reflection by Mother Marie Julie, SCMC
My Dear Good People,
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, as we do each year on the Sunday after Pentecost. We ponder the revelation of Jesus about Our Holy God, One God in Three; Father, Son and Holy Spirit; Three Persons in one God; Undivided Unity. These are all expressions the Church uses to describe this wonderful Mystery, one that is very hard to comprehend because we have no point of reference in our experience with which to understand it. But ironically, although it is a Doctrine of the Faith, we are not asked to understand the Mystery of the Trinity, only to acquiesce and believe in this revelation.
Once, when the great St. Augustine of the fourth century walked along the beach trying to make sense of the Mystery of Three Persons in one God, he stopped to watch a little boy running down to the sea, filling up his little bucket, and running back to pour the water into a hole he had dug. As fast as he poured the water into the hole, the water disappeared and he had to refill the hole. After a number of trips from the ocean with his overflowing bucket, St Augustine walked down to the child. ‘Tell me my son, what are you doing?’ When the child said he was trying to pour the ocean into the hole, St. Augustine bent down to him and said, ‘Little one, it’s impossible for you to pour the ocean into that hole.’
The child looked into the saint’s eyes and said, “Ah, but it would be easier for me to pour the sea into this hole than it would be for you to understand the Mystery of the Trinity.’ Suddenly the little boy disappeared, and St. Augustine knew that God had sent him an angel to teach him something he would never forget: some things just have to be taken on faith.
There have been those who wanted to convert to the Christian faith, but could not accept this doctrine. Perhaps you have tried to understand how there could be three divine Persons, but not three Gods. Impossible, you might have thought. You are in good company, but it would be pointless to spend days off in a deserted place trying to fathom this doctrine. We just don’t have the wherewithal to understand it. So we pray, Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.
It’s such a gift to possess this beautiful knowledge: God the Father who created me. God the Son who redeemed me. God the Holy Spirit who sanctifies me. We are invited to pray to the Blessed Trinity, or to an individual Person of the Godhead, at any given time. Love is a mystery. The heart has its seasons, even as love does. When you might feel your faith wavering over this or another doctrine of our faith, it’s enough to say, I don’t understand, my Lord, but I believe it because You, O God, have revealed this, and you can neither deceive nor be deceived.
How rich is our Catholic Faith. And how comforting to know that though there is so much we don’t understand, God only asks us to love Him and trust Him as our Truth.
The children in Sister’s first grade were listening to her teaching about Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before He was crucified. Father, Jesus prayed, if it’s possible, please let this suffering pass away from me.
Suddenly one child raised his hand excitedly and called out, So God was praying to God! That’s so cool, Sister! 
Now that’s faith. He knew, long before he could ever understand, that the Father is God and the Son is God. He didn’t need to understand it to believe it.
Today as you contemplate the Mystery of the wondrous Blessed Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God, dwelling within you, may you have just such a God Moment. You deserve it. It’s a Beauty that’s your birthright as a Catholic.
Have a blessed Feast!
Holy Trinity Image:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Holy_Trinity.jpg
Attribution: IndianaJones8856, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
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