Holy Trinity

 

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity, and I bet very few of us really knows why.

 

The idea of God as Trinity came from the apostles’ understanding of who Jesus was and is. From the very beginning that was a challenge for the disciples. “Who do you say that I am?” The apostles knew that this person, Jesus, was special. At first they thought he was a great teacher, then a mighty prophet, then finally they came to believe in him as the Son of God. But it took awhile. Remember that St. Thomas doubted even the resurrection.

 

Those closest to Jesus struggled with that question for three years, and for the rest of their lives. They never really could wrap their minds around it, and it took another three hundred years before the Church finally put it into words, words that are totally inadequate, especially to those of us today who have no background in Greek philosophy. Our creed was an attempt to organize our beliefs, and it falls short. Because God is so different from us, so infinite, we cannot wrap our limited minds around God. And so we use imperfect images.

 

Why is it important how we image our God? Why is it important that we image God as Trinity? As three in one? The Jews don’t believe in the Trinity, the Muslims don’t, nor do the Buddhists or the Hindus. Even our LDS neighbors don’t. In fact, less than 20 percent of the people in the world today believe as we do. Are they wrong? Are we? Does it matter?

 

The way we see ourselves is the way we see our God. The Hindus believe in many, many gods, that all things have a spirit within them and therefore are sacred. Their image of God causes them to treat the natural world with respect. The Buddhists believe in reincarnation, that we will come back to this life again and again, and the form we take will depend upon how we have lived our previous life, until finally we achieve nirvana, pure freedom and perfection. God is within you until you become god, so a Buddhist’s faith is a deeply personal, internal thing. The LDS church teaches that the Trinity was a creation of the Council of Nicea, part of the Great Apostasy where the Church got it all wrong. There are three separate gods, Heavenly Father, the Savior and the Holy Ghost, and they are really exalted men. They became gods because of what they did in life. Therefore, if men in these latter days do the right things they too can become gods, and so the LDS pattern their lives.

 

We are created in the image of God. Genesis tells us so. Contrary to what the cynics say, we do not create God in our image, we create our images of ourselves after our image of God. People of every faith pattern their behavior after their image of God.

 

So, how does our image of the Trinity affect our behavior as Christians? St. John in his first letter states that God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God and God in him. Whether or not we understand what form God really takes, whenever we love, we are worshiping God. If love is present, God is present. So, we image God as a relationship of love. Two perfect lovers bound by one perfect love.

 

We image God this way whenever we love in relationship. God is love. God is relationship; Father, Son and Spirit, therefore, love also cannot exist by itself. It must occur in relationship, and it cannot be fulfilled unless it is given away. St. Augustine said that “One man is no man”. We are not saved by ourselves. We are saved with each other. Love is relationship, God is relationship, God is love. When we love in relationship we best image God.

 

And God gave us the best example of love, when we read in the gospel of John, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but might have eternal life.” Wow! God not only is a relationship unto himself, he wants to have a relationship with me. He wants me to be like Him. He wants me to enter into the Trinity with Him.

 

I was teaching a class a couple of years ago, and we were discussing this very topic. I went all through the “proofs” of the Trinity, assuming that we all had the same understanding since everyone there was Catholic. At the next week’s class one of the students said that she had found the topic of the Trinity very enlightening, because for her entire life she thought there were three separate gods, not three in one. She was 38 years old and had lived her life as a practicing Catholic, a good life, and she never knew about the Trinity. It didn’t matter to her what the Greek philosophy said, she had a personal relationship with her God as she imaged God, and that worked for her.

 

Sr. Karen used to say that after all she had studied about the Trinity and pondered it, finally she just accepted it and didn’t worry about it too much, because she’d really never understand it. We should just accept it, and go on with our lives. Seems simple, but that’s really what it’s all about. It’s nice to think we have God all figured out, that we have named him, Father, Son and Spirit, and so we take that knowledge and store it away until we need it. We think about it on days like today. But just as we create images of God in our minds and hearts, we need to be conscious that our God is also calling us to be images of Him, to live like Him, and to love like Him.