God, the extraordinary, reveals Himself through the ordinary. The title of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, allows the person to better comprehend the mystery of God yet it does not exhaust the full mystery of who God is in His essence. In other words, the titles of God point to who God is in an ordinary way so that we might come to know the mystery of His extraordinary love. Human language will always fall short when it comes to describing the greatness of God — yet language is a primary tool we have for communication and so, alas, language is what will be used!
“I and the Father are one.”
— John 10:30
The Holy Trinity: A Central Belief Within The Catholic Church
The reality of God being one, yet three persons, is a dogmatic belief within the Catholic Church. Meaning, it is a critical doctrine (or belief) of the faith that is considered infallible (meaning certain and without error) through the teaching authority of the Church (aka the Magisterium) and will remain a critical belief both now and forever (The Survival of Dogma, 153).
That was a lot of quick Theology and many of those terms will be further discussed in future articles – do not worry if your head might be spinning with new terms thrown your way. Stick with me as we move along to what this means specifically for the Trinity.
Put simply, the belief of the Triune God is considered an unwavering and necessary belief of the Church and is a critical belief to adhere to for anyone desiring to be Catholic. Each religion and faith practice has its own dogmas that, similarly, would be considered “non-negotiables” for that faith practice. For the Catholic faith specifically – the Holy Trinity is one of those non-negotiables.
So yes, this idea of God being One yet Three Persons is pretty important! Why such importance on this belief that it would be dogmatic? What can we learn from this mystery of God?
The Holy and Necessary Gift of Divine Revelation
One reason why this belief about God’s identity is of critical importance is because it is God who reveals it. When someone’s identity is revealed without taint, lie, or error, it is critical that we honor this revelation. I.e., When I reveal to you my name or you reveal to me your character, it would be erroneous of us to disregard that completely and carry on with our own idea of who the other person is. Identity is everything and how God reveals His identity reveals volumes about who He intimately is. In other words, if we desire to know who God is, it’s a good idea to start by asking God, “who do you say that you are?” and go from there.
Another reason why this dogma is of such importance is because the Trinity is not just a title, but instead, it is a revelation of God’s most inner life and workings. This is also known as the Immanent Trinity, where we can begin to conceive who God is completely within Himself and without human reference or limitations.
Divine revelation (truths that are directly revealed by God) is a gift because it provides clarity to the human mind and lessens the chance of human error on big issues. When it comes to the Trinity, there is no need for us to waver in the dark over who God is or His identity. We can find comfort and assurance with the knowledge that this is something God has already revealed.
Triune God: One God, Three Persons
To start, it’s worth mentioning that the mystery of the Trinity is a huge concept to grasp and could be considered over an entire lifetime without ever exhausting it. Saints have spent their entire livelihood doing this and, while their deep reflection has proven to be fruitful and effective, they are never left with a lack of mystery. God, being endless and unlimited, contains an identity that could be pondered for all of life. God’s identity is not like a math problem to be solved, but rather, like a piece of majestic art that has layers upon layers of truths to be thoughtfully digested and understood.
While there will always be a notion of mystery to the innermost identity of God, there is a very straightforward visual that helps us to understand the Trinity in plain language known as the Trinity Shield:
While the particular founder of this image remains unknown, the Trinity Shield is an image that was developed centuries ago by the Catholic Church in an effort to better articulate the mystery of the Trinity.
Here is a simple breakdown of the image:
What God IS:
-God IS Father
-God IS Son
-God IS Holy Spirit
What God IS NOT:
-The Father IS NOT the Son (and vice versa)
-The Son IS NOT the Holy Spirit (and vice versa)
-The Holy Spirit IS NOT the Father (and vice versa)
This means that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all equally God in name, power, existence, authority, and in every way possible. The Father is not “more God” than the Son nor is the Holy Spirit “more God” than the Father or Son, etc – each is equally God and together they create the wholeness of God.
While this analogy I’m about to give falls short of describing who God is, and does not perfectly correlate to the trinity, a simplistic way of thinking about it might be like this: I am a sister, I am a wife, I am a mother. Each label is a part of my very identity and together makes up the whole of who I am as a person. Similarly, God is Father, God is Son, and God is Holy Spirit and each equally make up the whole identity of God. I hope this analogy might help, yet keep in mind that in my example we are only talking about one person (myself) whereas with the Trinity we are discussing three distinct Persons.
This also means that each Person of God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) is distinct and is not the other Person. Just as your brother is not your sister and your sister is not your brother yet they are both equally siblings and equally family. So too is the Father not the Son or Holy Spirit — they are each their own divine PERSON — yet they are each equally God and the same in essence.
Substance, Person, Relation
This brings us to the particular distinctions within the Trinity that are important to understand when trying to comprehend this mystery: substance, person, relation.
Substance is a term referring to the nature or essence of God. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all share the same nature or substance of being ONE divine being – of being God in essence. In other words, the substance of the trinity highlights how each divine Person is, in essence, the same (because each is God).
Person refers to the particular Divine Persons of the Trinity: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. These distinctions of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit highlight how each Person is different.
Relation refers to the relationship between each divine Person of Father Son and Holy Spirit and highlights how, in part, their Person is distinct because of their very relationship to one another.
The trinity is this: God is one God yet within this one God are three Persons – each person has a particular role and reveals itself differently throughout scripture – yet because the essence of each Person is the same the Trinity represents a oneness or wholeness of God. Catholics do not worship multiple gods, we worship one God and believe that this one God is revealed and known through three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
It is for this reason that when Catholics make the sign of the cross it is in the singular form of “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” and not the plural, “In the names of the . . . “ There is a cohesive oneness that is implicitly understood and the Persons of God is always founded in this monotheistic notion that God is one.
Divine Mission Of The Blessed Trinity
The Holy Trinity is united in its essence of all being God and is also united in its divine mission. The divine mission of the blessed trinity speaks to the role of salvation attributed to each Person of the Trinity. All working towards our salvation – each Person of the Trinity has a particular role in the larger mission of salvation:
The Father’s role is to create.
The Son’s role is to save.
The Holy Spirit’s role is to sanctify.
Each of these Persons work together within their particular role to bring about the salvation of souls and are each revealed in their own way throughout scripture. In the next few articles we will take a look at each Person in order to better understand the distinctions as well as the greater essence of who God is.
Prayer
Oh God, whose deepest identity is unfathomable to the human mind, allow us the grace to more clearly understand the mystery of who you are. Grant us the ability to enter more intimately into the mystery of you so that we might come to know, love, and adore you better each day. In the adventure of discovering your deepest identity as our Creator may we come to better understand our deepest identity as Your creation. May our identity be shaped and anchored by the mystery of who you are and the power of your love. May any lesser or false interpretations of who we are fall to the wayside and be replaced by your divine truth. Grant us the grace to consider all of this and we thank you for the opportunity to know you more. In Your holy and loving name, we pray, Amen.
