This is one of two feasts celebrating particular doctrines (the Body and Blood is the other one).
Bishop Arius died in 336. He denied the divinity of Christ by saying “There was a time when Christ was not.” He said Christ was merely an exalted creature. St. Augustine spent much of his life arguing against Arius’ teaching. The Council of Nicea in 325 condemned Arianism by saying that Christ was homoousius – one in being, consubstantial – with the Father, thus affirming Christ’s divinity and solving the dispute in that area. The main product of this council was the Nicene Creed and we’ve been affirming it every Sunday since then!
The Rule of St. Benedict (written around 480AD) prescribes a profound bow at any mention of the Trinity (chp 9). In fact, in the 800-900s, it was Benedictine monasteries that began the practice of celebrating Trinity Sunday the week after Pentecost.
GK Chesterton reportedly once said one of the reasons he believed in Christianity was because of its belief in the Trinity. He said if Christianity had been made up by a human person, it would not have at its very center a concept that is impossible to grasp or explain: the idea that God exists as one nature in three persons.
The doctrine of the Trinity is nowhere laid out as such in Scripture. What scripture attests to is the experience behind it. And that experience comes down to relationship. We might call this “Relationship Sunday.”
A bit about Trinitarian theology… My theological studies taught me one very important lesson in the area of the Trinity: the more I say about the Trinity, the more likely I am to say something wrong! With that in mind, I will try to keep these comments brief.
God is not two men and a bird. The Trinity is a metaphor: trying to put words around an ineffable reality. The early church councils chose Father, Son, Spirit language to express that reality because it was given to us by Christ. But we could use other language:
Lover, Beloved, Love Itself (St. Augustine)
Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier
Mother, Child, Womb
Initiator, Mediator, Unifier
Creator, Lover, Sustainer (Julian of Norwich)
What language for the Trinity most appeals to you?
Sometimes it helps to look at the heresies – what the Trinity is not (besides 2 men and a bird!)
The heresy of Subordinationism says the Son and Holy Spirit are subordinate to the Father, who alone is really God. We sometimes use the image of a triangle for the Trinity, but this heresy turns that triangle into a hierarchy. Instead, the church teaches that all members of the Trinity are equal.
The heresy of Modalism says the Trinity is like three modes of one person; one person with different names, something along the lines of “I’m a son to my father, a father to my son, and a husband to my wife.” This reflects one person, one nature, expressing himself in different ways / modes. Instead, the church teaches that all members of the Trinity are distinct (not separate but distinct) from one another. The Father is not the Son. The Son is not the Holy Spirit.
The heresy of Tritheism says there are three separate deities joined together in some kind of moral unity. Instead, the church teaches that, although the members of the Trinity are distinct (three persons), they are all God.
We experience God in three ways:
Beyond us – transcendent. The Father.
With us – incarnate. The Son.
Within us – Present always. The Holy Spirit.
At its core, the Trinity is relationship – personal and intimate. The Trinity tells us that we don’t exist without relationship. The Trinity also shows us how to be in relationship with others: each one keeps his or her identity, without confusion, but exists and blossoms only in communion with others. The Trinity is actually the foundation of social and ecclesial life.
Some questions to ponder:
How much of Jesus is God? All of Him
Then what’s the difference between the Father and the Son? Jesus’ humanity
How can Jesus be fully God and fully human? Good question! It’s a mystery.
For each of the readings today, we could ask: what does this passage say about our understanding of one God, three persons? And what does the reading say about our experience of that relationship?