Pastor's Corner, June 15, 2014

Dear Parishioners and Friends,

The doctrine of the Blessed Trinity is the central mystery of our faith. It is the very “heart” of who God is. I guess that’s why it is difficult to explain this mystery in words! We must always keep in mind what the Catechism says about the doctrine of the Trinity. It is an “ineffable mystery, infinitely beyond all that we can humanly understand” (251).

But God has revealed Himself to us as a trinity of persons and so He meant for us to at least begin to grasp His inner life and give ourselves over to Him. When we say that we believe in the Holy Trinity we are saying that “we worship one God in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity, without either confusing the persons or dividing the substance; for the person of the Father is one, the Son’s is another, the Holy Spirit’s another; but the Godhead of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal” (Athanasian Creed, possibly formulated as early as the 4^th Century).

I think a good way to think of the Trinity is to remember that Scripture says that God is love. From this St. Augustine concludes that God is three, “the one loving the one who has his being from him, the other loving the one from whom he has his being, and that love itself” (De Trinitate, VI, 5, 7). Think of it this way, God the Father is the Lover, God the Son is the Beloved and God the Holy Spirit is Love.

O Most Holy Trinity, the Undivided Unity, the greatest of all mysteries, have mercy on us!

In Christ,

Msgr. Baker