Fr. Harry Brown, C.PP.S.
“In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit”—the sign of the cross—the Holy Trinity. This is probably the first prayer our parents taught us and will probably be the last prayer the priest or deacon will say over us at the grave. It’s a powerful and awesome prayer! Yet it is an ineffable mystery of God. I wish I could wrap my arms around its mystery and understand it, but I can’t. No one can!
For us humans, it is more important to know God than about God. Oh, the Trinity! Its revelation did not come till Christ came. Its mystery can be summed up as a genuine mystery of love—a divine, intense, unflinching love that unites three persons that exist forever.
This love is beyond comprehension. If only we all were more devout when we dip our fingers into the holy water and sign ourselves as we enter and leave the church. Too often we look like we are chasing flies. Football field goal kickers appear to do the same prior to important winning goals. We have all seen this. The sign of the Trinity deserves more, much more!
The story is told of a priest sitting in a Chicago airport. A man sat down next to him and quickly gave his opinion on religion. He boasted, “I won’t accept anything I can’t understand. Take this business of three Gods in one or whatever it is. Nobody can explain it to me, so I will not believe it.” That priest was patient with him and won him over by talking about the sun in the sky, how the sun, its rays and heat are something like the Trinity. But this example limps, just like the three lobes on a leaf of a clover (so often used by people).
We use many adjectives about God—the Trinity. We say that God is most powerful, most wise, most merciful, most loving, etc. We have an impressive list to indicate these attributes of God—the Trinity. “Glory to the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning is now and shall be evermore. Amen!” Happy Solemnity!
Fr. Harry Brown, C.PP.S., is in ministry at the Sorrowful Mother Shrine in Bellevue, Ohio.