This weekend we celebrate the Most Holy Trinity. The Holy Trinity, as Catholics, is our central tenant of our faith life. It is called the mystery of our faith because we are not able to grasp it with just our reason alone, it needs to be revealed to us by God. Our Lord has done this through revelation by his actions written in scripture, by sending his only Son, and the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and Son at Pentecost.
What was revealed is that the Holy Trinity is one God not three Gods. One God in three persons. The persons are distinct from one another which comes from their relationships. The language from our Catechism says, “It is the Father who generates, the Son who is begotten, and the Holy Spirit who proceed.” (CCC, 81) They are one nature, wholly God. So, there is never any division, confusion, or mixing in their distinction.
All salvation work that we see throughout scripture is from one God. We see the richness of this mystery every time we begin prayer, In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Our prayers are to the Father but also through the Son and in the Holy Spirit. We never say in the names of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Our worship at mass begins with three persons, the Trinity who is God. That is why it is so critical when new members of the church are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and not we baptize you!
Our very beginning in faith starts with the Holy Trinity our very existence, our creation, our life on Earth, and our eternal life with God flows from this central dogma of faith. This is why this weekend is so special for us.
