A Reflection on the TRINITY
Selected Passage: Luke10:21-24
“And I tell you, Ask and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask of him?”
From the very first prayer that we learned as a child, through all the others that we learned in the process as we were growing, until the very last prayer that we uttered this day; and extending to all the other prayers that we will utter for the rest of our lives, we Catholics have always began and will always begin our prayers with the sign of the cross while reciting: “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Have we ever paused, spent a few moments and pondered, then wondered why?
So we begin with a question. Why do we invoke the name of the Trinity every time we Catholics pray? And to further substantiate this question we shall also ask: Who or what is this Trinity and subsequently what happens in our prayer after we have invoked the name of the Trinity? We shall attempt to find answers to these questions.
Why do we invoke or call upon the NAME of the Trinity?
In our contemporary world, when we call upon the name of someone, it is to attract attention. We call Joey or Vern or Georgia if we want them to pay attention to us so that we can begin to relay our message. But in the bible, calling upon someone’s name have a particular power and significance. To know someone’s name is to enter into a relationship with him/her (Ex. 3:13-14), much more to call upon his/her name.
So when we call upon the name of the Trinity at the beginning of our prayers, we are actually calling the attention of the Trinity not only because we want to relay a message but more so to enter into a relationship with the Trinity.
But who or what is this Trinity that we so desired to enter into a relationship with? This is not a simple question with an easy answer. There are things that we must consider first before we begin our attempt to find the answers.
First, the Trinity is a mystery. It is something that we do not fully understand. Our human mind is limited to comprehend the entire truth of this Trinitarian mystery. Second, the Trinity is a dynamic mystery so that as we begin to understand parts of this mystery we begin to get a clearer and bigger picture of this mystery; so that, as we continue to seek to understand it we get closer and closer to its truth.
To illustrate, it is like walking through a forest, you see trees after trees, you’ll probably see a rabbit here, a bear over there, a cuckoo high on a tree or even a crocodile in a swamp; you could also marvel at an orchid or a waterfall or even a giant bug but you will never see the entire forest all at once. All you can see are parts after parts. But here’ the catch … like the mystery of the Trinity it is a dynamic seeing; as you see parts after parts you will also begin to see the forest bigger and bigger. Yet even after you have passed through the forest you would have not seen the entire forest yet. Or in another illustration by St. Augustine, one can never fit the water of the ocean into a small hole. If I may add, I can only make the hole bigger and bigger, as big as I could but I can never dig a hole so big and so deep so as to fit the entire ocean. All our attempts to explain the mystery of the trinity will surely fall short, but as long as we do, we begin to understand this mystery more and more.
Third, and perhaps most importantly, the method of understanding this mystery is through co-naturality - that is, entering oneself into this mystery; immersing oneself in a relationship with the Trinity. It is learning from within, we could not just be a distant observer; we have to enter into the very life of the Trinity.
With this in mind we can now proceed to our second question: who or what is the Trinity?
“One ousia in three hypostaseis.” This is the great Trinitarian formula contributed by our great religious (Cappadocian) fathers. It is Greek which simply means: “One God in three Persons.” This formula clearly elucidates that we believe in one God in three persons, the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is a formula that entails a ‘relationship’ of UNITY, DISTINCTION and EQUALITY so that that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is united as one, though they are distinct from each other yet are equal in everything (i.e. dignity, power and glory). Since, we cannot fully grasp the truth of the Trinity (remember the forest), let us then examine the Trinity though these characteristics (remember the trees, animals etc.).
What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent …?
The UNITY of the Trinity can be likened to the unity of the fish when they swim, they swim in schools and they swim in the same direction never separately, unlike that of the serpents that travail the earth in solitude and in different directions. The persons in the Trinity are inseparable; they exist and work as one. It is wrong therefore to say that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit have different roles such as creation, redemption and sanctification. In creation they are all there, in redemption they are all there and in sanctification they are all there.
The DISTINCTION of the Trinity simply states that the Father is different from the Son and the Holy Spirit in the same way that the Son is distinct from the Father and the Holy Spirit in the same way that the Holy Spirit is not the Father and not the Son. Yet, they are one. Like in a school of fish, one fish is distinct from the rest of the other fish in the same way that another fish is distinct from all the other fish yet they form, when swimming together, only one school of fish. A glaring limitation however lies in the fish’s ‘distinctive difference’ and similar-ness. Fish in a school are distinct but are not one, thus they remain different. The Persons of the Trinity are distinct but are not different – they are ONE. Fish in a school are merely similar in their likeness. The Persons of the Trinity are not merely similar or alike – they are ONE. Thus, this ONE-ness of the Trinity does not say that we have three different or similar Gods, we only have one God.
It is also said that the Father creates, the Son is sent and the Holy Spirit is given, therefore, the Father is first, the Son is second and the Holy Spirit is third. This is a misconception of the Trinity for our Trinitarian formula teaches that all three persons are EQUAL in all aspects – in dignity, power and glory. What we have in Trinitarian EQUALITY is an ORDER; an order that does not categorize nor subordinates. So that when Jesus was sent, he was not subordinated to the Father and when the Spirit was given, the Spirit was not inferior to the Father or the Son. This EQUALITY is so great that our fish and serpent analogy is too poor to illustrate what this Trinitarian equality is and what it is not.
In our concrete human experiences, this Trinitarian UNITY, DISTINCTION and EQUALITY teach us to be one people of God. On the global scale we are one people sharing one earth, so that no race, no color and no culture can ever claim dominion over the other. Instead, the Trinity teaches us a sharing of peace, cooperation, collaboration and inter-dependence. In our own small communities, we note that each member is entrusted with different gifts, some with great intelligence, others with incomparable strength, and still others with amorous amiability but no one can claim superiority; for each member forms only a part of that community without one of which makes the community less of what it is. One may have more friends, bigger income, and wider apostolate or holds more responsibilities but, as illustrated by the Trinity, is but one member of a solid whole. Each is dependent to each other. In our own personal life, in our own selves, the Trinity teaches us to be proud of who and what we are for none is greater or lesser than what or who we are. Nevertheless, though alone we are sufficient, we are nonetheless incomplete unless we learn to share with each other in unity, distinction and equality.
Now that we have seen some trees, met some rabbits, grappled with some bears, stared at a cuckoo, avoided a crocodile, marveled at an orchid, dipped in a waterfall, killed some giant bugs and even enlarged our sand holes, we now go to our third and last question.
What happens in our prayer after we have invoked the name of the Trinity?
We noted that when we invoked or called upon the name of the Trinity at the beginning of our prayer, we enter into a relationship with its mystery and we begin to co-naturalize with it. Living within the mystery of the Trinity in prayer help us to understand and to enflesh the very life of the Trinity: in UNITY, DISTINCTION and EQUALITY.
Notice that our gospel reading today invokes us to pray within the Trinity. “And I tell you, Ask and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened.” Who tells us to do so but Jesus the Son? To whom do we ask but God the Father: “What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give...” and what do we ask? “… the Holy Spirit to those who ask of him!” – It illustrates a relationship of perfect COMMUNION, of a perfect RELATIONSHIP; and what is more significant in these verses is that the Trinity, in the person of Jesus the Son, invites us to be a part of that communion. When we pray, Jesus invites us, to be ourselves a person of that Trinity. Even more stunning is to learn that even before we have called upon the name of the Trinity in prayer, these verses tell us that the Trinity has already called upon our names to be a part of (one) them.
With this invitation in prayer, the Trinity no longer becomes a stranger to us. It is no longer a mystery but a life that we become part of. We no longer ask for venomous serpents that harbor ills in our relationships, but unifying fish that nurture good relationships. We no longer ask for scorpions to sting our enemies but eggs that foster equality so that we no longer hunger for power. We no longer harbor discord but love, we no longer seek condemnation but self-giving. We ourselves, collectively become the very life of the Trinity here on earth. Finally, notice too that in the end, “…the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask of him?” God the Father, through Jesus the Son, gives not fish or eggs but the Holy Spirit: God Himself. In prayer, there we are in the midst of them.
In the end, just as we did in the beginning, we Catholics also end our prayers with the sign of the cross while reciting: “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Have we ever paused, spent a few moments and pondered, then wondered why?
