RBWords

     The Holy Trinity gets into everything!  We are baptized "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Trinity!"  Every time we make the Sign of the Cross, we make a profession of faith in God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Every time we say one of the creeds of the Church, we profess our faith in the Holy Trinity.  Our catechetical history includes the legend of St. Patrick using a three-leaved clover to teach about this important truth about God.  HOW God can be three-yet-one is a mystery.  THAT God is three-yet-one, or as the older saying goes, ONE IN THREE, THREE IN ONE, is a truth.  St. Augustine put it succinctly, "It's not a lie but a mystery."

     Scripture scholars warn us against interpreting St. Paul's blessing quoted above (or Jesus' commission in Matthew 28) as a profession of faith like ours since neither Paul nor Matthew would have been doing the kind of theological reflection that gradually recognized the truth of the Holy Trinity and made it the subject of the formal creeds.  Theologians speak to us of the "immanent" Trinity and the "economic" Trinity, which sets heads spinning and preachers despairing.  (Where can I find a clover?)

    Holy Trinity Sunday fits in a series of big Sunday feasts: Pentecost, Trinity, Corpus Christi.  The current pandemic will dampen our celebrations, but we can still celebrate these important reminders that our faith will see us through this hard time and we'll be as Catholic as ever!!  AMEN