The Most Holy Trinity - All for One and One for all!

“All for one and one for all,” may conjure up in your mind – who?; The Three Muskateers of course. This well known French novel by Alexandre Dumas, set in the 17th century recounts the adventures of a young man named d’Artagnan after he leaves home to become a guard of the muskateers. I always wondered who are the Muskateers and why were there three of them? A mystery?

Apparently they were created by King Louis XIII of France in 1622. They fought in battle and formed the royal guard of the king when he was outside the safety of his royal palace. And if that doesn’t satisfy your curiousity, I’ll bet you didn’t know their names. I didn’t until I dug a little deeper – Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. That may be more than you ever wanted to know about who the three muskateers were but you can impress friends who are obsessed over 17th century French literature at your next wine tasting party or playing Trivial Pursuit by asking them if they know their names. Then you can really put them over the top when you answer them: Athos, Portthos, and Aramis. And, in fact, it may be another way to imagine the nature of God– one with three.

"All for one and one for all!" And, we do know their names: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. St. Patrick’s shamrock is most familiar or a triangle – one figure with three equal sides. And other analogies or paintings by which we attempt in our limited mind to picture what God is like. This belief in a Triune God is the foundation of our Christian faith. And it remains forever, this side of eternity, a mystery but not totally.

This weekend we celebrate the beautiful and mysterious Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. Beautiful because God is all goodness, love, and truth – perfection itself. Mysterious because the full nature of the supreme being is beyond our comprehension. Although God remains distant and totally “Other,” we have been given this insight as to his being – One God, three Persons. Jesus himself revealed this truth to us: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father . . .Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? . . .I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth . . .” (Jn 14: 10-17).

It’s not a puzzle or riddle meant to confuse. It took time for the Church to define precisely this doctrine of our faith. Heresies abounded for hundreds of years about the nature of Jesus in particular – How divine? How human? What was the nature of his relationship to God? Did he come into existence only when Mary conceived or did he exist before? The doctrine of the Trinity is difficult to explain logically. So, no human being would have come up with such an explanation. What we believe today is the fruit of discernment, prayer, discussion, schism, and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It is a deep divine mystery from which the very mind of God has lifted the veil off his face enough so that we may comprehend what we need to know this side of heaven.

God for our Jewish brethren is that unpronounceable name given to Moses at the burning bush – not really a name but rather a state of being: “I am who I am.” As God cannot be named, the book of Exodus relates the theophony or divine presence to Moses from the burning bush and says to him, tell the Pharoh, “I am” sent you. But God is also referred to as: Elohim, Shaddai, Adonai (Lord). We in our Christian faith often refer to Jesus as Lord.

Muslims, who are joined with Christians and Jews as Monotheists ( belief in one God), refer to God as Allah but one of their most common prayers speak of ninety-nine attributes of Allah.

As Christians, God is one but three. Yet we too speak of the personality, as it were, of God as love, beauty, truth, justice, mercy, forgiveness, compassion. We can go on and on with analogies, metaphors, and superlatives but in the end, God remains a mystery. And that is ok by us because we stand within that mystery with one, very qualified difference between ourselves and the two other great world religions of Judaism and Muslim.

God for Christians is a personal God. "He," though God is not bound by gender, is not a God who is content with remaining distant and unapprochable. He is a God who has become incarnate for our salvation. A God who is parental to us like a Father or even more intimate, “Abba” – Daddy. We pray the very intimate prayer, “Our Father . . .give us this day our daily bread . . and forgive us our trespasses . .” This is a God who knows every detail of our life and invites us into his own life. “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?” (Jn 14: 1-2). Jesus reminds us further in today’s Gospel: “I have much more to tell you but you cannot bear it now. But, when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth . . .” (Jn 16: 12). This God, this Triune Person, says to us, “Be not afraid.” God is touchable, real, and is in constant communication with us.

If we could use the modern psychological term of extrovert and introvert – God is most definitely an extrovert – off the scale beyond Myers/Briggs. God who builds, creates, sustains life, guides, communicates, judges, welcomes, invites, feeds, heals, forgives – in our sacramental system and through the power of his word among us. God wants to pitch his tent, “dwell” among us – and he does so in his Spirit. He not standing in the shadows but reaches down, as he already has in Jesus Christ, and sustains our lives one by one in the power of his Spirit.

What we do know about God is that he invites us to share in his life. We are made in his image. We are saved by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ who is Lord and Savior. We inhale the breath of the Holy Spirit. We are not orphans or abandoned. We are children of a loving Father. We have a place waiting for us. We have a God who stands with us in our suffering and confusion and who calls us to be the best of what he has created us to become. That we must, “love one another as I have loved you.”

Father,You sent your Word to bring us truth and your Spirit to make us holy.Through them we come to know the mystery of your life.Help us to worship you, one God in three Persons, by proclaiming and living our faith in you.