Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity - 4 June ☘️
4th June 2023
Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity - 4 June ☘️
“Wherever there is love, there is a Trinity: A Lover, A Beloved and A Fountain of Love.” - St Augustine of Hippo
A reflection on the Most Holy Trinity by the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J Sheen:
"I can divine something of the existence of God, something of His Infinite Power, Life, and Beauty, by contemplating His universe; but I could never divine anything of His secret Thought and Love. His creation gives but dim hints of these. It was therefore only natural that man should desire further knowledge of the inner life of God, and in seeking that light should ask such questions as Plato asked four centuries before Christ: ‘If there is only one God, what does He think about, for if He is an intelligent being He must think of something? If there is only one God, whom does He love? For, to be happy one must love.’
"These questions were hurled against the high heavens as so much brass, for there was no man to give them answer. The answer could come only from God Himself, and it came when Our Blessed Lord appeared on earth and revealed to us the inmost life of God, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
"God thinks. He thinks a thought. That Thought of God does not come from the outside world; it is generated in His Spirit. Since God is an infinite Spirit, His thought will not be a mere feeble reflection but rather a thought reaching to the abyss of all things that are known and can be known. Into this thought God will put Himself so entirely that it is as living as Himself, infinite as Himself, perfect as Himself. If a human genius can put his whole personality into a thought, in a more perfect way God is able to put so much of Himself into a thought that it is conscious of itself and is a Divine Person.
"The infinite Thought of God is called not only a Word, to indicate that He is the Wisdom of God, but is also called a Son, because He has been generated. Just as in our own human order the principle of all human generation is called the Father, so too in the Trinity the principle of the spiritual generation is called the Father and what is generated is called the Son, because it is the perfect image and resemblance of the Father. If an earthly father can transmit to his son all the nobility of his character and all the fine traits of his life, how much more so can the Heavenly Father communicate to His Eternal Son all the nobility with all the perfection and eternity of His Being.
"The Father is not first, and then thinks — the Father and Son are co-eternal, for in God all is present and unchanging. Nothing is new and nothing is lost. Thus it is that the Father, contemplating His Image, His Word, His Son, can say in the ecstasy of the first and real paternity: ‘Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten Thee.’ ‘This day’ — this day of eternity, that is, the indivisible duration of being without end. ‘This day’ in that act that will never end as it has never begun; this day — the agelessness of eternity.
"If God is the source of all life and truth and goodness in the world, He must have a will as well as an intellect, a love as well as a thought. Love has two terms: He who loves and he who is loved. In love the two are reciprocal. I love and I am loved. Between me and the one I love there is a bond. It is not my love, it is not his love, it is our love — the mysterious resultant of two affections, a bond, which enchains and an embrace wherein two hearts leap with but a single joy. The Father loves the Son, the Image of His Perfection, and the Son loves the Father. Love is not only in the Father. Love is not only in the Son. There is something between them, as it were. The Father loves the Son, whom He engenders. The Son loves the Father, who engendered Him. They contemplate each other, love each other, unite in a love so powerful, so strong, and so perfect, that it forms between them a living bond. They give themselves in a love so infinite that, like the truth, which expresses itself only in the giving of a whole personality, their love can express itself in nothing less than a Person, who is Love. Love at such a stage does not speak; does not cry; does not express itself by words, nor by canticles; it expresses itself as we do in some ineffable moments, by that which indicates the very exhaustion of our giving — namely, a sigh, or a breath. And that is why the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity is called the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost.
"Three in one, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; three persons in one God; one in essence, distinction of persons — such is the mystery of the Trinity, such is the inner life of God. Just as I am, I know, and I love and yet am one; just as the three angles of a triangle do not make three triangles but one; just as the heat, power, and light of the sun do not make three suns, but one; just as water, air, and steam are all manifestations of the one substance; just as the form, colour, and perfume of the rose do not make three roses, but one; just as our soul, our intellect, and our will do not make three substances, but one; just as one times one times one times one, does not equal three, but one — so too in some much more mysterious way, there are three Persons in God and yet only one God.
"The Trinity is the answer to the questions of Plato. If there is only one God, what does He think about? He thinks an eternal thought; that is, His Eternal Son. If there is only one God, whom does He love? He loves His Son, and that mutual love is the Holy Spirit. I firmly believe that the great philosopher was fumbling about for the mystery of the Trinity, for his great mind seemed in some small way to suspect that an infinite being must have relations of thought and love and that God cannot be conceived without thought and love. But it was not until the Word became incarnate that man knew the secret of those relations and the inner life of God.
"It is that mystery of the Trinity which gives the answer to those who have pictured God as an egotist God, sitting in solitary splendour before the world began, reduced to loving Himself as a selfish deity; for the Trinity is a revelation that, before creation, God enjoyed the amiable society of His three Persons, the infinite communion with Truth and the embrace of infinite Love, and hence had no need ever to go outside Himself in search of happiness. The greatest wonder of all, then, is, that being perfect and enjoying perfect happiness, He ever should have made a world. And if He did make a world, He could only have had one motive for making it. It could not add to His perfection; it could not add to His truth; it could not increase His happiness. He made a world only because He loved.
"Finally, it is the mystery of the Trinity, which gives the answer to the quest for our happiness and the meaning of Heaven. Heaven is not a place where there is the mere vocal repetition of alleluias or the monotonous fingering of harps. Heaven is a place where we find the fullness of all the fine things we enjoy on this earth. Heaven is a place where we find, in their plenitude, those things which slake the thirst of hearts, satisfy the hunger of starving minds, and give rest to unrequited love. Heaven is the communion with perfect Life, perfect Truth, and perfect Love, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, to whom be all honour and glory forever and ever. Amen."
(The Divine Romance)
Prayer to the Most Holy Trinity
Glory be to the Father, Who by His almighty power and love created me, making me in the image and likeness of God.
Glory be to the Son, Who by His Precious Blood delivered me from hell, and opened for me the gates of heaven.
Glory be to the Holy Spirit, Who has sanctified me in the sacrament of Baptism, and continues to sanctify me by the graces I receive daily from His bounty.
Glory be to the Three adorable Persons of the Holy Trinity, now and forever. Amen. 💐💖🙏
Food for thought
To be without Jesus is the torment of hell, but to be with Him is the joy of paradise. If you have Jesus there is nothing an enemy can do to you.
It is a great art to know how to talk with Jesus, and to know how to keep Him with you is great wisdom. Be humble and peaceful and Jesus will be with you; be devout and quiet and He will stay with you.
If Jesus is not your most dear friend, you will be sad and forsaken. It would be better to have the whole world against you than to hurt Jesus. Of all who are dear to you, let Jesus be your best beloved.
All others must be loved for Jesus’ sake, but Jesus for Himself alone. Jesus Christ must be loved exclusively, for He alone is proved good and faithful above all other friends. For Him and in Him, you must love friends and foes alike, praying to Him for them, that all may come to know and love Him.