Do you like mysteries? I used to love to read Nancy Drew books when I was younger and my dad would read my brother and I the Hardy Boys books before bed. I was at a bookstore last week and found a bunch of the older copies of the Nancy Drew books!
Now that I'm a little bit older, the mysteries get more predictable as I read more of them. Lately, I've been watching Monk on Netflix, and that keeps me entertained! 😂
The Catholic faith is one of mysteries. It's no secret that our God and His ways are mysterious and beautiful- beyond our comprehension.
The Holy Trinity is one of these mysteries of our faith that people have wrestled with since the beginning of Christianity.
The basic premise is this... God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit are all one, united in love and being. They are distinct, but are one at the same time.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains it best...
"The Incarnation of God's Son reveals that God is the eternal Father and that the Son is consubstantial with the Father, which means that, in the Father and with the Father the Son is one and the same God. The mission of the Holy Spirit, sent by the Father in the name of the Son (Jn 14:26) and by the Son "from the Father" (Jn 15:26), reveals that, with them, the Spirit is one and the same God. "With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified" (Nicene Creed). "The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father as the first principle and, by the eternal gift of this to the Son, from the communion of both the Father and the Son" (St. Augustine, De Trin. 15, 26, 47: PL 42, 1095)." (CCC 262-264)
To break it down even further... God the Father and God the Son are the same God. The Spirit, sent by the Father and the Son, is also one and the same God. The Holy Spirit is the gift of love and unity between the Father and the Son- their spirit. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are in relation with one another, but at the same time, are all one being.
Think of it this way... You and I are people. Everything that is living exists, but it is not necessarily a distinct person. A rock, flower, tree, and snail are not "people." However, you and I are each one individual person, simply by our human nature. God, in His nature, is three persons who are all united as one.
This is a really complicated concept to grasp- not predictable like Nancy Drew! 😂
So to help with that, I've compiled a list of articles that might help to explain further the mystery of the Trinity:
How to Teach Elementary School Students About the Trinity? (Jimmy Akin uses the "people" analogy I used in this article!)
These articles are from Catholic Answers and can help explain more!
It's also important to note that we don't NEED to understand everything in order to believe. We won't ever fully understand the beauty, unity, and mystery of the Trinity, but with faith in God, we can trust that His revelation of Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is good, true, and beautiful.
If you have more questions about this concept, feel free to comment or send me questions on the blog's home page.
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