As we prepare to gather this weekend to celebrate Trinity Sunday, let’s be honest, first and foremost, that the Holy Trinity is beyond the reach of time and the grasp of human reasoning. It is a Mystery of our faith. We can only fumble in the dark in search of glimmers of light. “Two is company, three is a crowd” is a popular expression. But the Gospel would have it otherwise! Throughout the Bible, the figure three symbolizes completeness and perfect symmetry, and re-appears at all the key moments of the Salvation story.
Jesus’ life itself constantly reflected the Trinity. See if you see a pattern emerging here: three figures make up the nativity scene in Bethlehem – the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph; their first visitors were the three wise men; later, in the desert, preparing to begin His public life, Jesus was tempted three times by the devil.
It is said that a good story should have a beginning, a middle and an end. Christ was a storyteller par excellence and three, again, figures prominently in His parables: the Prodigal Son is about a father and his two sons; the Good Samaritan tells of the behavior of three passers-by (the priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan); and the sower sowed his seed in three different types of soil, yielding three different levels of harvest.
The end of Jesus’ life, as the beginning, has the three motif: during His Passion, St. Peter denied Him three times; on the road to Calvary, He fell three times; the crucifixion scene has three figures, Christ between two thieves; and before His Resurrection, He spent three days in the tomb.
Although all of our prayer, individually and as a Church, recognizes that there are Three Persons in the Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) this weekend’s Mass will allow us to rejoice in a special way that, together, they represent the fullness of love. The Father loves the Son, the Son loves the Father. The Holy Spirit is their love for each other. And we are made in the image of a Triune God. Our lives, therefore, ought to reflect the Trinity: we should always be creative like the Father, compassionate like His Son, and dispose our talents in the service of others like the Holy Spirit.
