Trinity Sunday
The
Doctrine at the Heart of our Faith
MYSTERY
OF the Blessed Trinity lies at the very heart of the Catholic Faith.
The divinity of the three Persons of the Trinity united in one divine
substance, a notion so baffling and unfathomable to the human mind,
carries the utmost importance for the Catholic. Had the Son of God
not been a divine Person, the entire Redemption would then be a fraud
and a hoax, for how can a finite creature repay the
infinite debt owed to God for sin?
Were
the Holy Ghost not
a divine Person, omniscient and omnipresent, then by what right does
the Church teach and sanctify the world, since the Church claims His
guidance in her mission.
Yet
these considerations, and
those implicit in them, are taken for granted—taken on faith, so to
speak—and because of this, the wonderful and awe-inspiring doctrine
of the Trinity diminishes in the minds of even the most faithful
Catholic. And therefore it
is very unfortunate that many Catholics, even traditional Catholics
have a very insufficient knowledge of the most fundamental mystery of
our Holy Catholic Faith.
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| Pope John XXII (Not John XXIII!) |
Perhaps
it was because of this that Pope John XXII ordered the observance of
the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity throughout the universal Church on
the first Sunday after Pentecost. Until then, the Sunday had been
“vacant” i.e., lacking a special Office and Mass, although in
some places a special Office of the Holy Trinity was recited.
Petitions to the Holy See, particularly one made to Pope Alexander II
(d. 1073), requesting a feast in honor of the Trinity, were rejected
on the grounds that in the Roman Church, where it is customary to
honor the Triune God daily through the recitation of the Gloria
Patri,
a special Sunday or feast was not necessary.
HOWEVER,
the
Pope did not forbid the observance where it had already been
established. One such place was Liège, Belgium, whose bishop,
Stephen, had composed the Office of the Trinity mentioned before. St.
Thomas à Becket (d. 1171) is credited with the introduction of the
feast in England. In a legend attached to his life, the saint ordered
the observance of the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity on the first
Sunday after Pentecost, for it was on that day that he had been
consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury.
In
some locations the Trinity Sunday was kept on the Sunday prior to the
beginning of Advent, probably because it was the last Sunday of the
liturgical year and it therefore served to crown the entire cycle of
mysteries commemorated therein by drawing attention to the central
mystery of the Faith. However John XXII fixed the celebration of
Trinity Sunday to the first Sunday after Pentecost, the better to
crown the Paschal season and the Octave of Pentecost. The timing is
most apt, for the Son has risen in glory to His Father and has sent
the Holy Ghost to begin the work of the Church to teach, rule, and
sanctify men until the end of time. In this “liturgical
springtime,” the three distinct Persons of the Trinity are all
within focus, and it is fitting to commemorate this mystery as the
season draws to its close.
ANOTHER
ARGUMENT for observing the feast on this Sunday can be made from the
fact that the mystery of the Trinity was not unveiled until following
the Resurrection of Christ—the miracle that proved
conclusively His divinity—and the descent of the Holy Ghost—which
proved the existence of the third divine member of the Trinity. As
the period prior to Easter deals with the life of Christ and His
mission from His most merciful coming on Christmas to His Passion,
Death, and Resurrection, so the period following Pentecost places
before us the mission of the Church, and in this way the sharp
delineation between the old and new dispensations, based primarily on
the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, is high-lighted.
Still
another reason given for this particular placement of the
Sunday in honor of the Trinity is that because it was on the first
Pentecost that the doctrine was first preached to the world, the
feast of Pentecost and the doctrine of the Trinity should be kept
closely joined in the minds of Catholics.
ALTHOUGH
THE FEAST came along rather late in the history of the Church, the
liturgical calendar had for a long time already set aside Sunday as
the day for special honor to the Most Holy Trinity. During the Arian
heresy, which ravaged the Church with its perfidious doctrine that
the Son and the Father were not of the same substance, and therefore
not co-eternal or co-equal, so soon after the era of persecutions,
the Fathers of the Council of Nicea designated Sunday as the day
especially dedicated to the Trinity and composed a special Office and
Mass with canticles, hymns, responses, and a proper Preface. This
custom of special prayers on Sunday in honor of the Trinity carries
to this day among Catholic clergy still faithful to centuries of
tradition. The Preface of the Blessed Trinity is recited at every
Sunday Mass outside of the Christmas season, Lent, Paschal time, or
when the Sunday is not impeded by a feast. The Creed of St.Athanasius is recited in the Divine Office at the hour of Prime on
those same Sundays.
This
explication of the Trinity and what a Catholic must believe
about the central dogma of the Faith is indeed worthy of the great
doctor who preached the unity and equality of each of the Persons of
the Trinity against the Arians. While the other accepted declarations
of Catholic doctrine mention the members of the Trinity, and assert
their divinity, what a Catholic must believe about the members of the
Blessed Trinity, their unity, equality, omnipotence, and existence
from eternity is most fully expounded in the Athanasian Creed.
For
obvious reasons, then, the Church has inserted this Creed in the
Office of Prime for the feast of the Most Holy Trinity. The Creed
cannot explain the mystery of the Three Divine Persons united in a
single substance—what invention sprung from the human brain
can?—but its grand and glorious text with its declaration that
“Father and Son are God, and the Holy Ghost is God; nevertheless,
not three gods, but only One God: Father and Son are omnipotent, and
the Holy Ghost is omnipotent; nevertheless, not three omnipotents,
but only One Omnipotent,” best expresses the awesome, unfathomable
mystery of the Triune God.
TRINITY
SUNDAY originally held the rank of a double of the second class; St.
Pius X elevated it to the rank of a double of the first class. Since
it is the octave day of Pentecost and, as mentioned earlier, the
culmination of the Paschal Season and the be-ginning of the time
after Pentecost, Trinity Sunday does not carry an octave. It is still
more important than many of the other Sundays of the year, for on it
we solely contemplate (in our flawed fashion) the sublime nature of
God Himself.
Our
knowledge of God while
we exist here below, wrote St. Paul, is akin to looking “through a
glass darkly.” Only in heaven will we be able to see God face to
face. Even then, though, the mystery of God, Three Persons in One,
will remain beyond our ken. Still the imperfect analogies we form to
aid our poor intellects provide some insight into the God we must
know and love in order to save our souls.
No
analogy
is more apt that that of “Father.” Jesus Himself told us that
when we pray, we begin “Our Father.” St. Paul follows up on this
with his most beautiful phrase that it is from God that all paternity
takes its name. In the strict sense of this phrase, God the Father is
a Father to the Son, for He begot the Son of His own substance from
all eternity.
But
for us He is the caring, provident Father of all men, slow to
anger, exacting but just in punishment, and quick to forgive His
wayward but penitent children. He has adopted us by virtue of our
Baptism, and therefore He will provide for our spiritual needs. His
is the earth and all its fullness, and He has given it over to the
stewardship of men; He will therefore supply our temporal wants. He
is a Father, and like earthly fathers, He is to be feared and
respected, but most of all, He is to be loved.
These
should be the thoughts of our hearts on Trinity Sunday. The
liturgy of the Sunday places this sublime mystery, so deep and
unknowable, before our eyes, yet behind this mystery lies a simple
and beautiful truth: the loving Fatherhood of God for us all.
The Blessed Trinity Present in Us, Uncreated Source of our Interior Life
taken
from the three Ages of the Spiritrual
Life by Rev. Reginald Garrigou-Langrange, O. P.
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Since
we have treated of the life of grace, of the spiritual organism of
the infused virtues and the gifts, we may fittingly consider the
uncreated Source of our interior life, that is, the Blessed
Trinity present in all just souls on earth, in purgatory, and in
heaven. We shall see, first of all, what divine revelation,
contained in Scripture, tells us about this consoling mystery. We
shall then briefly consider the testimony of tradition, and
finally we shall see the exact ideas offered by theology,
particularly by St. Thomas Aquinas,(1) and the spiritual
consequences of this doctrine.
Scripture
teaches us that God is present in every creature by a general
presence, often called the presence of immensity. We read in
particular in Ps. 138:7: "Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit?
Or whither shall I flee from Thy face? If I ascend into heaven,
Thou art there; if I descend into hell, Thou art present."
This is what made St. Paul say, when preaching to the Athenians:
"God, who made the world, . . . being Lord of heaven and
earth, . . . though He be not far from everyone of us: for in Him
we live and move and are." (2) God, in fact, sees all,
preserves all things in existence, and inclines every creature to
the action which is suitable for him. He is like the radiant
source from which the life of creation springs, and also the
central force that draws everything to itself: "O God,
sustaining force of creation, remaining in Thyself, unmoved."
Holy
Scripture does not, however, speak only of this general presence
of God in all things; it also speaks of a special presence of God
in the just. We read, in fact, even in the Old Testament: "Wisdom
will not enter into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body subject
to sins." (3) Would only created grace or the created gift of
wisdom dwell in the just soul? Christ's words bring us a new light
and show us that it is the divine persons Themselves who come and
dwell in us: "If anyone love Me," He says, "he will
keep My word. And My Father will love him, and We will come to
him, and will make Our abode with him." (4) These words
should be noted: "We will come." Who will come? Would it
be only created effects: sanctifying grace, the infused virtues,
the gifts? No indeed; Those who come are Those who love: the
divine persons, the Father and the Son, from whom the Holy Ghost
is never separated, that Spirit of Love promised, moreover, by our
Lord and visibly sent on Pentecost. "We will come to him,"
to the just soul who loves God, and "We will come" not
only in a transitory, passing manner, but "We will make our
abode with him," that is to say, We will dwell in him as long
as he remains just, or in the state of grace, as long as he
preserves charity. Such were our Lord's own words.
These
words are confirmed by those that promise the Holy Ghost: "I
will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that
He may abide "with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the
world cannot receive because it seeth Him not, nor knoweth Him.
But you shall know Him; because He shall abide with you and shall
be in you. . . . He will teach you all things and bring all things
to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you." (5) These
words were not only addressed to the apostles; they were verified
in them on Pentecost, which is renewed for us by confirmation.
This testimony of our Savior is clear, and it states exactly and
in an admirable manner what we read in the Book of Wisdom (I: 4).
It is indeed the three divine persons who come and dwell in the
souls of the just. Thus the apostles understood it. St. John
writes: "God is charity: and he that abideth in charity,
abideth in God, and God in him." (6) He possesses God in his
heart; but still more God possesses him and holds him, preserving
not only his natural existence, but the life of grace and charity
in him. St. Paul speaks in like manner: "The charity of God
is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost who is given to
us." (7) We have received not only created charity, but the
Holy Ghost Himself who has been given to us. St. Paul speaks of
Him especially, because charity likens us more to the Holy Ghost,
who is personal love, than to the Father and to the Son. They are
also in us, according to the testimony of Christ, but we will be
made perfectly like Them only when we receive the light of glory,
which will imprint in us the resemblance to the Word, who is the
splendor of the Father. On several different occasions St. Paul
refers to this consoling doctrine: "Know you not that you are
the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"
(8) "Or know you not that your members are the temple of the
Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom you have from God; and you are not
your own? For you are bought with a great price. Glorify and bear
God in your body." (9) Scripture thus teaches explicitly that
the three divine persons dwell in every just soul, in every soul
in the state of grace.
Tradition,
moreover, shows by the voice of the first martyrs, by that of the
fathers, by the official teaching of the Church, that the words of
Scripture must be understood in this way.(10)
At the
beginning of the second century, St. Ignatius of Antioch declares
in his letters that true Christians bear God in themselves; he
calls them "theophoroi" or God-bearers. This doctrine
was widespread in the primitive Church: the martyrs proclaimed it
before their judges. St. Lucy of Syracuse answered Paschasius:
"Words cannot fail those who have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them."
Among
the Greek fathers, St. Athanasius says that the three divine
persons are in us.(11) St. Basil declares that the Holy Ghost, by
His presence, makes us more and more spiritual and like to the
image of the only Son.(12) St. Cyril of Alexandria also speaks of
this intimate union between the just soul and the Holy Ghost.(13)
Among the Latin fathers, St. Ambrose teaches that we receive Him
in baptism and even more in confirmation.(14) St. Augustine shows
that, according to the testimony of the early fathers, not only
grace was given us, but God Himself, the Holy Ghost and His seven
gifts. (15)
This
revealed doctrine is finally brought home to us by the official
teaching of the Church. In the Credo of St. Epimethius, which
adults were obliged to recite before receiving baptism, we read:
"The Holy Spirit who. . . spoke in the apostles and dwells in
the saints." (16) The Council of Trent declares also: "The
efficient cause [of our justification] is the merciful God, who
washes and sanctifies gratuitously, signing and anointing
with the holy Spirit of promise, who is the pledge of our
inheritance" (Eph. I: 13) .(17)
 It is well to recall the explanation given by the Doctors of the Church of the words of Holy Scripture. They say that God is present and exists in all things "by His power in so far as all things are subject to His power; by His presence, inasmuch as all things are naked and open to His eyes; by His essence, inasmuch as He is present to all as the cause of their being" (St. Thomas, la, q. 8, a. 3). But God is in man, not only as in inanimate things, but because He is more fully known and loved by him, since even by nature we spontaneously love, desire, and seek after the good. Moreover, God by grace resides in the just soul as in a temple, in a most intimate and peculiar manner. From this proceeds that union of affection by which the soul adheres most closely to God, more so than the friend is united to his most loving and beloved friend, and enjoys God in all fullness and sweetness. Now this wonderful union, which is properly called "indwelling," differing only in degree or state from that with which God beatifies the saints in heaven, although it is most certainly produced by the presence of the whole Blessed Trinity-"We will come to him and make Our abode with him" (John 14: 2 3)-nevertheless is attributed in a peculiar manner to the Holy Ghost. For, whilst traces of divine power and wisdom appear even in the wicked man, charity, which, as it were, is the special mark of the Holy Ghost, is shared in only by the just. . . . Wherefore the Apostle, when calling us the temple of God, does not expressly mention the Father, or the Son, but the Holy Ghost: "Know you not that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom you have from God?" (I Cor. 6: 19') The fullness of divine gifts is in many ways a consequence of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the souls of the just. . . . Among these gifts are those secret warnings and invitations which from time to time are excited in our minds and hearts by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Without these there is no beginning of a good life, no progress, no arriving at eternal salvation.
Such
is, in substance, the testimony of tradition expressed by the
teaching authority of the Church under its different forms. We
shall now see what theology adds in order to give us, in addition,
a certain understanding of this revealed mystery. We shall
follow the teaching of St. Thomas on this subject.
Different
explanations of this mystery have been proposed.(18) Among these
different points of view, that of St. Thomas, preserved by Leo
XIII in his encyclical on the Holy Ghost, seems the truest.
For God is in all things by His essence, power, and presence, according to His one common mode, as the cause existing in the effects which participate In His goodness. Above and beyond this common mode, however, there is one special mode belonging to the rational nature wherein God is said to be present as the object known is in the knower, and the beloved in the lover. And since the rational creature by its own operation of (supernatural) knowledge and love attains to God Himself, according to this special mode, God is said not only to exist in the rational creature, but also to dwell therein as in His own temple. So no other effect can be put down as the reason why the divine Person is in the rational creature in a new mode, except sanctifying grace. . . . Again, we are said to possess only what we can freely use or enjoy: but to have the power of enjoying the divine Person can only be according to sanctifying grace.(20)
Without
sanctifying grace and charity, God does not, in fact, dwell in us.
It is not sufficient to know Him by a natural philosophical
knowledge, or even by the supernatural knowledge of imperfect
faith united to hope, as the believer in the state of mortal sin
knows Him. (God is, so to speak, distant from a believer who is
turned away from Him.) We must be able to know Him by living faith
and the gifts of the Holy Ghost connected with charity. This last
knowledge, being quasi-experimental, attains God not as a distant
and simply represented reality, but as a present, possessed
reality which we can enjoy even now. This is evidently what St.
Thomas means in the text quoted.(21) It is a question, he says, of
a knowledge which attains God Himself, and permits us to possess
Him and to enjoy Him. That the divine persons may dwell in us, we
must be able to know Them in a quasi-experimental and loving
manner, based on infused charity, which gives us a connaturality
or sympathy with the intimate life of God.(22) That the Blessed
Trinity may dwell in us, this quasi-experimental knowledge need
not, however, be actual; it suffices that we be able to have it by
the grace of the virtues and gifts. Thus the indwelling of the
Blessed Trinity endures in the just man even during sleep and as
long as he remains in the state of grace.(23) From time to time,
however, God may make Himself felt by us as the soul of our soul,
the life of our life. This is what St. Paul declares in his
epistle to the Romans (8: 15 f.): "You have received the
spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry: Abba (Father). For the
Spirit Himself giveth testimony to our spirit, that we are the
sons of God." In his commentary on this epistle, St. Thomas
says: "The Holy Spirit gives this testimony to our spirit by
the effect of filial love which He produces in us." (24) For
this reason the disciples of Emmaus exclaimed after Jesus
disappeared: "Was not our heart burning within us, whilst He
spoke in the way and opened to us the Scriptures?" (25)
In
giving the explanation we have just quoted, St. Thomas simply
shows us the profound meaning of the words of Christ that we cited
previously: "If anyone love Me, he will keep My word. And My
Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make Our
abode with him." (26) "The Holy Ghost, whom the Father
will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring all
things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you."
(27) According to this teaching, the Blessed Trinity dwells, in a
sense, more perfectly in the just soul than the body of the Savior
does in a consecrated host. Christ is, indeed, really and
substantially present under the Eucharistic species, but these
species of bread do not know and do not love. The Blessed Trinity
dwells in the just soul as in a living temple which knows and
loves in varying degrees. It dwells in the souls of the blessed
who contemplate It unveiled, especially in the most holy soul of
the Savior, to which the Word is personally united. And even here
on earth, in the penumbra of faith, the Blessed Trinity, without
our seeing It, dwells in us in order to vivify us more and more,
up to the moment of our entrance into glory where It will appear
to us.
This intimate presence of the
Blessed Trinity in us does not dispense us, certainly, from
approaching the Eucharistic table or from praying in the presence
of the Blessed Sacrament, for the Blessed Trinity dwells far more
intimately in the holy soul of the Savior, personally united to
the Word, than in us. If we draw profit from approaching a saint
who is entirely possessed by God, like a holy Cure of Ars, how
much more will we profit from approaching our Savior? We can say
to Him: "Come, even with Thy cross, and take more complete
possession of us. Grant that the prayer, 'Thou in us and we in
Thee' may be more fully realized." Let us also think of the
indwelling of the Blessed Trinity in the soul of the Blessed
Virgin both here on earth and in heaven.
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