Trinity Sunday 2026

"Ah...a Catholic". 

I was invited to a colleague's home to have dinner with his family, rather than eat alone at the hotel I was staying at. At his invitation to bless the meal i began by signing myself, simultaneously saying "In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit...". I guess he say a quizzical  expression from me and signed himself as I had done and said "only Catholics do that". That memory, from more than 40 years ago, came flooding my mind as I prepared for Mass, the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity 2026. 

This sign has been with me from early: I was baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, before and after, every prayer, every rosary, every blessing I give as a permanent deacon. The sign and expressions are second nature to me., but I once saw a car with a bumper sticker that read: 'Honk, if you believe in one God". I was an attempted dig at the Catholic Church, born out of ignorance, nurtured in intolerance. I honked. IYKYN!

Today's celebrations are in honor of the mystery of the Holy Trinity: Three Persons, one God. It blows the mind doesn't it? That's the essence of our Christian understanding of 'mystery'; not a puzzle to be solved but rather something not understandable with our minds but with our faith. Perhaps the most influential treatise on Trinitarian theology was developed by St. Augustine primarily in De Trinitate (written ~400–416 AD). Augustine insists that the three persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — share one identical divine substance (substantia). There is no hierarchy of being among them; all three are co-equal, co-eternal, and omnipotent. Any statement about God's nature (e.g., "God is good") applies to all three persons equally, not to each separately. All divine acts toward creation (opera ad extra) are performed by all three persons together, inseparably. When Scripture attributes a specific act to one person (e.g., the Son becoming incarnate), it is an appropriation — a work of the whole Trinity made visible through one person.

Many have tried to explain the unexplainable in ways our finite mind could grasp e.g. the Lover, the Beloved and the act of Loving, St. Patrick of Ireland used the Shamrock to explain the Trinity, but I like the interpretation of St. Cyril, that my daughter shared with me:  “God the Father is that blazing sun. God the Son is its light and God the Holy Spirit is its heat — but there is only one sun. So, there are three Persons in the Holy Trinity but God is One and indivisible.”

But what meaning has this unfathomable mystery in our lives? We are made in the image and likeness of God, and so our living belief in the presence of the Triune God within us should help us to:

(1) esteem ourselves as God’s holy dwelling place, to behave well in His holy presence, and to lead purer and holier lives, practicing acts of justice and charity.  This Triune Presence should also encourage us to respect and honor others as “Temples of the Holy Spirit.”

(2) Our awareness and conviction of the presence of God within us should give us the strength to face life's problems with Christian courage.

(3) We are created in love to be a community of loving persons, just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are One in Love.

I'll age myself withe the words of a song that perhaps is more applicable now that when it was first sung:
 "What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
No not just for some but for everyone" 

This is the only true way to reflect the Triune God in-dwelling in us.

Peace.

Deacon Michel