The Doctrine of the Holy Trinity

When we enter the church, we dip the fingers of our right hand into the holy water font and bless ourselves “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” as we make the Sign of the Cross.  We end by saying “Amen,” a word which expresses hearty approval: “I believe.”  What we are doing then and every time we make the Sign of the Cross is affirming our belief in the Trinity.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that “The mystery of the Holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith and of the Christian life.”  God reveals Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  This doctrine teaches that God exists in the co-equal persons of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit who share a fully divine essence or being.

Where did this concept come from?  The doctrine of the Trinity was described by great theologians, like Augustine and Athanasius who lived in the 4^th and 5^th centuries.  These Church fathers explained the concept, but they did not create or invent it.  Even though the word Trinity cannot be found anywhere in the Bible, Church theologians discovered the doctrine of the Trinity in their reading of the New Testament.  There are several passages which illustrate this.  One example is found in the Gospel of Matthew.  At the baptism of Jesus, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were present as soon as Jesus emerged from the water: "…he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him.  And a voice came from the heavens, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’"  Peter begins his first epistle by saying that the people of God have been chosen according to “the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification by the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ.”  It is clear from this verse that each person of the Trinity has a role in the world:  the Father chooses, the Spirit sanctifies, and Jesus redeems people with His blood shed on the cross.

St. Patrick famously described the Trinity to the people of Ireland by using the analogy of the 3-leaf clover.  Each leaf on the plant appears whole and independent, but they are indivisibly part of a single stem.  This explanation helped the people develop a basic understanding of this mystery.

Understanding of and believing in the doctrine of the Trinity may be difficult but it is a truth of our Faith.  Our response, as followers of Christ, is to look at this revealed truth through the eyes of faith, and say “Amen.”