Trinity Sunday [C]
June 12, 2022
John 16:12-15

Sunday after the Pentecost Sunday is dedicated to the Most Holy Trinity. it generally turns to be the most dreaded Sunday for many preachers. The truth is indeed difficult to understand, to the point that many priests have neither courage to preach nor proper knowledge to explain. Yet, the Church insists that once a year we go deeper into the mystery of all mysteries, the truth of all truths. Thus, we begin with simple question: why Trinity?

The answer is not difficult. It is the Truth! It is the Truth that God Himself reveals to us through the Scriptures and the Tradition. Why not teaching a simple concept about God, why giving the people a high complex understanding of God? The simpler truth is not truer than the more complex truth. A simple additional is not truer than sophisticated calculus. In fact, oversimplistic truth can lead to errors.

There are at least three basic errors or heresies about Trinity. The first one is polytheism. Christianity is not polytheistic religion. Trinity is not three gods or tritheism. The holy Trinity is one God in three divine person. The second error is modalism. This teaches that there is only one God and He uses three ‘modes’ of existence or appearance. God appears to be the Father when He created, to be the Son when He saves us, and to be the Holy Spirit when He sanctifies us. It is like a water. Sometimes, water is in the state of liquid, but it can be also solid or gas. Thus, the distinction of the divine persons are not real. The third and final heresy is Arianism. This teaching comes from Arius, a priest of Alexandria, in the fourth century. Simply put, Arius taught that Father is the only true God, while the Son and the Holy Spirit are real, but not the true God.

So, how do we get the correction understanding of Trinity? To help us, we shall need a little help from the Fathers of the Church who employ the terms ‘nature’ and ‘person.’ They seem complicated, but they are actually not. Nature answers the question ‘WHAT is it?’ while person answers ‘WHO is it?’ For example: what is Joseph? Joseph is a man. Who is that man? He is Joseph. Joseph’s nature is human, and Joseph is a person.

Let us apply this to God. What are the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit? One God. They are not three gods, because the divine nature cannot be divided, and each possesses the divine nature perfectly. Who is this God? The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. One divine What in three divine Whos!

The truth is a hard to swallow, but we continue to live and honor this greatest mystery because in the end, we are going to live in this divine love of the Holy Trinity.

Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP