Mystery of the Godhead

John 3: 16 - 18
16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
17
For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
18
He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

The Most Holy Trinity

Today is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, where we recall the most fundamental mystery of the Christian faith - that God is a Truine God. There is but One Almighty God as Our Lord declared to Moses on Mount Sinai. Yet, in the New Testament we realize the true nature of Our God - He is three persons. For God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are but the same God merely in three different persons.In this life we can never fully understand the nature or the true unity of the Holy Trinity, but in Heaven we shall finally understand the beauty of the Trinity.

The feast of the Blessed Trinity was first introduced in the 9th century and was only made part of the general calendar of the Church in the 14th century by Pope John XXII. Yet, the mystery of the Trinity goes back further to the time of the early Apostles. The Holy Trinity can be observed in the Gospel through the words of our Lord: "Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matthew 28:18).

Since the beginning, many lies and heresies have sprouted as Our Lord warned that many anti-christs would come. Some heretics taught Jesus was not God, there was 3 gods, and the 3 persons were just three different roles of the same person. All of these lies and heresies were condemned.

Is Jesus divine?
YES! Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ is the second person of the Holy Trinity - God the Son. Along with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, they are but one and the same God present in three different persons. Remember when God told Moses "I Am who I am" (Exodus 3:14). Now let's look in the New Testament where Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am." (John 8:58). Jesus Christ and the God of the Old Testament are the same! Jesus Christ is God! He is divine! This is part of the great mystery of the Holy Trinity.Furthermore, St. Thomas the Apostle in John 20:28 addresses Jesus as "My Lord and my God." In John 10:30, Jesus declares: "I and the Father are one." All of these references illustrate that Jesus Christ is truly divine.

Truths of the Holy Trinity
The Trinity is one. There are three persons but only one God. Each person is God wholly and entirely.

Each person is different the other two. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not different roles of the same person. Each person has a different origin.

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all share one nature. They are related but not the same person while each of them is fully God.

Pope Paul VI, in 1968, stated: "In the three divine Persons the life and beatitude of God is realised and fulfilled with overwhelming plenitude in the supreme excellence and glory which is proper to him who is the uncreated Being, in such wise that 'unity in the Trinity and Trinity in the unity must be humbly acknowledged." (Credo of the People of God)


Roles of Each Person of the Trinity
The Father sent His only Son: "When the appointed time came, God sent his Son." (Gal. 4:4) also John 8:42

The Son came to die our death and free us

The Holy Spirit as one who proceeds from the Father and the Son

While the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are each God, the three persons each has a separate purpose in relation to the salvation of the World. However, all the Divine Persons of the Trinity act in perfect unity since God is one and has but one purpose. While all of this is certainly confusing, we can only pray that through the Holy Spirit's inspiration, we can hope to understand the Trinity. In time we can understand the Trinity and the nature of Our One God better, but only in Heaven will we truly expeience the joy of serving the One God and seeing the mystery of the Holy Trinity face to face. As for now, let us begin everything we do with the Sign of the Cross: "In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" as we recall this most important belief of the Christian faith.

"You see the revolving circle of the glory moving from Like to Like. The Son is glorified by the Spirit; the Father is glorified by the Son; again the Son has His glory from the Father; and the Only-begotten thus becomes the glory of the Spirit. For with what shall the Father be glorified, but with the true glory of the Son: and with what again shall the Son be glorified, but with the majesty of the Spirit? In like manner, again, Faith completes the circle, and glorifies the Son by means of the Spirit, and the Father by means of the Son" (St. Gregory of Nyssa).