The third grader asked his mother, “Why does Daddy bring home a briefcase full of work every night?” She answered, “He has so much work that he can’t get it done at the office.” The child thought about it and then asked, “Well, why don’t they just put him in a slower group?”
When we were in the seminary studying the mystery of the Trinity, we were all in the slower group.
The Trinity is a mystery, a divine mystery. The mystery of the Trinity is not a mathematical problem to be solved.
But what does it mean? How can three persons be one God? It defies logic or reason. It is incomprehensible.
We can rationalize the Trinity by saying the three persons in the Trinity are Divine Persons; they are without human bodies. Thus, they can be three in one.
How many of you went to a Catholic grade school? Remember the Baltimore Catechism, and how we had to memorize the questions and answers? If we could recite word-for-word the answers found in the Baltimore Catechism, we were considered smart. That made us feel good and instilled confidence.
The catechism question on the Trinity was, “How many persons are there in God?” The answer was not simply “three.” The answer was “In God there are three persons, really distinct and equal in all things, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
The next question on the Trinity was, “Can we fully understand how the three Divine Persons are one and the same God?” The answer was not simply, “No.” The complete answer was: “We cannot fully understand how the three Divine Persons are one and the same God, because this is a mystery.”
The next question in the catechism was, “What is a mystery?” Answer: “A mystery is a truth which we cannot fully understand.”
The Trinity is a truth that cannot be fully understood. The mystery can’t be explained. But God can be embraced and God can be experienced. The mystery of the Trinity has to be marveled at, meditated upon, prayed over and reflected on.
Let me suggest we experience the Trinity by listening to this description of God as found in our first reading from the Book of Exodus: “The Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, rich in kindness and fidelity.”
It was Mother Teresa who said, “We experience the God we are taught to believe in, but we would be better to believe in the God we experience.”
In high school and at the University of Minnesota, I realized that the Baltimore Catechism’s memorized answers didn’t satisfy my curiosity about what I was personally experiencing.
I find it much more rewarding to believe in the God I have experienced than to believe in the God of memorized answers. The God I most frequently experience is the God of kindness and mercy, of love and forgiveness.
Here is the mystery of the Trinity. It is not that three Divine Persons are one. I believe that truth, even though I do not fully understand it. The mystery of the Trinity is found in our Gospel this morning, John 3:16: “God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life. “
This is perhaps the most quoted passage of the sacred scriptures. You see it on signs at crowded stadiums or on street corners.
Today’s Gospel tells us that God does three things:
This is the mystery of the trinity: the love of God the Father, the love of God the Son and the love of the Holy Spirit. God’s love is incomprehensible, irrational, unmerited and unlimited.
I like this short story about John 3:16:
A homeless man was trying to sleep in the park. A police officer came and told him to move. “But I have no place to go.” The police officer said, “Go down the street to that house and knock on the door. When they come to the door, you just say ‘John 3:16.’ I don’t understand it, but it makes a stranger feel welcome.’”
So, he did. An elderly man and woman answered the door. The homeless man said, “John 3:16.” In unison, the couple said, “Come right in.”
The homeless man thought to himself, I am a stranger, and they welcome me. I don’t understand this John 3:16.
They took him to the kitchen and made him a hot meal. He ate and ate, thinking to himself, “John 3:16, I don’t understand it, but it sure makes a hungry and thirsty man satisfied.”
Then they took him upstairs, where they showed him his bedroom with pajamas and clean clothes on the bed and the shower with clean towels. He took a needed shower, washing away the grime and dirt. Again, he thought, “John 3:16, I don’t understand it, but it makes a dirty man clean.”
He slept soundly. The next morning, he dressed in the clean clothes and went downstairs to leave. The elderly couple had breakfast ready for him. They exchanged pleasantries, and he inquisitively asked, “I don’t understand it. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me. I was hungry and thirsty, and you fed me and gave me a drink. I was dirty, and you let me shower. I was almost naked, and you clothed me. I don’t understand John 3:16.”
In unison, they said, “We don’t either, but it guides our life.”
The Mystery of the Trinity is for those of us in the “slower” group, so we can marvel at, meditate upon and joyously experience that our God is kind and merciful, slow to anger and rich in kindness, who so loved the world that He gave his only Son to save us.
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