GROW CLOSER TO OUR LORD THROUGH YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE TRINITY
with this free eBook, Prayers to the Most Holy Trinity
The teaching of the Most Blessed Trinity is the central Mystery of Christianity: God is One God in Three Divine Persons.
With these prayers, we hope you can deepen your relationship with Our Lord, praise Him for His Goodness, thank Him for His blessings, and ask His forgiveness for your sins.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (paragraph 234) teaches,
The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in Himself. It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the “hierarchy of the truths of faith.” The whole history of salvation is identical with the history of the way and the means by which the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, reveals himself to men “and reconciles and unites with himself those who turn away from sin.”
The objects of the Christian Faith, such as the Trinity, are above created natures. As supernatural realities, they cannot be discovered by reason or the senses, but must be revealed by God, who alone fully knows and understands them. This makes the Trinity a mystery.
Even so, we can reason about the mysteries of the Faith by analogy to the things that we do know, showing that they are not incompatible with reason, just beyond its natural comprehension. This possibility is the basis of the various dogmas regarding the mysteries of the Faith which the Church has promulgated over the centuries, as well as of the reasoned conclusions of theologians—all founded upon the act of Faith in the truth of the mystery.
In Scripture it is revealed that God is One and God is Three, in that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. This faith was held by the Church from her beginning. With time a theological language was developed, largely to exclude various errors about the nature of God (e.g. three gods, or three modes or aspects of God). After the end of Roman persecution in 313 A.D., the theological work of defeating errors regarding God and Christ would occupy the Church through her great Councils of the 4th and 5th centuries.
Trinity, specifically, seems to have been in use by the end of the second century. It is found as the Greek trias around 180 A.D.—in Theophilus of Antioch, who explains, “the Trias of God [the Father], His Word and His Wisdom (“Ad. Autol.”, II, 15). Tertullian will adopt the Latin Trinitas, and the term would become common in the third century.
“In all our actions, when we come in or go out, when we dress, when we wash, at our meals, before retiring to sleep, we make on our foreheads the sign of the cross.” - Tertullian (c.200 A.D.)
The Catechism (paragraphs 253-255) further explains, stating,
The Trinity is One. We do not confess three Gods, but one God in three persons, the “consubstantial Trinity.” The divine persons do not share the one divinity among themselves but each of them is God whole and entire: “The Father is that which the Son is, the Son that which the Father is, the Father and the Son that which the Holy Spirit is, i.e. by nature one God.” In the words of the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215, “Each of the persons is that supreme reality, viz., the divine substance, essence or nature.”
The divine persons are really distinct from one another. “God is one but not solitary.” ”Father”, “Son”, “Holy Spirit” are not simply names designating modalities of the divine being, for they are really distinct from one another: “He is not the Father who is the Son, nor is the Son he who is the Father, nor is the Holy Spirit he who is the Father or the Son.” They are distinct from one another in their relations of origin: “It is the Father who generates, the Son who is begotten, and the Holy Spirit who proceeds.” The divine Unity is Triune.
The divine persons are relative to one another.Because it does not divide the divine unity, the real distinction of the persons from one another resides solely in the relationships which relate them to one another: “In the relational names of the persons the Father is related to the Son, the Son to the Father, and the Holy Spirit to both. While they are called three persons in view of their relations, we believe in one nature or substance.” Indeed “everything (in them) is one where there is no opposition of relationship.” “Because of that unity the Father is wholly in the Son and wholly in the Holy Spirit; the Son is wholly in the Father and wholly in the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is wholly in the Father and wholly in the Son.”
“A Christian receives divine wisdom in three ways: by the commandments, teachings, and faith. The commandments free the mind from passions. Teachings lead it to true knowledge of nature. Faith leads to the contemplation of the Holy Trinity.” - St. Maximus the Confessor (c.650)
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are the Three Divine Persons of the Blessed Trinity.
Who is the First Person of the Trinity?
God the Father is the First Person of the Blessed Trinity. This means He is the Source or Principle of what is call the “processions” of the other two Persons.
In the Old Testament references to “God,” whether Yahweh, or Adonai, or by other Names are references to the Divine Nature, but in some sense are also to the “principle” of that Nature, the Father, from Whom the Godhead proceeds eternally. Thus, the Christian can take references to God in Scripture to be to the Unity of the Divine Nature or to the Father, depending on context.
The Son is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. He processes from the Father as His Divine Word from all eternity. The term “generation” is also used for this procession. The human analogy of Sonship, therefore, reflects this, and the fact that the Second Person is the Word of God, or the image as St. Paul explains (Col. 1:15).
Who is the Third Person of the Trinity?
The Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. He processes from the Father and the Son as their Spirit, the Spirit of Love.
“Three Persons who are one God because the Father is love, the Son is love, the Spirit is love. God is love and only love, most pure, infinite and eternal love. The Trinity does not live in a splendid solitude, but is rather inexhaustible font of life that unceasingly gives itself and communicates itself. We can in some way intuit this, whether we observe the macro-universe: our earth, the planets, the stars, the galaxies; or the micro-universe: cells, atoms, elementary particles. The ‘name’ of the Most Holy Trinity is in a certain way impressed upon everything that exists, because everything that exists, down to the least particle, is a being in relation, and thus God-relation shines forth, ultimately creative Love shines forth. All comes from love, tends toward love, and is moved by love, naturally, according to different grades of consciousness and freedom.” - Pope Benedict XVI
As with every teaching about God, our human understanding falls short. The Catechism explains,
CCC. 239. We ought … to recall that God transcends the human distinction between the sexes. He is neither man nor woman: he is God. He also transcends human fatherhood and motherhood, although he is their origin and standard: no one is father as God is Father.
God is Spirit, and spirit is neither male or female. The human categories of sex or gender are distinctions arising from our human nature’s material need to perpetuate itself through reproduction. Neither God’s divine nature, nor the angels’ spiritual nature, have this need.
The use of Father, Son, or masculine pronouns for God are, therefore, based on Revelation—that is how God has revealed Himself. Thus, although God is spirit and neither male nor female, the masculine usages (Father, Son, He, His etc.) reveals something about the Divine Nature, and the Communion of Divine Persons, by analogy to our own human nature.
In creatures male and female refers to the mode of generating that nature. Males do so outside themselves; females within, nurturing life once begun. Since some religions and ideologies confuse God with his creation, this usage of masculine terms teaches us that God is other than His creation. He neither creates from His own being, nor nurtures creation within it. The Names Father and Son follow from this, as well.
This does not mean that psychological qualities generally associated with femininity and maternity are not used in Sacred Scripture. However, these generally express God’s temporal relationship with His people, whereas the use in Revelation of masculine names, and associated terms, teach about the eternal Divine Nature and the eternal relations among the Divine Persons.
“O Trinity, eternal Trinity! Fire, abyss of love...
Was it necessary that you should give
Even the Holy Trinity as food for souls?...
You gave us not only your Word
Through the Redemption and in the Eucharist,
But you also gave yourself
In the fullness of love for your creature.”
- St. Catherine of Siena (c. 1370)
Jesus is the “Word made flesh” (John 1:14). This means that from all eternity He is the Word of God, that is, He is God (John 1:1-3). Yet, He is not the Father. Thus, the Word, the Son of God, or the 2nd Person of the Trinity, are different ways of saying this.
Phil. 2:6-7 . . . who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
In assuming human nature through the Blessed Virgin Mary He was given the name Jesus, God saves. However, He did not cease to be the Son of God, nor after the Incarnation will He ever cease to be man, and known as Jesus.
Does Jesus ever claim to be God?
Yes, Jesus clearly indicates that He is God. In the Old Testament, God said to Moses that His Name is “I AM WHO I AM,” or simply, “I AM” (Exodus 3:14). In multiple places in the Gospel, Jesus uses this language or implies it, infuriating those who could not conceive of the possibility of God having a Son.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58)
“I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35)
“I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
“I am the good shepherd.” (John 10:11)
“I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live… (John 11:25)
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)
While the word “Trinity” is not itself given in Sacred Scripture, the Church determined that the term taught the truth about the God whom Scripture reveals—One God and Three Divine Persons. Many other terms (e.g. Incarnation, Person, Sacrament) have been used over the centuries to teach revealed truths, having acquired stable meanings from consistent use or Church decision. In this way, the Church’s doctrines are able to teach true things about a mystery of God, without intending to exhaust all that might be said about that mystery.
Fifty references to the Trinity in Scripture:
What is the Trinitarian formula for baptism?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (paragraph 233) says,
Christians are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: not in their names, for there is only one God, the almighty Father, his only Son and the Holy Spirit: the Most Holy Trinity.
The Trinitarian formula is so central to the Christian sacrament of baptism (Mt. 28:18-20), and thus of justifying the sinner (Acts 2:38), that the Church rejects all other formulas as invalid, that is, not accomplishing the purposes of Baptism. This includes “the baptism of John“ (Acts 18:25), baptism in the “name of Jesus” (mistaking the euphemism for being baptized into Christ as a formula), or, in our own day, baptism “in the Name of the Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier.”
"As we pray to the Trinity, we pray to empty our memory and fill it with the Father; to empty our reasoning power, to be humble and accept the mysteries, and to fill our intellect with Jesus; and to empty our will of ourselves so that we are one with the Spirit." - Mother Angelica
The Holy Trinity is not specifically revealed in the Old Testament. This was reserved for the coming of Christ. However, the Trinity inevitably placed Its mark on creation and revelation to Israel, foreshadowing Christian revelation. Some examples are:
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness …”
Genesis 3:22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil …”
In Genesis 18, three angels visit Abraham, who takes them to be God:
18:1 And the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men stood in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the earth, and said, “My lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.
Abraham “negotiates” with the three angels over the fate of Sodom, saying,
18:27 “Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes.
Such “theophanies” (manifestations of God), like that of the burning bush to Moses, tells us something about God who is spirit, as well as the Trinity, though only by analogy and without explicitly revealing the Triune nature of God.
Videos About Holy Trinity Sunday
CCC 772. From the beginning until “the fullness of time,” the joint mission of the Father’s Word and Spirit remains hidden, but it is at work. God’s Spirit prepares for the time of the Messiah. Neither is fully revealed but both are already promised, to be watched for and welcomed at their manifestation. So, for this reason, when the Church reads the Old Testament, she searches there for what the Spirit, “who has spoken through the prophets,” wants to tell us about Christ.
Like the Trinity Itself some allusions to the three Divine Persons can be found—the mystery being reserved for revelation in and through Jesus Christ.
Father The use of the title Father for God is found in some places. Moses, for example, chastising Israel, says,
Deuteronomy 32:6 Do you thus repay the LORD, you foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you?
And the prophet Isaiah, praising God, addresses Him as father, saying,
Is. 64:8 Yet, O Lord, you are our father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.
However, such references were only understood to be saying something about God’s relationship with His chosen people.
Son The use of the title Son in the sense of the Divine Nature was also unknown. Used in conjunction “God” it was only with the sense of likeness to God in holiness. In the book of Job the angels are referred to as “sons of God” (Job 1:6, 2:1 & 38:7), and in Genesis 6:2 it is the righteous among men (cf. also Ps 29:1, 89:6; Wisdom 5:5).
Holy Spirit Similarly, throughout the Old Testament the Spirit of God is spoken of in equivocal terms—characteristic of God’s activity in creation and salvation history, yet not as a person. He moves over the creation, breathes life into man (Gen 1:3; 2:7), as well as renews him (Ps. 104:29-30). He gives power to the righteous (1 Sam. 10:9-13), and withdraws it from sinners (1 Sam 16:14). He speaks through the prophets, to chastise (Ezek. 2:2-3), and to promise renewal (Is. 11:2; 61:1).
Ezekiel 36:26-27 A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.
Thus, while a common Hebrew word for “breath” or “wind” (ruah) is used, that God’s spirit has a personal activity attributed to it foreshadows the Divine Person revealed as such by Christ.
"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." - 2 Corinthians 13:14
Some Christians in pursuit of equality between the sexes change the Divine Names to “Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier” in order to avoid masculine terms. This particular usage is false on two grounds, 1) God did not reveal Himself by these names, and 2), these are not names, but functions.
God revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, because these explain something of the nature and interior life of God. Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, on the other hand, refer to God’s works, the Church calls them missions, outside of God. The Creator existed before He created, the Redeemer before He redeemed, and the Sanctifier before He sanctified anyone. These titles, while true, speak only about God in relation to creation, not about God in Himself.
For this reason, replacement of the Names of the Divine Persons with alternatives to Father and Son in prayers, the baptismal form, the Sign of the Cross, or in reading the texts of the Scripture, are not justified theologically, nor represent the Faith of the Church.
No one created God. He — the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — has always existed. In appearing to Moses (c. 1300 B.C.), God revealed His name, a name that describes His nature, Self-Existing Being.
God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. . . . Say this to the people of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:14)
Until this time, human beings had created myths and religions consisting of pantheons of many gods, representing facets of human nature, creation or parts or elements of creation. It took a thousand years after God’s revelation to Moses for thinkers like the Greek philosopher Aristotle (c. 325 B.C.) to essentially conclude the same by reason alone, that only a self-existing spiritual being, a First Cause, could be responsible for causing creation.
The Sign of the Cross is a profession of faith—faith in the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, faith in the Incarnation, and in our Redemption on the Cross. When used while blessing oneself with Holy Water, it recalls our baptism into Christ and the Indwelling of the Trinity within us. It is also a powerful sacramental that protects against the Evil One, and evil in general.
