An Explanation of the Trinity

The Most Holy Trinity – Cycle A

Exodus 34: 4b-6, 8-9; 

2 Corinthians 13: 11-13; 

John 3: 16-18

When I was In second grade, I was preparing for my first communion. I was not in a catholic school at the time, so my instruction came in the form of CCD classes on Sunday mornings. One day in class, I asked my teacher a question: How can God be three different people at the same time? My teacher, a former nun, gave me what I now know to be the standard nun answer: It is a mystery!

The good sister's answer was correct, but it did little to satisfy the curiosity of an eight year old boy. Later, when I attended catholic schools, I would ask my religion teacher the same question. I received various answers over the years, but never one that spoke to me.

Then, about twenty years ago, I read a small column in a newspaper that explained the concept of the trinity perfectly. I cut that column out and saved it, vowing that when my sons asked me the question, I would be able to answer it for them. It has become known in my house as “the question that was never asked.” From time to time, I've pulled out that column and reread it. Over the years, I've removed some of the original author's thoughts and added some of my own. I wish that I could tell you the original author's name, but it has long been lost in my memory. Thanks to Holy Trinity Sunday, I finally get to explain this concept of the trinity.

The trinity (God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit) is like water. Ice, steam and liquid water all have the same properties, even though they appear completely different. Water can be tangible or intangible. It can be visible or invisible. Ice becomes liquid, liquid becomes steam, steam becomes liquid again, which can turn to ice or back to steam. No matter how often it changes forms, water is always water.

Like God, water is everywhere. It is in the atmosphere, in the environment and within every cell of our bodies – all at the same time. We drink it. We breathe it. We immerse ourselves in it. It is as vast as the ocean. It is so minute that we can't see it at all. No matter how big or how small the portion is, water is water.

Water can be tranquil, soothing our souls. It can also be a powerful and destructive force. The gentle rain that brings new life can become the hurricane that extinguishes it. A drop of water doesn't have much of an impact on the world. Endless drops of water will change it.

Like God, water is limitless. Pour some into a glass and examine it. That very same water that you now hold kept the ark afloat as it covered the earth. It was parted in the Red Sea. Jesus was baptized in it and so were each of us. It may have even flowed from Jesus' side. It has touched billions of lives before coming to you, and it will touch billions more long after you use it, consume it, or pour it out.

Close your eyes for a moment and picture water. What did you see? Was it vast or small? Was it placid or turbulent? Was it in a natural or a man made setting? Was it hot, cold or tepid? What feelings did it evoke? What are the odds that your picture of water is identical to mine? Whose is correct?

Is it necessary to know that water is two atoms of hydrogen bound to one atom of oxygen or is it enough to know that water is water?

Now close your eyes for a moment and picture God.

God is the Creator. God is the Son. God is the Holy Spirit. God is seen and unseen. God can be touched. God can be felt. God has a body. God is a spirit. God is a voice. God is the thunder in a storm and the whisper in a wind. God can be witnessed in the enormity of the cosmos or the intricacy of a single snowflake. God is in heaven. God is on earth. God is right here, with me, right now. God is also with you.

God is not limited by human understanding. Don't be like the scientist, who must explain God – prove God – before you can know Him. Instead, be like the child who accepts Him and loves Him because God is God.

One God in the Trinity; a human attempt to explain that which is unexplainable.

Deacon Darryl J. Diemer
Feast of the Most Holy Trinity
June 15, 2014

Painting:  The Holy Trinity by Henrik van Balen, 1620