The Most Holy Trinity

The feast of the Most Holy Trinity is one of the most important feasts in the church’s liturgy. Yet Holy Trinity is also difficult to explain. Our ears and eyes are not attuned to knowing the Trinity’s presence in our everyday lives. Maybe a story can help us get clearer about the Trinity. A farmer went into the city. He was walking down a very busy street when he suddenly stopped and said to a friend who was with him, “I can hear a cricket.” His friend was amazed and asked, “How can you hear a cricket in the middle of this noise and confusion?” “I can hear him because my ears are attuned to his sound,” he replied. Then he listened even more intently, and following the sound, found the cricket perched on a window ledge. His friend couldn’t get over this. But the farmer showed no great surprise. Instead, he took a few coins out of his pocket and threw them on the pavement. On hearing the jingle of the coins, all the passersby stopped in their tracks. “You see what I mean?”, said the farmer? “None of those people could hear the sound of the cricket, but all of them could hear the sound of the money. People hear what their ears are attuned to hear and ignore or miss all the rest.” The point being made in this somewhat humorous story is again obvious. The great philosopher Voltaire said: “It is natural to admit the existence of God as soon as one opens one’s eyes.” Yet, many look and see nothing. They listen and hear nothing. We have to be attuned to “hear” and “see” God. This calls for openness and sensitivity. The best thing a Christian can do is look at the Gospels. In other words, we have to look at how Jesus spoke about His mystery and lived it. He spoke about God as a merciful and forgiving Father. He spoke about Himself as the Son of the Father. But it was the Holy Spirit who commissioned Him for this work. Jesus said: “The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me. He sent me to bring good news to the poor.” We are dealing with a great mystery, yet any child can grasp it in such a way as to be able to pray it and live it. We think of the Holy Spirit as the one who helps us live like Jesus, and who binds us together in unity as brothers and sisters in a community of love. Like fish in the sea and birds in the air, this becomes the very atmosphere in which a Christian prays and lives. The great artist Van Gogh said: “I think that the best way to know God is to love many things.” And another author: “I believe in the sun even when it is not shining. I believe in love even when I don’t feel it. I believe in God even when He is silent” (Graffiti found on the wall of a concentration camp.)                                                                                                            ~ Fr. John