The Trinity

Brothers and sisters, rejoice. Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the holy ones greet you.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. (2 Corinthians 13:11-13)

Today is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.  What is it?  We all say: “In the name of Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”  It’s our one God existing as three divine persons. 

Last year at this time Pope Francis spoke about the Trinity.  Here is an account of his remarks. (begin) Leading the crowd in self-examination, the pope asked, “Do I, who profess faith in God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, truly believe that I need others in order to live, I need to give myself to others, I need to serve others? Do I affirm this in words, or do I affirm it with my life?”

The one, triune God must be manifested in deeds, not words, he said. “God, who is the author of life, is transmitted not so much through books as through witness of life,” Pope Francis said. “He, who, as the evangelist John writes, ‘is love’ (1 Jn 4:16), reveals himself through love.”

Pope Francis encouraged the crowd to think about “good, generous, gentle” people they have met and reflect on their way of thinking and their actions.

By doing this, “we can have a small reflection of God-Love,” he said. “And what does it mean to love? Not only to wish them well and to be good to them, but first and foremost, at the root, to welcome others, to be open to others, to make room for others, to make space (for) others. This is what it means to love, at the root.”

To better understand the Trinity, the Holy Father encouraged the crowd to consider each name of the three persons of the Trinity, “which we pronounce every time we make the sign of the cross: Each name contains the presence of the other.”

“The Father, for example, would not be such without the Son; likewise, the Son cannot be considered alone, but always as the Son of the Father. And the Holy Spirit, in turn, is the Spirit of the Father and the Son,” he said. “In short,” Pope Francis added, “the Trinity teaches us that one can never be without the other. We are not islands, we are in the world to live in God’s image: open, in need of others, and in need of helping others” (my emphasis). (end)

Setting aside the often contentious debate about the Trinity that has led to historical schisms especially the separation of the Church East and West, I conclude the simplest and most meaningful way to understand and live the Trinity is provided by Pope Francis.  His last point: “We are not islands, we are in the world to live in God’s image: open, in need of others, and in need of helping others,” gets to the heart of the matter.

As a reminder, here is the difference in Trinity interpretation between Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches: (begin) The East and West agree that there is exactly one God in three divine persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  They also agree that the Father is neither born of anything nor proceeds from anything, that the Son is born of the Father but does not proceed from the Father, and that the Holy Spirit proceeds but is not born.  Bear in mind that 'born' and 'proceeds' in this context refer to relations that are internal to the triune Godhead and are therefore eternal relations.  I hope it is also clear that neither of these relations is one of creation.  Each of the persons is eternal and uncreated.

The main difference between East and West concerns that from which the Holy Spirit proceeds (my emphasis).  The West says that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son (filioque), whereas the East says that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone. (end)

One would think this difference is not a big deal.  It has and continues to be a major stumbling block for the Churches.  Here’s an interesting perspective. (begin) And so the Orthodox "regard the filioque as dangerous and heretical (my emphasis).  Filioquism confuses the persons and destroys the proper balance between unity and diversity in the Godhead." God is stripped of concrete personality and made into an abstract essence.  And that's not all. The Roman view gives the Holy Spirit short shrift (my emphasis) with the result that his role in the church and in the lives of believers is downplayed.  

What's more, this subordination of the Holy Spirit, together with an overemphasis on the divine unity, has deleterious consequences for ecclesiology.  As a result of filioquism, the church in the West has become too worldly an institution, and the excessive emphasis on divine unity has led to too much centralization and too great an emphasis on papal authority (my emphasis). It is worth noting in this connection that the Orthodox reject papal infallibility while accepting the infallibility of the church. You can see, then, that for the Orthodox the filioque is quite a big deal. (end)

Wow! Perhaps the East and West should listen to Saint Paul: Brothers and sisters, rejoice. Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the holy ones greet you.  

If the two Churches won't kiss, we sure should as persons mimicking the Trinity.

Deacon David Pierce