Adherence to the Divinity of the Most Holy Trinity

The very same recurring question; not only the divinity of the Trinity, but the actuality of their existence.  Most of us are aware of Augustine’s query in his attempt to figure the meaning of it.  He didn’t doubt the existence but wanted to understand in human terms the expression, or figure how the omnipotence of God could explain something so mysterious.  

Augustine wrestled so much on this issue that one night he dreamed he was walking along the seashore and saw a young child running to the sea and filling a bucket with water then returning to a spot on the beach and pouring the water into a hole in the sand.  After watching for a time Augustine asked the child what he was doing.  The child, in response, said he was emptying the ocean into the hole.  Augustine, probably amused at this, said to the child, “you’ll never be able to do that.”  The child who identified as an angel said, “and you Augustine will never understand the mystery of the Trinity.”

How interesting that we who were created by Almighty God, in a way besides biological events, live as believers in a universe filled with more mysteries pertaining to the Most Holy Trinity that can be comprehended.  

One mystery, besides the many that are beyond our understanding theologically, is when a person survives a tragedy that should have taken their life almost immediately.  A person misses their appointment for a flight only later finds the plane crashed and all perished.  There are multiple occurrences of these almost daily and we are pleased at the outcomes, but left wondering how or why this person was saved.  None of these events are just by chance.  In fact with God there is no event that happens by chance.  

When preparing an exhortation and one loses the paper work before speaking, the Holy Spirit steps in and comes to the rescue.  An opportunity that can occur more than once.  If we believe that the Holy Spirit dwells within each one it proves to us who believe that is wasn’t by some magic work.  The Trinity is at work through the third person of the Holy Trinity.

I would say that even though Sacred Scripture is promulgated by those who either lived with events or received information by word-of-mouth, we who were not present, through faith, learn to adhere to the mysteries that often confound us.

As far as whom to pray to, see my article “To whom should we pray?  Father, Son, Holy Ghost!  Is praying to any of the three persons of the Trinity make a difference or will one over the others have more credence?  “Phillip, you have been with me all this time and you still do not know me?  Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.  Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”  (see Jn. 14: 9, 10b).  The Trinity is one God comprising three distinct persons.       

Attending Holy Mass we are in the realm of one mystery after another and when we adhere to the teachings through the readings and Eucharistic Presence we find ourselves, like Augustine on the seashore; in awe, but trusting in the mysteries of the Most Holy Trinity.

Ralph B. Hathaway, Adherence to the Most Holy Trinity - 2021