On the Trinity: God is One

On the Trinity: God is One 
Marie Brousseau 
May 31, 2026 
 
Once the Easter season has come to its fulfilment with the Ascension of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday, Trinity Sunday is the next solemnity to be celebrated by Christians. Catholicism is a trinitarian religion: God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit who is the Love between Father and Son. This Love is so real that it is the third distinct person of the Holy Trinity. The famous icon by Andrei Rublev, The Trinity, captures the essence of the truth of God being one in three persons. While our finite intelligence finds it hard to grasp the enormity of the Trinity, it is no less true. I believe in this trinitarian love out of faith, love and hope in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For those who may desire to attempt to understand what the triune divinity is, here is my very simple view on this subject which may perhaps help to wrap one’s mind around this wondrous concept of one God, three persons. 
 
To begin, every year, on Trinity Sunday, our pastor’s homily is an exercise in facilitating his flock’s comprehension of the Trinity. This priest has studied at one time under Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, before he was Pope Benedict XVI. In other words, he is well versed in theology. However, like Benedict, his teaching on the Gospels and the truth of God are simple and meant for the common mortal, so as to be easily understood by all. Here are a few thoughts I garnered over the years from my pastor and others about the mystery of the Trinity, along with some of my own perspectives. 
 
Imagine if you will, an electrical blackout in your neighborhood, on a cold winter evening. Your flashlight batteries are dead, so you are in the dark and you are cold. You hunt blindly for candles and matches. You finally find two candles and one single match in the back of that kitchen drawer you use for knick-knacks. You light one candle, which immediately brings forth a comforting flame of light and warmth. One candle, one flame. So far, so good.  
 
Now, your next-door neighbor is in the same predicament. He found one candle in his house, but no matches. He comes knocking on your door, hoping for a light. Having no more matches yourself, you light his candle with the flame from your own candle, forming one bigger and brighter flame. Therefore, there are now two candles, sharing one single flame. Think of this as God the Father begetting Jesus the Son: two persons (two candles), one single God (one single flame). You can see where I am going with this, right?  
 
Let us continue. Your neighbor from across the street comes over, since he has neither candle nor matches. He saw you and your neighbor’s flickering flame from his window and wanted to join you. Thankfully, you have one spare candle left, which you generously give him. He brings his wick close to the united flame from the two candles you and the first neighbor are holding. Lo and behold, one single flame, three distinct candles. One God, three distinct persons.  
 
This is a very simple analogy, yet it does represent the three-in-one foundation quite adequately, in my estimation. Many people have heard about Saint Patrick’s analogy using something as simple as a three-leaf clover, the shamrock, to explain the notion of the Trinity. All it takes is a bit of creativity and plain language.  
 
There are other concrete signs of the evidence for the divine trinity from scripture, regardless of whether we understand it fully. In the very first pages of the Bible, in Genesis 1:26, God speaks in a trinitarian language: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...” Who is “us” and “our”? Father, Son and Holy Spirit is the reasonable answer. When God appears to Abraham (Genesis 18: 1-3) as three distinct men, Abraham addresses them as “my Lord” in the singular. In the Gospel according to John, Jesus says “I and the father are one” (John 10:30), thus the concept of one God is reinforced. When Jesus commissions his followers to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19), He uses the singular: name, not the plural “names”. This indicates unity. Every time we make the sign of the cross, we use the singular as well. These are just a few examples of trinitarian language in scripture. There is also our tradition which follows two thousand years of theological thoughts from great saints such as St. Patrick, St Basil the Great, St Gregory of Nazianzen and St Augustine of Hippo, just to name a few, who all grappled with the theological concept of the Trinity.  
 
In closing, on this Sunday of the Most Holy Trinity, let us trust in the Word of God and in His saints who loved God and the Gospel. And like St. Bernadette before us, let us accept the unwavering love of God and the Holy Trinity by always making the sign of the Cross with reverent devotion, invoking the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. 
 
Marie Brousseau 
Written on May 31st, 2026, Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity