As Catholics, we share in the universal faith conviction that our God is One and He is Father, Son and Holy Spirit – One God in Three Divine Persons – because this was how Jesus revealed God, and this is also how we experience God relating to us in lively and powerful ways. I imagine we do not have a problem with a simple God; our problem starts when that God does not seem simple at all. How can one be three? How can three be one?

Delving into God is delving into truth. And truth, too, is simple. But the simplicity of truth passes through the complexity of human experiences.

God is Father, but not as simple as a father-king who sits on a throne. Rather, He is the Father who falls in love with His creatures and this overflowing love urged Him to send His Son for our greatest good – our salvation. Our Gospel narrative in the tradition of John says: “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son,so that everyone who believes in Him might not perishbut might have eternal life.”He sent His perfect image, Christ Jesus, to lead us to back to Him.

The Son is our Savior, but not simply a victor who triumphs after death to showcase His power over evil. The Son so loved the world, too, that He considered all men and women His friends rather than His slaves. And for us, He gave His very life. On the Cross and at the Resurrection, after giving all He had, He gave us His Spirit.

And the Holy Spirit is not a simple strange dove from heaven, or simply air whose breeze we feel. He is the Love of God that touches our hearts, the very core of our being. He is not an abstract entity but the Spirit who is present in our lives today by virtue of our baptism.

The simplicity of God, His truth, is not grasped totally in the classroom, in books or even from the pulpit. It is in prayer and friendship with Him that we discover the One God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit who loves and sustains us. When we experience Him through our journeys of pain, loneliness and anger; in love, peace and joy, then God becomes real and not imaginary. The Holy Trinity makes sense only when we open ourselves to experience Him in our lives right here, right now.

Sempre grato,
Father Erick

(For Holy Trinity Sunday, 2022)