John 16:13
[The spirit] will guide you to all truth.
Readings for Trinity Sunday: Proverbs, Romans, John
Reflection:
A human rights lawyer once described her conversion from Judaism to Catholicism with a single, striking line: “One day, I figured out that God is love, so I had to convert.” This simple declaration carries profound meaning. To say that “God loves,” is to speak of what God does. To say that “God is love,” refers to what He is. God is love in himself. Even if God had never created the angels, humans or anything else, God was, is and will always be love.
Love, by definition, requires more than one person. Thus, if God is love in Himself, there must be, within God, a relationship – a communion of persons. This is the mystery of the Trinity: one God, three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – eternally. To paraphrase St. Augustine: God is the lover (Father) the beloved (Son) and the bond of love they share (Holy Spirit).
Sometimes, people misunderstand what the Church teaches in terms of the Trinity. Some imagine that the Trinity is really three gods huddling close together. Others fall into modalism – believing one person merely acts in three different ways or modes.
In the end, we will struggle to fully understand God as Trinity because God is infinite, and we are not. The idea of one God in three persons is not irrational, but suprarational; it exceeds the ability of our finite minds to understand.
For that reason, we say the Trinity (God) is a mystery. For us, a “mystery” is not a problem to be solved or a whodunit. It is a reality so profound and deep that we can never completely understand. God is love, and while we can understand a lot, there is always so much more, to the point that we can spend forever in heaven knowing God better and better, and yet there will always be more.
Reflection Questions
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What does it mean for God to be love, not just in action but in His very being? How does this shape one’s understanding of the Trinity?
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If God is love, then what does this tell me about why he created the universe, and me?
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If God is love, what should my life on earth look like? What should my priorities be? What is heaven really like?