Can a finite human mind penetrate the infinite mystery of the Holy Trinity? Not a chance but we were created in the image of God and so by coming to understand ourselves more deeply we might receive an inkling of the mystery of the Holy Trinity. In the life of St. Augustine the famous story comes to us of his meditation on the Trinity. While he was walking on the shore of an ocean he chanced upon a little boy who was digging in the sand and then taking his bucket he went and gathered some water to fill his sand hole. The saint asked him what was his purpose. The little boy said he was going to put the ocean into his little hole. The saint laughed and said that the ocean was so immense that the boy could not squeeze it into the little hole. The boy responded with the baffling statement. “It would be easier for me to put all the ocean into my little hole than for you to think you can penetrate the Mystery of the holy Trinity in your puny little brain.” Then the boy disappeared from the sight of the saint.
Humbled by the task of this meditation we should all pray to our Lady for the gift of the Holy Ghost to enter our hearts and lead us to some profitable reflections. What is it in us that models the holy Trinity? It would have to that which is most spiritual about us and so we ponder our intellect that seeks the truth. We would study our will which so often wants to love and fails. We should also consider our conscience which seems to correct and guide us to proper action.
In the first place God has bestowed upon us an ability to study ourselves and the world around us with the power of the intellect. The object of the intellect is the true, the good and the beautiful. It analyzes and compares various considerations in order to prioritize our life and its actions. Our intellect feeds the will with all the knowledge necessary to make a conclusion and to perform an action that is fulfilled by our love. Truth begets love. The Father begets His only-begotten Son contained in the fullness of love that is divine and sacrificial. We learn this through the instruction of the Son: “I am the Truth and all creation came to be through Me and without Me nothing came to be. In God thoughts are Persons.
Following upon the capacity of the intellect is the power of the will which takes the information presented to it by the intellect and makes a decision. The source of responsibility remains in the will of every person called into being by the love of preference found in the Father’s heart. As the will is intimately instructed by the intellect so its decision must become more in line with the will of God. As it does become more attune to the divine love then its choices purify the soul and leads it to the bosom of the Father.”In my Father’s kingdom there are many
mansions.”
Now within each soul there is a power known as our conscience. This conscience utilizes the communication between the intellect and the will in order to make a decision to grow in freedom or to be enslaved by our physical nature. There is a war within each of us that rages between the flesh and the spirit. When the flesh conquers the spirit loses and when the spirit gains then the flesh loses. In the Holy Trinity love is in perfect order and there is no conflict. So it would have been for humanity if our first parents had sought the will of God in all aspects of their lives in the precious garden. Their failure poisons all of us but with the passion and resurrection of Jesus the new order of Grace emerges to bring us to victory.
We are created in the image of God, an image of divine love, and one was so privileged that she could beget the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. As His baptism in the Jordan the presence and power of the Trinity is manifested: the Son is recognized in human flesh, the Spirit is present as a dove and the Father speaks and confirms, “This is my Beloved Son, listen to Him.” We affirm the presence of the holy Trinity each time we bless ourselves. Our Lady is the highest honor of our race and we offer her “hyper-dulia”, the greatest honor while we worship (Latria) God alone. The saints bow before the mystery and they share in the glory of God and are reverenced (dulia). There is only order in the Mystery and reason is capable of knowing that the mystery does not run counter our reason.
Let us take the time to reflect upon this mysterious and divine Lover. For to know God is to love Him. To love Him is to serve Him. To serve Him is to follow Him to our heavenly homeland. When we arrive in heaven we will want nothing less and nothing more than to know the Triune God.
In the hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Fr. Richard Voigt
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