United in the Trinity
Sunday, May 18, 2008

Readings for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (Trinity Sunday)

Reading 1: Ex. 34:4b–6, 8–9

Responsorial Psalm: Dan. 3:52, 53, 54, 55, 56

Reading 2: 2 Cor. 13:11–13

Gospel: Jn. 3:16–18

Link to Readings

By Msgr. Charles M. Mangan

When I was growing up, my family and I were members of Sacred Heart Parish, whose church is an impressive Neo-gothic structure built in 1933 on the prairies of the Great Plains with the pennies of the faithful, mostly Irish, during the “dustbowl” years of the Depression.

This magnificent church rang out each Sunday with some edifying Catholic hymns that clearly taught the truths of our Faith to us. I fondly remember two that are apropos to today’s Feast: “Sing Praise to Our Creator” and “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name.” In fact, decades later I still think of these two hymns as particularly linked to the Solemnity of the Most Blessed Trinity.

The refrain of “Sing Praise to Our Creator” is:

Praise the Holy Trinity, undivided Unity,
Holy God, Mighty God, God Immortal be adored.

The words of this melodious hymn speak of the unity of the Trinity. Yes, three distinct Persons—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit—but only one God Who is “holy,” “mighty,” and “immortal.”

The third verse of “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name” is especially Trinitarian:

Holy Father, Holy Son, Holy Spirit, Three We Name Thee,
While in essence only One, undivided God we claim Thee.
And adoring bend the knee, while we own the Mystery,
And adoring bend the knee, while we own the Mystery.

Again, we recall the unity of God, Who is three Persons in one God. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are distinct but equal and united.

We are constantly reminded of the Most Blessed Trinity. For example, think of how many times daily we make the Sign of the Cross!

One Church

The Holy Trinity is the central doctrine of the Christian religion. There are numerous aspects of this fundamental and essential dogma. One is that of unity. In the unity of the Godhead there are three Persons who are separate but connected. God is united in Himself; there is no confusion or dissent. Each Person of the Trinity knows His role and fulfills it perfectly.

The term “unity” also refers to the Catholic Church. Jesus Christ founded only one Church—the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. These are the four “marks” of the Church. We proclaim these when we pray the Nicene Creed during the Mass.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “From the beginning, this one Church has been marked by a great diversity which comes from both the variety of God’s gifts and the diversity of those who receive them.” But the “great richness of such diversity is not opposed to the Church’s unity” (no. 814).

Just as in God there is no confusion about the mission of each Divine Person, and each Person contributes to the Godhead, so in the Church each member is to know well his God-given task and to carry it out to the best of his ability, thereby ensuring that the Church will flourish in her multiple activities. Many persons with varying gifts enrich the Church at the universal, national, diocesan, and local levels.

Preserve the Unity

There is no chance that the unity present in the Most Holy Trinity will ever be broken or even compromised. When it comes to the Church, the Catechism declares that “sin and the burden of its consequences constantly threaten the gift of unity and so the Apostle (St. Paul) has to exhort Christians to ‘maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace’” (814).

That is not to say that what Jesus did in establishing His Beloved Church as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic is a failure. The work of Christ is without blemish. But it does mean that we can and do fail to live up to our sacred responsibility to preserve the unity among the members of His Church.

What is our duty here? It is threefold: to pray always that there will be unity where Catholics find themselves; to work strenuously to respond to God as He requires us; to encourage our brothers and sisters to do the same.

God loved us so much, St. John the Evangelist exclaimed, that He sent His only Son so that “everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life.” Jesus the Son of God has revealed the Trinity to us. We can come to know that God exists by our reasoning powers alone. But our reason alone does not lead us to know the Trinity. For that, we need faith—the gift that Jesus came to impart to us.

Unity in the Church is in some real sense derived from the unity in the Most Blessed Trinity.

The Trinity is, as Moses heard God proclaim, “a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.” The Name of the Trinity, Who instructs us in that indispensable unity, is “holy” and “glorious” and is “praiseworthy and glorious above all forever.”

Bidding farewell to the believers in Corinth, St. Paul wrote: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” This is the best wish that we can have for someone—and even for ourselves: that we will always be united to the Most Holy Trinity. Then, we can better strive to imitate that unity in the Godhead and seek to live it among all the disciples of Christ.

Most Holy Trinity, You Who are Three Persons in One God, help us always to be united!

Monsignor Charles Mangan is a priest of the Diocese of Sioux Falls, SD, a member of CUF's advisory council, and a frequent contributor to Lay Witness. He currently works in Rome as a member of the Vatican's Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life.

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