The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

The Trinity and Us 

Since we are created in the image of God, it is obvious that we cannot really understand ourselves unless we understand God. And since Jesus has revealed that God is Trinity, we have to understand ourselves in relationship to the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. 

To do this, we have to start by identifying with Jesus. We are his Body. It is through and in him that we share in the divine life of God. And he is the Word (the truth, the intelligibility) of God made flesh. In him we see the divine reality of God made visible in human terms and his human reality appearing in a way that is inexplicable except in the light of the mystery of his divine life — which is the mystery of our life as well: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (see Colossians 1:9-20) “through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand.” Because we are “in Him,” we can “boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.” So how does Jesus speak of his relationship to the Father and Spirit? This will give us the key to ours. 

Jesus said, “All that the Father has is mine.” What does this mean, and in what sense can we also say it? What the Father has is all truth, all goodness, all power; in short, all that is. He is the creator, the source of all, and the fullness of all. As “only Son of the Father,” Jesus possesses all this by right. But “in Christ,” we are filii in Filio, true children of God; “and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17). So, each of us can say, “All that the Father has is mine” in the sense that by letting us share in his divine life God has also shared with us all that he is and has. 

All Truth is ours. We cannot access it all and get it into consciousness, any more than Jesus could during his earthly life, but it is already ours, like a fortune held in trust for a minor not yet able to manage it. This gives us a different attitude toward the knowledge and wisdom of this world. It is all our Father’s truth. And it is ours, although we have not yet entered into full possession of it. 

When Jesus said, “I still have many things to say to you,” he reminded us that the role of Jesus, and therefore ours, is to reveal on earth the truth of God: “For this I was born,” he told Pilate, “and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth” (John 18:37). And to his disciples he said, “I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father” (John 15:15). Our role, then, is to make known to others everything we have heard from Jesus. This is what it means to be loyal children to the Father, following the example of Jesus.  

But we cannot reveal God’s truth to others just by saying it. Jesus said, “I still have many things to say to you,” but he held back because “you cannot bear them now.” Just hearing the truth isn’t enough; we have to accept it personally, for ourselves; interiorize it, take it to heart, make it our own. But we cannot do this with divine truth unless the Holy Spirit empowers us from within: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth… he will take what is mine and declare it to you” — that is, declare it from within your minds and hearts, so that it will no longer be just “my” truth, exterior to you, but your truth. It will be the truth you identify as your personality, your character, your being, your soul, your own.  

The Christian “thing” cannot exist, cannot happen, without the action of all Three Persons of the Trinity. We need the Father to bestow his truth on us, the Son to reveal it in human words and actions, the Spirit to come and be one with us, speaking God’s truth and love divinely from within our hearts, making it our own. And we have to go out and proclaim the Good News to others in the name of Father, Son, and Spirit, giving what is God’s, as Jesus gave it, depending on the Holy Spirit to make it real. 

Decision: Today, and every day, invoke the Trinity! Prayer to the Father (“Our Father”), The Son (the “WIT Prayer”), and the Holy Spirit (“Come Holy Spirit”).

— Fr. David M. Knight

View today’s Mass readings, Lectionary #166, on the USCCB website here

Fr. David M. Knight (1931-2021) was a priest of the Diocese of Memphis in Tennessee, a prolific writer, and a highly sought after confessor, spiritual director, and retreat master. He authored more than 40 books and hundreds of articles that focus primarily on lay spirituality and life-long spiritual growth.