The Holy Trinity

Human life is three and one

Each of us is the third person of the human trinity. We know that two other people have been involved, however that happened. The life of the third person, the child, confers a new title on those two others. Until the conception of the child they were man and woman, husband and wife, partners, surrogates, etc., but the child gives them the new name of ‘parents’.

Human life is three and one and those who believe in God proclaim we are made in God’s image and likeness. But if you ask believers to explain the life in God you will be disappointed: the human mind cannot express or explain the divine mystery. It is by revelation that we know the divine mystery, through the words and actions of Jesus.

A similar truth of revelation we can see in our own lives. We pass an ordinary couple on the street who might overwhelm us if they revealed to us their deep love. It is not visible, it needs to be revealed. True love, beautiful friendships, are not visible unless revealed, then we share the mystery.

Jesus speaks of saying and doing what his Father wanted of him – to be a channel of the Father’s love for everyone, but no one knew that and naturally took Jesus’ words and actions as his own. Jesus spoke of this mystery at the Last Supper but there are hints throughout the Gospel, especially in the times of prayer in the early morning and late evening when we imagine his asking for blessing and guidance for the day ahead, as we all can do, and expressing thanks for good days and disappointment at not-so-good days in the evening, as we can all can do.

The truth is within. The love of the divine and human trinities is known when revealed. The truth of the love of the Holy Trinity is known because Jesus revealed it. The human trinity can see the ‘third’ of their image and likeness in creaturehood at every level in our fascinating world where the young and the new are consequences of the passing on of life. Three-in-one is the mystery of life on earth and Science studies the ‘how’ of life but wonders if we shall ever know the ‘why’. Shall we know a divine mind, some of our brilliant scientific minds have wondered.

Science seems to think that an extraordinary event took place about 14 billion years ago, so powerful that the explosion is still expanding. Humanity as we know it less than a million years and seems to be at the beginning of its story. We ask of those who believe why God waited so long before the human race arrived and wonder what humanity will eventually come to be.  Those who cannot or do not believe in God reach the understanding that co-operation and kindness are life’s greatness blessings and thus believers and non-believers share the best ways to shape our world.

The life of the Holy Trinity is a life of love and giving (co-operation), the life of the human trinity can reflect that life, and life in creation reflects the human trinity. Trinity is the shape of perfect love: divine, imaged in the human trinity which is imaged in all giving of life.

Ⓒ 4 June 2023 to John Daley IC