The Trinity
+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
6 Jun 2004
Many years ago I was born on Trinity Sunday. My mother, who was a strong Catholic, was delighted by this coincidence, because she understood the importance of the Trinity in the Christian understanding of God.
There have always been disagreements about the nature of God, but these are subordinate to the claim that Christians have special insights into what God is like. Mystics, philosophers and ordinary people of reverence in every age have longed to know about the Mystery behind everyday life.
Jesus taught that the first commandment was to love God, which he listed before the commandment to love one another. He insisted that the only way to love of God was through loving one another, that we must strive to respect and serve all comers.
There is only one true God; by definition, the Creator of universe. Therefore while Jews, Muslims and Christians differ somewhat in their descriptions of God, there is only that one God to worship. It is old fashioned pagan nonsense that each tribe, or people, or religion has its own god.
These three great religious traditions all believe that God is spiritual, neither male nor female, not material. When I once made this claim on talk-back radio the announcer enquired whether this was my own view or official Christian teaching. I could claim no credit as this has always been the main-line Christian tradition.
Since God is spiritual Christians use symbols to try to explain the mystery, but Jews and Muslims are forbidden to do this. Therefore representations of God as an old patriarch, with broad shoulders and a long beard can be misleading, although representations of the Holy Spirit as tongues of fire, or even the dove of peace are more helpful.
Christians believe that there are three persons in the one true God, a Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We also believe that the Second person, the Word of God, became man through the virgin Mary and took on a human nature. Another peculiarity is that one of Jesus’ preferred terms for God was “abba”, which we translate as “father”, although “dad” would be closer to the mark.
It is interesting to try to work out why God came among us as a man and not a woman and why Jesus called God father, rather than mother or some impersonal title.
God is the great mystery of love and intelligence. Jesus’ teaching about Father, Son and the Spirit of truth, which the Church codified into our succinct doctrine of the Trinity, explains that relationships of love are at God’s heart.
This is more useful to understanding God than St. Patrick’s shamrock; one shamrock with three leaves, because Jesus’ most remarkable claim is that God is predictable, lovable and loves each one of us, especially when things are bad.
