The Most Holy Trinity – Problem to Be Solved or Mystery to be Lived.

   There is the story of how St. Augustine, perhaps one of the greatest minds in history and who essentially coined the term “Trinity”, was walking along the beach outside of Hippo one day contemplating this mystery.  Presently, he came across a young boy who, like all boys throughout history, had a little shovel and a pail. The boy had dug a hole in the sand. As St. Augustine watched, the boy would run to the ocean, fill up his bucket and dump it in the hole. After watching it for a bit, he would run back to the ocean and repeat the process. Eventually, Augustine said to him, “Little boy, what are you doing?”

   The boy looked up and replied, “It’s quite simple, I am putting the ocean in this little hole.”

   Shaking his head, the saint replied, “My son, the ocean is vast and wide. No one knows its boundary. You cannot hope to put that vastness into that little hole.”

   “Just so,” the boy replied, “you cannot hope to fit the mystery of the Trinity into your little brain.” And with that, he vanished from Augustine’s sight.

   While we cannot hope to understand the vastness of the mystery of God, in his kindness, God has revealed certain things that we can understand.

   If there is one thing that helps us, it is the understanding that this whole God thing is not primarily about knowing all the right answers but rather entering into the right relationships and appreciating them. Indeed, all our theology and catechesis is descriptive of those relationships. This is the difference between approaching the life of grace as a problem to be solved or a mystery to be lived. 

   Approaching life as a problem involves observation and analysis in the hopes of coming up with an answer to the meaning of life. This approach will always come up short because some things don’t lend themselves to analysis. 

   However, when we approach things as mystery to be lived, everything changes. When we talk about “mystery” in this sense of the word, I am referring to a reality that is larger than you of which you are a part and which is a part of you. Your family, such as it is, is the prime example. You don’t solve a family.  You are part of your family, and genetically, psychologically, spiritually your family is  apart of you.  So too with the Church. In a similar way, you are part of the Church and the Church is a part of you. So too with the mystery of the Trinity. By the graciousness of Almighty God, we are invited to share in the same loving relationship between the Father and the Son, also known as the Holy Spirit. Thus, through the indwelling of the Spirit, we are caught up and united with the very mystery of God, and God is united with each of us at the very level of our being.  This union of heart and soul is what we call “full communion.”  It is a great mystery to be lived, now and into eternity.