La Leçon de catéchisme (Catechism Lesson), 1890, by Jules-Alexis Muenier (1863-1942), oil on canvas, Musée des beaux-arts et d’archéologie de Besançon

Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you, but do so with gentleness and reverence.”

cf. 1 Peter 3:15-16

catechesis

A daily morsel of Catholic education and faith formation.

God

Trinity

QUESTION OR COMMON OBJECTION:

If there is only one God, how can the Trinity be true?

CATHOLIC ANSWER:

The mystery of the Trinity is a direct revelation from God through Jesus and his Church. It can be true because some truths about God, who is infinite, are impossible for us to understand completely. That’s why they are called mysteries.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit….”

Matthew 28:19

Don’t rack your brain trying to totally figure out a revealed mystery. Do ponder it, though, and try to understand it as much as you can from the Bible and the teachings of the Church.

Other References: Gen 1:2; Mt 11:27; Jn 14:7-17, 15:26, 16:13-14; CCC 202, 232-267

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from the author

Beginning an attempt to understand the nature of the one true God in the three persons of the Trinity is entering into a great mystery. The fullness of God’s revelation of who He is, is revealed to us through his Word Jesus Christ – who is God Incarnate. As St. Paul says, Jesus is the image of the invisible God (Col 1:15-20). And we enter into this mystery at every Mass when we Christians recite the Nicene Creed, that Jesus is, “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father….”

In his Great Commission, Jesus tells his Apostles, thereby instructing all of us, to make disciples of all nations, baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Mt 28:19). His is a command. It is a command of love; a command of expectation. We are meant – you and I – to bring all nations to the fullness of God’s truth of who He is.

We aren’t alone in this endeavor. Rather, we are moved by the Holy Spirit who dwells in each of us by virtue of our baptism. Here is the power of God because the Holy Spirit is true God. He is the love between the Father and the Son. He is, as the late Bishop Fulton Sheen describes, the “sigh of love” – this holy breath of the Father and the Son; the life-giving breath that gives life to God’s creation. All things exist because God breathed them into being. You exist because you are a thought of God and you were breathed into being and formed in your mother’s womb by the Holy Spirit and power of God, who is the third person of the Holy Trinity.

In faith we believe in this great mystery. Let us ask, in prayer, to come to a deeper knowledge of God, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

catholic answers

tim staples

the thomistic institute | Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P.

word on fire | bishop barron

bishop fulton sheen

catechism of the Catholic Church

For information about what the Catholic Church believes, answers to FAQs, and an encompassing resource addressing common objections and misconceptions non-Catholics and Catholics alike may have about the Church and what it teaches, we invite you to visit the online version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

PRAYER

Let us pray.

Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.

Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.

May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.

Amen.