An Apologetical Explanation of the

Blessed Trinity

How can we understand the mystery of the Blessed Trinity as “three Persons in one God”?

Jesus came and said to [the eleven disciples], “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.”  (Mt 28:19)

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.  (2 Cor 13:14)

Because it is a mystery, the Blessed Trinity is impossible to understand by reason alone.  By faith we can affirm the truths about the Blessed Trinity that have been divinely revealed to us and handed down to us through Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.

The Blessed Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian Faith, the very source and light of all other mysteries of Faith.  As such, it is the most fundamental and indispensable truth of Christianity, one that has been revealed to the Church and articulated by her through her reflection upon Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.  (Cf. CCC 234-250, 252)

The Most Holy Trinity is one God in three divine Persons.  The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and each is of the same divine “substance,” “essence,” or “nature.”  They are differentiated as three Persons only in their relationship to one another: “It is the Father who generates, the Son who is begotten, and the Holy Spirit who proceeds.” (Lateran Council IV [1215]: DS 804).  Yet we ought not attempt to distinguish the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity by their perceived “functions,” as though it is the Father alone who creates, the Son alone who redeems, and the Spirit alone who sanctifies.  All three are united in will and share in all divine works.  (Cf. CCC 253-255, 257-267)

As is the case with all mysteries of faith, truths such as that of the Blessed Trinity are impossible to grasp with our finite, human minds.  “In addition to things to which natural reason can attain, mysteries hidden in God are proposed to us for belief which, had they not been divinely revealed, could not become known” (Dei Filius, 4: FD 3015).  We accept them on faith because it has been revealed to us as such, thus allowing faith to elevate our power of human reason to receive and come to know the other truths of Divine Revelation that have been entrusted to and handed on by the Church.  (Cf. CCC 251, 256)

The Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity on the first Sunday after Pentecost.

The Catechism addresses this question in paragraphs 237 and 267.

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