SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST BLESSED TRINITY
SIMPLE AND COMPLEX
Talk about God is simple. God is love. God is truth. God is mercy. But talk about the Trinity is not simple. It sends people into a frenzy. It produces headaches, migraines, debates, doubts, and denial.
We do not have a problem with a simple God. Our problem starts when that God does not seem simple at all. How can one be three? How can three be one? How can a crucified man claim to be God? Can a bird be divine?!
I heard people say that they ditched the doctrine of the Trinity because they couldn’t understand it. The Iglesia ni Cristo speaks of one God, period. The Muslims speak of one God, period. The atheists speak of no God, even better!
Delving into God is delving into truth. And truth too, is simple. But the simplicity of truth passes through the complexity of human experience; otherwise it is childish, irrational, inhuman simplicity. The truth about God is simple but it passes through the entire gamut of decisions, feelings, commitments, sacrifices, etc.
God is Father, but not as simple as a father-king who sits on a throne. Rather he is the Father who falls in love with his creatures and in his heart adopts all men and women into his family. He made all things good but he wants to give them the best. It is not easy and simple but to achieve this, he sends his perfect image, his Son to lead us to him.
The Son is our Savior, but not simply a victor who triumphs after death to showcase his power over evil. The Son so loved the world too, that he considered all men and women his friends rather than his slaves. And for us, he gave his very life. On the cross and at the Resurrection, after giving all he had, he gave us his Spirit.
The Spirit is not a simple strange bird from heaven. He is the Love of God that touches our hearts. He is not an abstract, ghostly spirit but the Spirit who lives in our hearts today. Not a simple task, but he continues to give us life.
The simplicity of God, his truth, is not grasped totally in the classroom or in books. It is in prayer and friendship with him that we discover the One God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit who love and sustains us. When we experience him through our journeys of pain, loneliness, anger, betrayal, love, peace and joy, then God becomes real and not imaginary. The Trinity makes sense when we open ourselves to experience him in our lives.
In the silence of prayer, in the friendship with the divine, in the openness to his will, in the daily offering of our heart to him, we experience the simplicity of God, but also his complexity. In other words, we know him as true. He is One and He is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
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