Last weekend, as the Church celebrated the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, it is the opportune time to reflect upon the mysteries of the Trinity. Along with Corpus Christi, those two feasts follow Pentecost. Those two observances serve as the beginning of the longest part of the liturgical season known as Ordinary Time or Tempus per annum that literally is translated as “time through the year.” Trinity is the foundational dogma on which everything in Christianity is based, yet it is one of the most mysterious dogmas. Catholic (and Orthodox) prayers begin by invoking the Blessed Trinity, both in words and by the reinforcing physical action of that belief by making the sign of the cross. Of all the mysteries of faith, belief in the Trinity touches everything.
The Letter to the Church in Ephesus is one of the most profoundly doctrinal—and yet an eminently practical writing in the New Testament. Not surprisingly, then, the Trinity frequently appears in that letter. In the second chapter, you read this: “…for through [Christ] we both have access in one Spirit to the Father” (Eph 2:18). Such clear Trinitarian references are more often than not interconnected references to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, though those references always imply that each is deity, but never that they are three different “gods.” The sacred author exhorts the Ephesians to “grieve not the holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption…be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ” (Eph 4:30, 32). Far from being some impersonal force or power from God, this verse clearly shows us that the Holy Spirit is a distinct person within the Trinity. The God of the Bible is one perfect Being expressed in three eternal Persons. Then, Paul prayed that “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him” (Eph 1:17). He also prayed that “for this reason I kneel before the Father…That he may grant you…to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self; and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Eph 3:14, 16-17). Thus, the believer may be “filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph 3:19).
The third person of the Trinity is the Holy Spirit of God, distinct from the Father and the Son. The Spirit’s work is discrete from the Father who planned redemption and the Son who carried out the Father’s plan for salvation through His life, death, and resurrection. Now, the Holy Spirit applies that work. The Advocate seals all who are trusting in Christ for the forgiveness of sins and the hope of eternal life and longing for the day of Christ’s return. In addition to all the verses in Ephesians that highlight the distinct Persons of the Triune God, there are also seven Triadic passages (Eph 1:3-14, 17; 2:18, 22; 3:14-19; 4:4-6; 5:18-21) scattered throughout the letter’s first five chapters. These are labeled as Triadic because they are passages that refer to all three persons of the Trinity within a close and logically tight parameter. In each of them, you can see their distinction in Person and role, and yet marvel at their unity in being and purpose. Finally, Paul speaks about our unity in Him and His triunity in us: “There is…one Spirit…One Lord,…One God and Father of all, who is over all [i.e., the Father], and through all [the Son], and in all [the Spirit]” (Eph 4:4-6). All this reveals the Trinity as a magnificent mystery, but a wonderful reality!
Nature and dignity 