Today we celebrate Trinity Sunday, the mystery at the center of our faith: that there is one God in three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It remains beyond our understanding.
Each person of the Trinity is truly and fully God, yet they are not the same: the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit and the Spirit is not the Father. It is a divine mystery we could not grasp or believe, if Jesus Himself had not revealed it to us.
And what did Jesus reveal about God? He told us that God is love. God is life, God is goodness. But more than that, Jesus showed us that God is relationship.
It might sound complex, but it actually explains something very concrete about the human condition: we are made for connection. Think of the worst moments of your life – when you were rejected, cut off from family or friends, betrayed, or simply isolated. Those times hurt so deeply because we are not meant to be alone. We long for union. Even something as simple as eating alone or going to a movie by ourselves can feel unnatural.
So, why this longing for relationship? Because we are created in the image and likeness of God. And God is relationship – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is communion. So we, too, are made for relationship and community.
This is why our deepest joys come from union: with a loved one, with family, with a friend. The most meaningful moments of your life likely involve being held, hugged, affirmed, or simply being in the quiet presence of someone who cares. In every embrace, in every act of affection, there is a quiet echo of the Trinity. We are drawn to love because we are made by love.
Still, the Holy Trinity is unexplainable. I remember once hearing a story about St. Augustine, an intellectual and intelligent Theologian. St. Augustine was walking along the beach, trying to understand the mystery of the Holy Trinity.
“How can God be three persons in one?” He saw a boy filling a small hole in the sand with water from the ocean using a seashell. Curious, Augustine asked, “What are you doing?”
The boy replied, “I’m trying to fit the entire ocean into this hole.” Augustine smiled and said, “That’s impossible. The ocean is too big for such a small hole.”
The boy looked at him and said, “And so is the mystery of God. It is too big for your mind to fully understand.” Then the boy vanished.
The lesson? Some divine mysteries are beyond human understanding – and that’s OK.
So today, let’s remember that the Holy Trinity is not something to explain, as much as it is something to experience. The Trinity is not just a doctrine – it’s the very reason we seek connection, love and unity in our lives. God is relationship. God is love.
And we, who are made in that image, are most whole when we live in love – when we live in communion with God and with one another.
