The Most Holy Trinity: Mystery!

Jesus said, “All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that [the Spirit] will take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 12:15).

You, with a dismay/gloomy/rugous face, come to my office on a freezing morning in winter. At first, I think you come to make a request for a prayer or, perhaps, a confession, but it turns out to be a complaint. I am not sure if it is because of the cold weather (6 or 7°C) or due to an unpleasant feeling, as long as you set foot on the floor, you at once stutter, stumbling on the words,

“I don’t… I don’t understand… I, I can’t figure out the meaning of the Trinity. Why is there only one God but revealed in three persons?”

“And…you expect me…to know that concept…”. I carefully formulate the response, and finally respond in a sarcastic tone of voice.

“Why not? You’re a priest. You studied philosophy for four years, another four years you sat under the roof of theology schools, studying the Bible, the Canon Law… Come on! You should know... know very well about the concept of the Trinity.” You persist on the topic.

I sigh, “You’re not serious, are you?…”, and then confess, “Honestly, you’re seeking help from the wrong person. You’re right… As a priest, I should have been able to figure out why there is one God, revealed in three beings: God, the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit. But, this concept, let me confess, remains a mystery to me too.

“Hah?” You act surprised. I ignore you, and commence the first note of the long hymn, “Mystery!”

Mystery like our God, who is called or addressed as Adonai in Judaism, Allah in Islam, and God in Christianity (or Yahweh).

You stare at me, “What are you talking about? Our God is also the Allah of the Muslims… You’re not serious, right! You must be joking.”

With a serious face like the princes of the Church, before entering the Conclave to elect a new Pope, I nod my head, “I’m serious.”

Mystery like the story of Abraham, the man from Uz of the Chaldeans. God called. And the old man with his barren wife left everything behind for an uncertain future. A barren wife, I really mean that, for her womb had shut down for all eternity. She would never, ever have a chance to breastfeed her child with her own milk. And yet from this infertile woman has come a son, Isaac, and the old man Abraham the two ancestors of the two major religions in the world: Ishmael of the Islam and Isaac of the Christianity.

You stare at me again, “What’re you talking about? Where are you leading me?”
“Hold on! Be patient” I continue the hymn, “Mystery!”

Mystery like the universe, the cosmos, for who knows or is able to count the number of the stars in the sky. Can you? In my youth, 10, 12, 15, I used to look up to the sky at night, attempting to count the stars. This calculation I never finished, or if I did finish, I believe, with definitely inaccurate numbers.

Mystery like the human body, the blood cells, or the way the human heart or the brain functions. The eyes require wearing far sighted or near sighted lenses. The ears with the eardrums, the fingers with nails, which, after cutting, grow again; and the hair, black, blonde, brown, and gradually changing to a silver color, even for some people at the early age, 20, 30. Tell me if you know the causes of deadly diseases like cancers!!!

Mystery like the origin of human beings, from where do we come? You tell me why the dinosaurs disappeared from the face of the earth about 65 million years ago? You think you have the answer for that… Mystery like Lucy, one of our ancestors, from whom comes homo-erectus species and homo-sapiens; her skeleton is currently displayed in the Field Museum in Chicago. Tell me, if you can, what is the cause of global warming? Tell me. Tell me what species will become the dominant ones after human species vanish like water evaporating under the scorching heat in the desert? Tell me. Currently, at the year of 2013, there existed five continents, Africa, America, Asia, Australia, and Europe. Tell me, the numbers of the continents in the next billion years… Tell me.

Mystery like why we scratch ourselves, why we itch, and why the modern men, the twenty first century (21st century) male are categorized in seven different somatotypes, cucumber, snowman, string-bean, and nacho, to name four of seven…
Mystery like the mystery of the Incarnation, God, taking human form, born in Bethlehem, for human salvation.

Mystery like the mystery of the cross, the stumbling block for the Jews, the shame for the human beings, has nevertheless become the means for human salvation.
Mystery like the question that I keep ruminating about, why I am here, on the earth, born as a Vietnamese, brought up in Saigon and San Jose, and now working as a missionary in Alice Springs, the desert, the town located in the middle of almost nowhere.

Ten thousand mysteries, or billion mysteries, or countless mysteries that one can imagine or come up with…

I don’t know! We don’t know! We just don’t know! No one cannot figure out for one’s soul the meaning of the Trinity, except God. If you go to heaven, ask God, confront God with this question.

I stop the monotonous hymn, “Mystery!”… and then change to a new hymn, "But," this time with an upbeat tone,

But I know, I believe, and I have profoundly experienced the Trinity in a very normal sense… God, the Father, has sent His only Son into the world, not to condemn it, but to save it. This verse, anyone can find in John 3:15. Once you find it, please read it aloud, digest the verse, enjoy the verse, embrace the verse, and meditate on 3:15 day and night.

But I deeply feel the moment Peter and his friends, after receiving the Holy Spirit while being in the upper room, become new beings: from fear they become fearless, from cowards they become heroes, and above all from weak they become strong.
But I profoundly acknowledge that out of the love between my father and my mother I have been brought forth into this life. In this ordinary and yet unique metaphor, I understand, I figure for myself the meaning of the mystery of the Holy Trinity, God, the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Trinity is undoubtedly a mystery, which might have caused you uneasy feeling…

But in a normal sense and through normal experience, everyone can feel, touch, and experience the mystery.

□ Michael Quang Nguyen, SVD