Trinity Sunday

It's Trinity Sunday, the feast of the Holy Trinity. 

This concept of the Trinity, it's one of the mysteries in our universe, our faith, and  my mind.  In fact, if you ponder it long enough, and get close to thinking, "Aha! I've got it! I understand it now!"...then back up, you've just slid into heresy, presumption, and you're wrong. 

There is no fully complete understanding of this. It's a mystery with a capital "M."  One our puny human minds can't ever really fathom: three persons in one God.  The simplest way I've been able to grasp it is the catechism answer: God the Father, Christ the son, and the love between them SO powerful that it begets it's own person, the Holy Spirit. {Yeah, sounds familiar, no??  In marriage we love each other so much that our love begets another whole person, or more....  Kinda the same thing, but with the Trinity it's compounded to a factor of unspeakable billions, beyond our ken.} 

This is a short terrific book about the sign of the cross, which is, in it's purest form, a visual, physical recognition of the Trinity.  A very good quick read, but will make you think again about this common gesture.  As you make the sign of the cross, touching forehead, chest, shoulder, shoulder, and say these words: "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."....well, you've pretty much just summed up the most important bits of,  um, everything.  

Anyway, I'm no theologian.  If I start to think too hard about the Trinity, this mystery, my brain starts to scramble and ache. I prefer to gaze at this icon, above.  It's one of the oldest, most classic and best.  It does the best job of what icons are meant to do: to be windows into heaven.  They help represent the unknowable, the divine.  They help our minds and hearts and prayers step through that window into the divine.  Gaze.  Rest. Look.  Ahhh. 

Happy feast of the Holy Trinity!

God, we praise you:
Father all-powerful,
Christ Lord and Savior,
Spirit of Love.
You reveal yourself in the depths of our being,
drawing us to share in your life and your love.
One God, three Persons,
be near to the people formed in your image,
close to the world your love brings to life.
We ask you this, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
one God, true and living, forever and ever.

From the, collect:  prayers of the day.