There is a God – only one – that is, a being who is supremely good and supremely powerful, who created Heaven and earth and all that they contain. A being is something that exists. A tree, a horse, a man are beings. God is the most perfect of all beings. We call Him the Creator of Heaven and earth because He made them by His almighty power, and He made them out of nothing.
You see that airplane rising into the clouds; you see those cars speeding along the road. None of this came into being by itself. Workers built them. In the same way, the world did not make itself. The existence of the world is not the result of a random accident. Beautiful nature was not produced by chaos. The one who made it is not man; for how could a man have set a star in the sky or fashioned that radiant sun? It is God who is the Creator of the world. It is God alone who made everything with the perfect harmony that reigns in nature.
There is a God – but is there only one? In ancient times, pagans believed in many gods. Even today, some ignorant people worship the god of the forests or the god of the sea. This is an absurd error. Since God, by definition, is an infinitely perfect and infinitely powerful Being, there cannot be several gods; for one would be greater or more powerful than another.
Every human being has both qualities and faults. God, however, possesses only perfect qualities. He is infinitely lovable, infinitely intelligent, infinitely just, and infinitely powerful. He is Infinite Love. We say that He is a pure Spirit, because He does not have, as we do, a body that can be seen with our eyes or touched with our hands.
God alone can satisfy the human heart. He is the source of all beauty, all goodness, all happiness, and all perfection.
Being a pure spirit, God is present at the same time in Heaven, on earth, and in every place. Finally, He is eternal – that is, He has no beginning and will never have an end. You did not exist before. In a few years, you will die. But God has always existed and will never die.
Who can say what God is in Himself? When Saint John, who learned many secrets from the very lips of Jesus Christ, wished to describe Him, he said: “God is Love.” Our limited intelligence must bow in reverence before the divine majesty and firmly believe what has been revealed to us on this matter by the Son of God Himself: “Go,” He said to the Apostles, “teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”
These words show us that in God there are three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three Persons are distinct from one another not only in name but in reality. The Father is not the Son, nor the Holy Spirit. The Son is not the Holy Spirit nor the Father. The Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son. They are three, forming three Persons absolutely equal, yet constituting only one God. This is what is called the mystery of the Holy Trinity.
A mystery is a truth that God has revealed to man, and which our limited reason cannot fully understand. Without trying to comprehend it fully, we must believe the truths that God has revealed to humanity.
Every Christian should make it a daily concern to offer homage to the Holy Trinity. To do this, it is enough to make the sign of the cross, which in itself is an act of homage to the three divine Persons. The sign of the cross is made by bringing the right hand successively to the forehead, the chest, the left shoulder, and the right shoulder, saying with each gesture: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit – and of the Mother of God. Amen.”
We add “and of the Mother of God” because the Blessed Virgin Mary is Daughter of God the Father, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, and Mother of God, and is therefore intimately united to the Holy Trinity. She is to be loved, honored, and glorified, but not adored.
Saint Augustine (354–430) was the bishop of the city of Hippo in North Africa. He is one of the most learned scholars who has ever graced the Church.
One day, he was walking along the seashore. The waves gently broke upon the sand, and their harmonious rhythm soothed the thoughts of the great scholar. Deep in meditation, he reflected on the mystery of the Holy Trinity. With a searching gaze, the great bishop continued his walk, absorbed for hours in intense intellectual effort.
He said to himself: “What are You, O my God, if not the Creator and Master of all creatures? Surely, if the work reveals the craftsman, it is evident to every clear-sighted eye that the universe is like a clock whose movements are far too well ordered to be the result of chance. To build this universe requires an infinite Intelligence; to sustain it requires infinite Wisdom. This, my weak reason easily understands. What escapes it is what You are in Yourself, O my God. You ask me to believe that You are one God in three Persons. But how can three Persons be one God? I seek, and I do not grasp...”
And the intensity of his thought furrowed the noble brow of this brilliant man.
Suddenly, the bishop noticed a graceful child a few steps away. The child had dug a small hole in the sand and seemed very busy pouring water into it, going back and forth between the vast ocean and his little hollow.
“What are you doing there, my child?” Augustine asked with a smile.
“I want to pour all the water of the sea into this hole,” the child replied.
“Poor boy!” exclaimed the bishop. “You will never succeed. It is impossible. This hole is tiny, and the ocean is boundless. No human being can measure its depth or its vastness. It is absurd!”
“Know this,” answered the child, “it is even more unreasonable to try to comprehend, with mere human intelligence, the sublime nature of God.”
Having said this, the child immediately disappeared. He had been an angel sent by God in human form to enlighten the learned Augustine.
Recognizing his error, the pious bishop knelt on the shore to adore the one God in three Persons. From that moment on, he silenced his own reasoning and, with the simplicity of a child’s heart, firmly believed in the mystery of the Holy Trinity without seeking to fully understand it.