The Beauty of the Trinity

We humans love encounters with beauty. We gaze at beautiful flowers and taste favorite foods. We’re drawn in by beloved music or a familiar birdcall. We pause to enjoy lovely fragrances. And we appreciate the texture of silk, velvet, or a baby’s soft skin.

Thomas Cranmer’s collect for Trinity Sunday prompts us to consider the beauty of the Blessed Trinity, for it begins: “Almighty and everlasting God, you have given your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory [beauty] of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity.”

Trinity Sunday is an annual opportunity to recall the beauty of the one God in three persons, blessed trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. My thought is that once we experience the beauty, we will go back, again and again, to revel in it. We will be like the author of Psalm 27 who expressed, “One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.”

Part of the beauty of the Trinity is that we cannot fully grasp its reality. Trying to comprehend its splendor would be like trying to figure out the taste of ice cream or the fragrance of lilacs. So the authors of the Bible declare that God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have separate roles, while accomplishing their work as One.

For example in Romans 5:1-5, Saint Paul reveals that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The image of the father in the Prodigal Son story helps us understand our Father. He runs to welcome his lost son—throwing his arms around him and kissing him. Saint Paul even brings our sufferings into the equation, for he confirms that suffering produces endurance, endurance character, and character hope. It’s the sort of hope that won’t disappoint us, for God the Father pours his love into our hearts through God the Holy Spirit.

Each of us is a prodigal son or daughter, so we can say that God the Father plans for our return home; God the Son makes it possible for us to come back; and God the Holy Spirit welcomes us: He prepares the banquet and pours His love into our hearts.

Jesus highlights the harmonious work of the Trinity in the Gospel of John. He informs his listeners that his Father glorifies him (8:54); he and the Father are one (10:29); the Spirit speaks only what he hears, and he glorifies the Son; and the Spirit of Truth guides us into all truth (John 16:13-14).

So how can we experience the beauty of the Trinity? First, get to know God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit through the Scriptures. The blessed Trinity is expressed throughout the Bible—in the Hebrew Scriptures and in the New Testament. We can infer the Trinity as early as Genesis chapter one: “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness . . .’” (Genesis 1:26). And in the New Testament Saint Paul wrote, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14).

A second way to experience the Trinity is through corporate worship. The Nicene Creed is all about the Trinity. The Eucharistic Prayer during Holy Communion is full of references to the three persons (The Book of Common Prayer, 361-375). And we affirm our belief in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit whenever we make the sign of the cross.

We can also gaze upon the beauty of the Trinity through analogies or illustrations in our world. God’s creation reveals the Trinity in lots of ways. St. Francis used the clover, the Shamrock, to symbolize this truth. The Church Fathers saw the sun as an analogy.

Even Memorial Day weekend can remind us of the Trinity. When we give thanks for veterans who paid the ultimate price, and when we remember family members and friends who have gone before us, we celebrate unity and diversity. Parades, picnics, and parties help us delight in the unity of our families and of our nation. They help us delight in the diversity of those who comprise them.

We humans love encounters with beauty. God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is the most beautiful reality we will ever experience. Thomas Cranmer’s collect concludes by asking for endurance that we may one day enjoy God’s beauty in all its fullness: “Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father, who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, forever and ever. Amen.”