Broaching the Holy Trinity and Mystery

The solemnity of the Holy Trinity which the Church celebrated yesterday has often been known to be a preacher’s bane.  Understandably so, for the simple fact that it celebrates what and who God is in his essence, and one finds oneself being very limited in one’s usage of analogues and metaphors to try to bring across something which is much larger than life.

The Icon of the Holy Trinity by Andrei Rublev circa 1411-1425

Perhaps the greatest mistake that preachers do is to do just that – focusing on just the analogy.  It is in doing so that one ‘shrinks’ or minimalises one’s theology-talk about God because one finds it much more comfortable to wrap one’s mind around any given topic than for the topic or subject matter to expand one's mind.  Herein lies what would be man’s greatest stumbling block - if we think about it objectively.  When one is an expert, specialist or scholar on any subject, the immediate reaction is to think that since there is so much that one knows about it, there is an expectation for one to be able to ‘shrink’ the matter into comfortable, easily digestible pieces.  If humility is lacking in the person,  it would be a great temptation to say that one can do that with some degree of ease, and that one is fully capable of bring others to understand something which in fact takes many years of study, research, discipline and reflection.

The difference here, is that when we are dealing with God, we cannot approach anything Godly with the same attitude and expectations, as compared to other scientific disciplines, for example medicine or law or engineering.  And it is for this reason that it is pertinent for a theologian to keep maintaining an attitude of humility when broaching his ‘subject’, because one needs to keep remembering that no one ever masters God. 

But how about the 'average' person in the pew?  I hold the view, with quite many of my brother priests, that there is a certain lack of humility which borders on arrogance, among a large number of laity when it comes to matters of theology.  Perhaps an explanation is needed here.  These would be the people who, when broaching topics that are mystical, a bit deep in theology or matters that require some thinking beyond what they are generally accustomed to, tend to sniff at them and say ‘oh, that is too difficult for me, so I won’t even bother with it’.  It is different when one’s attitude is ‘this is really deep and mystical, so I really need to sit with it for a long while to allow it to bring me somewhere with it’.   While the former has a somewhat hidden smugness and arrogance couched within, the latter displays a willingness to be shaped, moulded and stretched, resulting from a humility that is also somewhat hidden.

Being told something to believe in and believing in it as a result is far less transformative than beholding a truth and allowing it form and shape one’s very being.  A good theologian does the latter (or allows it to be done to him), whilst a mere lecturer may only be adept at being the former. 

Me?  I am neither.  But I am hoping that this little reflection will concretize my aims and goals as a graduate student of theology.  On the very theological celebration of Holy Trinity Sunday, perhaps what should remain on our minds and hearts is that the mystery of God and the community of his persons is something that should never be reduced, but on the contrary, a reality that constantly invites us to an ever-expanded and stretched and outreaching reality of who God really is.  This is because God is love, and love being love is never going to really be love if it is reduced and minimalised or made ‘easy’.  Love, which is at the heart of the Holy Trinity, has to be Mystery.

Love is always going to be expanded and stretched to be ever inviting, always encompassing and willing to be embraced.