The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, was not revealed by Christ to the Church as a theological puzzle. It is a mystery in the Christian sense, a truth that is so great that our human minds cannot fully comprehend it, but a truth that brings us the life of God.

Pope Benedict explained how God is the eternal source which communicates all life “He does not live in splendid solitude but rather is an inexhaustible source of life that is ceaselessly given and communicated. To a certain extent we can perceive this by observing both the macro-universe: our earth, the planets, the stars, the galaxies; and the micro-universe: cells, atoms, elementary particles.”

The doctrine of the Trinity teaches us not only that God Himself lives in a communion of life and love, but also that He pours out that love to others. As St Paul said, “In Him we live and move and have our being. (Acts 17.28)

Pope Francis vividly expressed the quality of God’s love: “Let us recognize that God is not something vague, our God is not a God ‘spray’, he is tangible; he is not abstract but has a name: ‘God is love’. His is not a sentimental, emotional kind of love but the love of the Father who is the origin of all life, the love of the Son who dies on the Cross and is raised, the love of the Spirit who renews human beings and the world.”

One result of this is that we live in communion. “A person who loves others for the very joy of love is a reflection of the Trinity. A family in which each person loves and helps one another is a reflection of the Trinity. A parish in which each person loves and shares spiritual and material effects is a reflection of the Trinity.”