Some Things Are Just Hard To Explain.

May 26, 2024

Trinity Sunday

There is a story of a kindergarten aged little boy who came up  to his dad and asked, “Where do babies come from?” The father gulped and resisted the temptation to say, “go ask your mother.” So he began, hesitantly, haltingly, and begrudgingly to try and explain to his son the birds and the bees. When the dad was all done (and wiped the perspiration off his face), he noticed his son looked confused. “Do you have any questions, Billy?”

“Well, I don’t know what you’ve been talking about, but Mikey’s mom says it’s the stork that brings the babies.”

Some things are just hard to explain. I remember when I was a Catechism teacher, I hated teaching the chapter on the Trinity. No matter how clever of an analogy I tried to come up with, invariably all I got back from the kids was a blank stare. And I really don’t blame them because, well, most times I can’t explain it to myself, let alone to anyone else. There is one God, revealed in three persons. They are not separate, but they are distinct. Huh?! The Church calls it a mystery of our faith – even they can’t explain it. But that does not make the Trinity less real and important. My understanding is that the concept of the Trinity is an attempt to explain the full nature of God.

We know God as the creator of all. God created the world and all that is in it. When I see a mountain or a lake I experience God. When I plant flowers and mow the lawn, I am in the midst of God’s presence. God created everything on this earth and when God was done, he said that everything was good. Very, very good.

We know God as the Christ. Incarnated as the man Jesus, who came to teach us how to treat other people as God wants us to treat each other. The teachings of Jesus were meant to change the world and make it a more loving place. It was meant to be a more peaceful place. Jesus gave us all signs and symbols of how to remember him, so that we can remember his teachings.

We know God as Spirit. The Spirit is what allows the love and mercy of God to be experienced in the lives of people. The Spirit is energy and action. The Spirit gives me the courage to speak up and the compassion to act when I see someone in need.

God is all of these things, all of the time in all things. In his book Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis says the Trinity is “not a static thing…but a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life, almost…a kind of dance.” It is, as Pope Francis said, “a divine dance that invites us to make the church a loving home whose table and door are open to everyone.” For Francis, our acts of love for neighbor and care for creation are the perfect response to the divine dance of the Trinity. Some things are just hard to explain.

But some things are not. When I look at another person, all I have to remember is that I am looking at someone who has the presence of God within them. No matter what they look like; no matter what comes out of their mouth; no matter how they are dressed, that person is the likeness of God. I am called to extend my hand and enter into a dance with that person. A dance of mercy and love. A dance of peace and empathy. A dance of generosity and joy.

Every Day.

© 2024 by Timothy J. Doppel

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