GUIDE TO PREACHERS ON TRINITY SUNDAY

By NOEL OGADIMMA ONYEULO

Dear Preacher and Reader,

I plead to heastily declare that this writeup cannot replace the Sunday homily which I provide. Instead, it is a kind of guide to preachers on how not to preach the Trinity. Succintly, there are two dogmatic anchors upon which every theology and doctrine of the Catholic Church on the mystery of God hinges. One is the Christological dogma and the other, the Trinitarian Dogma. The Christological dogma teaches on "Christ, the Second person of the Blessed Trinity, Incarnate Word, the revealer of God to men and the Revealer of men to themselves". On the other end the Trinitarian dogma which states "That we worship one God in Trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither blending their persons nor dividing their essence". This means that the three persons are not three God. Though subsisting in an indivisible nature and can only be understood in their relationship to one another. In that, the Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Holy Spirit and vice versa but remains one in Substance. This is the theology undiluted! It is a mystery, revealed in the scriptures and so needs the full submission of the Will and Intellect and the whole 5 senses of the believer even when it seems incomprehensible. Yes, it is of this incomprehensible nature of the mystery of God that St. Augustine says " sit comprehend is non est Deus" meaning "if you understand Him, He is not God". Thus, Bruce Ware, in his book, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit writes, “The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most important distinguishing doctrines of the Christian faith and therefore is deserving of our careful study, passionate embrace, and thoughtful application.” The Believer is required to believe what God has revealed in faith while seeking to understand in other to nourish and appreciate the wisdom of God which surpasses all we know of Him.

So, what is required of the preacher on the Teaching of this Dogma?

Firstly, the Preacher is required to state first and fore most the Churches teaching on the mystery of the Trinity. The Doctrine of the Trinity is truth revealed in the Scriptures, the preacher is required to support this teaching with scriptural passages.

Secondly, this is not a time to show your Philosophical expertise otherwise you run the risk of falling into heresy. Remember, most heretics were great thinkers. It is by trying to express their philosophical expertise on the grounds of reason based on this teaching that many heresies emanated.  Hence, the preacher needs to be informed on the missing links in the teachings of the heretics so that he doesn't fall into any of them.

Thirdly, spare yourself from so much analogies. It is true that analogies can help us grasp the idea of the teaching on the Trinity. But at the same time, all analogies limp! Permit me to say that many heretics arrived at their heresies through analogies. For instance, the analogy which says that the Trinity is like the substance water which can exist in many states; ice, liquid and gas. On the surface, this analogy do seem to help. But the problem with it, is that,  it can very easily fall into one of the ancient heresies that the church fathers and writers of the Athanasian Creed were so keen to distance themselves from. Water can exist in three different states but not all at the same time. It is either liquid or gas or solid ice. But God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit all co-exist, at the same time. The Father did not cease to exist in heaven, while Jesus the Son was active on Earth. Historically, the heresy is called Modalism.

Fourthly, the preacher is required to lead the people into understanding the message of love which abides in the Trinity. This message is the anthropological consequence of the message of the Trinity. The language by which the Trinity subsists in itself is the Language of Love. God is love and we too his people must abide in His love by loving one another. Persistently, he invites us to share in the life of the Trinity. The love shining forth from the life of the Trinity is a call for us to live in communion with God and with one another. Hence, love is the utmost manifestation of the presence of God in the life of a Christian in an eminent degree.

Fifthly, the people should be led into understanding that all their activities of the day should begin and end in the Name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit; the 3 persons of the Blessed Trinity. It is by invocation of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity in words and deeds that the Christian share in the Trinitarian Communion which is defined in Theology as the "Divine Perichoresis".