5.26.26 - Trinitarian Reflections and Faith vs Doubts
- tmaley
- May 29
- 14 min read
Catholic Understanding & Biblical Defense Class 5/26/26
Every Tuesday, 7PM-8PM (EST), 🖥️Zoom ID: 861 1782 2081 🗝️Passcode: 406952
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House rules/Resources…
RSVP Reminder: Please RSVP whether you are attending the meeting or just reading the Recaps afterwards. The more RSVPs, the more Meetup will give exposure to “Catholic Bible Study” – a good thing!
Questions. We encourage questions although we ask that you keep them on topic and brief. You can ask during the meeting, or in the chat box, or if you prefer you can email us through Meetup.com, or Ron directly: ron@hallagan.net.
Respectfulness. We will be discussing differences between Christian denominations and religions in general, and we seek to be respectful at all times. Protestants especially are our friends and brothers/sisters-in-Christ; in fact, I owe much of my return to Christianity to them. Therefore, any critique of our brethren is in loving pursuit of apostolic truth.
No politics. It would be easy for us to self-destruct, but that’s not our goal :). Our goal is to learn, understand, and apply the Bible and our Catholic faith to our everyday lives.
Word on Fire. Bishop Robert Barron has reached millions through his 10 min Sunday homilies, podcasts, educational series and certifications, bibles, and other lectures and apologetics. www.wordonfire.org
Hallow App. Daily prayers and reflections, especially for the high holyday seasons. www.alex@mail.hallow.com
Catholic Answers – www.catholic.com. Best site for Catholic Apologetics there is.
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Bible Study Format
Our Bible Study is a combination of Exegesis and Apologetics.
Each meeting is (roughly) as follows:
min Apologetic Reflection
min Upcoming Gospel Reading
30 min Weekly topic/theme
1 hour
Week 1: Gospel Week – we study several Gospel stories, especially the tough ones.
Week 2: Bible Week – we are working our way through the Bible. We are studying the New Testament.
Week 3: Questions and Survey Topics chosen by Members:
1. Prison Ministry Stories 2. Plenary Indulgences 3. Explanation of the Mass and Eucharist 4. Dead Sea Scrolls 5. Catholicism vs modern cosmology? 6. The 7 Gifts/Fruits of the HS, 7 Deadly Sins 7. How to experience the Love of God 8. The Communion of Saints 9. Comparative Religions 10. Catholic vs Protestant beliefs
Week 4: Apologetics:
Gen 1-3 (Creation Story, Adam & Eve, the Fall of Man, 2. The Meaning of Eve/the Trees/Summary
Faith vs Doubt – are having doubts bad?
Don’t forget to RSVP.
Taylor will send a link to everyone with today’s notes.
The class is recorded if you want to listen to it anytime.
I will ask for volunteer readers…
Opening Prayer:
Trinity Prayer
Abba… Apart from you and your arms of love I have no good thing.
Jesus… Apart from you and your cross I have no good thing.
Parakletos… Apart from you and your breath of life I have no good thing.
And as Jesus taught us to pray …
Our Father
Who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily Bread;
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Major holy days: Trinity Sunday: The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, May 31
Corpus Christi: The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, June 7
www.masstimes.org Mass or Confession anywhere/anytime in the world!
Today’s Agenda
Weekly Reflection – God is a Trinity, Trinitarian Reflections
Gospel reading for the Trinity Sunday (Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity), John 3:16-18
Member Topic: Faith and Doubts, Part I
Quote of the Week
“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit…” – Matthew 28:19.
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the holy Spirit be with all of you.” – 2 Corinthians 13:13
Trinitarian Reflections
1. Note the progression of the Trinity as we move from the Gospels and into the Acts of the Apostles:
God the Father announces his Son through Gabriel to Mary, at Jesus’ Baptism, and at his Transfiguration.
The Easter Resurrection accomplishes the Son’ mission to save humanity from sin and death.
The Pentecost introduces the Holy Spirit into our lives and our souls.
It is appropriate, then, that the Easter Season culminates in Trinity Sunday, which is not so much making it about God but rather God making it about us. What we are witnessing is the entire Trinity putting Itself at our disposal to help us enter Heaven. The Trinity is about love and humility, so we too should be. We praise God because of His amazing love and humility.
2. The infinite and eternal Blessed Trinity is a difficult concept for humans precisely because it is infinite and eternal. Our finite minds and finite sciences naturally limit our grasp of what is beyond finite space and time.
Understanding the depth and immensity of God is something God revealed to us over time. Knowing what we know now, we can look back in the Old Testament and see the signs, from the creation story in Genesis through Exodus and the prophets. Finally, God the Father revealed his triune nature to us by the very fact that he sent the 2nd Person of the Trinity to become one of us to save us which, once accomplished, enabled the Holy Spirit come to us to be both with us and in us. It was this unfolding process that revealed God’s nature, and even though God slow-rolled it, it is still hard for our minds to completely understand.
Again, remember, a spiritual mystery is a truth that we know only because it was revealed to us.
3. Why would God be interested in saving ungrateful, rebellious, inconsequential beings like ourselves? (TayQuiz)
As the song goes, “Love is the Answer.” Hard to believe, but love is the only explanation that will answer the question. Love is ALL-GIVING. Consider: God gave us His image & likeness in the beginning, right? And after we rebelled, He came here and gave His life for us, did he not? Then He gave us the Holy Spirit to help us the rest of the way. 100% giving love.
4. What is the Trinity?
First, as we said, the Trinity is not something any human would ever dream up in a million years for the very reason we can hardly make any sense of it. Think about it: if you were trying to make up a religion to convince others to follow you, would you make up something that can’t be explained? Of course, not. Again, a spiritual mystery it is a “revealed” truth. And although we may not be able to explain it fully in this finite lifetime, we will have a much better understanding when we enter the next life, for we will be entering the infinite/eternal ourselves.
Second, God is Love and love cannot exist by itself. The highest love is self-giving, sacrificial love (Agape love), which requires another. Therefore, before time and space were created, how could God be love by Himself? That is why the Trinity is a community of love – one being, three persons. BTW, “being” describes what something is. “Person” is who something is. You and I are human – that’s what we are; but we are also separate persons – which is who we are.
Third, what is the official description of the Trinity? Here is the official language, but I’ll give you a heads up that it isn’t likely to clear things up. Remember, at best we can only approach a full understanding. Okay, here goes:
The Father is the unbegotten, uncaused Origin of all things, including existence, itself;
The Son is eternally begotten of the Father – begotten means “uncreated” – yet the same essence/substance (being).
The Holy Spirit is the eternal love that proceeds between the Father and the Son.
Theologians over the last 2000 years have plumbed the depths of the Trinity to head-spinning levels. The following is from
Dionysius of Alexandria in the 3rd century:
"The Father then being eternal, the Son is eternal, being Light of Light... We expand the unity, without dividing it, into the Trinity and sum up the Trinity, without diminishing it, in the unity."
This one from the great St. Athanasius, who defended the Church against Arianism in the 4th century:
“The Second is so fully the image of the First that he is all the First is, save only that he is Second rather than First. Further, the Father is Father only insofar as he generates the Son. The Father would not be Father without a Son.”
Then this one from St. Bonaventure in 1270AD:
“The Triune God is One whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.”
If you read these over and over for the next hour, you might finally begin to say, “Ahh, this is very deep!”
Here is one on just the HS that I like a lot: “Put another way, the Holy Spirit is the infinite become intimate. It is the realization of the presence of the Living God. Intimacy with God, that’s what the Holy Spirit brings to our lives.”
Fourth, we say three “persons,” meaning they have distinct modes and relationships, but all three share one essence or substance (“consubstantial”), one nature, one Godhead, equal and eternal.
Here’s a diagram that is accurate and not too difficult to follow if you spend a few minutes with it:
Analogies
Further exploration of the Trinity would require a whole class, but I will provide 3 analogies for now (there are over a dozen): water, the 3-leaf clover, and the family.
When considering Trinitarian analogies, to be accurate each analogy must satisfy three conditions:
Distinct: God is three distinct Persons who all exist at the same time.
Deity: Each Person is fully God.
Unity: There is One God.
1. The Trinity is like Water
How the analogy goes:
The Trinity is like water. Water has three states: solid, liquid, and gas. Even when the water changes forms – i.e., from solid to liquid to gas – it is still water. Just as water has three different forms, so does the trinity!
So what’s the problem with this analogy?
Each molecule of water must be in one state or another. It is either solid, liquid, or gas but it can’t be all three at the same time.
If God changed and became Jesus when needed, and then changed to be the HS when needed, then this would work. But God does not work this way. They all exist at the same time.
The analogy denies #1.
Trinitarian conditions:
Distinct: God is three distinct Persons who all exist at the same time.
Deity: Each Person is fully God.
Unity: There is One God.
2. The Trinity is Like a Three-Leaf Clover
How the analogy goes:
St. Patrick in Ireland made this comparison: The Trinity is a like a Three-Leaf Clover. There are three different cloves that represent the three different persons of the trinity, but one clover.
I should note that these analogies are all good and you can use them, but they technically fall short. What’s the problem with this one?
It’s not bad, but theologians say that the clovers are overly separate/ distinct and therefore don’t capture the unity of God. Almost like three different gods that share a common stem/substance.
Therefore, it denies #3.
3. The Family
There is a rather remarkable comparison that can shed light on this Trinitarian paradox, and wouldn’t you know it – the best image of God can perhaps be found in us, humans.
God did say, “Let us make man in our image” (Gen 1:26), did He not?
Not a man alone, nor a woman alone, but rather a man and a woman together in a loving, lasting, fruitful relationship that we call marriage.
Wherefore, a man shall leave father and mother and cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh.” – Gen 2:24
However, God has added one more part to the party:
“be fruitful and multiply” – Gen 1:28
In His own words, God seems to set forth His image most perfectly as the married and fruitful couple, ONE family. Indeed, you could say the Trinity is an infinite, eternal family of sorts, in a communion of love.
And the consequence of this love between the husband and wife bears fruit in their children, which is compared to how God’s love created us.
And as this love extends beyond the family and into the world – both in brotherly love and in our creative works, we are compared to how God’s love extends to all of creation.
Love indeed makes the world go ‘round.
Trinity Sunday is not the priests’ favorite Sunday, since the Trinity is simply not an easy topic to discuss. In fact, our short reading for this Sunday doesn’t help much, either. It John’s most famous quote but it seems unhelpful from a Trinitarian point of view, except for one word that points to who Jesus is.
John 3:16
God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him shall not perishbut have eternal life.
“… gave His only begotten Son…” “Begotten” highlights that Jesus was eternally generated from the very essence of God, meaning He is fully divine and a part of God, rather than a created being or an object manufactured by God, such as in the rest of creation.
I personally think the best review of the Trinity is in the Creed we say every Sunday. Note Lord = God.
I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.
I believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.
In closing, since we have just concluded the Pentecost, we must remember that the Holy Spirit is not just love from God, He is the love OF God, the love that flows between and unites the Father and the Son. In this flow of love, all wisdom and grace is carried. Since before the Fall of Man, God desired us to be part of this Triune love for eternity.
This is the reason Jesus came, and having reunited us to the Father, sent us that love/grace/wisdom via the Holy Spirit, which is the same as sending us the whole Trinity. We are invited to become adopted members of God’s Holy Family, the Family that all families aspire to achieve. We are now a part of God’s eternal network, as long as we have faith.
Which leads us to our next topic…
Faith and Doubts
The members voted to discuss the problem of doubting one's faith. This is one of the perennial questions people of faith have asked since forever and a day.
The concept of a higher power has been with us throughout history, even in those who reject the Judeo-Christian God. Man knows there is something greater than him. The spiritual draws him and speaks to him. But how to pursue this spiritual call takes faith. The greater the faith, the greater the spiritual experience; but how does one get more of this faith? And how does one hold onto it when he finds it? If faith can lead us to truth, then how does one grow this faith to attain more of it?
Do all humans have faith?
Yes. We have faith that our cars will work when we pull onto the highway, or we wouldn’t do it. We have faith that the plane that takes us to visit grandma won’t crash. We have faith in our kids, our spouses, our best friends – even though we can’t prove the certainty of these things. Faith is never based on fear or insecurity, as the secular world likes to say. It is not emotional or irrational. It is a belief based upon circumstantial evidence, which detectives and scientists use to uncover truths all the time.
What is faith?
Faith – believing something without scientific proof – is unique to humans. When God breathed a spiritual nature into humans (Gen 2:7), we received our spiritual natures, which includes free will and faith. Faith enables human to progress beyond all other living things because of our ability to ask, “what if?” (faith) questions; but like all our other spiritual gifts, the ultimate purpose of faith is to lead us to God.
In other words, our spiritual gifts are more circumstantial evidence. They are God’s calling cards.
What is the opposite of faith?
Disbelief. May people think it is doubts, but that is untrue.
Doubts are considered a normal, questioning part of the journey towards truth, towards belief. Doubt is wrestling with a belief and asking questions.
Disbelief is a complete refusal to believe or an active resistance to it.
Actually, an argument could realistically be made that “certainty” is the opposite of faith. Certitude requires no need for faith. Faith is about learning to trust, to hope, and to trust God when all the worldly chips are down. Faith, then, comes with a certain amount of vulnerability. If we have faith in our friends, boy/girlfriends, or spouses, we are vulnerable to a certain amount of risk, are we not? Yet, the greatest earthly rewards are when our faith in other people is validated by their trustworthiness. Conversely, the greatest pain is when our faith in other people proves false, or is betrayed. But if we run away from putting faith in others because we’ve been hurt, we are the ones who get hurt the most in the long run, because humans require love. When it comes down to it, uncertainty is necessary for free will, and thus for love. God is pretty smart.
As an atheist, putting faith in science (via theories and hypotheses) was low risk. Putting faith in others was fine, too, if the risk was kept low enough. As our personal risk rises, so does our resistance. The highest risk for the atheist is faith in God, because I’d have to give up my authority over my own life, including what I choose it to mean and what is right or wrong. If there’s a God, my life would be turned upside down, because my priorities and decisions would no longer be just my own.
At the end of the day, whether atheist or not, we are all born with a spiritual nature, and that includes an inner desire for meaning and truth. That the atheist’s materialistic view of truth is challenged by the very existence of Believers is why most atheists feel the need to lash out at and make fun of them; consciously or subconsciously, this is to defend their inner desire to possess the truth.
Back to Doubts
One thing is clear: doubts are to be expected and are even integral to growing our faith. The saints and even the apostles had to overcome doubts.
Before he became one of the 20th century’s most influential Christian writers, C.S. Lewis was a committed atheist who regarded religion with suspicion, irritation, and eventually contempt (that was me). Christianity seemed to him a relic of humanity’s intellectual childhood – a comforting story for people unable to face reality without divine reassurance. But the longing for explanations triggered by beauty, music, and poetry, and the strong inner desire for truth and purpose, drove him to search for a satisfaction that this world simply could not deliver.
So, the key is not that we have doubts, but what we do with them.
***
There is another 30 minutes to finish so this will conclude Faith & Doubts, Part I. Perhaps I can finish Part II next week.
In Part II we will discuss the difference between faith, trust, and belief, why science cannot solve questions of faith, and how to wrestle with doubts so that they can take you to a higher place.
Closing Prayer
My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. – James 5:19-20
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