The Trinity
St. Patrick is well known as the patron saint of Ireland and there are annual celebrations of St. Patrick’s day in many countries where the Irish have settled. St. Patrick’s day revelry has become nothing more than wearing green and losing oneself in self-gratification. This is the familiar story of how the secular world has hijacked religious festivals as with Christmas and Easter.
St. Patrick became the patron saint of Ireland because he was the tool God used to evangelize to the pagans of Ireland. He was successful in converting the pagans because of his simple explanation of theology and the Catholic faith. He’s well known for using a shamrock, a three-leafed plant common in Ireland, to explain the Trinity. He taught the pagans that the Trinity is like the shamrock, three Persons with one divine nature, just as the shamrock is three leafs sharing one stem. St. Patrick also taught that none of the three Persons of the Trinity appeared first and none is more important than the others.
When I read this teaching, I began to wonder why Jesus is known to have submitted to the Father’s will and went to Calvary to die, although He was ambiguous about it in the Garden of Gethsemane. For me, it’s easy to understand that an inferior submits to a superior. It’s easy to understand that naturally a human son will submit to a human father, just as Jesus submits to His Father. However, how does one Person of the Trinity submit to another, if none is more important than the other? How do equals submit to each other? If they are truly equal, why doesn’t the Father submit to the Son’s request?
At Gethsemane, it was Jesus’ human nature that was doubting the mission. Whenever we hear that Jesus submitted to the will of the Father, it merely means that Jesus submitted to Himself as well. I think it’s too simplistic to imagine that it was solely the Father’s idea that the Son go to Earth and sacrifice Himself to redeem mankind. No, I believe that all Three Persons agreed to this decision and so it’s the decision of all Three to go through with the Way of the Cross and death. This is what Jesus meant by saying that the “Father is in me and I am in the Father” - they are one. It’s impossible that God experienced a potential mutiny or had transient schizophrenia in the Garden.
The Father’s will is also the Son’s and also the Holy Spirit’s. The decision of the Father is that of the Son and of the Holy Spirit as well and applies the other way tool. The Trinity is a communion of equals who truly love each other. True love means no arrogance or secrets between lovers. The Trinity is the only working model for sustainable human relationships.
What are your thoughts?
