5/JESUS
5/4 THE TRINITY
WE WALK BY FAITH. St. Paul teaches
us that we walk by faith. The Trinity is an example of a mystery, something
that we understand in part but not completely. Though we do not understand
everything about the Trinity, we accept it by our faith because our knowledge
of this mystery comes from Jesus who is one who teaches the truth. We believe
that there is only one God. But Jesus tells us more about God when he talks
about God his father and when he said he will send us the Holy Spirit. We live
by faith when we accept that there is only one God but there are in God three
persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. At the
beginning of his missionary work, Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist in the
Jordan River. At that time the Holy Spirit, like a dove, descended upon him and
a voice from heaven came saying "You are my beloved son with whom I am
well pleased." Here we have an example of the Father who spoke of Jesus as
the Son, Jesus who was baptised, and the Holy Spirit who descended upon Jesus.
The word Trinity is not in the bible but was later used by the church to name
this teaching.
JESUS' COMMAND TO BAPTISE. The last
command Jesus gave to the apostles was that they were to go to all nations and
to baptise believers in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit. This instruction is carried out to this very day. This helps us to know
the existence of this doctrine though we can understand it only in a partial
way. The sign of the cross is commonly used in the pray life of the church and
in the pray life of Catholics. We thank Jesus for teaching us this important
doctrine.
