Vigils Reading – Holy Trinity Sunday

WE ACKNOWLEDGE THE TRINITY

A commentary by St Athanasius1

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It will not be out of place to consider the ancient tradition, teaching and

faith of the Catholic Church, which was revealed by the Lord, proclaimed by the

apostles, and guarded by the fathers. For upon this faith the Church is built, and

if anyone were to lapse from it, that person would no longer be a Christian either

in fact or in name.

We acknowledge the Trinity, holy and perfect, to consist of the Father, the

Son, and the Holy Spirit. In this Trinity there is no intrusion of any alien

element or of anything from outside, nor is the Trinity a blend of creative and

created being. It is a wholly creative and energizing reality, self-consistent and

undivided in its active power, for the father makes all things through the Word

and in the Holy Spirit, and in this way the unity of the Holy Trinity is preserved.

Accordingly in the Church, one God is preached, one God who is above all

things and through all things and in all things. God is above all things as

Father, for he is the principle and source; he is through all things through the

Word; and he is in all things in the Holy Spirit.

Writing to the Corinthians about spiritual matters, Paul traces all reality

back to the one God, the Father, saying: Now there are varieties of gifts, but the

same Spirit; and varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are

varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in everyone.

Even the gifts that the Spirit dispenses to individuals are given by the

Father through the Word. For all that belongs to the Father belongs also to the

Son, and so the graces given by the Son in the Spirit are true gifts of the Father.

Similarly, when the Spirit dwells in us, the Word who bestows the Spirit is in us

too, and the Father is present in the Word. This is the meaning of the text: My

Father and I will come to him and make our home with him. For where the

light is, there also is the radiance; and where the radiance is, there too are its

power and resplendent grace.

This is also Paul’s teaching in his Second Letter to the Corinthians: The

grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the

Holy Spirit be with you all. For grace and the gift of the Trinity are given by the

Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. Just as grace is given from the Father

through the Son, so there could be no communication of the gift to us except in

the Holy Spirit. But when we share in the Spirit, we possess the love of the

Father, the grace of the Son, and the fellowship of the Spirit himself.

1 A Word in Season – vol. III – Exordium Books – 1983 – pg 224.3