The Trinity and Prayer

Did you ever try to explain the “Trinity” to someone who didn’t understand it? Not an easy task, is it? I heard a great comparison that you may want to consider… it surely helped me not only explain it, but understand it. I am the “daughter” of two amazing parents. I am fully and completely their daughter. I am fully and completely the “wife” of an amazing man. I am also fully and completely the mother of two amazing daughters. I am fully a daughter, a wife and a mother, but yet I am only one woman. Yes, I am three fully and completely distinct people, but yet only one person. That suddenly makes more sense. Is the Holy Trinity that simple, of course not, but it gives me something that my mind can wrap around to understand a bit more. When I thought about that idea I also began to focus on all three parts separately in prayer. I would like to share my thoughts here and see what you think about the mystery of the Trinity.

Some of the time what I want when I pray is the all powerful and ever living God, my Father, and my Lord. I want the parent and the one who has the power to do anything! I want that person when I need something badly. I want that person when I want to praise God for the gift of His creations. I want that person when I want to thank my loving God for all He has given me personally. And, I want that person when I have to admit to and be sorry for the things I have or haven’t done!

There are other times that I kind of need to talk to Jesus as a human being. Yes, He is God, but He lived on this same earth as I do now. He understands when I am sad, He too was sad. He felt the anger that sometimes wells up in me. He knows the fear of some things that have to be done. He intimately experienced disappointment, loneliness, and abandonment. And He fully understands love and the rejection when others do not accept that love.

And the Holy Spirit… the person in the Trinity that many of us call upon the least but can mean the most. He is our guide. He is one who has given us His gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. St. Paul also talks about 9 more gifts: words of wisdom, words of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophesy, discerning of spirits, speaking in tongues, and interpreting of tongues. I always need and pray for guidance and knowledge and understanding. I need this every day, every minute in my life. All of my choices would be better made with the guidance of the Holy Spirit!

With my new understanding of the concept of “One True God” but “Three Persons in One God” my prayer is different. I pray to all three together and sometime all three separately. Sometimes I pray to only the one of the three persons that feels more appropriate for what my heart needs to say. All of a sudden, the Trinity is not simply a mystery (although it will always be somewhat of a mystery) but instead a gift of three persons in one to help me in all different ways.

What do you think about the Trinity? Does this help? Please comment below and share this with your family and friends! Thanks for reading!