PODCAST | The Most Holy Trinity
On the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Fr. Javier del Castillo, priest of Opus Dei, reflects on what we know (by faith) and what we cannot comprehend about the three divine Persons of the Blessed Trinity.
What you’ll hear:
– Why God created us
– How the three Persons of the Trinity are distinguished from one another and how they are not
– Our desire (and inability) to comprehend the great mystery of the Holy Trinity
– How St. Athanasius fought to keep the mystery of the Trinity whole
– The heresy that Arius taught about the Trinity
– What the First Council of Nicaea and the First Council of Constantinople reaffirmed about the Trinity
– How Jesus Christ is the “gateway” to the Holy Trinity
– How St. Josemaria used the number 103 to explain the Trinity
– Why studying the Trinity takes intellectual humility
Quotes:
“The Trinity is eternal love. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have been in love from all eternity, before the foundation of the world. That is all there was, there was love.”
“Because love is seeking always to share the great happiness and joy that it possesses, the Holy Trinity has freely, without any need, chosen to create us, to have creatures with which they can share this great happiness that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have had from all eternity.”
“It is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit who create. It is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit who save, who redeem and forgive our sins. It is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit who sanctify us…. Because anything that God does ‘outside of God’ is done by all three persons.”
“We cannot understand what the Blessed Trinity is, and how this mystery of love has decided to create us in His image. Our heart cannot understand that, and it is too big to fit in our minds. And yet, through faith, it has been revealed to us that [the Trinity] exists, and that it is truly the end [goal] of our existence.”
“Instead of thinking of our relationship to God as spousal, St. Josemaria liked to think of it as filial. We are children of God, in the Son.”
Rev. Javier del Castillo
Fr. Javier del Castillo is a priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and a Doctorate in Philosophy. He currently carries out his pastoral ministry in New York and is President of the St. Josemaria Institute.
