From the Pastor
Fr. Mike Comer shares his thoughts on Scripture, spirituality and the challenges of living the Gospel.
the trinity is our greatest mystery
June 15, 2025
The most important work on the Trinity in the history of the Church is De Trinitate (The Trinity) by St. Augustine. He spent many years working on the book and was very frustrated because he realized that he had not fully grasped the truth of the Trinity and had therefore failed to explain it as well as he had hoped. Augustine was the Bishop of Hippo in Northern Africa, very near to the Mediterranean Sea.
One day he was walking along the shore of the sea, meditating on the Trinity and his frustrations. As he did so, he came upon a young boy who was playing with a pail of water and a small shovel. The boy had dug a hole in the beach about 20 feet from the water’s edge and was getting water from the sea and carrying it up to the hole. Augustine asked what he was doing, and the boy replied that he was going to take all of the water in the Mediterranean Sea and put it into the hole he had dug.
Augustine laughed and said, “Young man, it is impossible for you to put the water from this immense sea into that little hole.” The lad looked at him and said, “It would be easier to put all of the water into that hole than for you to fully grasp the Trinity and to explain it to others.” The boy vanished, and the saint realized that an angel had been sent to him by God.
The Trinity is the greatest mystery of the Christian faith. How can God be both One and Three? It is, as I said, a mystery. What, though, is a mystery?
One day he was walking along the shore of the sea, meditating on the Trinity and his frustrations. As he did so, he came upon a young boy who was playing with a pail of water and a small shovel. The boy had dug a hole in the beach about 20 feet from the water’s edge and was getting water from the sea and carrying it up to the hole. Augustine asked what he was doing, and the boy replied that he was going to take all of the water in the Mediterranean Sea and put it into the hole he had dug.
Augustine laughed and said, “Young man, it is impossible for you to put the water from this immense sea into that little hole.” The lad looked at him and said, “It would be easier to put all of the water into that hole than for you to fully grasp the Trinity and to explain it to others.” The boy vanished, and the saint realized that an angel had been sent to him by God.
The Trinity is the greatest mystery of the Christian faith. How can God be both One and Three? It is, as I said, a mystery. What, though, is a mystery?
I have heard mystery described as something that is true that cannot be understood. Personally, I don’t care for that definition. My preferred definition is that a mystery is something that can be infinitely understood.
What does that mean? A mystery is a truth that can be understood partially but never completely. There is always more to be understood. So, we grow in our understanding of that truth, and we never exhaust it. We are never done. That is certainly true of the mystery of the Trinity.
Augustine also wrote that the God that you understand is not God. The God that can fit in my brain is a tiny excuse for a God. He is always more than I can grasp.
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Trinity, the greatest of all the Church’s mysteries and the truth that makes us Christian.
—Fr. Mike Comer
What does that mean? A mystery is a truth that can be understood partially but never completely. There is always more to be understood. So, we grow in our understanding of that truth, and we never exhaust it. We are never done. That is certainly true of the mystery of the Trinity.
Augustine also wrote that the God that you understand is not God. The God that can fit in my brain is a tiny excuse for a God. He is always more than I can grasp.
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Trinity, the greatest of all the Church’s mysteries and the truth that makes us Christian.
—Fr. Mike Comer
