Adoring the Mystery
One of the most profound and incomprehensible mysteries of our holy faith is belief in the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This doctrine describes God as not three gods but as one, eternal, incomprehensible God, in whom there are three persons. No mortal being can fully fathom this divine truth, yet we still pray through our weak faith that we can trust in it as one of the central tenets of the Christian faith.
The Feast of the Holy Trinity, celebrated this year on Sunday, May 26th, can be interpreted as a sort of finale to all of the proceeding feasts that have been celebrated over the course of the Church Year in the months leading up to it.
Looking back on the seasons through which the Church has journeyed thus far, we can see that the Christmas cycle centers on the Father sending his Son down to earth in order to redeem his people. The Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, is celebrated during the Paschal Cycle, which centers on his great sacrifice for humankind and his glorious resurrection. After Christ’s Ascension, Pentecost focuses our minds on the Holy Spirit, who has been bestowed upon us as our Teacher, Leader, Guide, and Consoler.
Trinity Sunday, then, brings together the three persons who are central to these feasts of Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost. It is a Sunday that is set aside to honor the unity of these three divine persons, a day meant to help us remember how our whole life is enveloped in the Name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
After all, it is these words that were spoken over us in our baptism, that are said when we are absolved of our sins, and that are invoked whenever the people of God come together for the Divine Service. We should, therefore, also mark our daily lives with a remembrance of this Name of God, being conscious to begin and end each day, each week, and each prayer with these words, meditating on the mystery of the Holy Trinity.
A Brief History
Trinity Sunday is a rather unique holiday in the Church’s year. Most of the Church’s major feasts are centered on events like Christ’s birth (Christmas), his death (Good Friday), his resurrection (Easter), etc. But this holiday is centered not so much on an event as on a doctrine.
Services dedicated explicitly to the Holy Trinity began to emerge in the Church as a result of the trinitarian controversies that roiled the first few centuries of the Church’s history. Over time, various days were set aside by local churches to commemorate the doctrine of the Trinity, but the Western Church as a whole was hesitant to dedicate a particular day to this doctrine, perhaps because most other major feast days were devoted to events, not doctrines.
Thus, Trinity Sunday is a relative latecomer to the calendar for one of the major festivals of the Church’s year. Indeed, it wasn’t adopted by the Western Church as a whole until sometime in the early second millennium. Subsequently, it gave its name to the whole season that extends from it until the end of the Church’s year, often known as Trinitytide.
Collect
Almighty and Everlasting God who hast given unto us, Thy servants, grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity: we beseech Thee that Thou wouldst keep us steadfast in this faith, and evermore defend us from all adversities; who livest and reignest, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Lessons
Resources
Print out our free copy of the Athanasian Creed here!
The Gottesdienst Crowd interview with the Rev. Sean Daenzer on Trinity Sunday
Propers found in Daily Divine Service Book: A Lutheran Daily Missal, edited by the Rev. Heath Curtis
References:
1. Cowie, L.W. & John Selwyn Gummer. The Christian Calendar: A Complete Guide to the Seasons of the Chritian Year Telling the Story of Christ and the Saints from Advent to Pentecost. G. & C. Merriam Company Publishers. 1974.
2. Parsch, Pius. The Church’s Year of Grace: June, July, August. The Liturgical Press. 1963.
3. Pfatteicher, Philip H. Journey into the Heart of God. Oxford University Press. 2013.
Images:
1. The Holy Trinity, Albrecht Dürer, Germany, 1511.
2. The Adoration of the Trinity from the Landauer Altar, Albrecht Dürer, Germany, 1511.
3. Holy Trinity, Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen, The Netherlands, c. 1500 –1550.
I think you have a typo, as the second paragraph says this Feast day is being celebrated on June 12th. in 2024 it’s on May 26th. I assume this was originally posted in a previous year and that piece just wasn’t updated.
Thank you for the catch! You’re absolutely right. Blessed Feast of the Trinity to you.