Explaining the Trinity.

[AaronK88]

I would like fellow Catholics to help me out here. It has been said constantly that the concept of the trinity is not explainable. It is beyond our minds to grasp. However, I feel like I have come to a basic explanation.

God, being who he is, is a being that is beyond our imagination. We cannot possible comprehend God. To comprehend God would make us God ourselves. God is infinite. Human beings, however, are not. While we have a basic understanding of the term infinite, we can never be infinite or experience infinity the way God can. God was, is, and always will be. God's form is such that while we can grasp the concept of it, we can never fully comprehend, 100%.

In order for God to join us on our world, God would have to take the form of something that we COULD understand. That we could easily wrap our minds around. That is why through the holy spirit, God impregnated Mary with the Son, who while being God, is a separate but same entity. In this form, human beings are able to grasp on a level the divinity of God through Jesus, the Son.

Have I at least touched on it? What am I missing? Am I completely off?

 

[Turkleton]

Nailed it. Can't think of anything more to add. Anything beyond that would probably fall under the "mystery of faith" category.

 

[Radagast]

You seem to be talking about the Incarnation.

The Trinity (Father,Son,Holy Spirit) existed before the Incarnation (indeed, eternally).

 

[DD2008]

The Trinity is as Saint Patrick described it "Like a Shamrock" Three in one.

God the Father is fully self aware and eternally utters the Word of his full self awareness Jesus, the Son. So the Son is the full self knowledge of Almighty God. The pure and Holy Love of the Father and the Son is the Holy Spirit of God which is pure Divine knowledge of love. So God is truely Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and all three and be summed up as Love.

 

[hsilgne]

Have I at least touched on it? What am I missing? Am I completely off?

I think you touched on it, but it's missing something, while not completely 'off', incomplete none the less.

"God is beyond our imagination" 'bout sums it up for me.

 

[LivingWordUnity]

The easiest way that I think about it is with the analogy of a Milky Way candy bar. The candy bar is made up of chocolate, caramel, and nougat. 3 distinct ingredients make up one candy bar. I saw this on a Catholic EWTN video series for children called "Angel Force". I bought it for my daughters, but I learned from it, too.
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[hsilgne]

There's the 'sun anology'...

The 'core' of the sun represents God the Father, the Light from the sun represents God the Son and the heat from the sun represents God the Holy Spirit.

There is no way anyone can fully understand let alone explain, the concept of the Trinity. It is a mystery.

 

[LivingWordUnity]

There's the 'sun anology'...

The 'core' of the sun represents God the Father, the Light from the sun represents God the Son and the heat from the sun represents God the Holy Spirit.

There is no way anyone can fully understand let alone explain, the concept of the Trinity. It is a mystery.

I think that's the best analogy for the Holy Trinity that I've every heard. The "core" of the sun and how it's above us fits in symbolically with how the Father is talked about as being above. The light fits in symbolically with how Jesus calls Himself the light of the world. And the heat fits in symbolically with how the Holy Spirit is described as a fire.
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[Katholish]

Radagast is correct, you are talking about the Incarnation more than the Trinity in your post.

That being said, I wouldn't necessarily disagree with what you said, I would however, caution against saying that Christ is a "seperate entity" from God. I don't really know what you mean by that, but objectively it is an incorrect why to express the mystery. Christ is God. TO say that they are separate entities implies some division of persons (in Christ) or some division within the divine essence (saying that God the Son is different from God the Father in essence).

 

[JCFantasy23]

I always have trouble wrapping my mind around the trinity but think you sum it up quite well. For some reason I struggle with guilt sometimes like when I am praying, I seem to keep trying to divide God and Jesus. People often say Jesus, like Praise Jesus, on these forums and elsewhere, while I always say or said God. When I was learning of God I had not read the bible yet as a teen and it is just who I think of. I sometimes feel I am not pleasing God by saying Jesus instead, but that shouldn't be true since they are the same, so I don't know.