Solemnity of the Holy Trinity – C
June 15, 2025 – 11am
Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton
Nicaea
Exactly 1,700 years ago, in the year 325, the bishops of our Church met for the first ecumenical council.
The word ecumenical means that all the bishops of the Church at that time met together. And in the year 325, this was the first time that this happened.
It set a pattern that has continued right down to the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. This first council took place in a town called Nicaea, located in the northwest corner of what is now Turkey.
And it was this Council of Nicaea that put together the nucleus of the Profession of Faith that still bears its name. It is called the Nicene Creed, and we recite it every Sunday.
Why?
Why did the Church find it necessary to do this?
Basically, it was a response to various passages of Scripture. Up until this time, the word Trinity had been used only by one or two theologians.
Our doctrine about God as one God with three persons had not yet been taught. But the Scriptures were filled with references to this.
Take today’s gospel. Jesus says: “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you to all truth.” And a few sentences later: “Everything that the Father has is mine.”
So here and in other places, Jesus speaks about the Father, himself as the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And then take a look at today’s second reading.
Saint Paul says: “We have peace with God [the Father] through our Lord Jesus Christ.” And then: “The love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.”
And, of course, there is the greeting that Paul used in several of his letters and that we use at the beginning of Mass. “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
So, we had these statements in Scripture but with no clarification or explanation. The early leaders felt that they had to clarify our faith in some way.
One God/Three Persons
So, they first clarified that we, the followers of Jesus, were not departing from the Old Testament belief in one God.
The Council of Nicaea and the Nicene Creed make it clear that there is one and only one God. But then, they also clarify that in some way, this one God is three persons.
The Creed is clear that God is the Father or creator of all that is. He – the creator – has brought into being everything that is.
Then, the Council of Nicaea and the Nicene Creed make it clear that there is a Son, an only-begotten Son. Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, is this Son here on earth.
And he is also called Lord – the “one Lord Jesus Christ.” So, he is also God, of the same substance or being as the Father, “consubstantial with the Father.”
And finally, the Council of Nicaea and the Nicene Creed make it clear that God remains with us through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is also God, as the creed says, “the Lord and giver of life.”
The Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. And again, he is one with Father and the Son in being one God.
Trinity
So, ever since Nicaea, we believe in one God as a Trinity of persons.
We cannot fully explain or understand this. In fact, God or the Trinity is not a problem to be solved.
Instead, the Trinity points us to the transcendence of God and calls us to accept the mystery of God. That’s what faith is.
Ultimately, it is trusting in mystery, in the mystery of a power greater than us and greater than anything we can know. With that said, I hope we will now have renewed awareness as we recite our Profession of Faith today and in the future.
I hope we will feel our connection with Christians from over the past seventeen hundred years. And I hope we can recite the Nicene Creed as a way of entrusting ourselves to the mystery of God – a Trinity of persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
