Meaning of Blessed Trinity Outlined at Church Service

Texas, 1920

"The Holy Trinity" was the theme of the sermon delivered by Rev. J. P. McCarthy at St. Patrick's Church yesterday. He selected his text from Matt. 28:14, "In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost." He said, in part:

Today, my dear brethren, the church celebrates the feast of the most holy Trinity. In Advent she glorified the Father for the merciful redemption she saw him preparing for mankind; from Christmas to Easter she adored God the Son in his birth and sufferings and death, and last Sunday she sang the praises of God the Holy Ghost, the sanctifier of mankind. And having, as it were, praised each separately, she bids her children today join one and all in praise of the ever-adorable Trinity.

What do we mean by the blessed Trinity? By the blessed Trinity we mean one God in three divine persons.

We agree with the Unitarian in saying that God, the Infinite First Cause and supreme Lord of all things, must be one, for if there were two first causes neither would be first, or if there were two infinite supreme beings both would be finite and subject to a higher third. Again, we agree with the Trinitarians that God is three because faith tells us so. But when the one tells us that "there are three gods," or when the other says "there is only one person in God " we disagree with both and stand half way between the two and say "there is one God in three persons." For just as in myself there is a human nature which I have in common with all mankind and a personality which distinguishes me from all others, so in God there is one divine nature, but three distinct personalities: Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Some may object and say, "I cannot see how a thing can be one and three at the same time, and so I do not believe your doctrine."

Brethren, remember our Lord's words, "Blessed are they who have not seen and have believed." Faith is a belief in things unseen founded on the word of God, and without faith, especially in the blessed Trinity, it is impossible to be saved. We might as well attempt to drain the sea drop by drop into the palm of the hand as to comprehend the mystery of the Trinity with our shallow brain.

—The Galveston Daily News, Galveston, Texas, May 31, 1920, p. 6.