The Most Holy Trinity and Marriage - and Father's Day!

The Most Holy Trinity and Marriage

"Jesus Christ revealed to humankind what man could never know by the power of the human intellect alone: the mysterious and wondrous secret of the inner life of God: the Most Holy Trinity. Through the revelation of the Holy Trinity a new dimension of understanding is presented to man, which throws a divine and revealing light upon the reality of who the human person is, the purpose of his existence, and the life to which he is called....: 

"'The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in himself. It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the hierarchy of the truths of faith' (CCC No. 234)....

"Christ's revelation of the inner life of God illumines not only our dependence on God, but who we are as persons, how we should relate to others, and how society should function and exist in relation to God. Therefore the Most Holy Trinity is the Light that enlightens every aspect of the human person.

"The Compendium of The Social Doctrine of The Church (CSDC) states:

"'The revelation in Christ of the mystery of God as Trinitarian love is at the same time the revelation of the vocation of the human person to love. This revelation sheds light on every aspect of the personal dignity and freedom of men and women, and on the depths of their social nature' (CSDC, No. 34)....

"Pope John Paul II stated in his apostolic letter Mulieris Dignitatem (On the Dignity and Vocation of Women) that 'Man - whether man or woman - is the only being among the creatures of the visible world that God the Creator has willed for its own sake; that creature is thus a person. Being a person means striving towards self-realization, which can only be achieved through a sincere gift of self. The model for this interpretation of the person is God himself as Trinity, as a communion of Persons.'

"Since the model for interpreting ourselves 'is God as Trinity, as a communion of Persons,' we can easily extend this principle to include marriage and family. Thus we can understand why the errors of our age concerning the meaning and purpose of marriage are so completely at odds with  what the reality of a true and correct interpretation is....


"As we reflect on the Holy Trinity one of the first things we notice is the inseparable relationship between the three distinct Persons who are the one God. The Father loves the Son, the Son loves the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and Son. We might say that the life of the Triune God is the highest and supreme principle of familial relationship. This profound bond of unity among the three divine Persons makes them 'inseparable in what they are,' and 'inseparable in what they do' (CCC No. 267). This inseparable unity also occurs in matrimony: that Christian marital bond between man and wife which is established and sealed by God himself (see CCC Nos. 1639-1640)....

"[The] aspect of Love giving life to yet more Love is clearly what occurs in marriage when children are conceived. The man and wife, in an act of complete self-giving, produce, as a result of their own love for one another, a new life: a child whose eyes reflect the Most Holy Trinity, and whose love for the parents is so completely bound up in his or her life as to be inseparable from it. At birth, this child will look into his father's and mother's eyes; yet he is not meeting his parents for the first time; for he has already known and loved them. The family existed at the moment of the child's conception, bound together in unity and love.

"The importance of the family cannot be overstressed. The Church considers the family as 'the first natural society,' and 'places it at the center of social life' (CSDC No. 211). John Paul II observed in Christifideles Laici that the family is presented, in the Creator's plan, as 'the primary place of ''humanization'' for the person and society' and the 'cradle of life and love'" (F.K. Bartels, The Most Holy Trinity: Supreme Model for Family And Marriage, 7/2/10).

Redefining Marriage and Disenfranchising Fathers

"same-sex marriage stands as a particularly decisive blow in the disenfranchisement of fathers in American culture. How? By reinforcing the idea that one parent is disposable....

"At its root, same-sex marriage is predicated on two grossly faulty premises:
(1) that children do not need both a mother and a father;
(2) that two moms or two dads are just as good as a mother and a father." (Kathleen Parker,Same-sex Marriage And The Disposal Of Fatherhood, 7/4/04)

The Most Holy Trinity and Marriage - and Father's Day!

This weekend, let us pray that priests and deacons throughout the Archdiocese of Philadelphia (Indeed, throughout all Pennsylvania) will recognize that the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (www.usccb.org/bible/readings/061514.cfm ) - as well as Father's Day - presents an especially appropriate time to proclaim the truth about marriage and family!