Attend Mass
The feast is celebrated on the same day in both the old calendar and new calendar.
If you would like to attend a traditional Mass for the feast, find a Traditional Latin Mass near you (click here to explore).
Hang a Shield of the Trinity in the house
The Shield of the Trinity or Scutum Fidei (Latin for “shield of faith”) is a traditional Christian visual symbol which expresses many aspects of the doctrine of the Trinity, summarizing the first part of the Athanasian Creed in a compact diagram. In late medieval Europe, this emblem was considered to be the heraldic arms of God (and of the Trinity).
This diagram consists of four nodes (generally circular in shape) interconnected by six links. The three nodes at the edge of the diagram are labelled with the names of the three persons of the Trinity (traditionally the Latin-language names, or scribal abbreviations thereof): The Father (“PATER”), The Son (“FILIUS”), and The Holy Spirit (“SPIRITUS SANCTUS”). The node in the center of the diagram (within the triangle formed by the other three nodes) is labelled God (Latin “DEUS”), while the three links connecting the center node with the outer nodes are labelled “is” (Latin “EST”), and the three links connecting the outer nodes to each other are labelled “is not” (Latin “NON EST”).
The links are non-directional—this is emphasized in one thirteenth-century manuscript by writing the link captions “EST” or “NON EST” twice as many times (going in both directions within each link)—and is shown in some modern versions of the diagram by superimposing each occurrence of the “is” / “is not” text on a double-headed arrow ↔ (rather than enclosing it within a link). So the following twelve propositions can be read off the diagram:
“The Father is God”
“The Son is God”
“The Holy Spirit is God”
“God is the Father”
“God is the Son”
“God is the Holy Spirit”
“The Father is not the Son”
“The Father is not the Holy Spirit”
“The Son is not the Father”
“The Son is not the Holy Spirit”
“The Holy Spirit is not the Father”
“The Holy Spirit is not the Son”
The Shield of the Trinity is not generally intended to be any kind of schematic diagram of the structure of God, but instead is merely a compact visual device from which the above statements (contained in or implied by the Athanasian Creed) can be read off.
(Excerpted from “Shield of the Trinity”, Wikipedia.org)
Make a meal that includes a tres leches, neopolitan ice cream—or triple anything!
Tres leches (three milks) cake features three types of milk: whole milk, condensed milk, and evaporated milk. It’s topped with sweet whipped cream. An excellent cake for milk lovers, and an excellent cake to celebrate the trinity.
Or try other foods that include “three” of anything—neopolitan ice cream probably being the simplest solution! Enjoy!
Read sections of the Catechism related to the Trinity
Q. 24. Is there only one God?
A. Yes, there is only one God.
Reason can prove that there is only one God. The assumption that there could be two infinitely perfect gods or two infinitely supreme beings independent of each other, is an absurdity. confirms our reasoning that there is only one God.
“That thou mightest know that the Lord he is God: and there is no other besides him” (Deuteronomy 4:35).
“Thus, saith the Lord, the king of Israel and his redeemer the Lord of hosts: I am the First, and I am the Last: and besides me there is no God” (Isaias 44:6).
“1 am the Lord, and there is none else: there is no God besides me” (Isaias 45:5).
Q. 25. How many Persons are there in God?
A. In God there are three divine Persons-the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Unaided by divine revelation, the human mind could not know the existence of the Blessed Trinity because it is a supernatural mystery. 3 Even after God has revealed the existence of the Blessed Trinity, we cannot understand it fully. When we believe, on the word of God, that there are three Persons in one God, we do not believe that three Persons are one Person, or that three gods are one God; this would be a contradiction. 3 (See question 34.)
“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).
“And I will ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate to dwell with you forever, the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him” (John 14:16-17).
“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your mind whatever I have said to you” (John 14:26).
Q. 26. Is the Father God?
A. The Father is God and the first Person of the Blessed Trinity.
The first Person of the Blessed Trinity is called the Father because from all eternity He begets the second Person, His only-begotten Son.
God the Father is called the first Person not because He is greater or older than the other two Persons, but because He is unbegotten.
“This, then, is why the Jews were the more anxious to put him to death; because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal to God” (John 5:18).
”Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3).
Q. 27. Is the Son God?
A. The Son is God and the second Person of the Blessed Trinity.
The second Person of the Blessed Trinity is called the Son because, from all eternity, He is the only begotten of the Father. Proceeding from the Father, the Son is called the Divine Word or the of the Father.
“All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and him to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matthew 11:27).
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God; and the Word was God” (John 1:1).
“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, that we may know the true God and may be in his true Son. He is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20)
“I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).
Q. 28. Is the Holy Ghost God?
A. The Holy Ghost is God and the third Person of the Blessed Trinity.
The third Person of the Blessed Trinity is called the Holy Ghost because from all eternity He is breathed forth, as it were, by the Father and the Son. Proceeding from the Father and the Son, He is called the Gift or Love of the Father and the Son.
The word “Ghost” applied to the third Person means “Spirit.”
“But Peter
“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16).
Q. 29. What do we mean by the Blessed Trinity?
A. By the Blessed Trinity we mean one and the same God in three divine Persons.
See Scripture, question 25, Matthew 28:19; John 14:26.
Q. 30. Are the three divine Persons really distinct from one another?
A. The three divine Persons are really distinct from one another.
Although the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are distinct Persons, they are not distinct in nature. The nature of the Father is entirely the nature of the Son; and the nature of the Father and the Son is entirely the nature of the Holy Ghost.
Q. 31. Are the three divine Persons perfectly equal to one another?
A. The three divine Persons are perfectly equal to one another, because all are one and the same God.
Q. 32. How are the three divine Persons, though really distinct from one another, one and the same God?
A. The three divine Persons, though really distinct from one another, are one and the same God because all have one and the same divine nature.
Because the three divine persons have one and the same perfections and the same external works are produced by them. But in order that we may better know the three divine Persons, certain perfections and works are attributed to each Person; for example, omnipotence and the works of omnipotence, such as creation, to the Father; wisdom and the works of wisdom, such as enlightenment, to the Son; love and the works of love, such as sanctification, to the Holy Ghost.
Q. 33. Can we fully understand how the three divine Persons, though really distinct from one another, are one and the same God?
A. We cannot fully understand how the three divine Persons, though really distinct from one another, are one and the same God because this is a supernatural mystery.
Q. 34. What is a supernatural mystery?
A. A supernatural mystery is a truth which we cannot fully understand, but which we firmly believe because we have God’s word for it.
In addition to those truths which can be attained by man’s natural reason, there are certain mysteries hidden in God which we cannot know without divine revelation, but which we must believe because God has revealed them. Divine mysteries by their very nature are far above the power of human understanding and even when revealed and accepted on faith they remain obscure during our life on earth. To understand these things fully, a finite mind would have to comprehend the infinite. In heaven there will be a fuller understanding of these mysteries, but never an infinite comprehension of them.
IMPORTANT TRUTHS ABOUT THE UNITY AND TRINITY OF GOD
Both reason and revelation assure us that there is, and can be, only one God, for the very idea of the Supreme Being makes it impossible for God to have an equal; but from revelation we learn that the one God is three distinct Persons, known as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Before the coming of the Son of God this truth was not manifested even to the Jews, although there are some texts in the Old Testament which seem to imply that there is more than one Person possessing the divine nature – for example: “Let us make man to our image and likeness” (Genesis 1:26).
In his discourse at the last supper Our Blessed Lord mentioned the three Persons by name, and He clearly spoke of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity to the apostles just before He ascended into heaven. The texts of Sacred Scripture containing these words of Christ have been given in this lesson. There was also an external manifestation of the Holy Trinity at the time of Our Lord’s baptism by St. in the river Jordan. On that occasion it was God the Son in His human nature who was baptized, while God the Holy Ghost descended on Him in the form of a dove and God the Father announced from heaven: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17).
Hence, according to Catholic belief, there are three divine Persons but only one divine nature. All three Persons are perfectly equal to each other, because all possess the same divine nature with all its infinite perfections. From all eternity the Son proceeds from the Father as the Word, the product of the intellectual act whereby the Father understands the divine nature; and the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son as the product of the act of love of these two Persons for the divine goodness. All the actions of God outside of those whereby the second and third Persons proceed are acts of the three Persons operating together through the one divine nature. However, certain works performed by all three Persons are appropriated or attributed to particular Persons as if they individually performed them-for example, the work of creation to the Father, the work of producing the human nature of Christ to the Holy Ghost (Luke 1:35); but only the Second Person became incarnate.
Although the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity is a supernatural mystery-a truth which we cannot discover by reason nor understand in the present life-we believe it because it has been made known to us by God who can neither deceive nor be deceived. Even in natural things there are many mysteries which we accept on the testimony of our fellowmen. We believe what the astronomers tell us about the stars and the planets, although we cannot prove these truths ourselves. Not even the most learned scientist understands fully the nature of the force we call electricity; yet we all know that there is such a force and we unhesitatingly accept the information that scientists give us about it. How much more willing should we be to believe the marvelous truth which God Himself has made known to us-that He is one in nature and three in Persons-even though we cannot perceive this truth by our own reason nor understand how each divine Person can be identical with the divine nature, yet really distinct from the other two Persons!
On the first Sunday after Pentecost the Church celebrates a feast in honor of the Most Blessed Trinity. Moreover, on Sundays outside of the Christmas, Lenten and Easter seasons the Preface of the Holy Trinity is recited or chanted in the Mass. One of the favored devotions of the Catholic Church is the Doxology-the prayer: “Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.” This Doxology is frequently repeated in the official prayers of the Church, particularly in the Divine Office which priests and the members of many religious orders recite every day. And whenever we make the Sign of the Cross, we profess our faith in the mystery of the Most Blessed Trinity.
RESOLUTION:
Whenever you recite the Doxology or make the Sign of the Cross, try to remember that you are expressing your faith in the most profound mystery of the Catholic religion, the mystery of the Most Blessed Trinity.
Read The Story of St. Augustine and the Boy at the Beach
Many other miracles hath God showed by his [St. Augustine’s] life, and also after his death, which were overlong to write in this book, for they would, I suppose, contain a book as much as all this and more, but among other corrections, I will set herein one miracle, which I have seen painted on an altar of St. Austin at the black friars at Antwerp, howbeit I find it not in the legend, mine exemplar, neither in English, French, ne in Latin.
It was so that this glorious doctor made and compiled many volumes, as afore is said, among whom he made a book of the Trinity, in which he studied and mused sore in his mind, so far forth that on a time as he went by the sea-side in Africa, studying on the Trinity, he found by the sea-side a little child which had made a little pit in the sand, and in his hand a little spoon. And with the spoon he took out water of the large sea and poured it into the pit.
And when St. Augustin beheld him he marvelled, and demanded him what he did. And he answered and said: “I will lade out and bring all this water of the sea into this pit.”
“What?” said he, “it is impossible, how may it be done, sith the sea is so great and large, and thy pit and spoon so little?”
“Yes, forsooth,” said he, “I shall lightlier and sooner draw all the water of the sea and bring it into this pit than thou shalt bring the mystery of the Trinity and His Divinity into thy little understanding as to the regard thereof; for the Mystery of the Trinity is greater and larger to the comparison of thy wit and brain than is this great sea unto this little pit.”
And therewith the child vanished away. Then here may every man take ensample that no man, and especially simple lettered men, ne unlearned, presume to intermit ne to muse on high things of the Godhead, farther than we be informed by our faith, for our only faith shall suffice us.
(From The Golden Legend by Jacobus de Voragine)
Pray the Litany of the Holy Trinity
There are five litanies approved for public worship: the Sacred Heart, the Precious Blood, the Saints, the Blessed Virgin, and St. Joseph. Others may be used in private devotion.
Antiphon: Blessed be the holy Trinity and undivided Unity: we will give glory to Him, because He hath shown His mercy to us.
V. O Lord our Lord, how wonderful is Thy Name in all the earth!
R. O the depth of riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Blessed Trinity, hear us. Adorable Unity, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.
God, the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God, the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.
Father, from Whom are all things, have mercy on us.
Son, through Whom are all things, have mercy on us.
Holy Ghost, in Whom are all things, have mercy on us.
Holy and undivided Trinity, have mercy on us.
Father everlasting, have mercy on us.
Only-begotten Son of the Father, have mercy on us.
Spirit Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, have mercy on us.
Co-eternal Majesty of Three Divine Persons, have mercy on us.
Father, the Creator, have mercy on us.
Son, the Redeemer, have mercy on us.
Holy Ghost, the Comforter, have mercy on us.
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, have mercy on us.
Who are, Who wast, and Who art to come, have mercy on us.
God, Most High, Who inhabitest eternity, have mercy on us.
To Whom alone are due all honor and glory, have mercy on us.
Who alone doest great wonders, have mercy on us.
Power infinite, have mercy on us.
Wisdom incomprehensible, have mercy on us.
Love unspeakable, have mercy on us.
Be merciful. Spare us, O Holy Trinity.
Be merciful. Graciously hear us, O Holy Trinity.
From all evil, deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
From all sin, deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
From all pride, deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
From all love of riches, deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
From all uncleanness, deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
From all sloth, deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
From all inordinate affection, deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
From all envy and malice, deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
From all anger and impatience, deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
From every thought, word, and deed contrary to Thy holy law, deliver us, O
Holy Trinity.
From Thy everlasting malediction, deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
Through Thy almighty power, deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
Through Thy plenteous loving kindness, deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
Through the exceeding treasure of Thy goodness and love, deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
Through the depths of Thy wisdom and knowledge, deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
Through all Thy unspeakable perfections, deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
We sinners, beseech Thee, hear us.
That we may ever serve Thee alone, we beseech Thee, hear us.
That we may worship Thee in spirit and in truth, we beseech Thee, hear us.
That we may love Thee with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength, we beseech Thee, hear us.
That, for Thy sake, we may love our neighbors as ourselves, we beseech Thee, hear us.
That we may faithfully keep Thy holy commandments, we beseech Thee, hear us.
That we may never defile our bodies and souls with sin, we beseech Thee, hear us.
That we may go from grace to grace and from virtue to virtue, we beseech Thee, hear us.
That we may finally enjoy the sight of Thee in glory, we beseech Thee, hear us.
That Thou wouldst vouchsafe to hear us, we beseech Thee, hear us.
O blessed Trinity, we beseech Thee, deliver us.
O blessed Trinity, we beseech Thee, save us.
O blessed Trinity, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.
V. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, in the firmament of heaven.
R. And worthy to be praised, and glorious, and highly exalted forever.
Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, Who has granted Thy servants in the confession of the true faith, to acknowledge the glory of an eternal Trinity, and in the power of Thy majesty to adore a Unity: we beseech Thee that by the strength of this faith that we may be defended from all adversity. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.