It's a mystery

Such is the response often found on the lips of those offering religious instruction who don’t quite know how to respond to a question. It is also the response many atheists posit on the lips of believers they wish to portray as intellectually stunted.

In the first instance such a response is unfortunate and often unhelpful; in the second it is unwarranted.

The Church refers to many mysteries, such as the mysteries of the rosary. Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, the foundational mystery of the Christian faith.

When we speak of a mystery it is clear that we do not mean a puzzle to be solved; within the Church we do not use the word as it is commonly used. What, then, do we mean when we speak of a mystery?

The word mystery comes from the Greek word mysterion, which has as its root the word muo, meaning to close or shut. The word mystery, then, means to shut the mouth. One of my professors put it this way: a mystery is that which can never be exhausted. Try as we might, we can never say all that there is to say. In the end, all we can do is gaze in awe with our mouths shut silent, or else gaping wide in wonder.

Legend has it that as Saint Augustine was preparing his monumental work on the Trinity he was walking along the sea pondering the mystery of the Godhead when he came upon a young boy. Augustine watched the boy repeatedly carry a bucket to the sea, fill it with water and empty it into a hole in the sand.

After some time the saint asked the boy what he was doing. “I’m going to empty the ocean into this hole,” came the reply.

Augustine told the boy he would never be able to do that, at which point the boy said to him, “And you, sir, will never fit the mystery of the Trinity in your mind.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us:

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” (234).

If you’re curious, I “recycled” a homily this weekend, preaching again the one I preached on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity two years ago. The parishioners liked it then and seemed to like it again.

The above image is from the church of St. Augustine by the Sea in Waikiki.