Not so very many years ago a senior priest in Scotland believed he should preach one very difficult and theologically complex sermon each year, for the good of the congregation. He invariably chose Trinity Sunday for this, Unfortunately, his plan didn’t work very well, as his congregation never understood what he was talking about at any time!
There is a famous story about St. Augustine – although there is no record that Augustine himself actually told it, and it is only known from the 13th century. The story goes that Augustine was sitting on a beach, trying to grasp the mystery of the Trinity, when he saw a small boy with a seashell collecting water from the sea and pouring it into a holy in the sand, returning to the sea for more water, and so on. Distracted by this, St. Augustine asked him, “What are you doing?” The child answered, “I’m going to pour the entire ocean into this hole.” “That is impossible; the whole ocean will not fit in the hole you have made,” said St. Augustine. The boy replied, “And you cannot fit the Trinity into your tine little brain.”
The complexities of the theology of the Trinity will always be beyond the human mind, because we gather today to celebrate the Most Holy Trinity – not to understand it. Our entire liturgy is wrapped up in the Trinity – our prayer is addressed to God the Father, through Jesus Christ His Son, both of whom live and reign in unity with the Holy Spirit, one God, three persons.