1. The mistery of the Holy Trinity 05 BALEN, Hendrick van Holy Trinity 1620s Oil on panel Sint-Jacobskerk, Antwerp

2. Compendium of the Catechism 44. What is the central mystery of Christian faith and life? 232-237 The central mystery of Christian faith and life is the mystery of the Most Blessed Trinity. Christians are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

3. Introduction The most important divine secret of the faith that Jesus Christ revealed to us: the mystery of the Holy Trinity. The fact that God is one in essence and three in persons is the revelation of His intimate life. We must try to find out about it and experience it. The Creed is the explanation of the mystery of the Holy Trinity. BECCAFUMI, Domenico Trinity (detail) 1513 Oil on wood Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena

4. Main ideas

5. 1. The Trinity, the mystery of one God and three truly different Persons Misteries are beyond us, we must try to find out more and more about them so that our faith may be strong and operative. The mystery of the Holy Trinity:  in God there is only one essence and three distinct Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each of which is God, without being three Gods but rather the one and true God. We may compare this mystery with the sun:  the sun is in the sky and produces light and heat: light and heat are not distinct from the sun.

6. 2. Salvation, work of the Trinity Creation is attributed to the Father; Redemption, to the Son, and sanctification to the Holy Spirit: we attribute distinctive works to each Person of the Holy Trinity, but all Their works are made by God, both One and Three. That is why, when we thank God for everything He has done for us, we must thank God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. CARRACCI, Lodovico The Trinity with the Dead Christ c. 1590 Oil on canvas, 173 x 127 cm Pinacoteca, Vatican

7. 3. Inhabitation of the Trinity in the soul in grace The man who lives in the state of grace is a living temple of the Most Holy Trinity (cf. John 14:23). From the day we are baptized, if we do not reject Him by mortal sin, it is God who is in our heart: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We have God inside us to sanctify us, to help us, to be with us, because He loves us. MASACCIO The Baptism of the Neophytes 1426-27 Fresco, 255 x 162 cm Cappella Brancacci, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence

8. 4. In heaven we shall see the Holy Trinity The great prize of heaven consists of seeing God, contemplating, praising, loving and enjoying the Most Holy Trinity for all eternity:  All the greatness, all the beauty, all the goodness of God devoted to us His poor creatures. In heaven the soul shall have the chance to see what Moses wished to see on Earth: the majesty of God. LÓPEZ Y PORTANA, Vincente Adoration of the Trinity 1791-92 Oil on canvas, 112 x 80 cm Private collection

9. 5. We must praise the Holy Trinity God loves us in an incredible way. So much love must be returned by continually praising the Trinity. We profess faith in the Holy Trinity  when we make the sign of the Cross, saying “in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”  when praying “Glory Be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit”;  when we recite the Glory Be to the Father or the Creed during Holy Mass. GRECO, El The Trinity 1577 Oil on canvas, 300 x 179 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid

10. Resolutions for Christian life

11. Resolutions to move forward To learn the Creed and to pray it with devotion. To consider that the Holy Trinity –God Himself- inhabits in the soul in the state of grace, and that living in grace is the only thing that really matters.