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I know that pitfalls await anyone who writes about the Trinity. Fr. Robert Farrar Capon rightly mocks those Christians who conceive of the persons of the Trinity as football players on the sidelines taking turns at substitution. Yet the Bible does point to momentous events in which God made himself known. Would we speak of a Trinity at all apart from the Incarnation and Pentecost? Each event caused an upheaval in our understanding of God.

I was discussing the mysteries of the Trinity with friends, seeking to connect abstract theology to practical life, when Elisa made this reflection. "You know, that's how I got to know God, through the three persons of the Trinity. I first got acquainted with God as Father in church, where I learned that God is holy, scary, deserving of our worship. Later, as a teenager, I became acquainted with Jesus, a man I wanted to follow for the rest of my life. And then—it was almost like a second conversion—I became aware of the power of the Spirit, of God living inside me."

In simple, personal words, Elisa neatly summarized the progression of revelation as perceived by us time-bound humans. God first revealed himself as holy and transcendent to a tribe he nurtured through various stages of development. Jesus introduced a new state of intimacy. "I no longer call you servants," he told his disciples; "Instead, I have called you friends." Then, upon leaving he promised a Comforter, or Counselor, who would achieve an intimacy so close that we somehow participate in the Essence of God.

And now our prayers to God include all three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: the God above us, the God before us, and the God within us.

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July 12 1999, Vol. 43, No. 8