In the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at the University of Notre Dame, there is a stained glass window featuring St. Augustine. For a man known for so many contributions to the Church, a rather odd depiction is chosen in his window. At his feet is a child on the beach with a shell in his hand. 

Apparently the legend goes that Augustine was walking along the beach while reading a book on the doctrine of the Trinity. He sees the little child scooping water with the shell and dumping into a hole in the sand. Augustine inquires, “Child, what are you doing”? “I am emptying the water from the ocean into the hole” the child responded. The confused Augustine says “That’s ridiculous, that will take forever, you will never finish that task”. The child states calmly, “well, I will finish emptying the ocean with this shell before you understand everything in that book you are reading”.

What the story illustrates, and what the artists behind the stained glass windows are trying to communicate, is that there is a certain amount of humility needed when understanding the Trinity. That is because we never will quite understand it. Trying to fully understand God is similar to Adam desiring to take a bit of the apple in the garden. 

In the most simple terms, we believe in an active, relational God. Not a God of the past that observes, but a God of the eternal present which is in relationship with you. There is an immense relationship between God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. That relationship is called Love. That same love is found between God and you, between God and I. 

It is our Christian duty to create that same love between my neighbor and I. Building a loving relationship with our neighbor is the best avenue we have to understanding the Trinity. So let us build a loving relationship with our friends, with the least of our sisters and brothers, and with our enemies. Then we will better understand God’s relationship with the Son, the Son’s relationship to the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit’s relationship to God the Father.