The Holy Trinity and St. Augustine

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:01]Hi folks, welcome. I'm coming to you from the Saint Rita Shrine here in Chicago.

[00:00:07]And so happy to be with you as we have uh come to the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.

[00:00:16]Which is a gorgeous and beautiful and wonderful Sunday where we celebrate that we are a triune people, that we believe in one God who is Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

[00:00:27]In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

[00:00:32]Please be with us all, Lord. Pray for all those who have asked for our prayers. Pray for world peace.

[00:00:38]Pray for vocations and pray for ourselves.

[00:00:42]The Lord be with you.

[00:00:44]A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John.

[00:00:48]God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.

[00:00:56]For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

[00:01:02]Whoever believes in him will not be condemned.

[00:01:06]But whoever does not believe has already been condemned because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

[00:01:13]The Gospel of the Lord.

[00:01:18]Well, I'm uh 33 years a priest and I'm not going to break tradition.

[00:01:24]I have always told the same story on every Most Holy Trinity Sunday, so I'm not going to stop now.

[00:01:32]And it's the story, if you've heard of it, we need to hear it again.

[00:01:36]It's the story of Augustine, Saint Augustine, who was walking along the seashore pondering about the book he was going to write on the Holy Trinity.

[00:01:43]And Augustine, who was very smart, kind of thought maybe he was too smart thinking he could do this.

[00:01:49]Because it's a mystery.

[00:01:51]And so he sees a little boy down on the beach and he had dug a hole in the sand, has a little bucket, and he keeps running from the ocean with his bucket and throws the water into the hole back and forth, back and forth.

[00:02:04]And Augustine, the very smart man, sees this and thinks it's cute.

[00:02:10]So, he finally gets and reaches the boy, and he says, "Boy, what are you doing?"

[00:02:14]He says, "Well, I'm emptying the ocean with my bucket into this hole."

[00:02:18]And he says, "You can't do that. Look at how big this ocean is. Look at your little bucket. Look at the little hole.

[00:02:25]It will never happen."

[00:02:28]And the little boy stopped, looked right up into Augustine's eyes, and said, "It'll be easier for me to empty the ocean with my bucket into this hole than it will be for you to understand the mystery of the Holy Trinity."

[00:02:43]So, that story of the little boy, the Christ child, shows us that Augustine, you don't have to understand it, but you have to believe it.

[00:02:52]And it's the same with us. And we are a Trinitarian people. We are We are taught You know, we are baptized in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. We receive forgiveness in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. We receive Jesus in the Eucharist in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. We are married in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. We are confirmed in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. We are ordained in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

[00:03:16]And we are for We have the sacrament of the sick in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. So, you see what it is? Everything about us is about the Trinity. And so, that's why today is such a beautiful day. And so, let us learn from Augustine, let us want to know about the Trinity, but let us believe through faith. So, thank you for being with me today, and I hope that we will have a wonderful Memorial Day.

[00:03:41]Thanks to all those, and we pray for those who have served our country. We remember them, living and dead. And remember that this Uh, Thursday is uh, 4th, and it is the feast of uh, it's the solemn novena to Saint Rita, the perpetual novena. 7:00 p.m. mass here on Thursday, right here in the shrine. Hope you can come. If you can't, you can always join us online. So, God bless you all and may God bless all of us in the name of the Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.