The beginning of the 20th century was very focused on the thought of three prominent intellectual figures: Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud, and Karl Marx. These three were often described as “The Unholy Trinity.” The three are often credited with pushing the people into the modern world, despite their strong objections.
Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution was met with strong condemnation, and he had to battle to be taken seriously. This condemnation often came from churches, which...
The beginning of the 20th century was very focused on the thought of three prominent intellectual figures: Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud, and Karl Marx. These three were often described as “The Unholy Trinity.” The three are often credited with pushing the people into the modern world, despite their strong objections.
Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution was met with strong condemnation, and he had to battle to be taken seriously. This condemnation often came from churches, which clung mightily to the story of Creation in the Scriptures.
Sigmund Freud opened up the universe of the unconscious mind and greatly influenced a major change in conventional attitudes and understanding about the workings of the human mind and emotions.
While Darwin’s thought has been proven, and largely accepted even by churches, Karl Marx’s socialist ideas dominated one half of our planet and greatly influenced the other. The history and experience of the Eastern Bloc countries have pretty much discredited Marx. The theories of Freud are more and more contested in recent years. Indeed, time has not been kind to “The Unholy Trinity.”
The real Holy Trinity, the solemnity of which the Church celebrates today, is beyond the reach of time and the grasp of human understanding. It is a great mystery of our faith.
“Two's company; three's a crowd” is a popular expression. Our faith says otherwise. For us, three signifies completeness and perfect symmetry and is present at key moments of the story of Jesus Christ.
His life constantly reflected the Trinity: Three figures make up the nativity scene in Bethlehem — the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Their first visitors were the three Wise Men. Later, in the desert, Jesus was tempted three times by Satan.
As a general rule, a good story has a beginning, a middle and an end. Jesus was a great storyteller and three figures appear prominently in his parables. The Prodigal Son is about a father and his two sons; the Good Samaritan tells the story of the actions of three passers-by, the priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan. The Parable of the Sower tells how the farmer planted his seed in three different types of soil, yielding three different results of the harvest.
Toward the end of His life, the number three also figured prominently for Jesus: After His arrest, Peter denied Him three times. On the road to Calvary, he fell three times. The Crucifixion scene has three figures, Jesus and the two robbers. Before His resurrection, He spent lay in the tomb for three days.
God is love and is the three Persons of the Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Together they represent the fullness of love. The Father loves the Son. The Son loves the Father. The Holy Spirit is their love for each other.
Each of us was made in the image of the triune God. God the Father, who created us, his Son, who saved us, and the Holy Spirit who continues to guide us. Our lives should reflect the Trinity. We should always be creative like the Father, compassionate like the Son, and use our talents in the service of others, like the Holy Spirit.+
