05/31/2026
It’s amazing to realize that when we pray, as Catholic Christians, we invoke the Holy Trinity, as we often begin our prayers by making the sign of the Cross, “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
However, “How often have we made the sign of the Cross, invoking without really adverting to it, the Name of the Triune God?
In its original meaning, the sign of the Cross was, each time it was made, a renewal of our baptism, a repetition of the words by which we became Christians, and an assimilation into our personal life of what was given us in baptism… Water was poured over us and, at the same time, the words were spoken: ‘I baptize you in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’
The Church makes us Christians by calling on the name of the Trinitarian God. From Her beginning, the Church has expressed in this way what She regards as the truly definitive mark of our Christianity: faith in the Triune God.
We might find that disappointing. It seems so remote from our life. It seems so useless and so hard to understand.
If there must be short formulas for expressing the tenets of our faith, then they should at least be attractive, exciting, something whose importance for men and for our lives is immediately apparent.
Yet, in the last analysis, this is what we are saying here: Christianity is not first concerned with the Church or with men, but with God. Its proper orientation is not to our hopes, our fears, or our wishes, but to God, to His majesty and His power.
The first article of Christian faith, the basic orientation of Christian conversion, is that God exists.
We must, therefore, learn again to understand from God’s perspective what being a Christian really means – that is, believing that He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” (Pope Benedict XVI, Co-Workers of the Truth, Ignatius Press; see also Formed.org, which we subscribe to under the parish "Congregation of Our Lady of Fatima" or our 53530 zip code, and EWTN.com, Catholic.com and CatholicsComeHome.org).
Read more about The Most Holy Trinity in our pastorate bulletin:https://files.ecatholic.com/30880/bulletins/20260531.pdf