The Blessed Trinity

The Jewish God is one. The Christian God is also one. Jews admit nobody beside God. Therefore, for the Jews, Christians are heretics. It appears to the Jews that Christians confess more than one God. They rename the One True Lord (Yahweh) to the Father who was responsible for creating the world. They elevate the carpenter (Jesus) to the Son who was responsible for redeeming the world. They give a personality to the power of Yahweh and worship it as the Holy Spirit.
Muslims don't have any doctrinal problems. For them, Allah is one. Jesus is not the Son of Allah. He was just one of the many prophets of Allah, like Abraham, Moses, David and Muhammad etc. Only Christians have problems because they believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is fully God and at the same time, fully man! This doctrine posed a lot of challenges to the Church Fathers in the first few centuries. The matter has been settled and Christians believe in One God who leads a communal life. He reveals to Christians that there are 3 persons in God: the Father who created the universe, the Son who redeemed the sinful world and the Holy Spirit who sustains and animates the Church till the end of time. The three persons share the same nature of God. They are equal in power and glory though to us finite human, there appears to be differences among them. This is the Blessed Trinity.
Intellectually, it is no longer difficult to imagine the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity. In 1884, Edwin Abbott wrote a novella called Flatland: A Romance in Many Dimensions, to help his students understand the concept of dimensions.
Imagine the world of two dimensions, e.g. Teachers usually put a sheet of glass over their desks. Under the glass, we put time-tables, photos, school calendar and circulars etc. This is an example of a 2-D world. The inhabitants of this Flatland are 2-D geometric figures of all sorts: triangles, squares, pentagons, octagons and circles etc.
Further imagine a sphere, which is an inhabitant in the 3-D world. Now it passes through the Flatland. What would the Flatlanders see? Out of nowhere, a point suddenly appears. It grows into a bigger and bigger circle. Then it shrinks and vanishes at a point. No big deal.
Now, imagine a ring passing through the Flatland. A point suddenly appears. It grows into an elongated ellipse. Then it breaks into 2 circles which fly away from each other for some time. Then the 2 circles approach each other again, merge into an ellipse which contracts and vanishes at a point. The ring is one. Yet, for the Flatlanders, there are two 'persons' in one ring: the Binity.
Now, imagine myself sinking my elbow into the Flatland. Sometime before it vanishes, there are five 'persons' (my thumb and 4 fat fingers) in this one arm: the Pentanity. Therefore, we should not be surprised to know that there are 3 persons in one Christian God. Compared with my arm, God is already very humble indeed! Of course, mine is just a personal hypothesis. The underlying assumption is that God is a high-dimensional Being and we human beings are just 3-dimensional ones. (Three and not four because we have no freedom in the time-dimension.) Now, it is no longer difficult to talk about the eternal, all-knowing and almighty God and the miracles recorded in the Bible.
What about the problem of innocent sufferings? Today, we are celebrating the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity amid the sorrows and aftermath of Sichuan earthquake. Last night, the celebrities in Hong Kong raised 210 millions in one charity show for earthquake relief! Do you intend to argue that these innocent sufferings bring out human good?
Not quite. This earthquake indeed brings out the best and the worst of humanity. There are casualties, corruption, sensationalism as well as heroism and generosity. There is one certainty in my conviction. No matter what, this disaster is also a moment of grace.
God allows disasters to happen. He does not will it. He allows nature to run its course. Yet, He Himself suffers with us. Jesus' passion speaks loud and clear that God loves us and is willing to die with us. Whether you accept it or not, it is your business, not mine. Period.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him (John 3:16-17).

My Advocate, I burst into tears while singing "The Church's One Foundation" in Mass today. I thank You for this unspeakable emotion You stir up in me. May this precious emotion carry me through until the day I return home. Our Lady of Sorrows, cry with me. Amen.