Fides Media Living the Faith
By Professor Michael Ogunu
The Holy Trinity is the term used to denote that God, Who is one being, exists as Three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, distinct from one another. In the Gospels, Jesus teaches us that there is one God in Three Persons: God as Father, God as Son and God as Holy Spirit, hence, the Holy Trinity. The Feast day of the Holy Trinity is the Sunday following Pentecost.
Devotion to the Holy Trinity as it is known today seems to have begun in monasteries at Aniane and Tours, in the 8th Century. St. Benedict of Aniane, who spread the devotion through his monastic reform, dedicated his abbey church to the Trinity in 872.
There are references to Masses in honour of the Trinity, at Tours and at Fulda in 796 and 804. A feast of the Trinity was introduced at Cluny in 1091, and at Canterbury by Thomas Becket in 1162. In 1331, the Feast of the Trinity was approved by John XXII for the whole Church.
The revitalization by the early scholastics of the doctrine on the divine indwelling led to many works on the subject and to a devotion to the divine Persons that continues to modern times. St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bonaventure brought to light and refined the ancient teachings of the Fathers, especially of St. Augustine, on the personal presence of God in the souls of the just.
The application of this doctrine, though interpreted differently by the various theological schools, has emphasized, in the practical order, the central part played by the Trinity in interior life. All spiritual writers since the Middle Ages insist that a living devotion to the Trinity is both an essential means and an accompaniment to true sanctity. This is reinforced by the encyclical of Leo XIII, Divinum illud munus, on the Holy Spirit (May 9, 1897).
Following are some prayers and devotions to the Holy Trinity:
A Morning Prayer to the Holy Trinity
By St. John Chrysostom
Glory to You, our God, glory to You.
Glory to You, O Lord our God, Who always overlooks our sins.
Glory to you, O Lord our God, who enabled me to see this day.
Glory to You, O most-holy Trinity, our God.
I venerate Your ineffable goodness.
I praise Your inexplorable forbearance.
I thank and glorify Your infinite mercy.
For although I deserve every punishment and chastisement,
You have mercy and do good to me with myriads of blessings.
Glory to You, O Lord my God, for everything.
Amen.
In Praise of the Holy Trinity
With our whole heart and voice we glorify Thee, we praise Thee, we bless Thee, God the Father unbegotten, the only-begotten Son, the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, the holy and undivided Trinity. For Thou art great, and dost wonderful things: Thou alone art God. To Thee be praise, to Thee glory, to Thee thanksgiving forever and ever, O blessed Trinity!
Daily Prayer to the Most Holy Trinity
O most holy Trinity, Almighty God, we adore You, who give life and vigor to every creature and who shed light eternal where there is darkness. We offer you our hearts, our souls, and our whole being, today and on the days to come, that we may offer perfect praise and love to your glorious Name. Amen.
O Father Almighty, we thank you wholeheartedly for all the blessings and graces You have so generously given us then and now.
O merciful Christ Jesus, wash away our sins with your most precious blood. Feel the beating of our hearts and make them like your own. Oh, dear Jesus, wipe away our tears and pardon us for our sinfulness. Be with us, O Lord, until our dying day that we may be worthy of your mercy and forgiveness.
O Holy Spirit, our guide and inspiration, lead us to the right path. And if, on our way, we encounter difficulties and trials, do not allow us to fall or lose hope. Grant us the graces we need daily that we may also share our blessings with our fellowmen. And when the time comes, O Holy Spirit, lead us to the place that is secure, full of joy and eternal peace. Amen.
Petition to the Holy Trinity
Most Holy Trinity, Godhead indivisible, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, our first beginning and our last end, since Thou hast made us after Thine own image and likeness, grant that all the thoughts of our minds, all the words of our tongues, all the affections of our hearts and all our actions may be always conformed to Thy most holy will, to the end that after having seen Thee here below in appearances and by means of faith, we may come at last to contemplate Thee face-to-face in the perfect possession of Thee forever in paradise. Amen.
Powerful Prayer to the Holy Trinity
Glory be to the Father, Who by His almighty power and love created me, making me in the image and likeness of God.
Glory be to the Son, Who by His Precious Blood delivered me from hell, and opened for me the gates of Heaven.
Glory be to the Holy Spirit, Who has sanctified me in the sacrament of Baptism, and continues to sanctify me by the graces I receive daily from His bounty.
Glory be to the Three adorable Persons of the Holy Trinity, now and forever. Amen.
Prayer of Consecration to the Most Holy Trinity
O Everlasting and Triune God, I consecrate myself wholly to you today. Let all my days offer you ceaseless praise, my hands move to the rhythm of your impulses, my feet be swift in your service, my voice sing constantly of you, my lips proclaim your message, my eyes perceive you everywhere, and my ears be attuned to your inspirations. May my intellect be filled with your wisdom, my will be moved by your beauty, my heart be enraptured with your love, and my soul be flooded with your grace. Grant that every action of mine be done for your greater glory and the advancement of my salvation. Amen.
Act of Reparation to the Holy Trinity (Fatima Prayer)
O Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly. I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences by which He is offended. By the infinite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary I beg the conversion of poor sinners.
Prayer of Thanksgiving to the Trinity
O Eternal God! O Eternal Trinity! Through the union of Thy divine nature Thou hast made so precious the Blood of Thine only-begotten Son! O eternal Trinity, Thou art as deep a mystery as the sea, in whom the more I seek, the more I find; and the more I find, the more I seek. For even immersed in the depths of Thee, my soul is never satisfied, always famished and hungering for Thee, eternal Trinity, wishing and desiring to see Thee, the True Light.
O eternal Trinity, with the light of understanding I have tasted and seen the depths of Thy mystery and the beauty of Thy creation. In seeing myself in Thee, I have seen that I will become like Thee. O eternal Father, from Thy power and Thy wisdom clearly Thou hast given to me a share of that wisdom which belongs to Thine Only-begotten Son. And truly hast the Holy Spirit, who procedeth from Thee, Father and Son, given to me the desire to love Thee.
O eternal Trinity, Thou art my maker and I am Thy creation. Illuminated by Thee, I have learned that Thou hast made me a new creation through the Blood of Thine Only-begotten Son because Thou art captivated by love at the beauty of Thy creation.
O eternal Trinity, O Divinity, O unfathomable abyss, O deepest sea, what greater gift could Thou givest me then Thy very Self? Thou art a fire that burns eternally yet never consumed, a fire that consumes with Thy heat my self-love. Again and again Thou art the fire who taketh away all cold heartedness and illuminateth the mind by Thy light, the light with which Thou hast made me to know Thy truth.
By this mirrored light, I know Thou are the highest good, a good above all good, a fortunate good, an incomprehensible good, an unmeasurable good, a beauty above all beauty, a wisdom above all wisdom, for Thou art wisdom itself, the food of angels, the fire of love that Thou givest to man.
Thou art the garment covering our nakedness. Thou feedest our family with Thy sweetness, a sweetness Thou art from which there is no trace of bitterness. O Eternal Trinity! Amen.