44. What is the central mystery of Christian faith and life?

44. What is the central mystery of Christian faith and life?

(Comp 44) The central mystery of Christian faith and life is the mystery of the Most Blessed Trinity. Christians are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

“In Brief”

(CCC 261) The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith and of Christian life. God alone can make it known to us by revealing himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

To deepen and explain

(CCC 232) Christians are baptized "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Mt 28:19). Before receiving the sacrament, they respond to a three-part question when asked to confess the Father, the Son and the Spirit: "I do." "The faith of all Christians rests on the Trinity" (St. Caesarius of Arles, Sermo 9, Exp. symb.: CCL 103, 47). (CCC 236) The Fathers of the Church distinguish between theology (theologia) and economy (oikonomia). "Theology" refers to the mystery of God's inmost life within the Blessed Trinity and "economy" to all the works by which God reveals himself and communicates his life. Through the oikonomia the theologia is revealed to us; but conversely, the theologia illuminates the whole oikonomia. God's works reveal who he is in himself; the mystery of his inmost being enlightens our understanding of all his works. So it is, analogously, among human persons. A person discloses himself in his actions, and the better we know a person, the better we understand his actions.

On reflection

(CCC 233) Christians are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: not in their names (Cf. Profession of faith of Pope Vigilius I (552): DS 415), for there is only one God, the almighty Father, his only Son and the Holy Spirit: the Most Holy Trinity. (CCC 234) The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in himself. It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the "hierarchy of the truths of faith" (GCD 43). The whole history of salvation is identical with the history of the way and the means by which the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, reveals himself to men "and reconciles and unites with himself those who turn away from sin" (GCD 47).

(Next question: Can the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity be known by the light of human reason alone?)