Newsletter - 15 June 2025
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth...” (Jn 16:13)
This Sunday we are celebrating the solemnity of the most Holy Trinity, a divine mystery that for many of us, if not all, still represents a very complex topic to fully understand.
Over the centuries and during their earthly life, many saints have tried to understand God’s essence, to end up realising that only God knows Himself fully. The Scriptures reveal to us that God is one and three persons at the same time, namely God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. But how can it possibly be?
Even, St Augustine, doctor of the Church, in his Latin work “De Trinitate” (On the Trinity), questioned himself about this topic and tried his best to answer this question. In 415, while writing on the Trinity, St Augustine decided to take a break, walking on a beach, in need of fresh air. At that particular moment, his attention was caught by the work of a little boy who was running back-and-forth between the sea and a tiny hole in the ground.
Intrigued by this sight, St Augustine asked the child: “My boy, what are you doing there?” The child, holding up the pink shell he was using to move water, replied: “I’m trying to fit that great big ocean into this tiny hole”. Charmed by the child’s innocence, St Augustine smiled at him and said: “My child, you could never fit this great, magnificent ocean into that tiny hole!” The child didn’t flinch, but responded quickly: “And you could never possibly understand the Holy Trinity.” Then in a flash, the boy disappeared.
Over the years many thinkers have speculated about this short story, questioning if the child was an angel sent by God, or God himself to enlighten St Augustine over this matter. However, what I learnt from this beautiful story is that, despite our limited human understanding of the Holy Trinity, we are constantly invited by The Holy Spirit to journey with faith and prayer in order to get as close as possible to God’s essence, which is love.
Indeed, the most important thing we can do in our life is to open our hearts to God’s love, in order to experience in ourselves this mystical union of love with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Caterina Schifano
Focus of the week
Sacrament of Confirmation
Please return registration forms by Monday 30 June to confirm your child’s place on the programme.
The first session will be on Thursday
11 September at 6–7.30pm and every
Thursday until Confirmation date.
Forms are available in the entrance hall.
Please contact Caterina Schifano : cockfosterspa@rcdow.org.uk
An Ecumenical evening with Christ the King, St Andrews, Southgate and the CCN Community. We are happy to welcome Rev Edward Turner as our guest speaker.
