At Mass, the priest’s prayers frequently mention the Father, the Son, and the Spirit as well.The reason for this is that Catholics believe that God is not merely Unity (as all monotheists believe), but also Trinity. Less Chaos. ). Although St. Patrick’s Day is a great day to focus on Trinity, you can do these activities any time. To think we will ever fully understand the Trinity is to make the mistake of thinking God is fully understandable. I hope this lesson and book are helpful to you in teaching the concept of the Trinity to your children–without a shamrock! Can you explain the Trinity to me? When speaking to children, we all too often notice that, while they may certainly picture one God, they envision him as the sole Person of the Father. To be fair, there’s still a good lesson to be learned from Patrick and his decision to use the shamrock to explain the Trinity: we can use every day objects to point to our Creator, connecting faith to tangible things we can see and understand. The Most Holy Trinity has essentially the three persons Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with only one divine will and mind. The prayer expresses the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, that God reveals himself … As an adult Christian, I receptively accepted it, but a mind's child cannot grasp the eminence of the Holy Trinity. Success! Prayer to the Father, inspired by Jesus' fath... How to bless your home with Epiphany chalk. Unsubscribe anytime. Read the Bible with your children: We believe the Bible reveals and communicates the Trinity in the best way possible. In God, there are three Persons. Verse three may serve as an apt conclusion to this message. It also provides an easy way to share the gospel with your kids. It’s important to insist on this truth which, in addition to understanding it with our minds, requires the adherence of our faith. One little girl, who had above all been taught about the Father and the Son, was astonished to discover that the Holy Spirit was also fully God. This will help your child realise that the Holy Spirit brings His people joy, love, and peace. He is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. This is why it’s important to talk to children about all three of them. And so we must use our intelligence, in all humility, recognizing its limitations. “But can you teach me how to explain this to my children?” Grab an apple and share these five truths with your kids: It’s a simple, no-prep Biblical lesson, but it’s really effective, especially when you don’t have a lot of time to devote to a long lesson, but really want to help your kids drive this faith lesson home into their hearts! “All three Persons in the Trinity have relational names. Required fields are marked *. The other … There is an ancient Trinitarian diagram, often called the “Shield of the Trinity,” … 3. Despite the fact that nothing in our world can fully illustrate the Holy Trinity, teachers and theologians through the years have offered several analogies drawn from the realms of nature and mathematics in order to help explain the unexplainable. God is infinite. Explain to the kids that there is a difference between God and their parents. An apple has three parts: the seeds, the flesh, and the skin. Water is a great way to explain how something can be three different things, yet remain one thing. Explaining the Holy Trinity of God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit will be needed at some point when presenting the God of the Bible to children, Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses and other non-believers. We absolutely LOVE this book and it is the perfect teaching tool that your kids can refer back to again and again! 20 million users around the world read Aleteia.org every month, Aleteia is published every day in eight languages: English, French, Arabic, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, and Slovenian, Each month, readers view more than 50 million pages, Nearly 4 million people follow Aleteia on social media, Each month, we publish 2,450 articles and around 40 videos, We have 60 full time staff and approximately 400 collaborators (writers, translators, photographers, etc. It’s also correct to say that Jesus is the Son of God. When a woman is cooking dinner, that event is a form of the Divine Trinity. We must, he tells us, become like them if we’re going to enter the kingdom of God at all. The Best Way to Explain the Trinity to Kids, The Ultimate Productivity Bundle Can Help You Use Your Time Well, 10 Things You Can do as a Christian Mom to Manage your Struggle with Anxiety or Depression, 15 Fall Sunday School Crafts and Activities for Preschoolers, How to Have Family Devotions with Young Children {Successfully! The skin is like God the Father because He protects us. But his inmost Being as Holy Trinity is a mystery that is inaccessible to reason alone or even to Israel’s faith before the Incarnation of God’s Son and the sending of the Holy Spirit. Read How Can I Best Explain the Holy Trinity to a Child? These three Persons are not three gods. Mom, Dad, and a child are three persons, three individuals. For the same reason, we must be very clear when speaking to children: certain terms, while correct in and of themselves, can be ambiguous to little ones. We often use objects to talk about the Trinity: liquid forms = water, ice, steam; shamrocks with three leaves; parts of an apple = skin, flesh, seeds. Please try again. A: The Bible shows very clearly that there is only one God, and yet that there are three personal distinctions in His complex nature, traditionally referred to as “three Persons in the Godhead”—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. So are the persons of God all different (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), yet they are ALL God. Those three persons are God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. I feel blessed for having found you! Why? This is hard to understand, even for adults. We believe it because it is in God’s Word (2 Cor.13:14). It’s easy to see that “tri” indicates three elements. To help children enter into the mystery of the Holy Trinity, it’s not enough to tell them there is one sole God in three Persons. We did the same thing with a hard boiled egg. Moreover, in the face of this mystery, God does not tell us to leave our intelligence at the door and stop seeking to understand. The biggest problem with explaining the Trinity to kids is the fact that it is a mystery. … Here are a few of the illustrations: One popular and simple illustration of the Trinity is the egg. In 1774 a man named Ignaz Franz wrote a hymn of praise to the Trinity: Holy God, We Praise Your Name. Analogy is the theologian’s best friend in explaining the mysteries of the Faith. Support Aleteia with as little as $1. If, in the face of the mystery of one God in three Persons, we say to ourselves: “That’s impossible. We’ve all seen the pictures of St. Patrick holding the three-leaved shamrock…and it’s supposed to represent the Trinity. Of course, it’s always the same unique God, but it’s good to be familiar with all three Persons. (CCC 237) There is an ancient Trinitarian diagram, often called the “Shield of the Trinity,” that helps explain who God is … He is God the FATHER, God the SON (JESUS), and God the HOLY SPIRIT. Your email address will not be published. Now check your email to confirm your subscription. How to explain the Trinity to a bright-but-still-concrete young teen. The seeds are like God the Holy Spirit because He through His power, we grow in faith. Each petal on the clover represents an entity of God. In one sense, it’s true, children are often hyper-literal. We'll never share it with anyone. Through faith, we can get a glimpse of the Holy Trinity, and contemplate it as we await the day when we will see it face to face. At this point, you can further explain to your child that God gives us the Holy Spirit to be our helper and comforter. But Jesus tells us there’s something about a child’s way of believing that ought to be true of all of us. How does one explain the concept of the Holy Trinity to children? - Train Up The Child, Thanksgiving Bible Verse Printable 8×10 Posters, Free Printable Thank You God Coloring Pages {for Kids!}. As you can imagine, these numbers represent a lot of work. How about using a sacred image to explain a sacred concept? Water is another way to explain the Trinity. Mic drop. In the next few blogs, I am going to be sharing some ideas that I learned as a child. We need you. A few years ago, our school librarian introduced me to what I believe is the BEST book for reading to your kids that can make the Trinity easier to understand. And unlike the symbol of a shamrock, which simply shows that something can be both three AND one, an apple can actually provide an explanation for yet another characteristic of the Trinity: the uniqueness of each divine Person. Plus, the last few pages give you a tool as a parent to share the gospel with your children: our sin and our need for a Savior to make us whole. We must also add: three Persons who love one another. #3 Keep it Simple “There is one God who is three persons. But it’s not always easy for kids to understand just HOW a small green clover relates to Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And the same goes for the Second Person in the Trinity. St. Patrick used a shamrock to explain how the Holy Trinity works. When a child plays the piano or when a baby crawls, all of these movements are in the form of the triangle of reality or the Holy Trinity. Yet most Christians have difficulty explaining the Trinity clearly and Biblically. It’s something that is core to our faith and therefore should not be brushed aside. You cannot be called The Father unless you have a child. Therefore, let’s expose our children to the Bible and let the truth of the Triune God soak into them over the long-term. We cannot think of the Holy Trinity as a sum of three parts (1 + 1 + 1 = 3), but instead, show how each part multiplies the others to form a wonderful whole (1 x 1 x 1 = 1). }, How to Get Your Kids to Respect the Word ‘No’, How to Talk to Your Kids about Good Friday, How Can St. Patrick's Day Teach Us About Forgiveness? And honestly, even older kids can have an “aha” moment reading this book. All three persons are equally God. Meet the dad who's teaching basic skills on Y... 8 Ways to honor the Holy Name of Jesus this J... How the Virgin Mary can guide your new year. Explaining God's Holy Trinity to a child It has been a big HOW for me to explain to kids the Christian doctrine of the Trinity that teaches the unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three persons in one God. And when it comes to the Trinity, there are many analogies to choose from. The Most Holy Trinity is not like three independent human people would be, with three minds and wills. God tells us: “Believe. It goes really well with the apple object lesson, because it explains in detail how the Trinity can be understood. Trinity means “three persons in one.” Read more:5 Ancient symbols of the Trinity, Read more:The Holy Trinity as imagined in sacred art. Common sense can be wrong. Because an apple is truly a three-in-one object. The Trinity is one of them. Since she hadn’t heard him spoken of much, she prayed to him less often by name than to the Father and the Son. Blessed Epiphany chalk was used to protect ho... 20-year-old filmmaker wins award for powerful... © Copyright Aleteia SAS all rights reserved. The Anthropological Analogy. He is one God with his Father and the Holy Spirit. Brilliant! Some use math to explain the Holy Trinity. It only takes a minute. Learning to Choose Well. When my daughter was 5 we talked about the Trinity, and she explained to me that it’s a hard doctrine for little kids (like her younger brother) to understand, and that it’s only older kids (like her) who truly understand it. Uh oh. The shell, the white part and the yolk. Thank you! For her, he was a secondary figure, a kind of servant of God. I'd like to receive the free email course. The meaning of the Holy Trinity is just this infinite love continually flowing between three Persons. The three divine persons reciprocally penetrate and indwell in one another. Of course, children can’t fully comprehend the mystery of the Holy Trinity (its hard enough for adults!). Without committing heresy. That can’t exist. “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”—these are words we use every time we pray the Sign of the Cross. "Holy Father, Holy Son, Holy Spirit, Three we name you; While in essence only one, undivided God we claim you. The First Person in the Trinity is called Father. We offer these three Persons the same adoration and the same glory. This book is best for ages 4 and up, because that’s really when the concept of Father, Son and Holy Spirit starts to roll around in our kids’ minds. As I explain in my Trinity children’s book, Teach Catholic Kids About The Trinity, we can use these things to help us think about the Trinity, but none of them are really exactly like the Trinity. However, each form is different and serves different purposes. When we speak about God, when we say we believe in God, when we pray, it is truly a question of three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Then, adoring, bend the knee, and confess the mystery." Not a different God than his Father. Teaching the Trinity to children doesn’t have to be confusing and complicated! Who are they? We can never fully understand it but we can and should grow in our understanding of it. But it’s not always easy for kids to understand just HOW a small green clover relates to Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When you cut an apple in half, you can see that each of these three parts are different (at this point, you can cut the apple open for your kids!). I know clergy who take vacation days to avoid preaching on Trinity Sunday. It’s ridiculous to think it’s true” — then we remain within the confines of our very limited intelligence, with a ground-level view of reality. We must also add: three Persons who love one another. We’re not trying to explain that or get our children to understand it, but simply providing Velcro for the Bible’s truth to stick to. This Father God has a Son, Jesus, animated by a spirit, the Holy Spirit. We call this the Trinity or triune nature of God, because trinity or triune* means having three parts. But we must be clear and make sure the child understands that Jesus, the Son of God, is God. Sometimes people use the word Trinity to describe God. With God, it’s different: He is three Persons in one God. The understanding that God is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit – Three in One. There was an error submitting your subscription. There are three Persons, but one God. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. But that’s no reason to water down its truth. They will quickly realize that they are actually addressing three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Trinitarian Diagram. Then bring in the concept of God as a loving being who looks after them and wants the best for them, just like their parents. Have faith.” And this faith makes it possible to understand truths that can’t be grasped by intelligence alone. Your information is 100% safe with us. A Lesson on the Trinity A wonderful way to encourage children to see the work of the Holy Trinity is to use Rublev’s Icon of the Trinity. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Thanks for this illustration. The 3 Most Common “Trinity Analogies” (and their limitations) My Starting Point for Trying to Explain the Trinity. The feast of the Holy Trinity is the perfect occasion to explain this great mystery to your children. The flesh is like God the Son because Jesus Christ took on human flesh. by Alistair Begg and more articles about Video Answers and Videos on Christianity.com Icône, dite de la Trinité, Andreï Roublev, 1410 et 1427, galerie Tretiakov de Moscou, .css-tadcwa:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}Edifa - @media screen and (max-width:767px){.css-ij9gf6 .date-separator{display:none;}.css-ij9gf6 .date-updated{display:block;width:100%;}}published on 06/07/20. Common sense would tell you that the younger a child is, the harder it is to explain the Trinity in an understandable way. Here’s a simple lesson that can help you explain the Trinity in an easy to understand way. What a great lesson! The top petal is God. Your email address will not be published. To help children enter into the mystery of the Holy Trinity, it’s not enough to tell them there is one sole God in three Persons. We can teach children the inerrancy of Scripture by simply saying, “The Bible Is True.” We can explain something of the atonement by saying, “Jesus paid for our sins and is alive forever.” The Trinity, though, is another matter. Use their parents as an example, and let them tell you how they know their parents love them. Thus, the Holy Spirit is revealed in Scripture to possess the same infinite and divine nature as does the Father and the Son. So, while it’s correct to say that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus, this may be unclear to children who might infer that the Holy Spirit isn’t a Person distinct from Jesus. Visit www.whatsinthebible.com to learn more or shop our products.Dr. It’s an unbelievably easy object lesson for teaching young kids about the Trinity. Here are some pics of the inside pages of 3 in 1. “My friend said we worship three gods, because we say ‘Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.’” Aha. The Trinity: God is one God who eternally exists in three distinct persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all of whom are fully God, all of whom are equal. Thank you! As we gaze upon the Holy Trinity, we see that God is love: the Father loves the Son who loves the Father, and from this love the Holy Spirit flows forth. If one believes, if one accepts to recognize a superior reality, one can then enter into the Mystery. I’m going to try this with my grandchildren! Why not try together to think of other words that begin with the prefix “tri,” like “tricycle,” for example. To help your children name them themselves, suggest that they make the sign of the cross. Steam, liquid water, and ice all consist of 2 parts Hydrogen and one part Oxygen–essentially, the same. Another hands on food to show the trinity! In my book, I help kids walk through the process of how are these things like the Trinity, and how are they not like the Trinity. How To Explain The Holy Trinity To A Child. Start by talking about the word “Trinity” itself. It may suggest to them something like the spiritual part of Jesus, and nothing more. Using the multiplication model, we show that the three form a union, thus why people have moved to calling it the Tri-Unity. Learn how your comment data is processed. From their childhood, Catholics learn to pray the sign of the cross: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”. Each of the parts of an apple are different, but they are ALL apple. Begin with explaining to the children what love is. Encourage your children to experience the Trinity: One of the best arguments for the Trinity is Christian experience. That’s a great way to do it too–thanks for the idea! Thank you so much for sharing! No one of them is more important or more divine than the others. He is beyond us. Even young children know them. More Grace-Filled Confidence. ;). This truth is too hard for us to truly understand while we are here on Earth. Plus, the shamrock really isn’t the best way to describe this relationship between the persons of God. One God being three persons is a concept that boggles the minds of adults, but to a child it is just another awesome thing about God. On the contrary, if God gave man intelligence, it was so he make use of it and develop it in all domains. In addition, your child will observe the people’s expressions change from pensive to joyous when they are filled with the Spirit. If you’re reading this article, it’s thanks to the generosity of people like you, who have made Aleteia possible. They are all apple have difficulty explaining the mysteries of the Trinity is Christian experience possess the same and! 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