Blessed Trinity lesson

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therese1998

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Hey all šŸ™‚

Blessed Trinity lesson for my first grade CCD lesson tomorrow. Itā€™s a mystery impossible for adults to grasp, much less first graders. How have you explained it to your children or grandchildren or neices/nephews, etc?

I was thinking along the lines of like how we are one person but we also have different parts. For example, Iā€™m me but Iā€™m also ā€œmotherā€, ā€œwifeā€, ā€œsisterā€.

Do you think they would understand that analogy and/or if itā€™s a decent analogy for a six year old?
 
For adults I would avoid that analogy as it, like any analogy of the Trinity, has an error (modalism). With six year oldsā€¦ I really have no idea what the best way to approach it is. Is an analogy a good teaching tool for the Trinity in that case? Or would it be better to be blunt that ā€œGod is one being who is three personsā€ and fend off questions with ā€œitā€™s hard to understand, but ask again when youā€™re olderā€?
 
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therese1998 said:
I was thinking along the lines of like how we are one person but we also have different parts. For example, Iā€™m me but Iā€™m also ā€œmotherā€, ā€œwifeā€, ā€œsisterā€.

Do you think they would understand that analogy and/or if itā€™s a decent analogy for a six year old?
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No, because thatā€™s one person, three modes (too close to modalism) whereas the Trinity is One God, Three Persons.

I would not try to explain the trinity to 6 year olds. Itā€™s an abstract concept and 6 year olds arenā€™t capable of understanding abstract concepts yet. I would focus on the concrete concept that there is one god in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Thatā€™s probably the extent of it.

What does the lesson in your textbook say about the Trinity?
 
therese1998 said:
Hey all šŸ™‚

Blessed Trinity lesson for my first grade CCD lesson tomorrow. Itā€™s a mystery impossible for adults to grasp, much less first graders. How have you explained it to your children or grandchildren or neices/nephews, etc?

I was thinking along the lines of like how we are one person but we also have different parts. For example, Iā€™m me but Iā€™m also ā€œmotherā€, ā€œwifeā€, ā€œsisterā€.

Do you think they would understand that analogy and/or if itā€™s a decent analogy for a six year old?
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Do not use analogies even for children. The earlier you avoid error, the better. No father-husband-son, no shamrock, no water-steam-ice.

Explain it that there is only one God, but there are three Persons in that one God: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and God the Son became man on Christmas Day. Who doesnā€™t love Christmas?

Then simply say we donā€™t fully understand it because itā€™s a mystery, and a mystery is something we donā€™t fully understand, only we know itā€™s true because God told us. Then tell the story of St. Augustineā€™s vision about the child, the hole, and the ocean.

That should be satisfactory for now.
 
Th best analogy Iā€™ve heard for the Trinity (although you canā€™t have a perfect analogy for the Trinity) is this:

The Holy Trinity is like a flame: thereā€™s tha fire, the light it shows forth and the heat that radiates from it. The flame representing the Father, the light representing the Son, and the heat representing the Holy Ghost.

Of course, I donā€™t know how easy that would be for 6 year olds to understand.
 
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The best explanation of the Trinity I have heard was in ā€œTheology for Beginnersā€ by Frank Sheed. I would try to summarize it here, but right now I am tired. I recommend anyone wanting to have at least a basic understanding of the Trinity read that book by Sheed.
 
semper_catholicus said:
Th best analogy Iā€™ve heard for the Trinity (although you canā€™t have a perfect analogy for the Trinity) is this:

The Holy Trinity is like a flame: thereā€™s tha fire, the light it shows forth and the heat that radiates from it. The flame representing the Father, the light representing the Son, and the heat representing the Holy Ghost.

Of course, I donā€™t know how easy that would be for 6 year olds to understand.
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This analogy is close to Arianism. (Iā€™m not calling you an Arian, but like you said, all analogies are imperfect. Just clarifying the issue with this one.)

I like @1keā€™s advice.
 
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I teach FHC/2nd grade. It is indeed hard!
I usually print a Trinitarian diagram and let them color it. I also just try to keep the lesson as simple as possible; allow plenty of time for questions. Point out that each time they make the Sign of the Cross they are reminded of this awesome Mystery of Faith!

We use Faith and Light texts and I think they do a good job of explaining.
Thanks for being a Catechist! šŸ˜Š
 
Yes. Analogies are imperfect. We cannot truly and completely understand the Trinity in this earthly life.
 
therese1998 said:
I was thinking along the lines of like how we are one person but we also have different parts. For example, Iā€™m me but Iā€™m also ā€œmotherā€, ā€œwifeā€, ā€œsisterā€.
Click to expand...
I would not use this analogy as it actually promotes modalism, the belief that there is one God, but he manifests himself in three different ways.

The Trinity is a hard thing to grasp because we are humans and have a tough time understanding how something could exists beyond our human limitations.
 
I just tell kids that wherever we have one part of the Holy Trinity, they are all there. So when we talk to God the Father, we are also praying to Jesus and the Holy Spirit. When we pray to Jesus, we are also talking to the Father and the Holy Spirit, etc. Jesus said, ā€œThe Father and I are one.ā€ And then leave it at that.
 
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  • One Cake
  • Three Flavors
  • United in Sugar
Still an imperfect analogy šŸ˜”
 
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I believe the Trinity is all about relationships; and the language used in the greatest commandments might help.

God the Father loves God the Son as he loves himself.

God the Son loves God the Father as he loves himself.

1 Samuel 18 New International Version (NIV) talks about becoming ā€˜One in Spiritā€™ by using the language of the greatest commandments.

1 Samuel 18 - After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself.
 
St Patrick used the shamrock for analogyā€¦ each leaf is its own entity but the three are connected and of the same substance.
 
When I was little, I was taught with the shamrock analogy. One shamrock, three leaves.

Just out of curiosity, how many other people grew up with this analogy? Itā€™s pretty much the only one I ever knew as a younger kid. But, of course, my school was run by Irish sistersā€¦
 
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My favorite example comes from sister Lucia of Fatima. The Trinity is like an orange. You have the peel that you can grate for cooking, you have the seeds which you plant, and you have the fleshy part that you eat. If you break apart that orange into those three parts, you donā€™t have three oranges. You still only have one orange. One orange, three distinct parts.
 
It went well, thank you. We read the book, did the shamrock craft and took the quiz. It was all good.
 
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