The Holy Trinity is 3 Divine Persons in one God. God the Father is the first person of the Holy Trinity.
HOLY TRINITY
3 eternal persons with equal power
***** Read lesson 3 The Unity and Trinity of God in the St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism book #2 ******
Using sacred art is a great way to learn more about God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Yet the younger ages will be confused and that’s ok! Emphasize that we worship the Holy Trinity: one God, three Persons.
Have the older kids watch this The Trinity video from Catholic Central.
The younger kids really liked this video explaining the Holy Trinity.
Continuing with our Trinity lesson. Using a Triangle to draw out the Trinity is helpful, use the labels below. I have found keeping the description as simple as possible tends to be the best when teaching this lesson.
- The FATHER is responsible for creation.
- The SON was sent to become man and save the world.
- The HOLY SPIRIT is in charge of guiding the Church and making its members holy.
Father —————————-> Creator
Son ———————————–> Savior
Holy Spirit ——————————> Sanctifier (makes you holy)
Years ago while teaching children preparing for their First Holy Communion I realized this concept of the Trinity was very difficult to convey to them. In addition many were still trying to figure out to make the sign of the cross, prayer of the Trinity, correctly. When you teach age groups that have limited reading skills it will require more visual instruction. I came up with the drawing below as a way to help explain the Trinity and the placement of our hands when we make the sign of the cross. We practiced praying the Trinity (sign of the cross). This is a great one to practice at home as I have noticed that children tend to be random with the placement and flow of their hands.
Although the word “Trinity” is not specifically used in Sacred Scripture, there are 3 very clear revelations of the Trinity in the Gospels: Luke 1:26-38: The Annunciation Matthew 3:13-17: The Baptism of Jesus Matthew 17:1-8: Transfiguration God revealed to man that He is a communion of persons.
When we discuss the Trinity we will be continuing our understanding of grace. If you remember from our previous lesson regarding baptism, GRACE is a share in God’s own life. A supernatural power to resist evil and do what is right and just. At Baptism we receive justifying and sanctifying grace and the Holy Spirit begins to dwell within us. God’s life in us is SANCTIFYING GRACE the life of the Holy Trinity shared with us.
Sanctifying grace is the gratuitous gift of His life that God makes to us; it is infused by the Holy Spirit into the soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it. Sanctifying grace makes us “pleasing to God.” Charisms, special graces of the Holy Spirit, are oriented to sanctifying grace and are intended for the common good of the Church. God also acts through many actual graces, to be distinguished from habitual grace which is permanent in us.
Catechism of the catholic church 2023-2024
After all this children will still continue to ask: What is grace? This is where we suggest to consult this essay from Catholic Answers: Grace What it is and What it Does. There is an audio version of this essay that can be played for all your children to listen to together, it is about 10 minutes long. We recommend children 6th grade on up after listening to this follow up with reading the essay.
Before wrapping up the classroom lesson we talked about the connection to the Transfiguration and the design of our church’s altar. The baldacchino over the altar at our parish that shows the Latin words: “Hic est filius meus dilectus. In quo mihi bene complacui: Ipsum audite” (This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him.) The *baldacchino in our church is designed to represent the bright cloud from where God the Father spoke at the Transfiguration of Jesus on Mt. Tabor. Matthew 17:5
For the assignment page of the notebook for our First Year Confirmation student we used the Names of God: Blessed Trinity Graphic Organizer sheet from Look to Him and be Radiant. She explains how to approach this lesson and we encourage you to read her post. She has a few other Trinity activities that you can add to this lesson. We had the children cut out the sheet to fit inside the notebook and they are to brainstorm names to put inside of the three sections.
There are many names of God. Have you heard of this one? If not let’s look up this word and see what we can learn about its meaning and use.
PARACLETE ————–> Greek paraklētos
In your research what did you find? Define this word below.
Paraclete is……..
Where does this word go in the Names of the Blessed Trinity?
For an additional assignment define Grace.
For the assignment page of the notebook for our First Year Communion student it is a short reading about St. Elizabeth of the Holy Trinity (whose relic is in our parish’s altar) and a coloring sheet. In addition we added prayer copy work of the Glory Be prayer.
* What is a baldacchino? It is an architectural canopy placed over an altar. They can be made from fabric or be made from permanent materials like wood, marble, glass, gold, etc. It is meant to highlight the high altar as an area of holiness and guides the eye to the visual focus of the Church. Here in our church Holy Trinity’s design of the baldacchino is intended to bring focus to the Tabernacle. They are usually supported by 4 pillars to represent the Four Evangelists. We see these more often in basilicas where the baldacchino is set over the high altar to differentiate it from the other side altars.
Suggested Reading
Grace Catholic Answers Encyclopedia
Unpacking Confirmation, Baptism, and the Birth of the Church. Ascension Press, May 18, 2018.
**Lesson 2: God the Father Almighty FFF September 8, 2026 this week was a parent topic week and the lessons were taught in class while parents attended a separate session. ***
The Small Pencil Catechist 