The late Catherine LaCugna wrote often of the doctrine of the Trinity as an eminently "practical" doctrine. Its native soil is the Church's liturgical celebration; and it is "soul-stretching" in its pastoral and personal implications.Few theologians and pastors in the tradition of the Church have been as deeply aware of this as the saint whose feast we celebrate today, Augustine of Hippo.After pondering the Mystery of the Triune God for the fifteen books of his de Trinitate, Augustine concludes with a prayer that always deeply moves me. What he prays should be, of course, the common prayer not only of theologians and pastors, but bloggers, pundits ... and each of us as we conclude each day:

When the wise man spoke of You in his book, which is called Ecclesiasticus, he said: "We say many things, and yet fall short; and the sum of all our words is: God is all." But when we shall have come to You, these many things that we speak, and yet come short, will cease; and You will remain One, and "all in all." And we shall say one thing without end, in praising You as one, we ourselves made one in You.O Lord the one God, God the Trinity, whatever I have said in these books that is of Yours, may they acknowledge who are Yours; if anything of my own, may it be pardoned both by You and by those who are Yours. Amen.

Robert P. Imbelli, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, is a longtime Commonweal contributor.

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