The Trinity at Christ's Passion. It's sometimes said that when it comes to his treatment of the mystery of our salvation and especially of Christ's passion, St. Thomas Aquinas leads the Trinity largely out of account.

In fact, this supposed omission is usually taken as evidence of Aquinas' alleged separation of the mystery of the

Trinity from salvation history and from Christology. But should not the cross of Christ,

as the pinnacle of the whole divine work of salvation be the supreme moment of revelation

of the Trinity? Among prominent Catholic theologians,

Hans-Rs-Vamalthazar interprets Christ's passion, death, and descent into hell as precisely

such a revelation, and indeed as a kind of intra-Trinitarian event. Relatively few have taken up the challenge to articulate Aquinas' understanding of the

Trinitarian dimensions of Christ's passion and exaltation, or of the cross as a revelation

of the Trinity.

Indeed, for some, it's the appeal of more recent accounts of the Lord's cross, death, and

resurrection, non-timistic accounts, precisely insofar as they treat them as revelations of

the triune mystery or as intertunitarian events, as a kind of alternative to what is understood

to be Aquinas' view.

But in truth, Aquinas' understanding of the entirety of Christ's life, and above all of his

passion and glorification, is deeply Trinitarian and offers valuable insights into these

central mysteries of the faith and of our salvation.

And in fact, especially in his scripture commentaries, Aquinas paints

this crowning moment of Christ's earthly life in vibrant, interpersonal, Trinitarian color.

So, we could review all of the mysteries of Christ's life in order to bring out the connection

here, but I'm in this talk order to bring out the connection here.

But I'm in this talk going to jump straight to the passion,

since it's there that the misperceptions are the greatest and the stakes are the highest.

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