As you know, rivers can wear away rock. There is a river in Canada which has cut a deep ravine between two rocks. For thousands of years the river has been winding and eating its way through the stone. Now it flows through a deep and dark chasm and on either side two rocks send their towering peaks into the sky. The pious Canadians who live there have given names to these two rocks, names which remind them of the two greatest truths in life.
They call the rocks Trinity and Eternity.
There are two great truths in our lives which we cannot escape — Trinity and Eternity. There are three Persons in one God and they have made us to live with them for all eternity. You learned these things from the first page of your first catechism. Do not forget them until you close the book of life.
On this day which is sacred to the Trinity, we should recall what we owe the three Divine Persons. We owe them adoration. We should adore the great God who made us out of nothing and yet is willing to dwell within our puny hearts. Praise the Trinity. Begin and end your every action by carefully and reverently making the sign of the cross.
We owe them love. God is an all-loving Father and we are His children. He says to us, "Son, give me your heart." Give Him your hearts because He loves the hearts of children best of all.
We owe them imitation. Christ told us, "Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" We are the children of the King and we should act like the children of the King.
Now let us look at the other twin peak, Eternity. God has made us to know Him, love Him, and be happy with Him for all eternity. Have you any idea of how long eternity is? You have probably all heard the old example of the bird trying to empty the seashore by taking a grain of sand in his beak once every thousand years. That will give you some idea of how slowly things move in eternity.
Let us take another example which is based on how quickly things move. Light travels 186,000 miles per second. We think 60 miles an hour in a car is fast. Just think of light going 186,000 miles in one second. A little problem in arithmetic which you can do when you go home is to try to figure out how far light will travel in a year. Multiply 186,000 by 60 to find its speed per minute, then by 60 for its speed per hour, by 24 for its speed per day, and by 365 for its speed per year. Then remember that while light has traveled all that way, eternity has not yet begun to begin. And this eternity we are to spend with God, from Whom and through Whom and unto Whom are all things.
Source: Heirs of the Kingdom, Imprimatur 1949