Holy, holy, holy! Do you ever wonder why we say “holy” three times in the Mass before “Lord, God of hosts”? Is it to emphasize God’s holiness? Is it a reference to the Trinity? Is it something more? Yes, yes, and yes!
We first see this expression in Scripture in Isaiah 6:3, when Isaiah has a startling vision of burning angels called seraphim, two wings covering their feet, two their eyes, and two raising them aloft. They cry out to the Lord, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts! All the earth is filled with His glory!” Their thunderous exclamation of worship causes an earthquake and plumes of smoke to fill the house. The seraphim return in the New Testament as “the four living creatures” in Revelation 4:8, bearing the image of the lion, the ox, the man, and the eagle. These are the traditional images of the four Gospel writers—Mark the lion, Luke the ox, Matthew the man, and John the eagle. In the book of Revelation, these sacred seraphim, the highest of angels, cry out once again, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come!” They worship without ceasing, exulting day and night with their “holy, holy, holy.”
Certainly, this threefold “holy” can be understood as a triple expression of worship of the Most Holy Trinity—holy is the Father, holy is the Son, holy is the Holy Spirit. Even in Isaiah, the Old Testament, before the Trinity had been revealed to us, God was and eternally is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, so the angels’ acclamation makes sense.
But there is also another meaning that gets lost on us English-speakers. Hebrew grammar is different than English in that it has no superlatives. In Hebrew, there is no “tastiest” cookie, or one cookie “tastier” than another. Rather, when they want to express that something is the greatest, they repeat the word. This cookie is “tasty tasty” because it is better than the other. But that cookie is “tasty, tasty, tasty”, because it is the best of all! Thus, in Hebrew, God is not just “kadosh” (“holy”) —he is “kadosh, kadosh, kadosh” (“holy, holy, holy”), the holiest! Nothing and no one can compare with him.
At this point in the Mass, the people cry out with the burning seraphim circling the throne of the Supreme Godhead, “You are the holiest!” At that moment, we are united with the angels in singing the praises of God. Immediately after, we drop to our knees in worship, readying ourselves to enter into the most sacred mysteries of the altar, when the God of the universe comes down to us in the Holy Eucharist! Holy, holy, holy Lord! May You be worshipped and adored!