Today is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. This feast invites us to look deeper into what we believe about God. God who reveals Himself to us in the Trinity as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. One God in three persons blessed Trinity.
In the first reading from Proverbs, we hear about the wisdom of God. This wisdom was always present. From the creation of the earth and all it contains, God’s wisdom was present. In the reading, we heard an important statement, “I found delight in the human race.” In this, we know God loves us. Each of you is precious in His sight. Share in God’s wisdom. Know that you are loved by God. Especially know that He loves everyone else as well. Be wise, love one another. Because if someone is precious to God, they should be precious to you.
In the second reading from the Letter to the Romans, St. Paul is giving a lesson in the reassurance of faith. Through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we have peace with God. This is a great gift by itself. But it is not the only grace we have received. God’s love is poured into our hearts and is overflowing with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These gifts provide strength when we need it the most and give us hope. God will not abandon you. Trust in Him and have faith.
In John’s Gospel, Jesus is giving the disciples a promise that what he has will soon be theirs. The Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, will come to them to guide them. But more than just guide us, the Holy Spirit will provide a share in the life of the Trinity. Jesus said, “He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.” This promise was fulfilled at Pentecost. And it is a promise that continues to be fulfilled even today through the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation.
This Sunday, the Church is asking you to meditate on the Most Holy Trinity. The Trinity is a mystery of faith. Theologians for centuries have tried to understand and explain this mystery. But we do not have centuries for this homily, so we will try to understand the Trinity through analogy.
There are many analogies for the Holy Trinity. We have to understand all analogies fall short and can lead us to heresy if we go too far with them. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “The Christian family is a communion of persons, a sign and image of the communion of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit. The Christian family has an evangelizing and missionary task.” In other words, the family is like the Trinity sharing in the mission to proclaim the good news of the Gospel.
When we think of family, we recognize father, mother, and child as distinct persons who possess the same human nature. While the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three distinct persons who each possess the same divine nature. The family analogy is certainly flawed because the family is human with distinct separate relationships. While in God, each person of the Trinity is immutable, infinite, and divine in nature. The family gives us an analogy we can more easily relate to and perhaps understand. It is also a relationship that should share some aspects of the Holy Trinity. What are those? Love and Unity.
God created you in His loving image. God’s love is not focused on self. It is focused on the other. The Catholic Church teaches that the revelation of God as Trinity with love flowing between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit also reveals the vocation of the human person to love. This revelation sheds light on every aspect of the personal dignity and freedom of men and women, and on the depths of their social nature. In other words, God created you to love. This means as humans we live life to the fullest when we share love in community. We do this by following Jesus’ command to love God with all your heart, mind, and soul; and loving your neighbor as yourself. This is not single direction love like a stream flowing downhill. Instead, this is love in a whirlpool flowing in and out while drawing all closer.
This is love that leads to unity. Saint John Paul II wrote in his apostolic letter On the Dignity and Vocation of Women, “Being a person means striving towards self-realization, which can only be achieved through a sincere gift of self. The model for this interpretation of the person is God himself as Trinity, as a communion of Persons.” That last sentence is a key that unlocks a powerful truth. The Trinity is a model for how we should love. But especially how we should love in our closest relationships of marriage and family.
Through the sacrament of marriage, a man and a woman commit to freely giving themselves to one another. This is self-sacrificing love that makes the couple one flesh. This is the love that if it is in God’s will, results in the gift of children. And this ties us back to our earlier analogy of the Trinity to the family. While the analogy is not perfect, it does give us a point of reference.
This week, reflect on the mystery of the Trinity and especially reflect on the attributes of love and unity. God lives in relationship and so do you. Relationships need love and unity to flourish. How are your relationships?
Are they flourishing or are they struggling? We all live in many different types of relationships. You have your relationship with your spouse. Your relationship with your children, siblings, parents, coworkers, and neighbors. Yes, there are lots of relationships. How healthy are they? This week examine your relationships. We are surrounded by disunity and a lack of love. Be bold. Be different. Ask God to be with you and help you to make relationships of love and unity.
As you prepare to receive the Eucharist, recognize this Jesus is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, body, blood, soul, and divinity. And where the Son is so are the Father and the Holy Spirit. Before receiving communion, thank Jesus for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Thank Him for the graces and blessings you have in your life. Thank Him for the gift of hope.
When you pray after receiving communion ask God for a heart like Jesus to see and love others as he does. Ask God for the gift of unity within your family, church, community, and world. Do this with faith and hope, remembering Jesus’ words from the Gospel today, “He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.” God’s love is with you. It is up to you how you will share that love with others.
May God’s grace and peace be with you.
Into the Deep 