The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

 Lectionary: 164

"...live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you....
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

One of the most important Catholic theologians of the 20th century once remarked that if, for some inexplicable reason, the Catholic Church were to declare that we no longer believe in the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity, very few prayers, devotions, or spiritual books would have to be rewritten. For the last several centuries, this beautiful insight into the very nature of God has not seemed important to devout Christians. Some Protestant theologians disputed it while others challenged it; and Catholics didn't know what to make of it.

Fortunately, since the Second Vatican Council, the Church has taken a more serious look at the wonder of the Most Holy Trinity. No one should simply dismiss it as "a mystery too deep to ponder," and then move on.

I have found it helpful to consider the Holy Trinity in the light of human history. The Father appears first to Abraham in the second millennium BC; and continues to speak to his descendants by way of Moses and the prophets through historical events, by dreams, intuitions, and insight; and with laws, commandments, rituals, songs, and stories. When Rome ruled the Mediterranean world, Jesus Christ, the Holy One of God, was born of the Virgin Mary, the most blessed woman of Abraham’s descendants. His disciples came to believe in him as the Son of God, as he healed the sick, comforted the poor, and raised the dead. After he was crucified and raised to life, he sent his disciples to celebrate the Gospel throughout the world.

And finally, as the Scriptures show, the Father and the Son poured their life and vitality into the Church and into our hearts in the person of the Holy Spirit. We have been sent as a blessing for all the nations of the world, as God had told Abraham eighteen centuries before.

Easter has reminded us that God the Father is supremely happy with Jesus; we have heard him say, “This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.” Although we crucified Jesus; although we nailed him to a cross and shoved him into the sky as if humanity cannot abide a man like him on our earth, God has not despised us; rather, he restored him to us and showed him to be Our Lord and Savior.. I think Jesus was like the Prodigal Son. He returned from a faraway place to the Father with fatal wounds over his entire body, wearing nothing more than a crown of thorns. And when the Father looked at him, he might have said, “What have they done to you?” And our Savior replied, “If my people don’t come with me into heaven, I don’t come either.” And the Father said, “That’s why I sent you!” Jesus represents all humankind to the Father, who loves us because Jesus loves us. Who is pleased with us because Jesus refused to hate us although we hated him. We are saved because the Goodness of Jesus has outweighed all the evil in human history. He has atoned for our sins. A child might dig a hole on a sandy beach and think he’s dug halfway to China, but in a little while the tide washes over the beach, and the child’s great hole is entirely filled. It disappears as if it were never there. So has the Lord’s sacrifice of himself for us washed over all the evil in the world, covering it completely, and restoring all the Blessings of being God’s children. We have seen the Love of the Father and the Son in the passion and death of Jesus. It’s as if we’re listening to a friend talking on the telephone. We cannot see or hear the third party but we follow their conversation and we understand what they are saying. We hear Jesus say, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit!” And the Father replies, “In return I give you, all authority in heaven and on earth and under the earth. Come, share your Father’s joy.” We understand that their love, joy, and satisfaction are perfect and complete; and there is nothing lacking in their absolute devotion to one another. And we understand that the Father now looks upon us as the family of Jesus, who has loved us as a child loves his parents, his sisters and brothers, uncles and aunts, cousins, relatives, neighbors, and friends. He simply has no animosity in him. And despite the wrong we have done to him, he has said, “Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.” The world, of course, has a problem with all that. They don’t want forgiveness for they cannot admit they have sinned; or that all the evil of this world comes from our human hearts. Like Adam who blamed Eve for his sin, they want to blame someone else for everything that’s wrong. “It’s not my fault; it’s her fault, or his, or theirs, or yours.” They have excuses for everything, but never regret or remorse. Perpetually dissatisfied and unhappy, they imagine only a God who destroys and conquers, and then demands gratitude. We’re supposed to say, “Yes, Sir!” to their god, as if we’re happy to be conquered and perpetually humiliated. We should always remember how good and gracious and merciful their god is because he has not destroyed us completely, because he has given us enough space to breathe and say, “Oh yes, God, I love you so much.” There is no freedom, joy, or spontaneity in that fake love; there is only humiliation, submission, and a phony pretense of obedience. In the Holy Trinity, we have seen the freedom of God, and understood the joyous freedom he gives us. Next week, we will celebrate Corpus Christi, the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. The Mass draws us into the freedom of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Without the Mass, the Holy Trinity sounds like weird mathematics; and without the Holy Trinity, the Mass sounds like mumbo-jumbo. But we can save that reflection for next week. Today, we must thank God for investing us in the Holy Spirit of Jesus, and for sending us to announce the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to the whole world. We know God as the Father of Jesus – our Savior, Lord, and brother. We know God as the Father of Mercy, who “so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”