A homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, May 26, 2024
Dt 4:32-34, 39-40, Rom 8:14-17, Mt 28:16-20
When I was in the seventh grade at St. Leo’s in Lincroft, I had it all figured out.
No, not the meaning of life, or how to avoid taxes, or even how to win the lottery.
Nope. I was sure I’d figured out how the Blessed Trinity worked, how we could have one God, but three distinct persons of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I was convinced I’d be summoned to Rome for a reconvened Vatican II, to present my findings.
So, when the class started some seatwork, I told Sister Raphael Marie about my insights. But instead of Rome, I was headed to the principal’s office.
Ugh.
Fortunately, Sister Laureen Francis explained — quite gently — that hundreds and hundreds of years ago, a variety of people had come up with ideas similar to mine, and they all were rejected as heresies.
Oh.
Yeah, I didn’t want to be branded as a heretic.
She also gently explained that, because our loving God is bigger and more complex than any human could possibly fully understand, it’s best if we accept the Trinity as a marvelous mystery of our beautiful faith.
Then she asked if I’d finished my seatwork.
As Christians, our belief in a Triune God sets us apart from most of the world’s other faith traditions. We are monotheistic; that is, we believe in one God. We’ll reaffirm that in just a few minutes when we profess our creed.
One God: the Father almighty, his only begotten Son, and the Spirit that proceeds from them.
No separate gods of creation or destruction or thunder and lightning or overcoming of obstacles.
One God, but like a hand with fingers or a shamrock with leaves. Kind of separate, -ish, but always connected. Familiar examples we can sort of wrap our heads around, sort of. Because the Trinity is, above all, a beautiful mystery, and we need to leave it at that.
Except, of course, that’s not what I do, as anyone who has tried to not be too annoyed with me can testify. Like many of us, I wanted to know more.
I asked the Holy Spirit for wisdom and guidance. The Spirit delivered monsignors and deacons to instruct me and many others, and they provided a trinitarian explanation, a trinitarian mantra:
Relationship.
Relationship.
Relationship.
Our God is the essence of pure love, pure goodness, pure holiness, the source of everything and everybody, and the perpetual supporter of progress and improvement.
Our God is the perfect relationship among the three divine persons.
Perfect.
Perfect.
Perfect.
A relationship so perfect and so close that Father, Son and Spirit are inseparable, bonded, united.
And because God is eternal, because God … is, our God who created time and space isn’t restricted by them. That means God can be everywhere always as Father, Son and Holy Spirit at the same time.
Yeah, that qualifies as a Wow! or a Sit Down and Think About It.
Maybe a My Brain Hurts. Yeahhh.
Even though we have countless paintings of a white-haired, bearded God the Father and a white-dove God the Holy Spirit, it was only Jesus who took human form. That is to say, a form anybody could see with human eyes.
Sorry, Michelangelo and crew. At no time ever was any person of God disconnected from any other and posing for an individual portrait.
Three persons. One God.
So even as we grapple with the deep theology of the Trinity — or not — we should have no trouble at all embracing the love and light of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
That’s because we have the example of God’s perfect loving relationship to follow.
First, we can strengthen our relationship with God daily. Our prayers of thanks and praise should start and end our days every day. Our conversations with God should be continual, even if they’re merely little reminders to ourselves that we are never alone and never without God’s help. We can dedicate our work and play and especially our random acts of kindness to the greater glory of God.
Next, we can assess and strengthen our earthly relationships, with family and friends, with sisters and brothers we haven’t met yet, with all of God’s Creation. And, yes, we do have a relationship with rocks and trees and wild bunnies in our backyards.
Are we making people glad they saw us today? Are we forging new relationships? Are we renewing old ones?
Are we leaving the Earth, which God created for us, better than we found it?
Are we holding up our ends in all our relationships? Are our relationships modeled on God’s?
Let’s always remember:
God creates. God redeems and heals. God sanctifies and enlightens.
God loves.
God is love.
Our Triune God is.
