Homily Solemnity of the Holy Trinity
Homily
for the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity
In
our Second Reading in today’s Mass we heard: “The grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of
you.” This was Paul’s way of expressing the early Church’s belief in the
revelation of the Trinity. God is One and Triune: one in being, Triune in
persons: Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
There
is perfect relationship among the three persons—that relationship is love.
Their very life is this perfect love for each other which bonds them into the
oneness of the Godhead, while remaining three distinct persons. Instead of
dividing the attributes or functions of God, as Paul did for better human
understanding, he could just as easily have said: the grace, love and
fellowship of God be with you. But Paul
wanted to emphasize what distinguished Christians from Jews and Mohamadans.
Though all three profess the oneness of God, only we, as Christians, profess
the Three Persons in the One God.
What
do we understand by this prayer-wish? May all the blessings and favors given to
us by God, as a sign of his intimate and personal love for us, bring us into
union with Good and one another. All God
has done for us is done because of his love with the purpose of drawing us more
intensely into his own divine life, where in union with others, we will fine
our ultimate fulfillment.
Once
we grasp and accept this message of revelation, then our life will be
different. We will “mend our ways”, as Paul says, by putting off sin and
putting on the mind of Jesus Christ. We will “encourage and agree with one
another” by reaching out to one another. This in turn will draw us into the
bond of unity with God. There will be real peace and harmony between us. Then,
as Paul says, the God of love and peace will be with us.
In
our First Reading, we are told that God wanted us to know that the union, which
the three Persons share with one another in love, is his desire for us. God
created us in unity with him and with one another. But man and woman freely
chose to alienate themselves from God through sin (which is what we too do).
God begins the homebound journey with us. In this reading God gives Moses a
personal revelatory experience of his presence. The Lord stood with Moses and
revealed his name, “Lord” and his attributes of mercy and graciousness, slow to
anger and rich in kindness and fidelity. Moses, in turn, reflected the deep
longing within him and within each of us. He recognized the need to have a relationship
with God. “Be with us on this journey.”
In faith, we believe he is. God reveals himself to us and yet God remains a
mystery.
In
the Gospel, we are reminded that all God does is done in love. To become Man
and to come among us to save us through his death and resurrection, to
reconcile us back to himself—all was done in love. If we believe and respond to
his love, we will be saved and have eternal life. We will share in the very
life of love and unity forever. We will not be God but we will experience the
very life of God in union with him and one another.
To
believe in the mystery of the Trinity and yet not fully understand it is part of
our relationship with God.
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