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Homily for the Most Holy Trinity Sunday

READ: (Deut 4: 32-34, 39-40; Rom 8: 14-17; Matt 28: 16-20)

REFLECT: We are all children and disciples of a Triune God, who is all powerful and loving…

Dear friends we are commemorating today The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, which is preceded by Pentecost Sunday and followed by Corpus Christi (The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ).  The concept of the Trinitarian God does not reveal to us as if there three gods existing rather there are three divine persons but one God. It is one in three and three in one. It is the central mystery of our Christian faith and life. We call it a mystery because we as human persons cannot understand this concept by reason alone rather we need strong faith. Most of the time we fail to understand or make the concept of the Trinity complex and get confused or confounded, because we deal the concept of Trinity with mind (reasons) and not with heart (faith and love). The following lines from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) give us a profound experience and understanding about the concept of a Trinitarian God.  I am sure this would facilitate our understanding about Trinity and the Trinitarian God in our catholic faith.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) very well underscores the importance and the central aspect of Christian faith saying, “The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in himself. It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the “hierarchy of the truths of faith”. The whole history of salvation is identical with the history of the way and the means by which the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, reveals himself to men and reconciles and unites with himself those who turn away from sin (CCC no. 234).

Moreover, CCC very clearly affirms and attests that “The Trinity is a mystery of faith in the strict sense, one of the “mysteries that are hidden in God, which can never be known unless they are revealed by God”. To be sure, God has left traces of his Trinitarian being in his work of creation and in his Revelation throughout the Old Testament. But his inmost Being as Holy Trinity is a mystery that is inaccessible to reason alone or even to Israel's faith before the Incarnation of God's Son and the sending of the Holy Spirit (CCC no. 237).” So based on the liturgy of the word, I would like to share with you three points of reflection;

1. One God of all – all powerful and loving:

Pope Francis very beautifully exhorts the Catholic Church saying, “On this Holy Trinity day we celebrate the mystery of the one God. And this God is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Three persons, but God is one! The Father is God; the Son is God; the Spirit is God. But they are not three gods: it is one God in three Persons. It is a mystery that Jesus Christ revealed to us: the Holy Trinity. Today we pause to celebrate this mystery, because the Persons are not adjectives of God, no. They are real, diverse, different Persons; they are not as that philosopher used to say ‘emanations of God’, no, no! They are Persons. There is the Father to whom I pray with the Our Father; there is the Son, who gave me redemption, justification; there is the Holy Spirit who abides in us and inhabits the Church. And this speaks to our heart because we find it encompassed in that expression of St. John which summarizes all of Revelation: “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8-16).”

Yes, the revelation of God’s love is what we see in the first reading from the book of Deuteronomy. The passage of the Deuteronomy reveals that God is in constant communication with his people Israel and the reason why he communicates is to make them aware that God is all powerful and loving in heaven above and on earth below. Once they realize and rely on the all powerful blessings of God, the people and their generation would be blessed abundantly thereafter. At the very start of the first reading we hear how God has spoken through the cloud, or fires, walking with people in the midst of their trials and hurdles, making the people know by his signs and wonders. Such words from the book of Deuteronomy remind us the powerful working and deliverance of Israelites from Egyptian slavery by all powerful and ever living and loving God. God has such a power and love to walk with people, to work for his people through prophets, kings and leaders of Israel during their times. The all powerful nature of God is revealed to us in the first reading, when it states that “He is God in heaven above but also on the earth beneath” (Deut 4:39). Therefore, we have a God who chose to remain with us by walking and talking to the people of Israel though nature and natural elements, through prophets, kings and leaders etc.

It also reveals to us that God is all powerful and no one could withstand his power in anyway. God is not to be thought as distant reality rather the one who is close to his people, although he has every power to maintain distance from his creatures or created things, yet God has chosen to be with his people. That’s what we see clearly in the coming of Jesus for our redemption. God gives up his power to empower us with love and kindness. Today, it is our turn to ask ourselves how we deal with others with the little power that we have in life. We would not have obtained any power on earth, if it were not to be given by God. If God who has all powers, yet chose to submit his power for our sake out of love, what about us. Love is the central point for God to give up everything for our sake. If God did not really love us, he would not come after us (the people of Israel) or he would not even have thought of sending his only Son for our redemption. So love is the power of God and power of God is love in our redemption.

Today we need to understand that we have no power without the power of God and his love in us. Even till today, God is in constant communication with us his people in various ways. It could be in our daily events and situations, peoples and times. But we have no time to pay attention to or understand the wisdom of God. It is because we rely on our own wisdom and power, plans and projects. Today we need to be attentive to the communication of God. The communication of God is basically arising from the love he has for us. So let us be attentive to the communications of God through various persons, events and times of our lives. Let us realize as well the power of God in us is to empower one another in our world with love and kindness and not to bring hatred and subjugation.

2. Children of a Trinitarian God:

We are all children of a triune God and we are to realize the same as Christians. We all of us are aware of a child-father or child-mother or child-parent relationship. There is an open space, freedom and love among them. Whenever a child calls dearly daddy or mummy, the parents feel so happy and cheerful, because for a child and parents, living as one unity of a family is heavenly and hearty. Perhaps, this could be a profound joy for a parent and delight for a child, when they are in happy associations or relationships. That’s the same relationship God gives to us his children or God’s approach is much more than a parent-child relationship, because he loves us as his beloved children. The second reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans gives us glimpse of the same.

The words and the language used by St. Paul in the letter to the Romans reveal to us a call to the divine family relationship. The words like, sons, heirs, co-heirs, Father reveal to us of the family relationship that we are called to have with the divine Triune God. The relationship that we could trace in us is the image of a Trinitarian God. The image of the Triune God in us opens a way for true intimacy and relationship with God and others in a unique way. The relationship with God is possible only when we are filled or led by the Spirit of God. That’s what we hear in the second reading from St. Paul’s letter to Romans, “All who are led by the spirit of God are sons/daughters of God.” Yes, it is the spirit of God which enables us to cry Abba Father, initiating in us the relationship with the Father and being firmly united in God. Indeed, the sonship and the daughterhood in God is the hallmark of Christian living, because we are called to be children of God. We have not become the children of slavery by way of fear rather we have become the adopted children of God by God’s spirit in us.

Further, the second reading ends with as how we can become co-heirs with Christ. We become co-heirs or joint-heirs with Christ by participating in the suffering of Christ. It is not the suffering that Jesus underwent for our redemption that we need to go through rather we need to go through minor sufferings and trials in the face of proclaiming or living our faith in Christ by witnessing. Therefore, we are children of God in the Trinitarian family. In order to become part of the Trinitarian family of God, we need to be filled and led by the Spirit of God. Only the spirit of God could enable us to live in unity with the Trinity. Such realization will help us to understand that we are all inter-connected and we are children of God, we are not isolated or left alone rather we are called to live as children of God.

That’s what Pope Francis very meaningfully says, “The Trinity teaches us that one can never be without the other.  We are not islands; we are in the world to live in God’s image: open, in need of others and in need of helping others. He encouraged the faithful to ask themselves: In everyday life, am I too a reflection of the Trinity.” Yes, we are not islands that are isolated rather we are children of God living in unity. This feel of being children of God gives us bond to connect with each other, help and support one another, because we see everyone as a child of God. Today when we look at our lives in any of the Christian events we partake or the celebration that we engage in, we begin and end any event or activity with the sign of the cross. It brings us to awareness about the presence of the Holy Trinity and trinity is the alpha-omega of every event conducted or participated or celebrated in life. So let us realize that the meaningful celebration of the solemnity of Most Holy Trinity would be that we accept and recognize others as God’s children, value them and see the image of the Trinitarian God in others too.

3. Disciples of a Trinitarian God:

Our Christian life begins and ends in the Trinitarian God the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. From the time we obtain the Sacrament of Baptism, by which we become the members of the Church and till we reach our heavenly home with God and even thereafter we are with the Trinitarian God and in the presence of the Holy Trinity. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) very clearly states, “Christians are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: not in their names, for there is only one God, the almighty Father, his only Son and the Holy Spirit: the Most Holy Trinity (CCC no. 233).” Therefore, it is not the names of God that are important but how God presents himself to us in love and unity as one and brings everything and everyone to himself by being one and in oneness.

The Gospel reading of the day is taken from the Gospel of Matthew, which speaks about the mission command of Jesus to his apostles and disciples. The passage is a call to discipleship in Jesus with a mission. The mission of Jesus entrusted to the disciples and apostles are to proclaim the good news to all and not to any selective or particular group of people. It speaks of the universalism of God’s salvation to all. Therefore, a disciple or an apostle of Christ in no way is expected to be partial in proclaiming the good news. The good news of Christ is for all and it has to be reached to all. It is up to an individual to accept or reject the free offer of salvation when proclaimed, but each one is responsible and accountable. Most of the time there is a lot of division and deviation among us Christians, because we deal with the proclamation of the good news to a selective group of people and are satisfied with the minimum of work that we do. But, the command of Jesus is very clear, “Go to the ends of the earth and proclaim the good news to all.” It is not a mere statement of Jesus rather command of Jesus to his apostles and disciples. As followers of Christ we are given with a mission to proclaim the good news to all with any bias or partiality.

The second point we could draw in the gospel reading of the day is “to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.” In the mission that we are entrusted as Christ’s followers, we are called to baptize those who come to terms in following Jesus in the name of a Trinitarian God, who is one in three and three in one. Perhaps, we all could say that we are all small trinities existing on earth as we have the presence of a Trinitarian God. It is not only that we have the image of God and his likeness rather we have the image and presence of the Trinitarian God by virtue of being and becoming a member of the Church by the reception of sacraments we receive or obtained.

Pope Francis very clearly emphasizes saying,  “In every form of Christian mission, one cannot overlook this unity among us to which Jesus calls, following the unity of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: one cannot overlook this unity. The beauty of the Gospel asks to be lived is unity and witnessed in the harmony among us, who are so diverse! And this unity, I dare say, is essential to Christians: it is not an attitude, a manner of speaking, no; it is essential, because it is the unity that arises from love, from the mercy of God, from the justification of Jesus Christ and from the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.”

Yes, the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity invites us to live in unity to proclaim God’s message and good news to all. Just as the Holy Trinity remains in unity to permeate the presence one true God and remain close to each other, so also we who have been baptized in the name of the trinity are called to be in union with God and permeate the oneness of God by living in unity and harmony with one another. The Great commission of Christ would bear fruit in abundance only when we live in unity and harmony with one another. Today alarmingly all over us or around us lots of factors that contribute to division and disunity. It is because of the lack of realization of the presence of the Triune God in us or lack of love for another.

Today let us understand a little deeper that the nature of a triune God is union, communion and communication. Similarly, we who have the image and the presence of the Triune God are also called to live in union, communion and communication with God and with one another in the world. Therefore, the call to discipleship in the Triune God is challenging but once we realize and understand the presence of Triune God in us, the Triune God helps and enables us to be the reflection of unity and harmony. Thus, the meaningful celebration of the solemnity of Most Holy Trinity would bear fruit when we become disciples and make disciples after the heart of the Holy Trinity, that is, to live in unity and be a witness of unity in the world.  

RESPOND:

Do we believe in the mystery of the one God in three persons, who is all powerful and all loving?

Do we realize that we are all little trinities on earth as we bear the image of the triune God and live as children of God?

Do we realize that our call to Christian discipleship is basically Trinitarian and proclaim the same by being witnesses of God’s message and good news in our lives in action?

Let us believe in the Most Holy Trinity that God is all powerful and all-loving, live as the children and disciples of a triune God both in word and deed. Amen.

God bless us all… Live Jesus!

Fr. Ramesh George MSFS

rameshvkmsfs@gmail.com

9500930968