Homily: June 12, 2022, The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

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The first reading from Proverbs writes, “When the Lord established the heavens I was there…”

When God created the world, He was not alone.

We are now midway through the liturgical year. The Church celebrates Holy Trinity Sunday. Unlike other feasts and solemnities which commemorate the saints and important events of our church, today we celebrate God Himself, the central mystery of our faith.

Who is God?

What is God?

It is impossible to describe and explain God fully. He is beyond the understanding of human intellect, far greater than anything we can ever imagine. But we can try to figure out some things about this big God, who reveals Himself to us in many ways.

In Hebrews 1, it says, “In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through a son…”

St. John says, “No one has ever seen God. The only son who is the same as God and is at the father’s side, he has made him known.”

In the Gospel, Jesus tells His disciples, "I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.”

Yes, Jesus is the Son, who is the same as God. He has revealed God us, not everything but more than enough for us to think about and appreciate.

Jesus continues to say, “But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.”

So, the Holy Spirit will guide us to all the truth of God, but we must first put aside our human intellect and allow the Holy Spirit to inspire us.

Mathematics teaches us addition: 1 +1 +1 is 3. Theology teaches us God: 1 +1 +1 is 1. Three persons in one.

This tells us that our God is not in solitude. God does not work alone. God is community. God is family. God is relationship.

In our profession of faith, we declare, ‘I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.’ Then followed with, ‘I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord.’ Finally, we profess, ‘I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.’

So that is what we celebrate today, that our God is a triune God, the most Holy Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is the most difficult mystery of our faith to explain because our human logic cannot make sense of this ‘three-in-one’ and ‘one-in-three’ teaching.

But it is the truth. Our God is three persons in one, because God is love. Love cannot exist without the other. Love can only exist in a relationship. The Holy Trinity is united in a perfect, eternal, fruitful love.

This love is eternal because it is perfect. It is perfect because it is eternal. And it is fruitful because of total self-giving. The very essence of love is in giving, and the greatest gift is a total giving of self, for the good of the other. True love is always fruitful, always life-giving.

The second reading to the Romans, St. Paul says, “…because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

We are the recipients of this love. It has been ‘poured out’ into our hearts, nothing is held back.

God loves us personally, totally and eternally.

And the ultimate goal of His love is to bring us all into full union with the Holy Trinity, into full communion with one another. That is God’s will for the human race, the purpose for His creation.

In receiving God’s love, we must love others: family, friend, neighbour and even enemy. By doing so, we fulfil God’s will and participate in His purpose for the world.

Do you know Winnie the Pooh? I am not a fan, but one quote strikes me: ‘Together is a wonderful place to be’. 

Yes, our God is a ‘together’ God. Heaven is a ‘together’ place. Our destiny is to be together with God and with one another. And love is the glue that holds all of us together. “God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good.” (Gen 1:31). It is wonderful indeed.

Amen.


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