In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit, Amen. In other
words, in the name of the Trinity. Every
prayer we say includes the three persons of the Trinity. We pray to God the Father, through his Son
Jesus in the Holy Spirit. The Trinity is
our origin, and our goal.
The mystery
of the Trinity should at once baffle us and engender sentiments of love within
our hearts. It reminds me of when Bishop Baker came to celebrate the
Sacrament of Confirmation when my daughter Grace was in the 8th
grade. For one of his questions he asked
Grace: “What is the Trinity?” She meekly gave him her answer, but he
couldn’t quite get it all, so he said:
I’m sorry, I didn’t understand.”
“That’s ok Bishop,” she said, “it’s a mystery,
you’re not supposed to…”
The Trinity is our origin and our
goal. The Jews of Christ's day were
totally astounded by the revelation that not only was Jesus the Son of God -
there was more - there was a Holy
Spirit, who constituted the God-head along with the Father. If you
examine the Scriptures, the first person to reveal that we could even call God
"Our Father" was Jesus. Even Moses only knew God as "I am
who am," he did not know about the Son and the Holy Spirit as we
understand these persons who make up the Trinity. This is exactly what St. Paul refers to in
our second reading from Romans. We cry out, "Abba -
Father!" “Abba” is translated as being more intimate than “Father;” it’s
more like saying: "Daddy." This term implies a special closeness
that we can have with God the Father, which to this point in salvation history
was simply unheard of.
So, how should
we understand the Trinity? It's a question many Christians ask.
Catholic doctrine teaches that there are three persons in one God who all share
the same nature. Remember that we are talking about three persons in one
God; not three gods, or three faces of one god. Three persons, one God.
St. Patrick tried to explain it with a shamrock. Each section is distinct,
and yet each is of the same nature of "shamrockness" as the other
sections within the flower. Yet the analogy falls short because the
shamrock can be divided into three parts, and God cannot. Here's another analogy: You can have three
business partners in one venture. Each has the ability of the other two -
to sell, to hire, to lease, etc. Yet, each is distinct. This gives
us the idea of how three persons can share the same abilities and do all things
together, and yet remain distinct. This analogy falls short as well, for
the partners existed before the partnership and could “be” without it, whereas
the three persons of the Trinity could never be apart from each other. Also, whereas business partners can do things
on their own, the Trinity always acts together.
Our human minds are simply unable to fully understand the Trinity. That is where Faith comes in--just
like in our understanding of the Eucharist – where we are taught that Jesus is really and substantially present--body,
blood, soul and divinity--another teaching that is hard to grasp but which we
know to be true, since it was revealed to us by Jesus. And, where Jesus is, so are the Father and
the Holy Spirit. There is a special dynamic at work here: Father
loving Son; Son loving Father totally and unconditionally from all eternity. And the agent of love between them that is
breathed forth is the Holy Spirit. In prayer, we should be asking God
for the grace to be a part of the relationship, the communication, between the
three persons of the Trinity-- to be more than a spectator, but rather, an
active participant in the very inner life of God.
There are two main reasons why knowledge
of the Trinity should be important to us. First, it allows us to know
more and more about God, and we can't love Him if we don't know Him. If
we truly love God, we will be compelled to know more and more about who He is,
not merely who we imagine Him to be. If we truly love God, we more easily
desire to hear His voice, not merely our own. God shows us who love is. When we say that God (or the
Trinity) is love, what we are really saying is that love is not merely an aspect of God. Rather, love IS who
God IS in Himself - three persons loving each other in totality. God didn’t
create us and then insert love into
the picture. Rather, the love within the Trinity was there from all
eternity, and in this love everything else was created, including mankind.
The second
reason why knowledge of the Trinity is important for us is that it allows us to
know more about ourselves and who we should be. Since we are created in
God's image, the Trinity reveals that we are meant to be in relation with other
persons. We were created to love and to be loved. Being in relation
is part of what it means to be human. The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony is
modeled after the Trinity. The
relationship between parents and children is, too—as are other familial
relationships. The Trinity is our origin
and our goal.
I was at Walmart the other day buying some groceries
and I used the automatic checkout—you know, where you are checked out by a
machine? I was thrilled that I could do this all by myself and not have
to wait in line for a cashier. But then
it hit me: I went through the entire store without really having any interaction
with another human being. Those of
you who do your banking online know what I’m talking about—it’s the same thing. I used to know the names and some details
about all of the tellers who worked in my bank—and they knew mine. Now, I barely see them, and really am just a
number. We need to guard against this de-personalization of modern
society. The Trinity shows us that we were created to be relational beings.
We were not meant to go through life alone, as a “rugged individual.” St. John Paul II said: “Man…cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself.” In today’s
Gospel, Jesus sends the disciples out specifically to deal with other human
beings. It’s not enough for them to live
pious, devoted lives; they must seek out people and bring them to Him. We must therefore take His instruction to baptize in the name of the Father, of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit in a very broad sense. It does not merely refer to our church
baptism; it includes the entire work of the church, the process of inviting
people to experience the risen Christ in all of its sacraments. Lastly, the Trinity reveals to us that love is
at the essence of each person's calling, and our vocations to marriage, the
single life or to the priesthood and religious life are the deepest way of
living out that love.
The
Trinity is our origin and our goal.
Florence Chadwick was a world-class swimmer, the first
woman to swim the English Channel in both directions. In 1952 Florence attempted to swim from
Catalina Island to the California coast. After about 15 hours a thick fog set in.
Exhausted, she kept swimming, but finally told her mother who was in a boat
next to her that she couldn't go any further. When they brought her aboard she realized she
was just one mile from her destination. Two
months later she tried again. Just as it
had the first time, the fog set in; but this time she kept an image of the
shoreline in her mind. Although equally
exhausted this time around, she kept going and succeeded in reaching her goal. What a
difference it makes if we have an image of our destination in mind! And our image is not a shoreline, but heaven.
You and I
sometimes get weary or discouraged and want to stop. The future seems cloudy and bleak. But right beyond the fog that is today’s
anti-church society is the shore, in this case, the Trinity. It includes Jesus in his full, glorified
humanity--the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. The one who promised: “And behold, I am with
you always, to the end of the age.” And
it includes God the Father, and the Holy Spirit. The Trinity, three persons in one God, who we
will never fully understand, but who we believe in and worship by faith.
Something
else we have a hard time understanding is when a young person, full of life and
love, is suddenly and tragically taken from us.
Toni Piccinich, a parishioner here, was killed Friday night by a drunk
driver. She was 19 years old. In situations like this, we cannot help but
ask “Why?” It’s a question we simply
cannot answer. But, just like with the
Trinity, when we are faced with something we do not understand, something that
doesn’t seem fair, we must rely on our Faith.
We must turn to, and trust in, God.
And we must take comfort in the beautiful words of Jesus in today’s
Gospel: “behold, I am with you always,
to the end of the age.” Jesus is with us
as we grieve. Jesus is with Toni’s
family in this devastating time. And
yes, Jesus is with Toni; more importantly, our faith tells us that Toni is in
heaven, with Jesus, and all the angels and saints.
Eternal rest grant unto her O Lord, and let perpetual
light shine upon her. May her soul, and
the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in
peace. In the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
