The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
Proverbs 8:22-31
Psalm 8:4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15
Today we come face to face with what religion calls mystery. Often events in our life are mysteries. All of us live with mysteries. A mystery is something or some event which is difficult or impossible to understand or explain. Examples are the mysteries of outer space, or the mystery hidden in a riddle, or the mysteries hidden in old abandoned houses. Sometimes we refer to persons we know by saying he or she is a mystery to me. Some particular trades or jobs or specialities contain mysteries such as the mystery of analytical geometry or psychology. The medical profession deals with the mysteries of the human body day after day. Some people spend hours watching mystery programs on TV. Right now trying to cap the oil well in the Gulf seems to be a mystery. So it is reasonable to believe that all religions have mysteries. Religions have teachings or beliefs that go beyond human understanding. Catholics believe that God has provided us with some supernatural truths that are necessary for salvation, but some of these truths we could never know without God revealing them to us.
Today we honor one of these truths known as the central mystery of our Catholic faith. It is the mystery of the Blessed Trinity. The mystery of believing in one God there are three distinct persons by the name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Today on Trinity Sunday we are asked to BELIEVE this mystery of our faith. But we are not asked toUNDERSTAND the mystery, because like all good mysteries, we cannot really understand it. We can know a lot about it, however. If God had not revealed this mystery in the Bible, we could have never dreamed of it. In the Bible Jesus tells his friends and us: Go then, to all people everywhere, and make them your disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Mt 28: 19)
However, we must not confuse this mystery of the Trinity with mystery as it applies to a puzzle or detective story. The mystery of God is not a puzzle to be solved. It is a truth for us to believe. It is a reality which cannot be fully understood by our minds. God has always remained beyond our understanding.
Because of Jesus and his teachings we are better able to answer our question WHO IS GOD? If we want to know who God is, trying to know Jesus better gives us a clue to God. The early Catholics did not use Trinity when they spoke of God, but they believed in God’s continuing presence among them.
Probably without knowing it, each of you as Catholics have expressed this mystery of the Trinity in many ways. We express the Trinity:
We make the sign of the cross at the beginning and end of Mass
In the Creed that we will soon pray together
We make the sign of cross in blessing the bread and wine
At Baptism when we pour water over the head of a child
When sins are forgiven in the sacrament of confession
In the anointing of a sick person
In beginning and ending a prayer, either alone or in public
In beginning Catholic meetings and conferences and classes
In the blessing of the wedding rings right before a couple place them on each others finger
By the Trinity we mean that God the Father is a person; that Jesus is a person; and that the Holy Spirit is a person. So we can say: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. And each of them is God, but there are not three Gods but one God. And they are all equal.
While I cannot explain this mystery, or any spiritual mystery to you, I may be able to help you to BELIEVE it more. In a sense it is based on love. For example, the love between two persons or friends is often bigger than the combined love of each person; or the love between a wife and husband combined in marriage form almost a third person. Both husband and wife are individuals, but they almost form a third person created by the love they have for each other. They bring together responsibilities and joys which they never had as individuals.
Legend tells us that St. Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock to teach about the three persons in one God. It has three petals but it is one leaf. It is a neat teaching device, but it does little to explain the mystery we call God.
Or consider a musical instrument like a piano or a guitar. Pluck each key or string alone and you have one sound, but pluck three strings together and you will have a sound quite different from the three that formed the sound.
Each of us may have a special devotion to one or other of the three persons of the Trinity. It most often happens that one of the persons of the Trinity may mean more to you than do the other two. Perhaps the Son Jesus is the person of the trinity that means most to you, although you may pray to God the Father when you want something special. What is important for us that each of the three persons of the Blessed Trinity can have a special meaning for us. It may be that
the Father provides
the Son saves us
the Holy Spirit guides us.
Today, on this feast of the Blessed Trinity, we are not directed to understand a mystery of our faith and religion. We are, however, invited to renew our faith in the mystery of God the Father as our creator and provider, God the Redeemer as our for giver and redeemer, and God the Holy Spirit as our sanctifier. As you make the sign of the cross today remember that you are telling yourself and anyone else who sees you that you believe that in God there are three persons: the Father, the Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
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