The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
Today, we celebrate the feast of the Most Holy Trinity. If I had to name this feast based on today’s readings, I would name it the feast of the Most loving Trinity. None of the readings we have today speak about the holiness of the Trinity or about the Trinity itself. Rather they speak about the nature of God who is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.” Paul refers God as the God of love and peace. Jesus, in today’s gospel reading says, “God so loved the world….”
On the one hand, to preach about God who is love is the easiest thing to do. From another perspective though, it is the hardest thing to do because it is difficult to reconcile this God of love with human suffering, with natural disasters, with terminal illness or our human experiences of distress, hopelessness and misery. So even as you sit and listen to these readings, I wonder if you are thinking why God, who so loved the world, could not save the child your lost, or listen to your prayers for your addict child, or why could not heal someone you love, or why God could not send the financial help you need, or why God not just take all your temptations away. It is difficult to reconcile these thoughts with the God who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and rich in kindness.
It is not my intention is this homily to address this dilemma. However, in three points, I would like to focus how these readings make sense for me. I am merely hoping to share what has made sense to me in prayer.
1. If this is true that God is "a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity" (Ex 34:6), then it is impossible for me to conclude that God either causes suffering or that God is unaffected by the pain that people endure. I find it impossible to conclude that God does not weep with us when we are in distress. Did God send all the good people who died but did not believe in Jesus to hell as gospel reading tells us, “Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God (Jn 3:18). What is the truth? Honestly, I do not know. All I know is this – that God is "a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity" (Ex 34:6) and that God is the kind of God who even gave us his Son. The God I know is a God who as Father, Son and Spirit worked beyond human wisdom together to bring salvation to the world. I trust God to save those he created in love. I trust God to make the right decision in God’s overwhelming, unfathomable, inexplicable love.
2. The second practical implication comes from today’s second reading. St. Paul says to the Corinthians, “…encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you” (2 Cor 13:11). And Paul ends his letter with these words, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you” (2 Cor 13:13). Should we interpret this to mean that because the “grace of Jesus, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit” (2 Cor 13:13) is with us that we should “encourage one another, agree with another, live in peace?” (2 Cor 13:13). Or does he mean that if we “encourage one another, agree with another, live in peace” (2 Cor 13:13) the grace of Jesus, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit” (2 Cor 13:13) will be with us? I want to answer this question by going back to the introduction of my homily. I said earlier that I would have renamed this feast the feast of the Most Loving Trinity. But then, holiness is love and love is holiness. Paul, I think means both: he is asking his community to live in love because then the grace/holiness of God would be with them and because the grace/holiness of God was them, they could live in love. Holiness and love are integrally connected. In other words, we must be the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit in the world.
3. As Catholics we have to admit that we are fortunate. I say so because the most intense experience of the “grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor 13:13) is the Eucharist. However, let me add a fourth reality to the Trinity – each one of us gathered here. It is true that God is self-sufficient and that God does not need any created being to complete God’s being. But think about it; even if a child exists independently without the mother is the mother complete without her child? A child born to a mother is part of the mother. In the same way, God has invited us into God’s community. While God can complete in his being without us, God wills for all of us to be in perfect communion with the Son and the Holy Spirit. And this Eucharist is the most perfect example of this on earth. How fortunate we are who understand this and can celebrate this.
As we continue to celebrate this Eucharist, let it be a celebration of God’s love as Trinity and the overflowing of that love to us as communion. Because of this Eucharist and because of our love for all people, may we find perfect communion with God in heaven and now on earth. Amen.
- Fr. Satish Joseph