The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
We are celebrating the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity against the background of immense sadness in our nation. This week, not only did we cross the 110k mark for deaths from the coronavirus, but we also saw the struggle for racial equality, justice, and peace reach a critical phase. Most often tragedies unite a nation. That does not seem to be the USA of 2020. Both the pandemic and the struggle for equality and justice have only divided us further. I wish I could say that in the midst of these tragedies the Church stands as a beacon of hope. But alas! Whether it is about the means to contain the pandemic, wearing masks, social distancing, racial equality, police brutality, or large scale protests, the nation and the Church are deeply divided.
What might the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity be saying to us today? Let me propose three things for us to reflect upon.
1. The Celebration of Difference. Three persons, one God. Many people, one humanity. Scripture teaches us that God made man and woman in the likeness of God (Gen 1:27). But in whose likeness? Are we made in the image of the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit? After all, the Trinity is three different persons with each having their unique identity. The scriptures do not give us an answer. All scripture tells us is that every human person is made in the image and likeness of a God who is three persons but one God. If this is true, then the differences we see among us and the diversity we notice among us is a divine trait. Humanity is meant to at once reflect the oneness and the diversity of God. We are one humanity sacramentalized in the multitude of races and persons. If we truly understand the Trinity, then we realize that difference and diversity are meant to be celebrated rather than smothered. If we understand the Trinity, then we understand that no one person, no one race, and no one color does justice to the richness that God is! This has major implications for us! To claim racial, ethnic, and cultural superiority over others is to deny the God in whose image we are created.
2. God-Revelation is a Self-Revelation. From creation we move to revelation. The first reading is the account of God’s revelation to Moses. The scene describes Moses’ most intimate moment with God. God is revealed in these words: “The LORD, the LORD, a God gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love and fidelity” (Ex 34:6). In the gospel reading, there is an even greater revelation. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son” (Jn 3:16). The image of God that emerges from these two readings is awestriking – gracious, merciful, slow to anger, rich in kindness, abounding in steadfastness and love. The revelation of who God is, is unimaginably important. Even though these passages reveal God, simultaneously they also reveal who we are. The revelation of God is simultaneously a self-revelation. Those images of brutality, violence, abuse, and injustice that we see played out on our digital screens does not reflect the God we adore and worship. That is not who God is and that is not who we are. Gracious, merciful, slow to anger, rich in kindness, abounding in love – that is who the Trinitarian God is, and that is who we are!
3. Trinity is Love in Action. Revelation leads to action. God as a trinity of persons means that God is a community of persons in a dynamic relationship. The relationship between the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit as historically led to creative and redemptive action. In the created universe, in the awesomeness of the earth, in the wonder of every creature, in the miracle that is the human person, in the path of salvation offered to us in Jesus Christ, we get a glimpse of the creative and redemptive action of God. Trinity is love in action. And this is where the rubber hits the road for us. We are a people steeped into the life of the Triune God. From our conception, our birth, our death, and everything in between is marked with Trinitarian sign. Our sacramental life is infused with the life of the Triune God. This Eucharist is a celebration of the Trinitarian life. As people sealed with the sign and the life of the Trinity, as people who live the Trinitarian life, our life too must bear witness to the creative and redemptive actions of the Trinity. We know what the opposite looks like. Racism, prejudice, inequality, injustice, oppression, violence, abuse, the politics of division – these are contrary to the life of the Trinity. I believe that in this time of the history of the Church and the United States, each person stands at a crossroad. Either we are Trinitarian, or we are not! There simply is no middle ground.
As we participate in the Eucharist, we partake in the very life of the Trinity. May our lives reflect the graciousness, mercy, kindness, steadfastness and love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Many persons, one humanity.
- Satish Joseph