Solemnity of The Most Holy Trinity
Scripture:
Proverbs 8:22-31
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15
Reflection:
This Sunday is Trinity Sunday, when we focus on how God has been revealed to us through Jesus Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit – that God is One, in Three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It seems too difficult and confusing to wrap our minds around such a belief. For me, and I think for many theologians throughout the years, the mystery of the Trinity is summed up in words that we get from our second reading (Romans 5:1-5). In our reading, St. Paul talks about being justified by faith, and even being able to boast of our afflictions, “knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given us.”
The mystery of the Trinity is the mystery of God’s love “poured into our hearts.” I see it as God, this Being of perfect Love and perfect Relationship, demonstrating the perfection of Love by going outside of God’s self, and loving us into existence. And not only did God love us into existence, God gave us free will, because real love can only be given freely. And God loved us so much that the Father sent the Son, who became incarnate by the Holy Spirit, in order to save us from sin and the fear of death, and to be reconciled to God, in the hope of being with God forever.
In our Gospel reading (John 16:12-15), Jesus says to His disciples: “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth…He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.” It seems to me that this incredible, inexplicable love of God is what the Holy Spirit has taken and declared to us.
But is that love still too much for us to bear? I see many people who can believe that God “so loved the world,” but cannot believe that God loves them. I see many others who believe that God loves them and others like them, but not “those people.” And I see many people who look on life as some kind of zero-sum affair; that somehow another’s gain is their loss. But when we buy into that kind of thinking, are we not refuting our faith in God? Are we not putting limits on God? But how can we reason that there are limits to God’s love, and God’s abundance, and God’s blessings, if we believe that God is love; if we believe in the Trinity?
The mystery of the Trinity reminds us that we were created out of love; we were created for love; we were created to love. To love as Jesus has commanded us, and the Holy Spirit keeps prompting us, we are simply being true to who God made us to be. When we choose to love, afflictions will come, because of our empathy with those who suffer; because of the sacrifices we are willing to make; because of resistance to justice and peace.
Having been loved so much, may we love each other and the whole world.
Fr. Phil Paxton, C.P., is the local superior of the Passionist Community in Birmingham, Alabama.