Trinity Sunday

First Reading: Proverbs 8:22-31
Psalm: Psalm 8:4-9 4
Second Reading: Romans 5:1-5
Gospel: John 16:12-15

Today we celebrate the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. What is the Trinity? Admittedly, this is one of the most difficult teachings in the Christian tradition. Too easily, we try to say that we believe in one God in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But that misses the point, I think. You see, the entire creed that we recite in mass every Sunday describes our beliefs in terms of the doctrine of the Trinity.

We believe in one God, the Father who…and then we profess faith in the doctrines of creation and providence, and in the Son who…and we state our belief in the doctrines of the incarnation, redemption and resurrection, and in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, who…followed by the doctrines of Scripture, tradition, the church and eschatology. Indeed, as the theologian Michael Himes points out, our whole creed is a statement of belief in the Trinity. <1>

And what is the Trinity, then? In the First Letter of John, chapter four in verses eight and again in sixteen, we read that “God is love.” Now in the Greek, the word used is Agape. Agape is completely centered on the one loved. We often describe this, especially in the context of Christian marriage, as total self-gift. In fact, the First Letter of John claims that God is least wrongly thought of as a relationship of self-gift among persons.

When we hear in Matthew’s Gospel, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them,” (Matthew 18:20), that doesn’t mean that when we think about him, Jesus will be with them. What we mean is that in the context of agape, Jesus will be discovered in what happens whenever people come together in true mutual love.

But this particular love, agape, is so completely different from any other type of love, which is why we take such care in Christian marriage of establishing clear boundaries in our relationships to help protect the sacredness of Christian marriage – to prevent it being reduced in a way that can be easily dismissed.

You see, this love – this total self-gift is the Trinity itself. The Father totally gives Himself to the Son, no strings attached. The Son unconditionally receives this love and totally returns it to the Father, no strings attached. Through this constant action of total self-gift, total reception, total self-gift, total reception, the Holy Spirit emerges. That’s why in the Creed, we say the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.

Christian marriage, then, is a good way to describe Trinity. There is no personal relationship outside of marriage that should in any way be compared to marriage itself because there is no personal relationship outside of marriage that can be an example of total self-gift and total reception.

Christian marriage is one way that Trinitarian love is shared with the world around and enables people who experience that love to experience God in a real and personal way. Christian marriage is an example of total surrender to the will of the Father and participating in the act of total self-gift. Those who are touched by the Trinitarian love flowing from Christian marriages in turn can share that love with those around them – either through the specific service of vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and consecrated life, or through other acts of love and service for the people around us. And when we share that Trinitarian love we experience flowing from Christian marriages with others, because we are all image and likeness of God, we are in fact sharing love with the Lord.

Isn’t it interesting that in Matthews Gospel, we find the most extraordinary statement of love in the whole Christian tradition? In the Judgment of the Nations, (25:31-46), which I content describes the metrics for the judgment we will face, the criterion of judgment is not any sort of religious act. Rather, the one criterion is: Did you love your brothers and sisters? To love the least of our brothers and sisters is to love the Lord, whether we know it or not. This make sense doesn’t it? Afterall, God is love.

Homework: