Trinity Sunday June 11, 2017
I was an electrician for about 35 years. I was taught the theory and science behind electricity. I still remember a lot of those formulas. And although I know the science, electricity is still a mystery to me. I know how it works, but I can’t see it…unless it’s in lightning. It’s like magic. I know what it does in certain circumstances. I know how not to get hurt. I know how to harness it to get things done… but it is still a mystery to me.
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. We believe in One God, consisting of Three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But what is this anyway? Persons you say, like us…people, humans? Well that’s where mystery comes in. Although Jesus introduced us to the Trinity, He never actually said that exact word. He told us about the Father. The Holy Spirit descended upon Him at His baptism, along with the Father calling Jesus His Beloved Son. Jesus promised to send His Holy Spirit as our Advocate. He breathed His Holy Spirit into His Apostles! We just can’t wrap our heads around it though.
St. Patrick compared the Trinity to a shamrock. Three petals making up one plant…without any one or more and it just wasn’t a shamrock. God must be all three Persons to be complete, unity and trinity together by necessity, by nature. Some have tried to compare the Trinity to an apple, core, flesh and skin… or an egg… yolk, white and shell…but these fall short when only one part is present its only skin or shell or core, etc. it’s not an apple or an egg; but when the Holy Spirit is present, or Jesus or the Father…well they are still God.
We aren’t transcendent like God, therefore we will never fully understand. I like to think of God as Love. Perfect love, given, received, shared and enjoyed in a vibrant, fluid, living relationship. The Father is the Lover, the Son is His Beloved, and the Holy Spirit is the Love shared between them. When we share in that Trinitarian relationship, by returning that love with which God first loves us, we are incorporated into God! We are then the Beloved! Wrap your head around that! We as Christ’s mystical Body are incorporated into the Beloved Son. We are God’s children!
The Trinitarian relationship of love is the model we humans try to live in family life. It’s the model we should try to live in society as well. It’s the kind of love we should try to model in our marriages and all personal relationships… unconditional, self giving, open to be fully, faithfully and freely given and received. Sometimes the mystery for us is how to actually do that in a world that seems all about me… But that’s the job, that’s the Christian call…to love as Jesus did. Sometimes its a little easier for me if I focus on the reality of being a child of that loving, generous, forgiving, merciful God described in our reading today.
Today, maybe take a little time and just meditate on being a Child of God, and look at all those around you as His children too, and the implications of that! Because it’s true. Peace and All Good, my friends!
