HOLY TRINITY: Ex 34:4b-6, 8-9; II Cor 13:11-13; Jn 3:16-18

The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is a basic doctrine of Faith in Christianity, understandable not with our heads but with our hearts. It teaches us that there are three distinct Persons in one God, sharing the same Divine Nature, co-equal and co-eternal. Our mind cannot grasp this doctrine which teaches that 1+1+1 = 1 and not 3. But we believe in this Mystery because Jesus, Who is God, taught it clearly, the Evangelists recorded it, the Fathers of the Church tried to explain it, and the Councils of Nicaea and Constantinople defined it as a dogma of Christian Faith.

There are only vague and hidden references to the Trinity in the Old Testament. But the New Testament gives clear teachings on the Holy Trinity.

1) At the Annunciation, God the Father sends His angel to Mary, God the Holy Spirit comes upon her, the Power of the Most High overshadows her, and God the Son becomes Incarnate in her womb.

2) At the baptism of Jesus, when the Son receives baptism from John the Baptist, the Father’s Voice is heard, and the Holy Spirit appears as a Dove and descends upon Jesus.

3) At the Ascension, Jesus gives the missionary command to his disciples to baptize those who believe, in the NAME of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Indicating this basic belief in the trinity, All prayers in the Church begin in the Name of the Holy Trinity and end glorifying the Trinity. 2) All Sacraments are administered in the name of the Holy Trinity. 3) We bless ourselves, and the priest blesses us, in the Name of the Holy Trinity.

There are some today who would not be unhappy to leave the Trinity to one side, to be able to dialogue better with Jews and Muslims, who profess faith in a unitarian God who is rigidly one. Jesus himself said, believe in God, and believe also in ME. So, believing in a unitarian God is not sufficient. Belief in the trinitarian God is the most sensible one.  

The Trinitarian doctrine says that the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are different from each other yet one God. Just think of one molecule of water (H2O) that is composed of two Hydrogen atoms and one Oxygen atom. Hydrogen is not Oxygen, nor oxygen same as hydrogen. But when they come together it becomes one molecule of water. Same way Father is not the Son nor the Son the Father or the Holy Spirit. But all the three are one God.

We profess that the Son and the Holy Spirit proceed from the Father: This we can think of as light and heat two different things coming from one source: a flame. But all the three are different things, not one thing. Flame is not heat, heat is not light and vice versa. The same way Father is not the Son, not the Son the Holy Spirit or the Father. The one divine nature exists fully and simultaneously in three divine Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Christians believe that God is triune because they believe that God is love! It is the revelation of God as love, made by Jesus, which obliges us to admit the Trinity. It is not a human invention. There is no love for the void, no love that is not directed to someone. So, we must ask: who does God love to be defined as love? A first answer might be: He loves mankind. But we have not existed for more than some millions of years, no more. And before then, who did God love? He could not in fact have begun to be love at a certain point in time, because God cannot change.

Who did God love, to be able to define himself as love, before the world or human beings existed? We cannot say that he loved himself because to love oneself is not love, but egoism or, as psychologists say, narcissism.

Here is the answer of Christian revelation. God is love in himself, before time, because he has always had in himself a Son, the word, whom he loves with an infinite love, that is, in the Holy Spirit. In all love there are always three realities or subjects: one who loves, one who is loved, and the love that unites them.

As one of the saints said, If God is LOVE he HAS to be two. Because love has to go out of oneself to another. If God is joy he has to be three. Joy is what originates when two people share love each other. Just like when a loving couple share their love, a new child is born. So, Trinitarian concept of God is the most sensible one. Only a trinitarian God can be present in Heaven and here on earth at the same time and be one God. Allah is present only in heaven, not here.

The God of Christian revelation is one and triune because he is communion of love. Theology has made use of the term "nature" or "substance" to indicate unity in God, and of the term "person" to indicate the distinction.

The message of today’s gospel reading is, ‘God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life’. The gospel reading doesn’t just speak of God’s love for a particular people, but of God’s love for the world, for all humanity, the whole created world. God looks upon the world as one entity, all of which he passionately loves.

To draw us into God’s life of love, eternal life, God not only sent us his Son, God also sent us the Holy Spirit through his Son. Jesus came among us to pour this divine love into our lives. Saint Paul expresses this wonderful truth very simply in one of his letters, ‘God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us’. If Jesus shows God to be God with us and God for us, the Holy Spirit shows God to be God within us. The more we open ourselves up to the gift of the Holy Spirit and the more we are filled with this Spirit of God’s love, the more we will be drawn into God’s own life, which is a life of love. Because the love within God is not closed in on itself but is a love for the world, the Holy Spirit of God’s love in our lives will inspire us with a love for the world. The Spirit of God’s love within us is a love that embraces all humanity and all creation. This Spirit of God’s love will move us to draw people together. It will inspire us to be bridge builders and peacemakers, builders of communities that are characterized by great diversity, where everyone is treated with equal dignity and respect. That is why, in the blessing at the end of today’s second reading, Saint Paul refers to the fellowship or the communion of the Holy Spirit.

God’s love poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit creates communion. This is a vital task in an increasingly divided world. The life of God is a communion of love and God desires humanity to be a communion of love, a reflection of God’s life.

The life of the Trinity is reflected where people in our parishes give of themselves to bring together in community those who would otherwise live isolated and lonely lives.

Today’s feast is not, therefore, just about God. It is very much about ourselves and how we are all called to live.

May the Holy Trinity who lives within us and outside of us, who engulfs us and penetrates us and all our thoughts, give us the grace to live a trinitarian life reaching out to others in love, peace and joy.