The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (B); May 26, 2024

Dt 4:32-34.  Ps 33.  Rom 8:14-17.  Mt 28:16-20

Deacon Jim McFadden

            In his Summa Theologica St. Thomas Aquinas claims that “it is impossible to believe explicitly in the mystery of Christ without faith in the Trinity.”  The doctrine of the Trinity is what distinguishes Christianity from the other Abrahamic religions—Judaism and Islam—but is also fundamental to our theology: all of it; without it we simply wouldn’t be Christians.  The core beliefs of our faith—the Incarnation and the Paschal Mystery—are closely entwined and only make sense in light of the dogma of the Trinity.  Ironically, the term ‘Trinity’ is not mentioned once is the New Testament and rarely are the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit joined together in one sentence.

            Though the Trinitarian formula wasn’t promulgated until the Council of Nicaea in 325 a.d., the idea of the Trinity is derived from several New Testament passages: we hear in today’s Gospel reading from Matthew 28:19 (“baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.); in Paul’s 1^st Letter to the Corinthians 12:4-6 (“the same Spirit…the same Lord….the same God.”); in his 2^nd Letter 13:13 (“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you).   The point of this brief exegesis is to underscore that the dogma of the Trinity is not superimposed upon the Gospel, but is drawn from this Scriptural revelation.  Scripture and Tradition compliment one another.

            In our first reading from the Book of Deuteronomy (4:32-34), there is no reference to the Trinity implied, but is included for this Solemnity  because it proclaims the power of God and God’s nearness to Israel.  We hear “Has any people ever heard the voice of a god speaking out of a fire, as you have heard, and lived?  Or has any god ever attempted to and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation…?” (Dt 4:33-34).  What this passage says to us is not so much that God exists, but rather it is the nature of this God to be with us, to be close to us, who walks with us and is interested in our personal life story and takes care of each one of us, beginning with the least and neediest (cf. Matthew 25).  Moreover, He “is God in Heaven above” but also “on the earth beneath” (Dt 4:39).  Therefore, we do not believe in a distant entity “in a galaxy far, far away” far removed from our human experience.  But, rather we believe in God who reveals the divine name, LORD or Yahweh to Moses.  God is the great I AM.  God is not a particular kind of being, like we are, but God is Being? His essence is his existence!  According to John the Evangelist, GOD IS LOVE (1 Jn 4:8)!  That is not an attribute of God, but is God’s very nature: Love is Who God is.  And, it is that Love who created the universe, who gathered a people, who became Flesh, died, and rose for us and  the Holy Spirit transforms and leads everything to fulfillment.

            St. Paul in his letter to the Romans (8:14-17), who experienced first hand this transformation brought about by his encounter with the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus, tells us that God wants so much to be close to us that he wants to be called Father, indeed, Abba or Dad.  God is our Father, who sent his only begotten Son to become one of us for our salvation.  We can now approach God in total confidence of a child who abandons himself in the arms of the one who has given us life and who loves us unconditionally every moment of our existence: now and forever! 

            If we know the Father, then we know the one whom he sent: his beloved Son Jesus, who is not reduced to a harmless historical character from the ancient past, but the one we experience as being near, who is Immanuel (“God among us”) and thereby our contemporary.  Jesus  calls upon us to address God as our Father and in so doing we experience the joy of being children loved by God.

            More to it, the Risen Christ promises to be with us forever.  Though he has Ascended and is seated at the right hand of his Father, Jesus is not MIA but is continually present to us through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Through the seven gifts of the Spirit received at our Confirmation, we are empowered to carry out his mission that he has entrusted to us.  What is the Mission?  To proclaim to all the Good News of salvation and thereby expand the mystical Body of Christ and the joy that comes from participating in his very Life.  The Triune God is walking with us, fills our hearts with joy, and this joy is what grounds us: it is our primary language as we give witness to the God who is Three in One.

            The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity leads us to contemplate the mystery of God who unceasingly creates, redeems, and sanctifies:  God always connects with us with love and through love; participating his very Being, we begin to see Reality as God does: we see the Beauty, Truth, and Goodness that is grounded in Him.  God has always wanted to with be with us, to walk with us, to include everyone—all nations: no one is excluded.  Just as the Triune God is a relational Being, we, made in God’s image, are called to be the same: a Christian is not an isolated person hiding in a protective cocoon awaiting the Last Judgment.  Rather, we belong to a people, the People of God, who God forms to be like his beloved Son Jesus.  One cannot be a Christian without being in communion with the Church.  Christianity without the Church just doesn’t make sense.  So, we’re called to full-bodied, enthusiastic membership in the Church with all of that entails and to be in communion with the Triune God and in fellowship with our brothers and sisters.

 May we joyfully fulfill our Mission which began at our Baptism of witnessing the Good News to the world, which is thirsting for love, meaning of life that can only be found in his infinite unconditioned love: the tangible love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Reflection Questions:

1.  What impact does the doctrine of the Trinity have on your life?

• How do you understand the relationship between Scripture and Tradition?

• God is a Communitarian God.  Since we are made in God’s image, what does that truth teach us?