Trinity R Us (Trinity Sunday, Year C)

Trinity Sunday Year C

Jesus said, "Who do men say that I am?"

And his disciples answered, "Some say you are John the Baptist returned from the dead; others say Elias, or one of the prophets."

And Jesus answered and said, "But who do you say that I am?" 

Simon Peter replied, "Thou art the Logos, the Second Person of the Godhead, existing in the Father before all time as His rationality and then, by an act of His will, being generated, in consideration of the various functions by which God is related to his creation, but only on the fact that Scripture speaks of a Father, and a Son, and a Holy Spirit, each member of the Holy Trinity being coequal with every other member, and each acting inseparably with and interpenetrating every other member, with only an economic subordination within God, but causing no division which would otherwise render the substance no longer simple."

And Jesus answered and said, "What?"

Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Universal Church celebrates the sublime mystery of the Holy Trinity, a mystery so profound that, at least according to my opening story, even Jesus doesn't understand it. Although the gospels mention Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the word "Trinity" is not found in the Bible. It developed over time as our understanding of God evolved over time.

We literally bow before this mystery. As you know, it is our custom when saying the Glory Be to bow. This is for two reasons. One is because we are praising God as God in the Trinity and there is no greater mystery or truth. But we also bow because this mystery, this solemnity, this truth is also about us.

There is a story about the great St. Augustine of Hippo, (that's Hippo the city in north Africa, not Hippo the animal in the Nile River) who lived in the fourth century. Anyway, he was a great philosopher, theologian and doctor of the Church. Augustine was preoccupied with the Blessed Trinity. He wanted so much to understand the doctrine of one God in three divine persons and to be able to explain it logically. 

One day he was walking along the seashore and reflecting on this matter. Suddenly, he saw a little child all alone on the shore. The child made a hole in the sand, ran to the sea with a little cup, filled her cup with sea water, ran up and emptied the cup into the hole she had made in the sand. Back and forth she went to the sea, filled her cup and came and poured it into the hole. 

Augustine drew up and said to her, “Little child, what are you doing?” 
She replied, “I am trying to empty the sea into this hole.” 
Augustine asked her, “How do you think you can empty this immense sea into this tiny hole and with this tiny cup?” 
She answered back, “And you, how do you suppose that with your small head you can comprehend the immensity of God?” With that, the child disappeared.

Of course, I would argue that even with just a small cup you can indeed comprehend the ocean. If you filled a small cup with sea water from the Gulf of Mexico, you would learn more than you cared to know about what is happening to the ocean. The more important question is: what does this mean to us?

The mystery of the Holy Trinity is as much about us as it is about God, for we are created in God's image and likeness. In other words, the more we strive to understand God, the more we will understand ourselves. And the more we understand ourselves, the more we will understand God.

We become like the God we worship. People who believe in a warlike God, become violent themselves. People who worship an angry and vengeful God became angry and vindictive. And people who worship and believe in a loving, caring, self-sacrificing God become loving and compassionate people. 

The Holy Trinity---Father, Son and Holy Spirit---means that we believe in a God of relationship and community. God is in an eternal, loving and life-giving relationship with the Son. The Son eternally reflects life back to the Father. This love is so powerful and dynamic it generates the Holy Spirit and sends it out to create, fill and renew all things.

We, too, are people who find our meaning and our life in relationship and in community. Now, relationship and community are neutral terms. That is, they can be either good or bad, healthy or unhealthy, life-giving or life-destroying.

Take a few moments and think about the different relationships in your life or in your past. We are born into family relationships. At first we might think our family is perfect, but as we grow older we realize our family is quite dysfunctional. This can discourage us until we look around and see all families are dysfunctional in one way or another. The good news is that our families do not have to be perfect; but they do have to be loving.

Sadly, sometimes we find ourselves in unhealthy relationships, where members abuse, exploit or take each other for granted. This can be so toxic it first destroys love and then it destroys life.

I do not think God wants us to remain in unhealthy relationships---or marriages. Of course everyone has to work at improving their family life and it is work and it is hard. I often tell brides and grooms on their wedding day that a wedding is a one day event, but a marriage is the achievement of a lifetime. I applaud the couples who stay together despite difficulties, but I also commend individuals who have the courage and sense to know when it is not going to work.

And what is our community then but an extension of our family, with all its charm, problems and neuroses? Just like every family faces difficulties, so does every community. But if we always bear in mind that God is the center of our family, of our community and of ourselves, there is no problem we cannot overcome through faith, hope and lots of love, not to mention a lot of patience, humility and forgiveness.

Never forget: we are made in the image and likeness of God. We are called to live in right relationships and in healthy communities. We stand today before the great mystery of the Holy Trinity. We beg God's blessings and graces to help us be better and do better and before this mystery we cannot help but humbly bow.