Have you ever stopped to meditate on the words we pray, “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, Amen”? What does it mean to give “Glory to the Father”? Do we have any fathers in this community like our true Abba Father that we are able to exclaim that He is “Glorious”? And the same question may arise as we glorify the “Son” and the “Holy Spirit” in that same doxology. In the perfect unity of the Three Persons of the Godhead that we call the “Holy Trinity,” we experience the perfect love of each member toward one another. As one commentator wrote, “there is a common word among the three readings and it is Love, God’s Love.” It’s an example that we strive to imitate in our daily walk with one another in family and community.
As we celebrate the Solemnity of the “Most Holy Trinity,” we try to understand what God is communicating to us about the Trinity. Many spiritual writers have written that this great feast is one of the most difficult aspects of our faith to explain. A popular legend that many of us have heard is that when St. Patrick was faced with the task of explaining the Trinity to the poor Irish pagans that he was trying to convert, he used a shamrock to visualize for them the theological concept of the Trinity. St. Patrick was able to explain “How a single clover plant with three leaves is analogous to the one Triune God with three separate and distinct Persons.”
When I reflect on the scripture readings for the Most Holy Trinity Solemnity, I am struck with the idea of this All Powerful, All Mighty, and Awesome God that causes me, like Moses in our first reading, to “bow down to the ground and worship.” (Ex 34:8) Yet, this is the same God that in all humility, mercy and justice “gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16) This Promise for the Week reminds me of my own salvation when I was so undeserving of His love and mercy because of my past life and deviant living. But because I accepted His Son as my Lord and Savior, through the power of His Holy Spirit, I was not condemned but received eternal life in Him.
Why then, I wonder, am I so quick to judge my brother or sister when they don’t live up to my expectations? Why do I lose my patience so quickly when they “annoy me”? Why am I not like God the Father who is described in the first reading as “a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity”? (Ex 34:6). Isn’t there a need in my life for “rejoicing” as directed to in the second reading? (2 Cor 13:11) Yet, if I look at the living example of the love that each Person of the Trinity has for one another, a perfect love that flows out of their relationship to one another, I will see the answers to many of my questions.
May we continue to grow in that Perfect Love and see that unique Perfect Love in our sisters and brothers in our families and community. May we continue to “follow the Lord’s command” as we are directed to “affirm and empower one another in the Holy Spirit.” May our relationship with others, especially in community, grow in that same Trinitarian Spirit that we experience from the Father, Son, & Holy Spirit in our daily lives. Finally, as in our second reading this week, may we truly be able to say to each other, may “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” (2 Cor 13:13)
When I reflect on the scripture readings for the Most Holy Trinity Solemnity, I am struck with the idea of this All Powerful, All Mighty, and Awesome God that causes me, like Moses in our first reading, to “bow down to the ground and worship.” (Ex 34:8) Yet, this is the same God that in all humility, mercy and justice “gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16) This Promise for the Week reminds me of my own salvation when I was so undeserving of His love and mercy because of my past life and deviant living. But because I accepted His Son as my Lord and Savior, through the power of His Holy Spirit, I was not condemned but received eternal life in Him.
Why then, I wonder, am I so quick to judge my brother or sister when they don’t live up to my expectations? Why do I lose my patience so quickly when they “annoy me”? Why am I not like God the Father who is described in the first reading as “a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity”? (Ex 34:6). Isn’t there a need in my life for “rejoicing” as directed to in the second reading? (2 Cor 13:11) Yet, if I look at the living example of the love that each Person of the Trinity has for one another, a perfect love that flows out of their relationship to one another, I will see the answers to many of my questions.
May we continue to grow in that Perfect Love and see that unique Perfect Love in our sisters and brothers in our families and community. May we continue to “follow the Lord’s command” as we are directed to “affirm and empower one another in the Holy Spirit.” May our relationship with others, especially in community, grow in that same Trinitarian Spirit that we experience from the Father, Son, & Holy Spirit in our daily lives. Finally, as in our second reading this week, may we truly be able to say to each other, may “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” (2 Cor 13:13)