In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
What we just did is a public expression that we believe in the Most Holy Trinity
… That there is only one God, but that one God has revealed himself to us as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; three distinct, co-equal, co-eternal Persons.
The doctrine or the dogma of the Most Holy Trinity is not just one teaching among many. It is the Christian teaching of the very nature of God… the core belief, the essence and the great mystery of the Christian faith… how God shares His divine life and love with us in many ways. Everything a Christian does flows from this teaching, is centered upon this teaching, and leads back to this teaching… meaning, many aspects of the Catholic faith is grounded in the Trinity.
The doctrine of the Trinity is a distinctively Christian doctrine of God, something that separates Christians from other religious traditions.
People don’t realize how radical this teaching is…that this is completely contradictory in the mindset of the Jews. That is why they killed Jesus – because Jesus claimed to be God. The Jews say: “Hear O Israel, the Lord your God is One.” … and yet Jesus dared to say: “The Father and I are One” (John 10:30)… so, they killed him.
Muslims, will all due respect, completely reject the Trinitarian God. That is why even in our times, there are those who persecute Christians. Muslims cannot believe God becoming a man and sharing in our suffering.
Our celebration of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity is an invitation for us to enter into the mystery of God. The doctrine of the Trinity is a mystery - probably the most profound mystery of Christianity…most confusing and misunderstood….
That is why it took the Church – theologians, teachers, philosophers - about four centuries – four hundred years – of study and discussion – to come up and develop the doctrine of the Trinity - a dogma requiring belief… a leap of faith… because it is beyond our comprehension.
So on this great feast, let us be child-like as Jesus invites us…to believe… and not try to understand it all - how God can be one and three at the same time.
No where in the New Testament is the doctrine of the Trinity carefully explained. What we find there - is not so much men writing theology or explaining the Trinity, but people, like us, talking about something that has happened in their own lives – how their lives had been touched by God. They did not understand it all. The only thing they knew for sure was that God had become for them a living reality.
The question is this: How real is God to you? Is He just a concept?
The people of the Old and New Testament, they had seen God at work. They had witnessed his power. They had experienced his presence.
Today, as we profess the doctrine of the Trinity in the Creed, we must also look for the Trinity in the midst of our daily lives.
The doctrine of the Trinity describes the unique ways that people experience God's presence in their lives – how they came to know God.
Our question about the Trinity leads us to the basic question of:
“How do we know God?”
We find the answer by describing our own personal experience of God, our own encounters with Him.
God, the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit – is not just a mystery to be solved, not just a doctrine to be learned and understood - but Trinity is a Being to encounter, a loving Presence to experience. The life of God, the intimacy of God actually cannot be expressed in words. It can only be experienced.
The first followers of Jesus were Jews. Through their own experiences and through the writings of the prophets, they had learned to see God in everything. They had grown up with the stories of creation: Noah and the flood, the call of Abraham, the exodus, the giving of the law, and the possessing of the Promised Land. They have come to know God as the Creator and Sustainer of all things.
Then one day, their concept of God took on another dimension when they met a man named Jesus. At first, they saw Jesus as only a man, but there was something about him that was so captivating that they became his disciples, his students.
They listened to the things he said. There was a note of authority in his voice and in his words, not arrogance, but authority. Jesus taught or preached with Authority.
They watched how Jesus lived, the way he related to other people with compassion, kindness. The more people listened to Jesus teach, and the longer they watched him live, the more they were convinced that Jesus was NOT just an ordinary man.
They watched him and saw him die and they saw him live again and they knew that Jesus had conquered death and by this time, it was impossible for them to think or talk about God without thinking and talking about Jesus.
The disciples came to know God, they came to experience his personal touch and love through Jesus, the Son of God.
Now, you have the Father… now, you have the Son, Jesus.
Then Jesus ascended to heaven. At first, this troubled the disciples but little by little they realized that they were actually not alone.
God was with them; Christ was still with them. Then they remembered that this was exactly what Jesus had promised: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. (John 14:16-17)
As Jesus promised his disciples that He would never leave them, the disciples could sense His presence… that Jesus was with them all through the day; but he was more than with them; Jesus was IN them.
The Holy Spirit gave them strength for their work and strength for daily living. More and more, the Holy Spirit enabled them to live as Jesus lived. He gave them courage, joy, love. He showed them the will of God and enabled them to do it. Thus - they came to know God more, His loving presence, through the Holy Spirit.
Now, people have experienced God as Father, God as Son and God as the Holy Spirit… in them, with them.
And that is what the Trinity meant to the first disciples. It was NOT a doctrine. It was an experience. It was the way they had come to know God; as God the Father, the creator and sustainer of all things; as God the Son Jesus Christ, the redeemer; as God the Holy Spirit, the guide, the consoler…
That is what is so amazing about God: you do not have to understand everything about him in order to have a personal relationship with each of the three Persons of the Trinity. God longs to share his life with us, and he comes to us in his three Persons to play many roles in our lives.
Yes, we honor fathers today…but fathers, today you are also being reminded, challenged…The question is: Fathers, if people were to ask your children: “Do they believe in God?” Will they be able to say: “Yes, I believe in God. I can experience His love through my father.. I can see Jesus in my father.”? That is the big question as you celebrate Fathers’ Day today.
My brothers and sisters in Christ:
Let us continue to reflect on our experiences of God
continue to trust in the goodness and love of God our Father, who cares for us.
continue to believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our brother, Reconciler, Redeemer, the Good Shepherd.
continue to have hearts open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, our guide, who leads us to the knowledge of the truth – to a deeper understanding of God, of ourselves and to a more intimate relationship and communion with God…who Himself - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - is a communion of love…
Let me close in the words of St. Paul, pronouncing blessings upon his friends: “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship that is ours in the Holy Spirit be with us all.”
Amen.
God bless…
