Reflection on the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity

The Trinity: Father, Son and Spirit, one God, three persons. Nobody understands what that really means. We proclaim it as a truth, but there is no way to capture all of God. 

Many have had this experience: Most evenings my mother would ask, “What did you learn at school today?” I remember saying, “Sister said there were three Gods.” Now normally if Sister said it, that was truth beyond repair because Sister’s word reigned supreme. But this answer caught my mother by surprise.”No,” she said, “Sister meant there is one God and three persons.” Now my mother was a Catholic all her life so she was no dummy about faith matters. She was clear: “One God and three persons.”

The supper debate stopped. Sister was always right, and so was my mother. When we got to school the next day, Billy McBride told us that his dad said, “One God, three people.” And he was a lawyer. Well, that settled it, and we told Sister Robert Leona that truth. And surprise, she agreed with my mother and Mr. McBride. However, we moved on in the religion book, and my fourth-grade Trinitarian theology stopped right there, and I did not study the mystery of the Trinity until graduate school when one of our text books was “The Church Year” by Karl Rahner, and there it was: The Mystery of the Trinity. And even after reading Rahner, I still did not solve it because our knowledge of this mystery is beyond text-book understanding. But, in reviewing Rahner’s overall point I learned that salvation history has a Trinitarian shape, pouring God’s self out in us so that all of creation, all being, is drawn into divine life. 

I bet that none of us sit around thinking about the Trinity, but I also bet that sometimes we do sit around thinking about love and friendship and, yes, the One God who loves us all so much it took three persons to prove it. Little by little the followers of Jesus needed time to understand Paul’s words to them and how the early Christians began to develop a new understanding of God present to us in three personal ways through divine communication:

• The love of God as Father-Creator

• The grace of Jesus as Logos, the Word spoken

• And the fellowship and love engendered in response to the Holy Spirit.

What I really learned from reading Rahner is this: God’s very being is communal love, and God created everything to share that love. We find our greatest fulfillment from the Trinity, enjoying relationships with one another, with God and with all of creation. We are made in the context of “us” and responsible to co-create in the “us” by building the kingdom on earth right now.

The love of God and love of others is inseparably intertwined. Not only are we called to serve others, we are called to be sustained and loved into God’s life by each other. 

We need the grace of the Trinity, not to solve a mystery, but to respond to God’s grace in the various ways love comes to us. 

The longer we reflect on the grace of the Trinity, the more we will understand God’s love; just like the more we grow in friendship with each other, we will understand that the Community gives us life – we come to community thirsty to drink and hungry to be fed. We come to give and to be restored.  We come to love and be loved. We know this truth in our hearts; all we need to do is carry it out.

I want to remember in learning about the Trinity, that Sister Robert Leona was right; my mom, Alice, was right; Mr. McBride, the lawyer, was right; and Karl Rahner was right. One God, three persons who are Love and who love us into being.

What we know about the Trinity we learn from each other, if we are in the fourth grade or as an elder, because God draws us into those relationships – seeking always to be compassionate, faithful and forgiving. Deep love of others is necessary for anyone who wants to grow as a human being. Because of the Trinity we are capable of much more than we might imagine. And in these hard times, recognizing the dignity of each person, getting food and health care for all, peace within and beyond our borders, is the work of all believers growing into God’s life. God has shown us the way to love, and we are not alone.

On Pentecost, Pope Leo told the crowd in St. Peter’s square, “The Holy Spirit overcomes fear, she shatters inner chains, heals wounds, anoints with strength and grants us all the courage to go out to all and proclaim God’s mighty works. Let us work together to build a society where every person can thrive, and no one is left behind.”

As we approach our Eucharist today, in union with our Trinitarian God, we are transformed by this Mystery that is life-giving and has the potential to change the world. 

Through the grace of the Trinity, let’s do it. Together.