Trinity Sunday is the Feast of God's love and mercy.

 

TRINITY SUNDAY  B  2021

This past week, I had the great joy of celebrating with family the fourth birthday of my grand niece Taylor Lewis.  Taylor had been anticipating her birthday for some time and her birthday joy was infectious and we all shared in her love.  I will say that there was a brief meltdown that while Taylor was running in her back yard, she fell and her demeanor changed a bit.  I then put a band aid on her finger that really wasn’t medically warranted but it did help to make her feel better and the party atmosphere resumed.

I tell you on this Feast of the Blessed Trinity as a lead in for us to understand the mystery of the dogma of the Blessed Trinity.

Taylor’s birthday was a source of great family joy among her four siblings, her parents, her grandparents, her aunt and uncle.  This family gathering reaffirms for me that family is the school of love.  Even more than her presents which were important to her, Taylor knows deep in her heart, she is much loved.

Taylor’s birthday party is a beautiful way of introducing this Feast of the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity.  Hold that thought for a moment or two.

Embedded within us is a Trinitarian Spirituality.   We believe in God the Father who is our creator and life-giver.  All is a gift of God.  We believe that God sent his only begotten Son, Christ Jesus, into the world to reveal God’s love for us and to be our Savior and Lord.  We believe in God the Holy Spirit who, on the great feast of Pentecost which we celebrated last Sunday, was sent to us as the Breath and the Spirit of God who will be with us all days until the end of time.  We are the recipients of the gifts of the Spirit that are to be used and shared in the service of one another and the building up of our faith community.

There have been many books written on the dogma, the doctrine of the Trinity – of three persons in one God.   Taylor’s birthday party was all about the love we have for this precious child of God, and our family gatherings are about our relationships with each other that are so life-giving for all of us.  So too, a summary of the great mystery of the Trinity is that God is love.  God is revealed as a communion of persons.  The love that is within the union of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is shared with us.  As the Gospel proclaims:  “God so loved the world that He gave us His only Son so  that  everyone who believes in Him may not be lost, but may have eternal life.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               This feast day of the Blessed Trinity is not a feast for scholars; it is a celebration for lovers.  We celebrate the mystery of the inner life of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,  The inner life of God is communal, is relational; it is family,  In contemplating the Trinity, we reflect on the family of God.  Today is feast of God’s love and mercy.  Pope Francis Writes that mercy reveals the very nature of the Most Holy Trinity.

Moses is the first person to address us in today’s Liturgy of the Word.  We get to eavesdrop on a homily he preached to inspire his people to strengthen their commitment.  If we listen as heirs of his tradition, we hear him call us to remember our own experience of God.  He took his people through their memories of the Exodus and hearing God’s voice.  That suggests that we too might recall how and when we have been aware of God’s presence, of God’s love, of God’s grandeur.  He’s recommending that we allow this Day of the Lord to claim some of our time so that we can remember and appreciate the ways we have come to know God in our individual and communal lives. 

On this Memorial Day weekend, may we remember those who have given their lives in the service of our country.  We gather in prayer as a grateful nation and a grateful people.  This leads us into the Eucharistic mystery as we gather to give thanks to the Lord our God.

Today’s Gospel describes Jesus’ final appearance to the disciples and his commissioning of them to carry on the work of evangelization.  Jesus said to his disciples:  “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing time in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” This is a much expanded vision than the earlier mandate to go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

One of Pope Francis’s favorite themes is the commission given to us by the Lord himself is for us to be missionary disciples.  This call demands that we meet people where they are; we accompany people in the journey of life wherever we find people; and we proclaim to them their God-given dignity as God’s beloved sons and daughters.  As missionary disciples we don’t wait for people to come to us, we are commissioned and sent forth to raise people up wherever they are and help them to claim the love that God has for them.

As we celebrate and seek to understand the mystery of the Trinity, we try to explain the meaning of the Trinity in words, but it must be known in the experience of God that goes beyond words.  As we participate in the divine life of God in the sacraments, we share in the love of God.

And so, we begin our liturgy and most often we begin our prayer and we were baptized:  “In the name of the Father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit.”  We profess our faith and trust in the God who is love.  

The final sentence of today’s Gospel are the words of Jesus; “I am with you always, until the end of the age.”  The divine presence will remain with the disciples perpetually.  As the disciples of the Lord, may we hear those words of Jesus spoken to us:  “I am with you.”  I am with you as a God of love, as a God who calls us to help others claim the love that God has for them.

 

Have a Blessed Day.