034 Holy Trinity Sunday
Readings
Cycle B Holy Trinity SundayNew Testament: Romans 8:14-17
Old Testament: Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40
Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20
Psalm: Psalm 33
Homily Theme
A Mystery
This Sunday you will notice that the scriptures do not contain the words Holy Trinity and nowhere in the Bible will you see this phrase. It is the phrase the Church infallibly uses to describe a mystery revealed to us in scripture about the nature of the infinite God whom we worship as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We live in a wonderful world full of mysteries, the more we discover, the more there is to discover. If we were to live a million years we would still have things to discover, so vast is creation. If creation itself is so full of mystery, how much more so is the infinite Creator of all this creation? God has revealed Himself as a Holy Trinity, three Persons in One God. This is the great mystery. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all one and the same God.
We believe in the Holy Trinity because Jesus, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, has revealed this truth to us. When Phillip asked Jesus to show him the Father, Jesus responded, “How long have I been with you and you still do not know me? He that has seen me has seen the Father for I and the Father are one. Jesus tells the apostles to baptize In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Jesus also promises to send the Holy Spirit who will teach them all things. .It has been the constant teaching of the Church that there is only one God. These three Persons are not three Gods, but one. This is the Mystery of the Holy Trinity.
Mysteries cannot be explained but we still feebly attempt to understand revealed mysteries. Theology is Faith seeking an understanding. St Patrick, when preaching this mystery to the Irish, used a shamrock as an example of something that was three in one. It didn’t explain the mystery but it was an aid to the Irish accepting this mystery. I have found the example of the chemical designation of H2.0 for water an aid to teaching this mystery. Water is H2.0 and so is ice and so is steam but all three is H2.0. The Father is the life giving water without which there is no life; Jesus is like the ice that has to melt away in order for the Holy Spirit to be our steam bath. It doesn’t explain the mystery but is an aid to help people to accept it. Remember always, theology is Faith seeking an understanding and we will never really understand the Holy Trinity until we meet God face to face.
Pray always as the Church does
To The Father, Through The Son In The Holy Spirit
Amen