THE AMAZING MYSTERY OF THE TRIUNE GOD

READINGS: THE MOST HOLY TRINITY

Today, we celebrate the amazing doctrine of the Trinity, a doctrine and a mystery beyond human understanding. How can there be Three Persons in One God? Trying to understand this with our human minds is like trying to empty an ocean into a hole.

What is important for us to understand about the Holy Trinity is this: How has God revealed Himself to us from the beginning of creation? Scripture has revealed that we have God the Father, who is the creator of heaven and earth. We have God who manifested Himself as the savior and redeemer of the world through His Son, Jesus Christ. We have God who remains present with the Church, sanctifying and guiding it through the Holy Spirit. So, what we see here is One and the same God, who, in His distinctive roll as Father, is not the Son or the Spirit, and in His distinctive role as Savior and redeemer of the world (Christ Jesus), is not the Father or the Spirit, and in His distinctive role as sanctifier and guide of the Church (Holy Spirit), is not the Father or the Son. So, what we are celebrating on this Trinity Sunday—Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit— is three distinct modes in which God is over and above us, as Father, with us and for us, as Savior, and within us and among us, as Spirit. But this distinctive role is not a separation because what one wills, all three will; what one does, all three do, working in concert, the three playing their distinctive parts in collaboration with one another—one God, who, in three co-equal persons, created us, redeemed us, and sanctifies us. This is what today is all about.

This internal distinctive and collaborative functioning of the Holy Trinity presents us with a model for the Church and the human family. Just as the Trinity is distinctive in function, so also has God created all of us as unique individuals endowed with special gifts and talents for the development of the human community, and it is in pursuing that distinctive character that each of us can find our true destiny. Therefore, it is not right for any of us to follow the trails other people want to achieve in our lives because that will only make us end up in their destiny not ours.

But as we know, no tree alone makes a forest. The Holy Trinity, even though distinctive in function, collaborates as a perfect model of harmony, unity, community, and supportive engagement. God calls us to work and grow together because when we do, we achieve more than we can achieve alone. My friends, no matter how good we are, we need one another to build a family, a community, and sure indeed, to build up this beautiful Church of ours that God has given to us. It is a real challenge to live in a society where bigotry, discrimination, racism, and hatred stand as walls of divide. What the Trinity calls for is for us to expand our circle of relationships; to support each other in the attainment of our individual goals, realizing that we are all sons and daughters of the same God who created us, saved us, and continues to live in us as children of the same father. All the diving walls that continue to be raised in our communities are against the spirit of what we are celebrating today—The Holy Trinity. “Father, that they may all be one”, was one of the last prayers of Jesus Christ. My friends, it truly takes a village to raise a child. Happy Holy Trinity Sunday!