The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
In today’s first reading, we hear how Moses, obedient to God’s command, ascends Mount Sinai early in the morning. Up at the summit, the Lord appears to Moses in a cloud and shares his name with Moses: “LORD” (in Hebrew, the tetragrammaton YHWH, the unspeakable holy name).
But God doesn’t only reveal the name that Moses should call him; he also reveals what kind of God he is: “The Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.” Moses bows down in worship and entreats the Lord to “receive us as your own.”
This weekend we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. The solemnity reminds us that we have a God who wants us to not only know his name, but to know his inner self.
At the time of St Paul, Christian theology had not yet developed the explicit doctrine of the Trinity, but we see it indirectly in St Paul’s farewell to the Corinthians in the second reading this weekend: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, God (the Father), the Jesus (the Son), and the Holy Spirit.
The “love of God” the Father flows to us through the “grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,” and the Holy Spirit draws Christians together in fellowship. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the God who is rich in mercy and love.
We believe that God is love.
Love is essentially love in relationship. Saint Augustine described the Holy Trinity as God the Lover, God the Beloved, and the Love between them. May we recognize God’s triune presence all around us, particularly in the experience of the loving relationships in our own lives.
The mystery of the Trinity is revealed through the revelation of God’s love for us. For all eternity God the Father gives Himself entirely to God the Son, and for all eternity God the Son gives Himself entirely to God the Father. And the Holy Spirit is this gift of love that unites Father and Son. God is this eternal exchange of love, and we have been created to share in this exchange. (Catechism of the Catholic Church)
In the Gospel, John summarizes God’s love for us: He gave us his only Son for our salvation. And anyone who believes in this God will not perish but will have eternal life.
As members of the Church our love is meant to point the world back to the source of our love: God himself. We’re called to show the world the love of the Trinity by the way we love one another.
The Church is to be a sacrament or “a sign of union with God” and unity with “the whole human race.” (Lumen Gentium 1) The love that we have as members of Guardian Angels, is about more than just being a tight-knit community; it’s about showing the world that we have a loving relationship with God and with one another.
The mystery of the Blessed Trinity reveals that God is eternal love: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit living in perfect communion. Created in God’s image, we are made for relationship and for the gift of self. In Jesus Christ, the perfect revelation of the Father’s love, we learn that true love is self-giving and life-giving. May our families, our parish, and all our relationships reflect the love of the Trinity, so that through us others may come to know the God who calls us his own.