Homily on the Trinity for Trinity Sunday, by Fr. Jerome Machar
Confraternity of Penitents
Trinity: Invitation to Love
Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40
Romans 8:14-17
Matthew 28:16-20
In today's readings the Church tells us who we are and what is expected of us. Each of us has been made in the image and likeness of God. However, the potential of this image will not be realized until we are totally conformed to the image of Christ. If we are to grow in our relationship with Almighty God, our lives must authentically reflect the mystery that is the Triune God. To be living in God's image, we must be in a right relationship with God and with the members of the human race. We must be willing to place our minds and our wills at the service of God and of mankind. It is said that a people's values can be seen in the god they worship. We believe that "God is love'' (1 Jn 4:8). However, a God who is love might seem like a philosophical impossibility. How can one God, Who is perfect, lacking nothing in Himself and possessed of no dependence on creatures, be love when love necessitates a relation to another?
When the Word became Flesh, God revealed the solution to this paradox: God is perfect unity, but a unity of three Divine Persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- who are each equally divine. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist from all eternity. None precedes the other in time, but each is related to the others by a relationship that orders them with respect to one another. The ever-living, all-knowing, almighty God the Father exists from all eternity and is the source of all perfection created and uncreated. The self-conception and self-expression of this perfect Being is so complete that it is another person: God the Son, the Eternal Word, Who is the image of the invisible Father, "the only-begotten Son of God, begotten from the Father before all the ages, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, con-substantial with the Father, through Whom all things came to be" (Nicene-Constantipolitan Creed). The love between the Father and the Son is so perfect that it too is another person: God the Holy Spirit "the holy, the lordly and life-giving one, proceeding forth from the Father and the Son, co-worshiped and co-glorified with Father and Son" (ibid.).
When Jesus commissioned His disciples to baptize in the name of God, we came to know the Trinity: "Father, Son and Holy Spirit." God the Creator -- the source of life, the Creator who loves the works He had made. God the Incarnate Word -- God in our flesh, who out of love for us walked our walk all the way through death to resurrection. God the Holy Spirit -- the very love of God. Each divine Person shares equally in the divine nature, so that each person shares equally in the perfections of the others. The only distinction between the persons of the Trinity is their mutual relationship. None of the persons exists in respect to himself alone, but each exists in relation to the other two. St Augustine penned the following formula: "He is not called Father with reference to himself but only in relation to the Son; seen by himself he is simply God." Here the decisive point comes beautifully to light. "Father" is purely a concept of relationship. Only in being-for the other is He Father; in His own Being-in-Himself He is simply God. Person is the pure relation of being related, nothing else. Each of the Persons of the Trinity exists completely for the others; each is a total gift of self to the others. The complete self-giving not only constitutes the individual persons of the Trinity, but also their inseparable oneness. God is without limits, boundaries, and is incomprehensible to the human mind. He has no boundaries by which man might perceive Him. Another way of understanding this is that God has no edges or corners by which man may get a handle on Him. If man is going to know the unknowable, fathom the unfathomable, see the unseeable, he will need revelation, from this Limitless One. This is what the Scriptures are about: the revelation of This Infinite, Limitless Triune God.
The mystery of the Blessed Trinity, therefore, not only tells us about the Godhead, but also about our dignity as human beings. The author of Genesis tells us that Adam and Eve were created in the image and likeness of God. Clearly, we are not created in the physical image of the Almighty since God is incorporeal and has no physical appearance. So, what is it in our nature that is God-like? Each of us is a unique person capable of total self-giving. Christ is the perfect image -- an unsurpassed example of what God wants each of us to be like. Every trait, every characteristic, every quality found in the Father is also found in the Son, who is the Father's exact representation. The personal relationship that spiritually binds us with God is unique in our world. Faith is man's response to God, who reveals himself and gives himself to each member of the human race, at the same time bringing each individual a superabundant light as he or she searches for the ultimate meaning of life. In today's Gospel reading, Jesus declared that all power has been entrusted to Him and that He was sharing this power with His disciples. We are to use it to make new disciples and immerse them in the communion of the Godhead through baptism. Jesus commits Himself to His being with them all and for ever. We are to announce that all they do will be in the name of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit. This power is not for domination, control, manipulation nor confinement. It is the power which Jesus used throughout His public life. The disciples are to cleanse the world from its false perceptions and identities.
Unlike the other creatures that God created, man alone bears a special resemblance to Him. Of all the living beings that dwell on planet Earth, one solitary creature was made "in the image of God." God reveals something about Himself by creating a creature capable of forming a relationship with Him. We consider it human nature to form relationships with others. We possess a natural inclination to form strong personal ties with members of our own family, and we continually attempt to extend the quantity of our personal relationships by forming bonds with friends. Yet, here is evidence that God also possesses this very trait, as He seeks to deepen and add to the spiritual relationships that He has formed. The Creator of the Universe has honored mankind by endowing him with certain qualities that are intrinsic to His nature. Each of us is capable of weighing our options and free to make decisions. We may use this freedom to worship God or to curse Him. We may choose a path of righteousness or lead a life of sin. God tries to guide each of us in the proper direction, but He does not force His will upon us. While God is always reaching out in an attempt to develop a relationship with us, it is we who must choose to accept His invitation. "Indeed, the Lord Jesus, when He prayed to the Father, ‘that all may be one. . . as we are one’ (John 17:21-22) opened up vistas closed to human reason, for He implied a certain likeness between the union of the divine Persons, and the unity of God's sons in truth and charity. This likeness reveals that man, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself" (G.S. #24). A right relationship with God leads to changes in our understanding of right and wrong behavior and to changes in our relationships with others. "Blessed be God the Father and His only-begotten Son and the Holy Spirit: for He has shown that He loves us."
May God's love wrap and enfold you, embrace you and guide you, and bring you comfort.
Peace be with you,
Father Jerome