Trinity Sunday

Trinity Sunday
1. Today we are celebrating the Holy Trinity, one of the main mysteries of Christianity
A mystery is something beyond human understanding. So any attempt to explain a mystery is an
oxymoron: It is not understandable by humans, and so there is no way I can explain it to you, no matter
how hard I might try. So, maybe I should just stop here and simply say, God is a mystery
Judaism and Islam are also monotheistic religions, but they do not have the concept of God as Trinity. In
fact, they are very puzzled by the fact that Christians claim to be monotheistic, and yet believe that there
3 persons in God. The Jews think that Christians believe that there are 2 powers in heaven. The Muslims
think that Christians give partners to Allah.
When we recite the Creed, the first statement is, we believe in one God, but then we proceed to list 3
persons called God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit
Where do we get this notion that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Have you read todays Gospel?
Baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit In the Bible God is often called
Father, the creator of heaven and earth. Jesus, said of himself, The Father and I are one. Thomas called
Jesus My Lord and my God, and finally Paul, in Rom. 8:11: If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the
dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his
Spirit that dwells in you.
So, the Bible describes a complexity in God that human beings will never be able to understand, God is an
overflow of love and energy that touches us and is expressed in the creative activity of God the Father, in
the redemptive activity of God the Son, and in the guiding and supporting activity of God the Holy Spirit.
God is a mystery life given and and shared, not a mathematical problem to be solved: how can 3 be 1 and
1 be 3? God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
2. Father. The Bible proclaims that God is the Father of all his creatures. God, in the book by the
prophet Hosea, says:When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son it
was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I
healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love, I was to them like
those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them.

Trinity Sunday A
In the New Testament, Father is the dominant way of designating God. It involves: 1)
Gods paternal relationship with all human beings. 2) Gods relationship with his son, Jesus
Christ. 3) In baptism Christians become adopted children of God.
3. During Jesus life, his disciples and his enemies fully appreciated that he was a man His
miracles and exorcisms frequently evoked scorn and rejection. His public behavior
scandalized those who sincerely believed that anyone who was righteous would follow the
613 laws of Torah. The Gospels writers candidly admit they and the other disciples
understood who Jesus was only in the light of the resurrection and in the Spirit only
because they were enlightened by the Spirit they could proclaim that Jesus was Lord and God
The Church gradually came to understand that Jesus was divine before his birth, during his life on
earth (when he was both human and divine), and, after his human life on earth was ended, Jesus
continues to live as God sitting at the right hand of the father
4. The Spirit of God is mentioned in the opening line of Genesis as hovering over the emptiness
before creation. We understand the Holy Spirit to be both a Power and a Person.
The term Spirit tells us the kind of power: it was not military, economic, or political power, but a power
that transforms our spirit = the capacities for knowing and loving.
The term holy tells us that the source of the spiritual power comes from God
Early Christian writings however also speak of this transforming Power in language that suggests a
Person. The Spirit was sent to guide, enlighten and support the disciples of Jesus after his resurrection
With the Holy Spirit, the Church is a sacrament of Gods presence in the world. Without the Holy Spirit,
the Church is simply another human organization among many.
Last week we read in the Pauls letter to the Corinthians that No one can say, Jesus is Lord, except by
[or in] the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:3)
5. It took the Church more than 3 centuries to work out the theological language we read every
Sunday in the Creed, and to come up with a formula that all the church fathers could live with:
one nature in 3 persons.


Trinity Sunday A
Nature is similar to essence: Father Son and Holy Spirit share the same divine nature.
Person is the principle of activity. There are 3 divine activities human can recognize; the creative
activity we attribute to God as Father, the redeeming activity we attribute to God as Son, and the
inspiring/guiding/supporting activity we attribute to God as Holy Spirit.
We cant see God, we cant photograph God, not come up with precise descriptions of God. We
can only experience how God touches us. We each have our own idea, or image of God and if we
believe and follow Jesus commandment to love, when our life will end and when our spirit will no
longer be encumbered by the limitations of our body, we will see God face to face
6. While we do not know what God is like, we know what God wants from us because God has
revealed and continues to reveal his will to us. We are called to witness our faith: to live by
what we believe.
There are many people who do not believe in God. Some of them are atheists and only believe in
what can be perceived by our senses. So they reject the existence of God on scientific grounds: if
you cant see him, touch him or measure him with any instrument, God does not exist.
The great majority of people in this country claim to believe in God. We even write in God we
trust on our money, and we are fond of reciting prayers before ball games. Is that faith?
No. I believe that most people are practical atheists, because in their life they behave as
though God does not exist, and they live a selfish life, unconcerned about anyone else.
This practical atheism in our society is expressed in radical individualism. Our culture declares
that competition is the supreme value of life; our system rewards greed, emphasizes the
acquisition of meaningless things. Our way of life keeps families enslaves to an insatiable drive
for higher productivity and work, without time for rest and spiritual growth. That is a denial
that God exists and that God reveals his will to us.
Western and American cultural values are not the same as Christian values. As Christians we
are called to love one another. Remember that at the end of our lives, the only thing that we
will be judged on will be whether or not we helped our brothers and sisters in need.