We might say that on Trinity Sunday we try to look directly at the mystery and majesty of God and make sense of who God is. It’s a difficult day for homilists because we are tempted to clothe in weak, limited human language the mystery of God’s very being! We may be good at talking about what God has done for us and what God expects of us, but talking about “who” God is, is another matter. St. Columban said, “As the depths of the sea are invisible to our sight, so the Godhead of the Trinity is beyond the grasp of human understanding.” St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that one can only know that God is, not what God is. Philosophy and theology do cast light on the nature of the Triune God, but they take us only so far. Ultimately, the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity is not so much a matter of the head, as of the heart, because the nature of God is primarily relational.
The Trinity is a communion of love and we are invited into that relationship. So how is the relationship realized? I think we find the answer in the response to an old catechism question: Why did God make you? God made me to know him, to love him, and to serve him in this world so they I might be happy with him in the next.
Let’s consider those three responses: To engage in relationship with God, we must get to know Him. We do this when we are receptive to God’s word proclaimed at Mass and whenever we read the Scriptures. It is there that God reveals himself to us in Christ. He is the flesh-and-blood, human presentation of God. Jesus said: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. St. Paul said, “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.” From Genesis to Revelation, Scripture is God’s revelation of Himself.
As we grow in our knowledge of God, so should our love. Our love for God is seen in our worship, especially the Mass. Mass becomes a priority—not an optional extra or something that can be replaced by TV or online viewing.
Our love for God is also reflected in the reverence we cultivate in God’s House and by our reception of Holy Communion. What is the quality of my thanksgiving, my time immediately after receiving the Eucharist? Do I offer him my thanks for such a great gift? Do I speak to him about my stresses, my joys, the people in my life? Loving God also involves striving to deepen my life of prayer and avoiding those things that would lead me to sin.
But love of God cannot have this vertical aspect only. It must always be joined to the love of our neighbor. St. John says: “If anyone says, I love God but hates his brother, he is a liar.” Yet we know that loving an especially difficult or annoying neighbor is challenging. Yet despite what I might think of him or her, God loves them just as he loves me. What matters is not that person’s worth to me, but that person’s worth to God.
Simply put: Our love for our neighbor is the measure of our love for God. It is a love that is translated into humble service of our neighbor in whom we strive to see the face of Christ who said, “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, you do to me.”
Today, let’s resist the temptation of analyze a mystery that remains beyond the mastery of our intelligence but let us respond to it by a life that strives to know, love, and serve the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!
