Dt4, 32-34, 39-40 / Rom 8, 14-17 / Mt 28, 16-20
It’s Holy Trinity Sunday. In celebrating this feast we joyfully recognize a reality that is fundamental to all that is. As Catholic Christians we believe all creation somehow bears the imprint of God. Somehow the way things are reveals the way God is. The Trinity is a core revelation for us. It reveals the basic way God is – God’s basic way of living.
Throughout
the centuries Christians have used all sorts of words and images to try to get
a handle on what the revelation of the Trinity is trying to tell us. Our scriptures and creeds use the language of
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. St. Patrick
used the image of the shamrock. A Russian
icon pictures three men seated at a table.
What these words and images are trying to convey about God and God’s way
of life is this: God lives through complete sharing. In God there is complete interdependence as
the chosen way to live. And so early
Christian writers speak of the Father pouring himself into the Son and the Son
returning and repeating that love. They
speak of the Spirit as the back and forth movement of their desire to pour
themselves into one another’s lives.
Basically
the Trinity is telling us that in God there is lover and beloved – and no
holding back between them. In God there
is loving and being loved – and no holding back. Never, never in God’s way of life is there
clinging to what is mine nor grabbing for what is yours.
The
Trinity tells us the way God is. But we
bear the imprint of God. And so the
Trinity tells us the way we fundamentally are.
In Christian understanding – just as a rose cannot withhold its scent –
just so, we are made for sharing and interdependence. We are made to belong to one another. We express this truth about ourselves
sacramentally by being baptized “in the name of the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit.” We are baptized into their life
of sharing and holding nothing back – into their life of choosing to become
interdependent on one another. We are
baptized into their divine refusal to live clinging to what is mine and
clutching at what is yours.
And
you know, we have visions of the Trinity.
Visions aren’t just for the great saints and mystics. We really do have visions of the
Trinity! We see – actually see the
Trinity really present in the way we are.
We see the Trinity whenever we see people not withholding themselves
from one another – but pouring themselves into the lives of others. There we are seeing, actually seeing the
Trinity. We see the Trinity in married
love, in families, in friendships. We
see the Trinity in any committed love – wherever we cling to one another and
not just to ourselves. Think here of the
families and committed relationships in this parish. Think of people standing with the poor, the
immigrant, the stranger and outsider. Wherever
people are there for one another – there to help and be helped – there to heal
and be healed – there to encourage and be encouraged – there we see the Trinity
truly, actively present in the way we are.
We
have all had the experience of wanting respectful, considerate love. We all want to give ourselves and receive
others – tenderly, without force or control, just freely being with one
another. Isn’t that what we honestly,
deeply want? Isn’t that the way we
are? The mystery of the Trinity tells us
to cherish, even more, to reverence those desires. They are the very presence of the Holy Spirit
within us. These desires call us ever deeper
and deeper into the way of God’s life. So,
if you yearn for love, recognize and reverence that yearning as holy. It is a holy, sacred yearning. Don’t run from it. Don’t trivialize or sentimentalize it. It is the mystery of God becoming present in
you.
So
the next time we find ourselves giving in to love – the next time we allow
ourselves to become dependent on another person – let us rejoice with a holy
joy! We are behaving the way we are made
– in the image of God. God is having his
way with us. The Trinity is living in us
and through us. We are Holy! Holy!
Holy!
Fr. Pat Earl, SJ
No comments:
Post a Comment