Holy Trinity - Hope of the Glory of God

 The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity Sunday: June 12, 2022

Readings: Proverbs 8:22–31; Psalms 8:4–9; Romans 5:1–5; John 16:12–15

(Holy Trinity in the Imagination of Andrei Rublev)
To listen to my audio-video reflections via YouTube, please click on this link: https://youtu.be/shLbPLdaxAM

During Easter and after the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ the focus of our attention is more on the divinity of the person of Jesus Christ than his humanity. We have been celebrating one solemnity over the other in these Sunday liturgies, Ascension, Pentecost and today the Holy Trinity. One thing that is very common in these great feasts is how we look at the heavenly or divine things with our human reason, logic and faith. Perhaps when we celebrate on this Sunday the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity what we must inculcate within ourselves is a sense of wonder and awe as well as complete trust and confidence in our Lord. Because we might fail to understand or grasp the mystery of the Holy Trinity with our heads. Therefore, we must reach this mystery with our hearts. The liturgical readings of this Sunday help us immensely in this promising pursuit. 

1. We are little less than the angels and yet crowned with glory and honour.

The readings from the book Wisdom and Psalm which we read today are commonly called sapiential writings give us ample resources to understand who we are and what is our place here on earth. The famous existential assertion in theology which is profounded by many theologians how can know God if we do not know ourselves first could be the foundation in understanding God and ourselves. Unless and until we know ourselves we would not be able to understand divine things. Therefore, we must understand the human person as a whole, its relationality, cognitive reality and so on. 

Today's Psalm (Psalms 8:4–9) extols that we are little less than the angels and are crowned with glory and honour. In other words, we are the jewels in God's creation.  In fact, the Psalmist himself says, God has created the heavens, moon and the stars, sheep and oxen, beasts of the field, birds of the air, fishes in the sea, and all the creatures that swim in the seas. All the more, God has created all these things with the intention that we are mindful of God's pervading presence in the world. It is God, who established the heavens, the foundations of the earth fixed. It is such a beautiful experience to be embraced by God who is so good and kind to us. Today we can celebrate a merciful and faithful Father who never forgets that we are his gift of life for the world and for all eternity. 

2. The Love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit

St Paul in his letter to the Romans (Romans 5:1–5) so touchingly emphasizes how blessed we are as God's creation. Moreover, St Paul tells us that because we are called and baptized in Christ Jesus, we are justified by faith. It means we are saved because of our faith in our Lord, who is the Son of God. It is only through our Lord we are able to attain that faith. This faith comes to us because of grace. We are shrouded by the grace of God so immensely that we could boast in hope of the glory of God.  St Paul would further say in his epistle "the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship (daughtership). And by him, we cry, 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children" (Romans 8:15–16).

What then does grace make in our lives? Having been called by God for a special mission of preaching to the non-Jews, St Paul experienced a lot of afflictions, pain, struggle and suffering. In all these bitter experiences of life, Paul learnt a lot. His bitter experiences did not make Paul sad, fearful, angry, jealous, or revengeful instead they made him a person of positivity. In adversity, he found hope in the Lord. He learnt, out of afflictions and struggles endurance. And each experience leads to one good over the other like "affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint." Each experience made a positive difference in his life. Finally, St Paul confirms that all this was possible because of the Holy Spirit whom he is carrying in his heart with so much love and devotion. 

3. The Spirit of truth will guide us to all truth

St John the Evangelist particularly focuses his attention on describing the Holy Spirit. We have a long reading in his gospel where Jesus speaks about the Holy Spirit beginning with Chapter 13. In today's short gospel reading, Jesus speaks about the Holy Spirit as one who comes as the Spirit of truth who will reveal everything to the world. In fact, Jesus gives us a hint that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are working together as One God. These three divine persons in one God Head will be revealed to the world. In fact in modern times, Fr Karl Rahner (1904-1984), the German Jesuit theologian called such an arrangement of Triune God in his first essay published on the Trinity in 1967 "the Threefold God as Transcendental Ground of Salvation History."

This is the truth of our salvation history. We are challenged by this mystery of the Trinity in understanding through the logical coherence of a belief. On the one hand, we have the numerical singleness of God as only one God, a personal being, on the other hand, the same the numerical three-ness of the something in Trinity called persons. (Three Persons but One God). What matters most for us people of simple faith is to believe in what Jesus says to us, "everything that the Father has is mine." The interconnectedness that exists within the Trinity is also an invitation for us to enter into this mystery of God. By opening our hearts to a deeper relationship with our God, who is love, we can have a relationship with each of the Persons in the Trinity. So that we as human society as a whole must live together, work together and find salvation together. 

We shall conclude with the words of Pope Francis which were uttered on Trinity Sunday on May 26, 2013: "The light of Eastertide and of Pentecost renews in us every year the joy and amazement of faith: let us recognize that God is not something vague, our God is not a God “spray,” he is tangible; he is not abstract but has a name: “God is love”. His is not a sentimental, emotional kind of love but the love of the Father who is the origin of all life, the love of the Son who dies on the Cross and is raised, the love of the Spirit who renews human beings and the world. Thinking that God is love does us so much good, because it teaches us to love, to give ourselves to others as Jesus gave himself to us and walks with us. Jesus walks beside us on the road through life."

Questions for our Reflections

1. What is your experience of God these days?
2. The readings of today give us an impression that we are not alone and God always accompanies us. How God has been dealing with you when you are in distress or fear?
3.  St Thomas Aquinas would say that it was much easier to say what God was not, than what God is. Can you describe God with your life experiences?
4. As you spend this Sunday in prayer, share your delight and dreams with the Lord. Feel His bountiful blessing upon you and how you have been giving those blessings to others.

Prayer: 

O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth! You have blessed us with plentiful graces. Holy God, who gives me my breath and my life and my being, let your Holy Spirit be with me now. Let me know your truth and comfort in my heart, even in my wretched and sinful life; give me a moment of holiness, by your inexplicable grace. Let me hear your word and know your perfection in the confusion of my unholy existence. Give me a moment of strength to do your will. This I pray in the name of your Son, my Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

- Olvin Veigas, SJ

June 10, 2022