Holy, Holy, Holy
Trinity Sunday
Holy, Holy, Holy
by Jerry Fuller, OMI

Today is Trinity Sunday, the Sunday when many preachers call in sick – for, after all, who can explain the Trinity? But then, we are not expected to explain the Trinity, which is the deepest mystery in the Catholic faith. We can’t explain electricity, either. But we can flip the switch and relax in an abundance of light, energy appliances and TV in our homes. So let’s just flip the switch.

What is the switch? I always see Trinity in terms of love. John the evangelist tells us “God is love.” If that is true, then when we speak of instances of love, we are scratching the surface of what the Trinity is. For in the Trinity we have the Father, who is God; we have the Son, who is God; and we have the Holy Spirit, who is God. These three persons, who are all different persons, make up the Trinity; they are all God: so, they are all love: for does not John (I Jn.:8) say “God is Love”? Hence, when we speak of love, we cannot help but speak of the Trinity.

Sometimes images of God can lead us astray. For many people religion has only given them a God to fear, a thundering Jehovah, an all-seeing eye. It is not a reverential fear but God in a vindictive role, someone we had better appease. Archie Bunker’s God is like this, because Archie creates God in his own image.

Archie’s idea of love and community are a bit off the mark. More to the point as an examples of loving communities might be a family enjoying dinner together (not listening to Archie’s misbegotten ideas); a newly engaged couple walking arm in arm; the warm embrace of a homecoming; children carefree, laughing, and playing; a group of believers meditating on Scripture together or earnestly praying with hands joined; a chorus of friends joining in Christmas carols or a birthday song; and so on. Wherever we come upon humans beings happy, in love, sharing life, listening to one another with eager attentiveness, and glad for the sheer gift of companionship, there we find a way to start thinking about what God is like. God is with the people; their life is also his life. [ii]

The argument over who has the one true church has been with us a long time. A venerable story, however, shows us just where our priorities should be.

Love means relationship. You can’t love alone, you must love someone. In the Trinity the Father loves and so he begets the Son; the Son loves and so he gives his life for all mankind by dying for us on the cross to redeem us; the love the Father and the Holy Spirit have for one another is so great it causes a third Person to proceed from such love, and that Person is the Holy Spirit. The saints say that the Trinity is the most vital element of a spiritual life. Some people, mystified at ever understanding the Trinity, are mystified at the thought of ever understanding that statement. Yet if we look at the Trinity as “God is love,” we see how true is the statement that the “Trinity is the most essential element to our spiritual life.”

In our example, we mentioned nursing homes. Is there love in nursing homes? Some. But only too often there are lonely people looking for a loving touch or glance or word, a visit from a family member. In the Mid-East, do you think there is love? After we see the Israeli gratuitous destruction of the refugee camp of Jenin, in which Jewish soldiers speak of simply training the cannons of their tanks on Arab homes and firing away … knowing this, I doubt we can see much love in the wailing of the Arab people who cannot find their loved ones after such an inhuman war crime.

On Wall Street we have the crime of a huge corporation like Enron taking in millions at the top and distributing the loot to their CEOs while forbidding their stockholders, many of whom are poor or elderly people, from selling the stock that is going bankrupt. Is there Trinity, love, there? Hardly. In our entertainment we have sex and violence being featured on primetime television for our children, many of whom later turn to sex, violence and drugs as a way of life. Is the Trinity there, is love there? Hardly. Or perhaps we should say, the Trinity is everywhere, just as Jesus was with sinners as well as religious leaders. God, the Trinity, is even in drug addicts, out his will for good, which cannot be frustrated.

And so we can see that it is true, namely, that the Trinity, understood as Love, is the most important element of our spiritual life. Especially in the family is the Trinity important. The father is the one who begets in the family. Of course, he begets with the mother, who brings forth the children. The love of the father and mother in sacrificing their lives for the family is like Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, who dies for us. The children with the parents make up the whole family: and so a whole new “third something” proceeds forth from the love of father and mother, and that is, the kids, family, all loving one another and, as different persons together, making up one unity, one reality called family, just as the three Persons of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each a different Person, coming all together in love make up the one Godhead, the Trinity.

Aren’t you glad I’ve explained the Trinity to you? Well, of course, I’ve explained nothing. But using the basis of love, we get a better picture of what we’re talking about when we say “Trinity.” We are saying “Love,” “God is love” (I Jn.:8).

Love is a decision. After September 11, many people had a hard time with love. How can we love the terrorists, they say. Wayne Dyer tells a story of a grandfather and his grandson talking about the horrible events of 9-11.

I think that’s the way it is with us. If we want an insight into the Trinity, we have to feed the dog within us that hankers after peace, forgiveness, love. No one is going to come down in a vision and give us any freebie Trinity sneak previews. Yes, the Trinity is the most necessary element in our spiritual life considering that love is the most necessary element in our spiritual life, and God is Love, and we plug into that God-Love by the choice we make – will we feed that hunger for God in us or not? It’s up to us.

References:

[i] “Preaching commentary, “Good News 29 (5): 177 (Good News, Liturgical Publications Inc., 2875 South James Drive, New Berlin, WI 53151) May 2002.
[ii] William Reiser, “Love is the sign,” Markings Readings – 164, Trinity Sunday, May 26, 2002, (The Thomas More Association, 205 West Monroe St. -- Sixth Floor, Chicago IL 60606-5097) May 2002.
[iii] Gregory D. Kenny, Markings, 26/Sun/Year, Cycle B, Readings 138, Sept. 1997.
[iv] Fr. Joe Nolan, “The love called agape,” Good News 29 (5): pg. 185.
[v] “Parable of the barking dogs,” Connections May 25, 2002 (MediaWorks, 7 Lantern Lane, Londonderry, N.H. 03053-3905) May 2002.

(Comments to Jerry at padre@tri-lakes.net. Jerry's book, Stories For All Seasons, is available at a discount through the Homiletic Resource Center.)