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 cant explain electricity, either. But we can flip the switch and relax in an abundance of light, energy appliances and TV in our homes. So lets 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 Bunkers God is like this, because Archie creates God in his own image.
- Once it was a dinner scene, where Archie was insisting that everyone, including the agnostic son-in-law, thank God for this food which comes from Him. Mike suggests it would be more appropriate to ask [God] to lower his prices. This is blasphemy for Archie who says angrily, This here is a Christian God-fearin home, and when youre sittin at this table youre gonna be just as afraid of God as the rest of us! [i]
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.
- The father of a family possessed a miraculous ring. It had been passed down
through generation after generation in the family to the son/heir. Whoever
would wear this ring was endowed with special grace that made him
extraordinarily kind, lovable, caring, and virtuous in every way. Never did
he suffer a temptation to hurt anyone. Never did he even think a bad thought
about anyone.
Up until this time there had been no problem in passing on the ring, because each generation had produced only one son as heir. This father, however, had three sons. The powers of the ring alerted him to the danger that the children who did not receive the ring would be jealous and not turn out well at all. To solve this problem the father had a jeweler fashion two rings identical to the magic ring, and thus he left one ring to each of his three sons.
Upon receiving his inheritance, the first question each son asked was, "Which of us has the true ring?" They brought the rings to a jeweler. He could not tell them apart, so perfectly did they match. Next they went to a wise old rabbi to seek his help.
He carefully studied the rings, and then asked the heirs: "Is not the purpose of the miraculous ring to make its wearer loving and kind, truthful and virtuous, caring and industrious?" "Yes, Rabbi, that's the purpose," they replied in unison.
"Then," said the rabbi, "it makes no difference which is the true ring. If all of you behave lovingly and kindly, truthfully and virtuously, caringly and industriously, the ring each of you is wearing will become miraculous." [iii]
- A wise man, now home with God, Donald Nicholl, reflects on the village in
England where he grew up. The community included the village eccentric a
kind word for someone who was odd or not all there, but far from
threatening. He was accepted. One could even say he was loved, and
respected. Why? Because he was part of the community. And part of our common
humanity. But then the author reflects how different things are in present
day western society, and he cites the following example. One day I asked
Noel (a friend of mine) if he found much difference between teaching
religion in Africa and in California. Oh, yes! he said emphatically. In
Africa if I said to the students, We are all members of one another, they
would just nod their heads in agreement as if to say that everyone, even the
most simple, understands that. But when I say that same sentence to
California students, they look at me as though I am propounding some novel,
outlandish theory.
Nicholl then speaks himself of that dogma of individualism which makes it almost impossible for people to realize that we are members one of another, that we are meant to live in community, that our need for another is not a weakness but a divine gift. One also thinks of the two fundamental needs of any human. One is solitude, yes, but the other is community. Relationships. People who know you, and who care. The Beatles once wrote a plaintive song, Where are all the lonely people? They are everywhere, especially in our cities, and in our institutions and nursing homes. If the Trinity motivates us to realize our true selves, and the way humanity should really work as agapaic love, or self-gift we will be a far more caring and sharing society. God might even see in us a reflection of the divine life. [iv]
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.
Arent you glad Ive explained the Trinity to you? Well, of course, Ive explained nothing. But using the basis of love, we get a better picture of what were 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 feel like there are two loud dogs barking inside of, the grandfather
said. One of the dogs is barking angrily and hatefully, hungry for revenge
and punishment. The other dog is barking just as loudly, but hungry for
peace and forgiveness.
Which dog do you think will win out? his grandson asked.
I dont know, son, the grandfather mused. I suppose it will be the dog that I feed. [v]
[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.)