THE TRINITY; LIVING MIRACLE OF GOD IN UNITY. (Homily for May 22, 2016. Solemnity of Holy Trinity.)

Bible Study:  Proverbs 8, 22 to 31. Romans 5, 1 to 5 and John 16, 12 to 15.

Every year, on the Sunday after Pentecost, we always celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity and this year is no exception. The Trinity simply means that God is both Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is one God but he exists as Three Persons.

Indeed, it is not surprising that ministers tend to dread mounting the pulpit on a day like this. How can we explain that we do not serve three different gods but just one God? How can we explain that God is a Father just like our human fathers, that at the same time, this same God is a Son meaning he is a child like us, that we are his brothers and sisters, then at the same time, this same God is Spirit, that he is everywhere and always with us? So do not be surprised that today’s homily is quite long.

Now, what does Jesus (God, the Son) mean when he says in our Gospel passage this morning that: “All that the Father (God, the Father) has is mine; therefore I said that he (God, the Holy Spirit) will take what is mind and give it to you.” It is like me saying to you: “All that Father has belongs to Padre and Reverend will take what belongs to Padre mine and give it to you.” If you call me Father, I will answer. If you say, where is Padre? I will answer and if you ask, what about Reverend? I will answer you. I am just one person, yet Father, Padre and Reverend are indicative of the same fact; that I am a priest.

Indeed, before some of us begin to doze off on our seats now, let us hear what the great Saint Columbanus said about the Trinity: “Who is God? He is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one God. Seek no further concerning God; for those who wish to know the great deep must first review the natural world. For knowledge of the Trinity is properly likened to the depths of the Sea, according to that saying of the Sage: And the great deep, who shall fathom it? Since, just as the depth of the sea is invisible to human sight, even so the godhead of the Trinity is found to be unknowable by human senses.”

The best we can do concerning the Trinity is to believe it. Just believe that God created the world that he made the earth and everything that we see; that God was born in human flesh, that he eat our human food, that he laughed our laughter, cried our human tears, that he loved fellow humans like us, that he was killed, that God rose from the death and conquered death, that God came down on Pentecost day as invisible Spirit, that he is with us forever. This is what we celebrate today.

God is creator, God is redeemer and God is Sanctifier. Just as it can be confusing to try to distinguish the different names, Father, Padre and Reverend as different persons when in fact they are one and the same human being so also it can be an exercise in futility to try to delineate Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is like blind men trying to describe what an Elephant is, simply by touching it from different part of its body.

If I walk into a classroom for instance to teach as I usually do, you may call me a teacher. Right? Then let’s say, a student is confused about life and wants to give up on it and I happen to tell him the right words at the right time. I guess you could say I am a Counsellor. Isn’t it? What if one of my student falls sick all of a sudden and I wear my stole and chasuble and lay my hands on his head to pray and he recovers immediately. I guess you would call me a doctor. Right? Then, as I end the day’s lecture, I bring out my mass box and decide to celebrate mass for the students. What then am I? Teacher, Counsellor, doctor or Priest?

If you cannot place ordinary me in any particular category at any particular time, how do you expect to place or talk about the Trinity? This is the reason why it is so difficult to preach or explain the Trinity and why St. Columbanus says, whoever wants to understand it must first try to understand the Sea and everything it contains.

Again, do you notice that while I am teaching, I did not stop being either a priest or a doctor (spiritually speaking)? That is how it is with the Trinity. Both God as Son and God as Spirit were present while God as Father was creating the world. This is just the simple explanation for our first reading this morning. The wisdom that is being referred to is God as Son who was with God the Holy Spirit while God the Father was saying: “Let us make…, Let us…” Notice, God did not say; “Let me make…”. Again, this is why Jesus Christ had the boldness to say to the Jews in John 8, 58: “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Just as both God the Son and God the Holy Spirit were with God the Father at creation, so also in the course of God the Son taking on the human flesh, both God the Father and God the Holy Spirit were present. Remember, when Mary was asking Angel Gabriel how she as a virgin could possibly become pregnant, the Angel said: “The Holy Spirit (God the Spirit), will come upon you, and the power of the Most High (God the Son) will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.  Luke 1, 35. In one sentence, Angel Gabriel explained the Holy Trinity to Mary and it became reality inside her stomach. Mary was not just pregnant with Jesus, she was pregnant with the Holy Spirit as well as the God the Father who created her.

On the day Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, we again saw the Trinity together. God the Son rising from the water, God the Spirit appearing in the form of a dove and God the Father speaking from heaven: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3, 17. Soon after his baptism, Jesus as God the Son began his public ministry of Redemption. He prepared himself with fasting for forty days and forty nights and after defeating Satan gallantly at the temptations, he went straight to the temple where he declared: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me …” Luke 4, 18. As St. Paul makes us understand in the second reading, Jesus as God the Son by his life has granted us Justification, that is to say, because of Jesus, humanity has found an access point to God the father. We have hope of going to heaven not because of our good works or our ability to avoid sin but simply because of what Jesus did for us on the Cross. And again, Jesus succeeded in winning our redemption because at every point of the way God the Holy Spirit and God the Father were working together in him. 

That there is just one God and at the same three persons inside the same one God is nothing short of a miracle. It is what makes God, God. That is, that God is Trinity is a fact that makes him completely incomprehensible, completely unfathomable, completely beyond the reach of human study or theological understanding. It is a miracle we cannot understand how we say, God is present in the Eucharist (holy communion) thereby necessitating us to reverence and genuflect before the Blessed Sacrament and that that same God to whom we genuflect to is present inside each of us as our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. Even when we know our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit that is the same God as God the Son present in the Holy Eucharist, we do not genuflect to our bodies or to each other. In short, we cannot just understand how God is everywhere and he is in us and will still allow us use our bodies to commit sin. Or does he jump in and out?

Above all, my dear friends in Christ, to conclude this homily. One lesson we learn from God as Trinity is that PERFECT UNITY IS POSSIBLE. If God as a Trinity is the unity of three persons in God and each of us is made in God’s image and likeness, it means we are capable of perfect unity both as individual human beings and as community. Let us look up to God for inspiration. Just as it can never heard that God the son is fighting with God the Holy Spirit, for instance, it should not be heard that Igbos are fighting Bini in this church or that one group is fighting another.

Let us pray:

Lord Jesus, grant that the Trinity may inspire us to Unity. Work this miracle within us as families, as communities and even as nations. May we learn from you how we can exist in perfect love and peace. Amen.

Good morning. Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. Happy Sunday my dearest friends.