Homily
for June 11, 2017
Today happens to be one of
those Sundays that people come to Church and go home empty unable to pick anything
from the homily. Why? It is Trinity Sunday. And what happens again and again is
that in an attempt for the priest to explain the Trinity in the homily, he ends
up confusing both himself and the congregation (most especially when the priest
is a great intellectual).
The truth is that God is too
big, too mighty and too mysterious to be explained. Any attempt to describe the
Trinity leads to us having to compare God with something physical (for instance
saying that God is like the three blades of a fan) but God is beyond physics.
So no comparison is valid. God is just God.
The simple way I think we
can talk about the Trinity is to recite the Creed. Yes, the “I believe in God…”
in it contains the best Homily anyone can preach about the Trinity. If we look
at the “I believe in God” bit by bit, we would get to understand the Trinity.
The Apostles’ Creed goes
thus: “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth….”
Take note, it says ONE GOD. This is our foundation on the Trinity. There is
only one God. This one God is Father, this one God is also Son and Spirit.
The creed continues: “I
believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord…” and it goes on to give a
summary of the life of Jesus ending with “He will come again to judge the
living and the dead.” Jesus Christ is God and at the same time, he is also the
Son of God who died for us and will come again at the end of time.
After talking about Jesus
Christ, the Apostles’ Creed then says: “I believe in the Holy Spirit…” Even though
it doesn’t say much, the Longer Creed, that is, the Nicene Creed explains: “I
believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, who proceeds from the
Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.”
So from our Creeds, we can
see that in one God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. While Father is attached
with creation, Son is attached with saving mankind (redemption) and Holy Spirit
is attached with Giving life and the Church. Still there is only one God.
The same God we worship is
the same God who made heaven and earth, the same God is present in the Holy
Eucharist, the same God is present in our midst right now as Holy Spirit.
Any attempt to explain or
understand God in our human language will be giving only a poor definition of
God because God is bigger than what human words can describe. It is just like
an ant trying to understand what a human being is. Imagine an ant attempting to
perform surgery on a human being in other to explain us to its fellow ants. (laughs)
No wonder our readings today
do not even mention anything about the Trinity in terms of explanation. Rather
than say who or what the Trinity is, our readings just tell us what God has
done and how we are to respond in our worship of God.
God reveals himself as a
merciful God to Moses in Exodus. God is slow to anger, abounding in steadfast
love and faithfulness. Out of this mercy and steadfast love, God sent his only
Son to the world so that whoever believes in him may not perish but have
eternal life.
The coming of God, the Son
was not to destroy or condemn us for our sins but to save us. We are the ones
who condemn ourselves when we fail to believe in God the Son, Jesus Christ. It is
just like I give you a thick blanket and ask you to use to cover your body
against the cold at night. If you now decide to throw away the blanket and
sleep with your body uncovered, will you accuse me of causing pneumonia for
you?
If there is one lesson we
learn from the fact that God is Trinity, it is UNITY. Unity, Unity, Oh Unity. Three
persons, yet completely United in One God.
Look at our National Dailies
today and you discover the top news everywhere is how Nigeria should break up
into different countries. Arewa Youths and Nothern leaders want the Igbo to
pack their things and go. Igbo want Biafra. Akwa Ibom and Calabar say they are
not part of Biafra.
Middle belt say they are not
part of North. South South say they want Niger Delta to become a country and they
have given the name Republic of Rondel. South West say they are the most
productive since they have the ports and everything. Nigeria, where are we
going?
Dear friends, we should
learn from God how to be united. St. Paul in our second reading is quite
prophetic when he says: “…agree with one another, live in peace and the God of
peace will be with you…” Nigerians, let us agree with one another. If we cannot
live as one nation, we might not also live as five or six nations as there
would be no end to the splitting and further splitting of the old Nigeria.
There is beauty in diversity.
North, south, east of west, we are all brothers and sisters of One God. Let us
remove hatred and suspicion of another from our hearts. Love alone will solve
our problems not fighting, not war, not breaking apart. God is one.
Let us pray: Glory be to
God, father, Son and Holy Spirit. May I be an agent of unity not division.
Amen.
*Happy Sunday. Be Happy. Live
Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Trinity Sunday. Year
A. Bible Study: Exodus
34:4-6.8-9. 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 and John 3:16-18).*
Fr. Abu.
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