The Most Holy Trinity

Sunday Mass (homily)

June 02, 2012

“O God, come to my assistance.  Lord, make haste to help me.”

If the Holy Mass is celebrated with charity and devotion, it renews even the most soured souls.  Timid souls breathe new life.  Desperate souls find comfort and hope, oppressed souls are set free, angry souls begin to love. 

This evening, Saturday, as we move toward the Lord’s Day, Sunday, and the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity – let us ask our Blessed Mother Mary for the new wine that will make our lips exultant to tell the marvels of God to those around us -our families, friends, fellow parishioners, to our parish priests, to the young and to the old, the rich and the poor, the popular and the lonely, in short, to spread the Gospel as God has called us to do.

To speak on the Trinity can be a daunting task.  It reminds me of a young Polish priest, speaking in very broken English to his parish: “The doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity is a great mystery...If I speak on it – it will be even greater mystery.”  Yet the Holy Trinity is the ground on which the rest of our faith rests.  It is the 'sun' at the center of the solar system of faith. 

The doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity states that God is a unity of three persons – we hear this doctrine from Jesus own mouth, “Go therefore and baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus is God, The Father is God, and the Holy Spirit is God – these are the three persons of the One God.  And that God wants to be brought to the nations “Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations”.  The truth of God’s love is not to be kept in a corner or hidden away.  Instead, God here entrusts his apostles “Go therefore, and make disciples”.  How can this happen in our day in our little part of the earth? 

The first thing that Paul tells the Romans (and us) is to remember who you are, as he says, “You are not slaves to fear but adopted sons of God”. How often our minds hemorrhage in angst and uncertainty – we forget that we are adopted children of God.  We forget that Jesus is with us “until the end of the age” – in other words, he is with us forever!  So, remember who you are.  Secondly, says Paul, remember who GOD is... “You can cry out ‘Abba, Father’ and you will be helped.”  Think of the most basic prayer – the Our Father – we pray it every Mass.  We ask for our daily bread – the things we need.  But do we think to honor the Most Blessed Trinity and pray with the infectious courage of the psalmist in psalm 33:  “See the eyes of the Lord are upon those who hope for his kindness, He is our help and our shield.”  The psalmist remembers that the Most Holy Trinity is a saving God, one who is our help in time of trial.  Can we pray like that, placing our hope in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, even when we faces storms, divisions, and a lack of understanding?  The answer is YES.  How?  The psalmist answers this too, his peace comes to those souls who “wait for the Lord”. 

Above all, trust in the slow work of God.  We are naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.  We should like to skip the intermediate stages.  We are impatiend of being on the way to something unknown, something new.  And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability – and that it may take a very long time.  (Pierre Teillard Chardin, SJ).

The feast of the Most Holy Trinity stands at the heart of the Christian faith.  God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit and has given us the task/commission/call – to preach his gospel to the ends of the earth – while being a member of His Body – the body of Christ – in union with the whole Church and under the care of Our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI.  We must always strive to follow the faith of the Church, which has been handed down through the ages.  It is a faith built on the witness of the Apostles, with doctrines derived from Jesus own words and the apostles’ teaching.  We must choose to be obedient to her counsels, especially resisting the temptation to fashion our practice of religion in our own image...as Moses puts it, “You must keep the Lord’s statutes and commandments and ordinances” so that you and your children and grandchildren might have life.  The 'teaching of teachings' is on the Most Holy Trinity and it shows how important to the Catholic Church is – the hierarchy – the teaching authority.  It is an essential element.  This authority is challenged even within the Church, even by those who purport to be among her faithful servants.  Were it not for the teaching authority of the Church there would be no faith! Be on your guard against those who would lead you away from the Church’s teaching – tickling our ears with ‘up to date’ ways of being Church – which amounts to little more than imitating the society with its permissiveness.  That we believe in the Trinity is important.  But equally important is to understand that our faith is underguirded by the teaching authority of the Church = as handed down by the apostles.  Just as Moses handed down the law to the Israelites, after reminding them of God’s great love...so too the Church guides us down the moral alleyways of today: abortion, euthanasia, gay marriage, women priesthood.  In rejecting what is contrary to the Gospel we hold fast to the truth.  In holding fast to the Church we endure the scorn of those who, through ignorance or bold-faced intolerance, reject those who embrace the teachings of Christ.  But for we who believe the trajectory is clear: ‘Go therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them’ in the name of the blessed Trinity – in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Baptize them in the sacraments of the Catholic church.   Hold fast to her teachings.  And remember that I will be with you always, until the end of the age.

Amen.