Most Holy Trinity A2023

Exodus 34: 4b-6, 8-9; 2 Cor 13: 11-13; John 3: 16-18

Today we celebrate the solemnity of the Holy Trinity. The solemnity of the Holy Trinity is the celebration of the identity of God. The identity of God can be summarized in three simple words: God is love.  

It is out of love that God created the world and everything that exists in the universe. It is out of love that God sent his son Jesus Christ into the world to save us. It is out of love that Jesus, willing not to leave his disciples orphans, sent the Holy Spirit to be with them and sustain his church in the world.

Trinity, then, means communion of life and love that unites the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Trinity refers to the inner life of the Godhead and to the strong relationship that exists between the Trinitarian persons. Father, Son and Holy Spirit, though three, are but one God, sharing a same nature. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are so one that Jesus commissioning his apostles recommended them to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The formula St Paul uses in today’s second reading by evoking the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of the Father and the fellowship of the Holy spirit summarizes clearly the understanding that although all the persons of Trinity are distinct, they are equal and one.

In that sense, the Trinity is the celebration of the one God who is love through the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Trinity is a divine family in which a deep relationship exists between its members, but in which each has his own place and his own role.

The Father is the one who has taken the initiative of creating the world and of bringing salvation to humankind. He is the one who reserves for us an eternal inheritance in his own family where he welcomes us one day be his guests. The Son is the one who accomplished the work of salvation through his coming into the world, his obedience and his faithfulness up to his death on the cross.

The Holy Spirit is the loving power that binds the Father, the Son and the Church. He is also the one who has been breathed into the heart of every Christian at baptism and confirmation. From the moment we get this gift of the Holy Spirit we become members of the family of God, the Holy Trinity.

The mystery of the Holy Trinity has consequences for the understanding of our Christian life. Before the revelation, people believed God to be a powerful and terrible ruler, who punished them with disease and misfortune. Still today some people think wrongly the same.

However, today’s first reading gives another picture. In fact, in the desert, as Moses went up the mountain to talk with God, the people who stayed down sinned against him by worshiping a golden calf.  When God came down, instead of punishing them, he proclaimed his name as the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity. Touched by the compassion of God, Moses bowed down in worship and interceded for the people.

The message given us here is very simple: God is merciful. No matter how grave is our sin, he loves us; he understands us and forgives us. He will never abandon us because of our sin; instead he will always look for a way of wining us back. Perhaps, we stand condemned by society, and our case is judged unforgivable, but not for God.

For that reason, we should never despair of ourselves or of anybody. With the God of Jesus, there is never a lost case. A chance of new life and new beginning is always possible. With the God of Jesus Christ, there is always hope. Hope is Christian and despair pagan. But, at the same time, we are challenged by God’s mercy. We are not forgiven so that we remain in our sinful situation, but so that we change and become better than what we have been before.

All that helps us understand the depth of the words of John: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”

In other words, God is merciful and full of compassion. He is never satisfied until he finds us. He is not afraid of being involved in our history and in what is happening to us. Our world is important to him and he wants us to be saved. As John writes again, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him”.

We are not created to be condemned to die, but to be saved. However, to have salvation, we have to believe in Jesus and follow his commandments. We are responsible for our salvation or our perdition. We are accountable for our acts. Nobody else can answer for things we do not want to change in our life. It is we who condemn ourselves and not God who condemns us.

 We condemn ourselves when we refuse to believe in Jesus and convert from our sinful situations. The way we react to Jesus’ message determines to a large extent our destiny. The more we are open to his message and change, the more we put ourselves in the way of salvation. The less we accept his message and change, more we stand condemned.

After all, it is not condemnation that is the last word of God, but forgiveness. His love prevails over sins. It is that love that has attained its climax in the sending of Jesus in the world. His love shows that he is really a Father, who has a big heart to love and forgive. God is not any Father, but a Father who has a Son he sent into the world. Jesus is not any Son, but a Son who leaves us his Spirit to guide us until the end of the world.

That is what the feast of the Holy Trinity means, namely that God who is love, is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Trinity is a mystery of communion and unity that exists in the Godhead that God himself has revealed. The persons of the Holy Trinity are equal, interdependent, and interact with one another in their actions in the world. Thus, it is normal that the Father can send the Son and the Son can send the Holy Spirit and the later can act in the world with his power on the behalf of the Son and the Father.

The intimate relationship that exists between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, is what God wants to share with us when he calls us to faith. For that reason, we have to cultivate the openness of heart toward one another, to increase the life of connectedness with others inside the Church and in society in imitation of the Holy Trinity. God bless you all!

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© 2023 Rev. Felicien Ilunga Mbala
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