Exodus 34:4b-6, 8-9
Responsorial Psalm: Daniel 3:52, 53, 54, 55 (52b)
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Gospel: John 3:16-18
Years ago, while I was a student at Saint Francis de Sales Seminary, the late Fr. Melvin Michalski, a Karl Rahner scholar, was convinced that we would come to understand the Trinity better if we read a book called “God For Us, The Trinity and Christian Life” by Catherine Mowry Lacugna. I am not so sure I was able to plumb the depths of the mystery of the Trinity from the book. However, when Fr. Melvin taught about the Trinity, his face lit up. He smiled like he was walking into a magnificent garden fragrant in summer splendor. For me, the dance of the Trinity was reflected in his countenance. We knew he knew so much more than we ever would and watching him find words for mystery was holy in itself.
Still, we did our part reading the text trying to make sense of the Divinity of God within the mystery of the Trinity. Catherine Lacugna calls the Trinity a “relationship, which explores the mysteries of love, relationship, personhood and communion within the framework of God’s self-revelation in the person of Christ and the activity of the Spirit.” Every Christian she said believes that God gives to them the fullness of divine life in the person of Jesus Christ, and that through the person of Christ and the action of the Holy Spirit we are made intimate partakers of the living God. In other words, God’s creative fecundity becomes incarnate in Jesus Christ who is the Word of God. And through their love, the Holy Spirit breathes out upon us the gifts that assist each of us to bring the Kingdom of God to earth. Theologians often refer to this relationship as a dance, or “perichoresis,” from which the word choreograph comes.
So, when we walk into our parish church on a Sunday morning and dip our fingers into the baptismal font, taking holy water and blessings ourselves “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” we are drawn into God’s ever flowing love, through Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
It is our Baptism being relived in us and for us.
But it doesn’t end there. The presence of God, as Trinity, surrounds us within the whole glory of salvation. God the Father sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer, die and rise again to redeem all of humanity. And proceeding from the Father and Son, is the Holy Spirit, who carries on the mission of salvation through the Church.
As a mother, I have reflected upon the Trinity in light of the family: marriage and birth. When a baby is born, there is so much that has preceded that moment. First, the bond of marriage wraps the couple in a kind of creative incarnation wherein the power of their love gives birth to new life. That new life completes a triadic love that includes father, mother and child(ren), but at the same time, one family unit — one sacred entity of care and support encouraged within the home where the dynamic of human growth happens each day. Walking through the halls at night with the little one, seeing to the child’s physical, spiritual and social growth over time, the enduring love of the family grows through joys and struggles. Though many, they are one.
The mystery of the Trinity has a long history in our faith tradition. We stand on the shoulders of great saints and teachers who grappled with this divine mystery helping to overturn heresy and false teaching through the centuries. Ss. Augustine, Thomas Acquinas, Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa, Basil and John Damacene were just a few who probed the mystery of the Trinity. Why? Because the Holy Trinity cannot be taken lightly, even though it will never be fully understood.
This weekend, the Church celebrates the Trinity, not so much in its essence, but in the way Father, Son and Holy Spirit cooperate with one another to bring about salvation for all. We celebrate God the Father who shows up as Creator of all creatures great and small. This Father is love in and of himself and that love generates Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, and Jesus carries on the mission of salvation through the Holy Spirit. In this dance of love, we are held while the flow of grace continues to capture us and redeem that which is fallen within us. That grace raises us up, calling us out of the grave of fear, doubt and isolation. We are one with the Trinity.
Fr. Melvin was a kind of poet I suppose. Poets and artists see the world differently with symbols, metaphors and images as their building blocks. His attempts to unlock the mystery of Trinity challenged us beyond exams and papers. He showed us that the mystery of the Trinity is not irrelevant to spirituality, sacrament, liturgy, ethics, salvation or our daily lives, but rather integral to them. More importantly, he taught us how to engage the Trinity in prayer and wonder. It was a light I found upon his face then and remember even now.
