Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

Trinity Sunday is one of the solemnities of Ordinary Time which celebrates a particular aspect of God's divine life with us. For centuries we have contemplated our God, as one God and three persons. The Nicene Creed articulates the relationship of our God-head, and our God's relationship with us. In the last few weeks of Easter, in the section of John's Gospel which contains Jesus' farewell discourse, we are told of the oneness that exists between God and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is a relationship of communion and love.

In the Book of Proverbs the role of Wisdom is described as a foundational image which existed before all of creation, and through Wisdom God created the world. In the Book of Sirach Wisdom is the Torah which gives the law. The Book of Wisdom describes Wisdom as the soul which holds creation together. And early Christian literature describes Jesus as the Wisdom of God that reveals God to the world. Paul writes to the Colossians, and in 1:15-20 says Jesus is, "The firstborn of all creation ... before all things, and in him all things hold together." Again as Jesus will describes in John's Gospel, there is this intimate relationship between himself, and the Father and the Holy Spirit.

In the Paschal Mystery we share in this unity of love in the Trinity. Jesus, by his suffering, has sanctified us and drawn us into communion with the Father. By the Holy Spirit we are continually sanctified and strengthened for the mission and ministry of God's people. This means of course we are shaped and transformed by this incarnate love. One commentator I read compared the relationship with the Trinity as like dancing with God. I sort of use this in my homily today. But more importantly it is the understanding is that our very character is stamped by God.

What we believe about God affects what we believe about ourselves and what we do. God cannot be viewed as a theological concept that lives somewhere off in the cosmos. God has continued to walk with his people. Throughout our faith journey God stoops down, lifts us up, and sends us on our way. And like an excited school-child, God's intense love jumped into human history as one like us. This solemnity is about God's nature and our relationship with this loving God. We contemplate all that God has done for us, and with joyful hope look to live with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, forever.