{"id":1384,"date":"2014-06-15T09:46:23","date_gmt":"2014-06-15T13:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1384"},"modified":"2014-06-15T09:46:23","modified_gmt":"2014-06-15T13:46:23","slug":"the-most-holy-trinity-year-a-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/the-most-holy-trinity-year-a-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most Holy Trinity, Year A – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Most Holy Trinity, Year A<\/a>
\nExodus 34:4b-6, 8-9
\n2 Corinthians 13:11-13
\nJohn 3:16-18
\nJune 15, 2014<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today we celebrate the Most Holy Trinity.\u00a0 The Trinity is central to the way we pray as Catholics.\u00a0 Every time we celebrate Mass, every time we pray, we begin and end by invoking the Trinity with the Sign of the Cross, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.<\/em><\/p>\n

Pretty much every time I celebrate Mass, right after the Sign of the Cross at the beginning I use the same greeting, The Grace of Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the Communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all<\/em>.\u00a0 There are other options but I like this one because it refers to all three persons of the Trinity and is clearly scriptural in origin as it comes from today\u2019s second reading.<\/p>\n

With all this in mind, the Trinity is the central mystery of our faith.<\/p>\n

So it would only seem appropriate that as we celebrate the Trinity today, I should give you a perfect and clear explanation of the Trinity\u2026.<\/p>\n

Well, that would be nice, but it isn\u2019t going to happen.\u00a0 First off, remember I said it is a central mystery<\/em> <\/strong>of our faith.\u00a0 As a mystery, we don\u2019t have all the answers.<\/p>\n

It would be wonderful to provide you with all the scriptural passages that talk about the Trinity.\u00a0 However, the word Trinity<\/em> is never used in the Bible.\u00a0 We won\u2019t expect to find it in the Old Testament since Jesus and the Holy Spirit weren\u2019t talked about as such.<\/p>\n

In the New Testament, the word Trinity<\/em> isn\u2019t used but the three persons of the Trinity are referred together, like in the second reading today and the Baptism of the Jesus where the Holy Spirit comes down upon Jesus and the Father speaks as the voice from above proclaiming Jesus as his beloved Son.<\/p>\n

What makes it so hard to talk about the Trinity?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s an easy question that I can answer!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s God we are talking about!\u00a0 Why should we expect normal human words to be adequate to describe God?\u00a0 God is infinite.\u00a0 God is so immense that we cannot look upon God directly.\u00a0 Even Moses in the first reading was not worthy to see God directly, only seeing God after He passed by.<\/p>\n

What do we know about God?\u00a0 As Exodus tells us \u201cThe Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

God is merciful and rich in kindness.\u00a0 How much?\u00a0 So much that he sends his son Jesus to die for use on the Cross.\u00a0 There is no limit to God\u2019s love.\u00a0 That\u2019s the \u201cawesomeness of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard for us to understand this.\u00a0 That\u2019s why St. Augustine once said that if you think you understand, then it isn\u2019t God.<\/p>\n

We are never going to fully understand God while we are in this world.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we call it faith.<\/p>\n

The relationship of the Trinity is part of what we can\u2019t understand.\u00a0 Each Sunday we profess the Trinity in our Creed.\u00a0 We profess the Father as maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible\u2026<\/em>Jesus is begotten<\/em> of the Father, consubstantial<\/em> with him.\u00a0 The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit \u2013 three persons yet one God.\u00a0 They exist in perfect unity, completely cooperating with one another.\u00a0 They are not three separate persons each doing their own thing with a common purpose.<\/p>\n

Even when two human beings get along great, the unity between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit greatly surpasses what the human beings share.\u00a0 It is that same unity with God that we seek.<\/p>\n

The Father offers us the gift of faith, Jesus reconciles us, and the Holy Spirit unites us to God, the Most Holy Trinity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Most Holy Trinity, Year A Exodus 34:4b-6, 8-9 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 John 3:16-18 June 15, 2014   Today we celebrate the Most Holy Trinity.\u00a0 The Trinity is central to the way we pray as Catholics.\u00a0 Every time we celebrate Mass, every time we pray, we begin and end by invoking the Trinity with the …<\/p>\n

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