{"id":2533,"date":"2018-05-27T11:45:31","date_gmt":"2018-05-27T15:45:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2533"},"modified":"2018-05-27T11:45:31","modified_gmt":"2018-05-27T15:45:31","slug":"the-most-holy-trinity-year-b-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/the-most-holy-trinity-year-b-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most Holy Trinity, Year B – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Most Holy Trinity, Year B<\/a>
\nDeuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40
\nPsalm 33:4-5, 6, 9, 18-19, 20, 22 (12b)
\nRomans 8:14-17
\nMatthew 28:16-20
\nMay 27, 2018<\/p>\n

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.\u00a0 It would be a wonderful time to fully explain the Trinity.\u00a0 I can\u2019t do that.\u00a0 It\u2019s not that\u2019s it not allowed.\u00a0 It\u2019s a mystery<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

When we use the word \u201cmystery\u201d to describe some aspect of our faith, it expresses that it is beyond our human comprehension but it is still real.<\/p>\n

The Trinity is one of the most basic elements of our faith.\u00a0 We use it at the beginning and end of our prayers when we make the Sign of the Cross and say, \u201cIn the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doing so is not some human invention.\u00a0 Jesus tells us to invoke the Trinity when he commands the disciples to \u201cGo, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.<\/strong><\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Some people say we can know<\/strong> everything by science.\u00a0 I disagree.\u00a0 We don\u2019t have to know everything as scientific fact to believe.\u00a0 Even the early disciples who saw Jesus risen and worshipped him, still had some doubts.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t know what it mean that Jesus had risen but they did believe because they opened themselves to something more than human knowledge.<\/p>\n

So, instead of trying to \u201cexplain\u201d<\/em> the Trinity, let\u2019s shift and talk about what it means for us.\u00a0 Today\u2019s Prayer After Communion speaks of the Trinity as \u201cundivided unity.\u201d\u00a0 Today\u2019s Preface to the Eucharistic Prayer speaks of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as one God, \u201ca Trinity of one substance.\u201d<\/p>\n

This can prove difficult for us to understand.\u00a0 Unity as described in the Trinity can seem impossible.\u00a0 Division is more familiar to us.\u00a0 We celebrate Memorial Day on Monday to honor those who have died while serving in our military.\u00a0 They die because there is disunity in our world.<\/p>\n

The disunity we see in wars or more simply in own families does not mean that there can\u2019t be perfect unity in the Trinity.\u00a0 We think based on human experience.\u00a0 Unfortunately, sometimes we subconsciously think that God is just like us.\u00a0 This would lead to think that since we don\u2019t have perfect unity as human beings, it can\u2019t be achieved.\u00a0 This leads some to think the Trinity can\u2019t be \u201cundivided unity.\u201d<\/p>\n

We need to turn this around.\u00a0 Instead of thinking God is like us, we need to make God our model and seek to become like him.\u00a0 We are not God but we are created in God\u2019s image and so are called to strive to be like him.<\/p>\n

God is one, three person (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) each acting with one will, which is based on love.\u00a0 It is about relationship.<\/p>\n

Look at the terms we use in faith.\u00a0 We call each other brothers and sisters.\u00a0 We call the first two persons of the Trinity as Father and Son.\u00a0 Paul speaks of us received \u201ca Spirit of adoption<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 We are \u201cchildren of God<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

These are all terms that speak of relationships.\u00a0 The love God has for us begins our relationship with him.\u00a0 Our love back to God shows that the relationship means something to us.\u00a0 Our love for our neighbors speaks of our relationship to them.<\/p>\n

Love draws us into relationship with God.<\/p>\n

In love, God has always cared for his people.\u00a0 The story of the Exodus from Egypt is the story of God\u2019s love for his people.\u00a0 Jesus shows us just how far his love for us goes when he lays down his life for us on the Cross.\u00a0 Really, the whole Bible is the story of God\u2019s love for his people, how God blesses \u201cthe people the Lord has chosen to be his own.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the things that makes us difficult to image the \u201cundivided unity<\/em>\u201d of the Trinity is all the disagreements we have.\u00a0 It is a fact that there are people we don\u2019t agree with.\u00a0 It can start with our own families.\u00a0 It\u2019s no secret that parents and teenagers don\u2019t always agree.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t mean they don\u2019t love each other.\u00a0 Love is the very thing that keeps them together.\u00a0 Brothers and sisters don\u2019t always get along but they can still love one another.\u00a0 In this way a family becomes a domestic church, where the love within the family serves as an image of God\u2019s love.<\/p>\n

What I just said I do in the context of \u201ceveryday\u201d family life.\u00a0 I admit that sometimes the situation is far worse involving perhaps abuse or theft on the level of mortal sin.\u00a0 These things should never happen.\u00a0 Forgiveness can seem difficult, especially when the sin is denied.\u00a0 Such families can be broken but while it happens, it is never the ideal.\u00a0 It is never what we are to seek.<\/p>\n

The disunity and the brokenness we can see in the world today is real but it is not what we are created for.\u00a0 What seems common in the world is not to be our model.\u00a0 Our model is the love God shows to use.\u00a0 Our model is the unity of the Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, three persons but one God.<\/p>\n

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

The Most Holy Trinity, Year B Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40 Psalm 33:4-5, 6, 9, 18-19, 20, 22 (12b) Romans 8:14-17 Matthew 28:16-20 May 27, 2018 Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.\u00a0 It would be a wonderful time to fully explain the Trinity.\u00a0 I can\u2019t do that.\u00a0 It\u2019s not that\u2019s it not allowed.\u00a0 …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘The Most Holy Trinity, Year B – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82],"tags":[453,452,116,454],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-ER","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2533"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2533"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2534,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2533\/revisions\/2534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}