As part of our diocesan initiative this year to help us better understand the Mass, here is the homily I gave today on the Holy Trinity.\u00a0 All three persons of the Trinity are at work in the Mass and they do it all together.<\/p>\n
Trinity Sunday, Year A
\nExodus 34:4-6b, 8-9
\n2 Corinthians 13:11-13
\nJohn 3:16-18
\nJune 19, 2011<\/p>\n
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity.\u00a0 You know, despite the fact that the trinity is a central mystery of our faith, we don\u2019t talk about it a lot.\u00a0 When was the last time you used the word \u201ctrinity\u201d?<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think it\u2019s because we don\u2019t believe in the Trinity.\u00a0 I think there are two main reasons we don\u2019t talk about the Trinity much.\u00a0 First, we don\u2019t understand it.\u00a0 We try to come up with analogies like a shamrock.\u00a0 You can\u2019t find the name \u201cHoly Trinity\u201d in the Bible.\u00a0 The Holy Trinity is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, that we describe as three persons yet one God.\u00a0 How do you explain that?<\/p>\n
The second reason is that we take it granted.\u00a0 We are probably \u201cinvoking\u201d the Trinity much more than we realize.\u00a0 Trinitarian language is used several times in our celebration of the Mass.<\/p>\n
How does the priest begin?\u00a0 In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 As the priest says these words, we all make the Sign of the Cross on ourselves.\u00a0 As we do so we should be reflecting on the Cross as a central symbol of our faith but we should be doing so thinking also about the Trinity.<\/p>\n
What happens next?\u00a0 There is a greeting by the priest.\u00a0 Now, there are a couple of options but the one I always use is \u201cThe grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.\u201d\u00a0 Where does this come from?\u00a0 Today\u2019s second reading.\u00a0 It is phrase found in various forms in Paul\u2019s letters.\u00a0 Note, it does not use the word Trinity but it does invoke all three persons of the Trinity.\u00a0 And note the order, it is Jesus who is first mentioned because Jesus is the person of the Trinity that is most \u201ctangible\u201d to us because he is the one that became human.\u00a0 But he didn\u2019t do it alone.\u00a0 He did it in relationship with his Father as we read in today\u2019s Gospel, \u201cGod sent his only Son.\u201d\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because he loved us.\u00a0 So this greeting calls us upon the love of God.\u00a0 The invocation also includes the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son.\u00a0 They work in total unity as we are called to in our baptism and granted through the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 It is the Trinity that is the perfect model of community.<\/p>\n
So we continue at Mass.\u00a0 We don\u2019t have to wait long to hear Trinitarian language for the opening prayer normally ends with a similar invocation, \u201cWe ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Creed is written as a statement of the most basic beliefs of our faith.\u00a0 The Creed talks about the relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Jesus was begotten by the Father, one in being (in the new translations we will say\u00a0consubstantial).\u00a0 The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.<\/p>\n
Then comes the Eucharistic Prayer.\u00a0 The\u00a0Eucharistic Prayers are addressed to the Father.\u00a0 Depending on which Eucharistic Prayer the priest chooses, all three persons of the Trinity are spoken of in it.\u00a0 Eucharistic Prayer 3 is the prime example of this.<\/p>\n
The very opening lines so that the Eucharistic Prayer is clearly addressed to the Father but also immediately recognizes Jesus and the Holy Spirit<\/p>\n
Father, you are holy indeed, and all creation rightly gives you praise.\u00a0 All life, all holiness comes from you through your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ by the working of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The three work together.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then we ask the Father to make the gifts holy by the power of the Holy Spirit that they become for us the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ as whose command we celebrate this Eucharist.<\/p>\n
Again, all three working together.<\/p>\n
Our Eucharistic Prayer ends with<\/p>\n
Through him, in him, and with him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor are yours almighty Father, forever and ever.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u00a0The\u00a0“him” is\u00a0Jesus,\u00a0the prayer is addressed to the Father, both working together in unity with the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n
Again all three working together.<\/p>\n
Then, of course, our Mass ends with our blessing invoking the Trinity with the Sign of the Cross.<\/p>\n
When we talk about the Trinity we are talking about perfect unity, the relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Can we explain how they are one?\u00a0 If we could, we won\u2019t call it a mystery and it won\u2019t be faith.<\/p>\n
But we can believe.\u00a0 I said before that the Bible never uses the word trinity.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t because the early church didn\u2019t believe in the Trinity.\u00a0 They were just beginning to learn about it.\u00a0 God was one God.\u00a0 Then, here comes Jesus, who in turn sends the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n
While we don\u2019t find the word trinity in Bible we can find all three persons of the Trinity in the Bible.\u00a0 There are Paul\u2019s et al invocation of the three persons.\u00a0 The New Testament is clear that Jesus is sent to do the will of the Father.\u00a0 John\u2019s Gospel speaks frequently about the relationship of the Father and the Son.\u00a0 In John\u2019s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples that he send the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n
The relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is a perfect community.\u00a0 They are three different persons but one God.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We are each different people but we are called to work together as members of the Body of Christ.\u00a0 Do you look out for yourself or do you seek a greater good for our Christian Community?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As part of our diocesan initiative this year to help us better understand the Mass, here is the homily I gave today on the Holy Trinity.\u00a0 All three persons of the Trinity are at work in the Mass and they do it all together. Trinity Sunday, Year A Exodus 34:4-6b, 8-9 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 John …<\/p>\n