This Sunday we
celebrate the Solemnity of the Trinity, and rather than give a theological
explanation of the dogma, I would like to focus in on what the Trinity means to
us as Church and as individuals[1].
The
easiest place to begin is with love. The First Person of the Trinity is the
Father. Jesus taught us to call
His Father, Our Father. Actually,
more than the formal “father” we are to call Him Abba or Daddy. This is
not the view that many of us have of the First Person. We tend to see the
Father only as the all powerful Creator with a view similar to the way
Michelangelo presented Him on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. But the Father
is Love. He created us out of love. He sent His Son to deliver us from the
death that selfishness and hatred brought upon the world, to restore us to His
Love. The Abba loves us.
We
can certainly understand the Love of God in the Second Person, the Son. Jesus
Christ is Love Incarnate, Divine Love taken on human flesh. There are many ways
that He pours His Love on us, certainly the central way was through the sacrificial
love of the Cross. The manifestation of His Love that is so real to each of us
is His Compassion. He looks at us and sees out struggles, whether we suffer
from that imposed upon us by others, we suffer from the frailness of our
bodies, or we suffer from that which we do to ourselves, our sins. The Son
understands our weakness and calls us to Himself, calls us to Love. He is the Compassionate One.
Our
ability to respond to the Creative Love of the Father and the Compassionate
Love of the Son is infinitely more powerful than any love the human soul can
produce. We have been given the Spirit of Love, the Power of Love, the Holy
Spirit. The central truth of the Trinity is that we are immersed in Divine
Love.
Back
in 1970 there was a Broadway Musical named Godspell,
it combined the folk music of the day and traditional Church hymns with a
meditation on the Life of Jesus. One of the most famous songs repeated several times throughout the
musical was called Day by Day. The
lyrics were not the creation of a Broadway songwriter. They came from a prayer
written by St. Richard Chichester, a thirteenth century English saint. The Love
of God, Father, Son and Spirit is reflected in these petitions.
To
see thee more clearly. God created us in His image and likeness. This was the
work of the Father, the Creator. To see thee more clearly is to see the image
and likeness of God in each other.
We are his people. We live in the Love of the Divine Lover, the Father.
To
love thee more dearly. This petition is about God’s gift of his Son, Jesus
Christ. Again, a story can be helpful here. On October 12, 2009, Pope Benedict
canonized Fr. Damien de Veuster. St. Damien is often referred to as Damien the
Leper. He was the courageous priest who ministered to the poor people of the
dreadful leper colony of Hawaii at Kaluapappa on Molokai Island. He was not
supposed to be there. He was sent because he had been a carpenter and could
assemble a small pre-built church for the poor people. Actually, he was the
second person sent. A Hawaiin carpenter, a religious brother, had been told to
re-assemble the chapel, but after the chapel was unloaded from the ship, just
as the carpenter was beginning to work, many of the lepers gathered to see what
was happening. The brother was so frightened by their presence that he swam
back to the ship and demanded that he be taken back to Oahu. Fr. Damien, a
Belgian, was then sent to assemble the chapel and then get out, hopefully
within a day. He stayed. At first he was not very successful in convincing the
people to come to Church. During the week he would go around the island
encouraging people to come the next Sunday, but he was largely ignored. The few
who did come heard him begin his homilies with, “You lepers.” One day, after returning from an long
trek around the island, Fr. Damien put his aching feet into a tub of hot
water. One foot didn’t feel the
heat. Damien knew what that meant. He had contracted leprosy. The next Sunday
he began his sermon with the words: “We lepers.” Like electricity the news
spread around the island that Fr. Damien had leprosy. The next Sunday the
church was filled to overflowing, and the Sunday after that and thereafter. Fr.
Damien had taken on their flesh, their leprous flesh, and become one of them. They
loved him more dearly because they experienced how much he loved them[2].
To
love more dearly is to love the Second Person of the Trinity, the Incarnate
God, the One who has compassion for us, the One who takes on our flesh, even
our leprous flesh. To follow thee more nearly is to allow the Spirit of God to
work through our lives. The Spirit is the one who draws us into the Mystery of
God. The Spirit also works through us to draw others to God. It may be
difficult for many of us to understand the Holy Spirit. We want to concretize
everything. The Spirit is just that, spiritual. He is God as action, God as
verb, God as the very action of loving. We are quite correct when we say that
we were inspired to say or do something that led ourselves or others to
God. To follow thee more nearly is
to allow this inspiration to take place.
The
Mystery of the Holy Trinity is the Mystery of God’s Love. We live in this Love, the Love of the
Father who creates and sustains us, the Love of the Son, the Merciful One, who
became one of us and who overflows with compassion for each of us, and the love
the Spirit, the One whose presence within us gives us the ability to love as
God loves ■
[1] Sunday 26th May, 2013, the
Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. Readings: Proverbs 8:22‑31. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth! Ps
8:4-9. Romans 5:1-5. John 16:12-15. [St Philip Neri].
[2] Father Damien or Saint
Damien of Molokai, SS.CC. (Dutch: Pater Damiaan or Heilige Damiaan van Molokai;
January 3, 1840 – April 15, 1889, born Jozef De Veuster, was a Roman Catholic
priest from Belgium and member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of
Jesus and Mary, a missionary religious institute.
