I have preached on the Holy Trinity every year for the past 9 years. So click this link to see all the old homilies and listen to one that interests you. Most of them have been about love, community, and family. My most memorable was one called Trinity - Spending God's Money | #130. It was a lot of fun to preach and the best homily I've ever done on Stewardship.
This year I had Deacon Ben preach. It seems that every pastor I know of made the Deacon preach today. Deacon Ben made a very good point. He said that the philosopher Aristotle had arrived at the conclusion that there must be one God. He lived hundreds of years before Jesus and never had contact with the Jewish religion. And he grew up steeped in Greek pantheism. Yet he was able to correctly deduce that there must be one being that was perfect, all-powerful, and completely transcendent of this universe and the gods that the Greeks worshipped. However, he could not have known or figured out that the One God was also three divine Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This was something God had to reveal to us. And this revelation reminds us that we are made to be relational persons and not just isolated individuals.
The Father and Fathers Day
Today in the United States of America is a special holiday to honor fathers. Jesus teaches us that God himself is a Father, and the source of all Fatherhood. This means that when a man is truly living fatherhood, he reveals the face of God to his children. It also reminds fathers everywhere that our fatherhood must mirror that of the Heavenly Father. This means providing wise limits and expectations for our children. We need to lead them and guide them into excellence, without placing unrealistic demands on them. Meditate on the Fatherhood of God and what it teaches you about fatherhood.
The Trinity and the Communion of Saints
I was recently away on walking pilgrimage. As we walked down a country road, a truck pulled up next to us.
"Where are you going?", the driver asked.
"To the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help," a pilgrim responded.
"What are you going to do there?", he said.
"Pray to Mary," said the pilgrim.
The driver responded, "There is one name under heaven by which we are to be saved! There is one intercessor between God and man, the man Jesus Christ! Those prayers can't help you. She can't help you. Only Jesus saves!"
And with those encouraging words, he drove away.
I mused on this exchange as I walked along. The Apostles' Creed professes our belief in the Communion of Saints. The Holy Trinity is the model according to which human beings were made. God sends his Holy Spirit to draw us into the life of the Trinity. We become members of the Body of Christ and part of the Divine dynamic of loving and being loved. In other words, Union with God is also about union with each other. Any Christian will agree that we must encourage, pray for, and support our fellow Christian brothers and sisters. We are on a journey to eternal life and we are doing it together. The most alive members of the Body of Christ are the ones that we call the dead. They are united with God and alive with him forever (see Matthew 22:23-33 and Revelation 20:4-6). Why would they have stopped caring about us? Certainly they must continue to pray for us, encourage us, even cheer us on as we run the race to Eternal life.
We believe that the Trinity remains three distinct persons but they are perfectly united in life and love. The Trinity is a model for the family: each person remains separate and unique, yet sharing life and love with each other. The Trinity is a model for our Church: separate persons sharing life and love with each other. And the Church transcends time and even death itself. Let us celebrate what it means to be part of the Holy Trinity.
