Homily for Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (Year A)
June 7, 2020
Sacred Heart, EGF –Sunday 10:00 AM (Baccalaureate), 12:00 PM

Focus: God gave his Son for us.
Function: Receive him and give yourself to him.

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The Trinity: Pandora’s box for the preacher. It is the central mystery of the Christian Faith because it is the mystery of God in himself. The challenge is to say something substantial but to not say something incorrectly.

What can we say about the Most Holy Trinity?

We believe in one God in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Each person is God.
The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God.

Each person is distinct.
The Father is not the Son. The Son is not the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not the Father.

They are One. There is unity in the Trinity.

[1. Creed]

We can turn to the Creed – the statement of belief that was hammered out by the early Christians in the first few centuries of the Church.

“I believe in One God” – not three Gods. Unity.

“the Father Almighty” – creator of Heaven and Earth

“I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages…”

The Son has always existed along with the Father. Yet he is begotten. Like a human son is begotten by an earthly father, so the Son of God is begotten by God the Father, yet from all eternity. He had no beginning. As the creed goes on to say “begotten, not made”.

“Through him all things were made” – the Father made all things through the Son. Creation sprang into being when the Father spoke the Word. The Word is the Son.

“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.”

The Holy Spirit existed from the beginning.
The first words of the Book of Genesis, telling of Creation:
“In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters…”
The Spirit was there when God spoke his Word…

The Most Holy Trinity:

The Father: creates and begets
The Son: is begotten, is sent, is the Word through whom all things were created
The Holy Spirit: proceeds from the Father and the Son

What else can we say?

[2. Gospel]

Let us turn to the Gospel. John 3:16. “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…”

The Trinity is present in those few words:
God: the Father
So loved: The Holy Spirit is the bond of love between the Father and the Son
That he gave his only Son:

God is love. An eternal exchange of love. The Trinity is a communion of persons.

God gave his Son in the act of Creation when he spoke his Word and creation sprang into being. Creation is a gift. Love always seeks to go outside of itself. To make a gift of itself to another.

We abused the gift. We sinned. God sent his Son again, sent his son to be born in time, in our human likeness and appearance, to take on our sins, to die for us and to rise again to new life.

The Son returned to the Father. He ascended into Heaven. He went back to the Father. Before he left, he gave the great commission: “Go, therefore, and preach the Gospel to all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”.

The Son was sent into the world to draw us into the inner life of the Trinity – to draw us into communion with the Trinity. He was sent out to draw us in. He returns to the Father. “It is better for you that I go, if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you.” He returns to the Father, and the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit.

All who are baptized are born of water and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in them. And where the Holy Spirit is, there is the Father and the Son. We who are baptized share in the life of the Trinity here, so that when we die, we are drawn into the inner life of the Trinity for all eternity. That is Heaven.

[3. The Implications]

What does this mean for us?

We are made in the image and likeness of God.

We came from the heart of the Trinity.
We are to return to the heart of the Trinity.

We have a mission. We who have been baptized into the death and resurrection of Christ are now sent out like he was sent out – sent to draw others into the mystery. Sent to proclaim the good news that:

We are not alone.

We are not abandoned.

We are loved.

We are loved by the God who is love itself – loved by a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.

We are loved with a love so strong that He would not leave us dead in our sins but would send His own Son to die in our place so that we could be reconciled.

[4. Graduates]

Dear graduates, remember this truth.

You come to the end of your high school years.
You are now sent out. You are to be sent out like the Son was sent out from the Father. You are sent out into the world with a mission.

Remember your mission.

“Go, make disciples…”

Go, but come back.

Remember that the Son returned to the Father

Go, but come back to back to be strengthened by the Eucharist.

Go, but remember why you go. You have a mission from God.

Go, to lead others home, to lead others back, to lead others into the Heart of the Trinity. You can only do that if you yourself are immersed in the heart of the Trinity…if you live in communion with the Trinity.

…

God is Trinity – an eternal exchange of love.

God so loved the world that he gave us His only Son.
Do you so love God that you will give him yourself?

He gives us his Son again in this Eucharist.
Will you give yourself to him?

“Jesus, come into my heart. Keep me close to your heart. Draw me into the life of the Trinity. Never let me be separated from you.”