Feast of the Holy Trinity
by Fr.Gus Carter
5/22/ 05

We call the Blessed Trinity a mystery yet every aspect of our lives is touched by the Trinity. This morning we reflect on the nearness of the Divine Trinity, and we ask for openness to the many blessings that come to us from the revelation of the Trinity. Our knowledge of God is comparably minimal. I like the old saying, "Trying to find an argument to prove the existence of God is like striking a match to search for the sun." Our minds are so small compared to the vastness of God.

The three-in-one mystery of the Trinity alerts us to two things. First, we cannot wrap knowledge of God into a neat intellectual package. We will find the meaning of God, not in intellectual search but by being attentive to our life experiences. Secondly, God is infinitely dynamic. The Father Creator knows himself. That infinite act of knowledge generates the Second Person of the Trinity whom we call "Word" or "Son." The love generated from all eternity in the mutual self giving and receiving of Father and Son gives rise to the Holy Spirit. God exists in the boundless action of infinite knowing and infinite loving.

All the great religions of the world testify to the unity of God. One of the great religious experiences that people report is a sense of the unity and harmony of the universe. The universal laws of nature reflect the oneness of God. We believe in one God as Jesus believed in one God. Yet he also reveals an the infinite dynamism we signify by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus discloses that the essence of God involves boundless love and knowledge among three Divine Persons. We are most likely to discover the meaning of God in vital human interactions, in our relationships.

We humans are so limited that it takes many images and concepts to begin to understand God. Some think of mystery as something we don't understand. I like the definition of mystery as something infinitely understandable. We have such small minds in comparison to the Lord that we only grasp small senses of all that God is. Yet in that small understanding we do encounter our God.

Jesus reveals God to us as "Abba," the word people of Jesus' time used to call their fathers, like our "daddy," a tender and loving Father. St. Paul speaks of God as the One from whom all parenthood derives. Parents are images of God. When individuals express themselves in concerned parenthood, they image what God is like. Reflecting on what it means to be a parent helps us to understand what we mean when we say God is our Father. If we can love our children so much, how much more does the infinite God love us.

People who make things that express themselves, poems, paintings, houses, have some idea of what God the Creator implies. When we put ourselves into objects, they have a special meaning for us. We have a special bond with the things we have made, you might say, from our hearts. As the Book of Wisdom expresses it, "You love all things, 0 Lord, that are, and loath nothing that you have made~ for what you hated you would not have fashioned."

St. Augustine called nature the great sacrament of God. We look at the magnificent stars, enormous mountains, surging seas and they are awesome. Then we look at nature under a microscope and there is even greater harmony, beauty and intelligence. We find in every created thing traces of God's presence. Every thing hints at the immensity and bounty of God.

All that Jesus makes known to us about the Father portrays the noblest kind of gentleness. We think of power sometimes as something harsh, striking. It is a great revelation to realize the tremendous gentleness of God's love. We encounter the mark of God, we experience something of God, when we love tenderly. St. John said, "Everyone who loves has knowledge of God." We can reflect on the many kinds of love in our lives., the different kinds of relationships that we have. Those that are the deepest, the most precious to us, are the best revelations of what God is like.

In various places in Scripture Jesus claims to be coequal with the Father. To express this equality, and at the same time a difference, the early Church called Him "Son." The second person in the Trinity, the "Word," expresses the infinite mind of God. The limitless variety, ingenuity, and bounty of nature hint at the power and beauty of Gods' mind. Any kind of true wisdom or insight puts us in touch with God. The "Word" expresses God's desire to communicate with us and to share with us divine life. In Christ we become part of the divine family. We are brothers and sisters of Christ, the Son of God.

The Holy Spirit expresses the invisibility of God and yet the extreme nearness of God. We know something special about God when we realize the truth of St. Augustine's statement, "God is nearer to me than I am to myself." My good desires, inspirations, thoughts of love, and forgiveness, all help me to experience the Spirit of God. In a very special way the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of family, the Spirit of the unity of the Church. When we come together at Mass, when we pray together, we have the Spirit giving us a oneness. When we care for one another, enjoy working with each other, when we express hospitality and compassion, we are experiencing the Spirit of God that dwells in us.

We are celebrating that Jesus has revealed to us the intimate life of God. Jesus said, "I have called you friends because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father." The essence of that revelation is that God is Persons, God is relationships. We come to who God wants us to be in a special way in our relationships and in our love for one another.