This past week, as you know, we returned to Ordinary Time. However, it’s as if today the Church says: “Wait a minute – there IS one more idea we need to explore. Let’s celebrate our Triune God.”
But if you expect today’s readings to give a clear presentation of the doctrine of the Trinity, you will be sorely disappointed. In fact, the word “Trinity” is not found in the Scripture. One writer has said if Jesus were to ask the question today, “Who do you say that I am?”, a modern theologian might answer: “Thou art the Logos, existing in the Father as His rationality and then, by an act of His will, being generated, in consideration of the various functions by which God is related to his creation, but only on the fact that Scripture speaks of a Father, and a Son, and a Holy Spirit, etc. etc.” Jesus might have replied: “What’s that you say?”
We may not be able to understand the how of the Trinity, but it is important to understand the why. The concept gives us a more personal, a more dynamic experience of God. We are made in the image of God, and, therefore, the more we understand God the more we can understand ourselves. The mystery of the Blessed Trinity tells us about the kind of God we worship and about the kind of people we should be.
Here is a generous God who loves us beyond our understanding! This whole world was created for us. God gave us Himself in flesh, to suffer with us and die for us. Here is a God so generous as to continue to offer Himself to us through the appearance of bread and wine. Here is a God whose generosity spills over for us in gifts of wisdom and understanding, courage and piety, knowledge and counsel and fear of the Lord. Here is a God who loves us beyond our wildest imaginings.
God wants us to discover this and celebrate it. The fact is: God wants to be found and is constantly calling out to us. But he does not necessarily call out to us with words. We are given many opportunities; so many times, when we travel through even the darkest tunnels of our lives and then come out at the other side of the encounter to discover, unexpectedly, something surprising and beautiful and holy. There is an example from this past week, when I came into the connector and was surprised by an awesome glorious red dawn! Recall the reading earlier this week (from Sirach): “As the rising sun is clear to all, so the glory of the Lord fills all His works. How beautiful are all God’s works! Even to the spark of a fleeting vision.”
Recall the analogy of a community to a three-legged stool. As individuals in community, we need God and others. The stool becomes lopsided or falls if any one leg is shortened or missing. It takes all of us to make community: God, me and all our members. Sometimes we may feel it really doesn’t matter if I miss an activity; that the meals, card games, choral prayer will still go on whether I am present or not. And, it will! And it will be done in your name. There are legitimate reasons to be absent, but never, ever feel that your presence doesn’t count or is not important or significant.
A recent study reports that people between the ages 25 to 44 saw a nearly 30% increase in heart attack deaths over the first two years of the pandemic. Another study tells us that people who experience prolonged feelings of loneliness are 26% more likely to suffer a heart attack. So, let’s be on the watch for symptoms of loneliness in ourselves. And, likewise, be on guard that we are inclusive of each other.
This celebration of the Trinity reminds us of the limitless possibilities of God. Our god is One God, and cannot be contained but must co-exist as three persons. Let us seek out God in divine magnificent creativity, in all the manifestations as Father Mother as Sister Brother, as Counselor, Friend. God is waiting for us. Ours is a God who wants to be found.
~by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB
