Proverbs 8:22-31
The Book of Proverbs is mostly a collection of wise sayings to help people live a good life. This passage from Proverbs, however, is a hymn to Wisdom which in the Old Testament is sometimes symbolically described as a person coming from God.
Romans 5:1-5
Paul's letter to the Romans is his most detailed and important theological work. The Church chose this brief passage to be read on Trinity Sunday because, in these five verses, all three persons of the Trinity are mentioned.
John 16:12-15
Bishop Untener’s Homily
Christianity is the only religion that has a Trinity. Islam, for example, stresses that there is one sole person who is God, and criticizes our belief in the Trinity. Other religions have several gods, but they compete with one another. The Greeks pictured many gods dwelling on Mount Olympus, but between them there was rivalry, treachery.
Christianity, and Christianity alone, has one God in three Persons.
We use symbols, analogies, to talk about the Trinity. St. Patrick used the three-leaf clover - the stem representing one God, and the leaves representing the three Persons in the Trinity.
A more ancient analogy is the sun. God the Father is the sun itself. The rays coming from the sun are the Second Person of the Trinity. And those rays touching and affecting us are the Spirit.
I like to use a musical analogy. Think of a song that you like - let's say "White Christmas." We all know the melody and we can hum it. If someone played the melody on the piano with one finger we would recognize it. That's the song - "White Christmas." That represents God the Father.
But the words of the song express its meaning. They're not simply attached to the song. They're part of it. The words represent the Second Person of the Trinity - the Son of God. We refer to him as the Word of God.
But there's more than just the melody line and the words. The harmony of the song, the chords bring out its richness. And the rhythm does too. Think of the difference between listening to "White Christmas" played with one finger on the piano and someone singing the words... and a full orchestra playing "White Christmas." The chords and the rhythm represent the Holy Spirit.
The Trinity is not simply an abstract dogma. It affects us. Let's look at this.
All creation bears the imprint of its Creator. That includes us, for we are made in the image and likeness of God.
So, if you want to know what God is like, look about you. What do we see as you look at the universe, as you look at the people who populate this earth? We see variety... beauty... interconnectedness... motion... life.
That gives us a clue to what God is like. God is not a stony-faced, solitary figure staring blankly at us. God is not an impersonal "force." God is variet... beauty... interconnectedness... motion... life. The three Persons are united to one another in a relationship of love. The Trinity is brimming with life, goodness and unity, and we are invited to be part of it.
Did you ever wonder why, in the human race, there is an instinct for family, relationships? It's in our blood, in our bones, in our genetic make-up, in our spirit. It's because we're made in the image and likeness of God. We're made to connect with other people, to have relationships, to experience loving and being loved.
Which brings us to the Trinity. God is not a solitary person. God is three persons. There is one God, in three persons. We don't quite know how to put all that together in human concepts. It's beyond our limited comprehension. That's because God is beyond our comprehension. There is a wonder to God that goes beyond our human categories. And the greatest wonder of all is that we are made in the image and likeness of this God. And more than that, the wonder is that we are created to relate to this God. We are not simply "objects" God looks upon. We are loved by God and we are able to love God in return. We are in a relationship with God. We are daughters and sons of God, as though we were equals. Actually, it's not "as though" we're equals with God. By God's grace, we are lifted up to God's level. God's own Spirit is poured upon us. We have God's own life within us. We are "divinized" - somehow made like God.
When Jesus died, rose and ascended to God, a human being went where we thought only angels could go. Think about it. There is a human being - one of our own - at the heart of the Trinity. Jesus brought us there and it is now part of our destiny. It's not simply something in the future. It is already begun. We have God's life within us now.
This is what we celebrate on Trinity Sunday. And that's what we do - we celebrate it, think about it, take it in, and enjoy it. There is no "therefore we must go out and do such and such." We simply savor the greatness and goodness and wonder of God. We marvel at the fact that we are made in the image of this God. We experience wonder and awe and we give thanks.
Keep in mind that all of this comes together in the Eucharist. The Mass is not a re-enactment of the Last Supper. It is the risen Lord who is present to us in a special way throughout the whole Eucharistic celebration - the risen Lord who died, rose from the dead, and ascended to heaven. The risen Lord enables us to enter into his dying and rising and ascending. The risen Lord brings us into the heart of the Trinity. The Eucharistic Prayer reaches its crescendo when we say "through him, with him, in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory is yours Almighty Father, forever and ever. Amen.
Originally given on June 10, 2001