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The Trinity Matters
Seattle, June 3, 2012
Trinity Sunday
Fr. Bernhard
Today is Trinity Sunday. The New Testament and the Christian tradition
give us some useful images to think about the Trinity. At Jesus’ baptism, a
mysterious voice from heaven represents the Father. Jesus of Nazareth represents
the Son. In fact, Jesus is the Son of God. The Holy Spirit through whom the
Virgin Mary conceived Jesus is often represented as a dove. Despite these images,
the Trinity may seem abstract to us. But the Trinity was never abstract for the
saints. Think about St. Joseph. Ever since the Holy Spirit came to Mary at the
Annunciation in the form of a dove and allowed Mary to conceive Jesus, Joseph’s
whole life was changed. Joseph would never have a normal marriage. It is said
that when Joseph arrived in heaven, he noticed that someone in the celestial garden
was hunting pigeons and doves. Joseph turned to his companions and said, “I’ve
been wanting to do that for a very long time.” So you see, the Trinity is not just a
sophisticated doctrine for theologians.
All through the liturgical year, we celebrate beautiful feasts like Christmas
and Easter that are actually all about the Trinity. Christmas commemorates that
God the Father sent his Son into the world, the Son who became man in the womb
of Mary. Easter recalls that the Father sent the Holy Spirit to raise Jesus from the
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dead. Indeed, the whole story of salvation from the Book of Genesis until today
turns on this double theme: the Father sends the Son to reveal himself and the
Father sends the Spirit to bring us to our heavenly home with the Father.
The Son and the Spirit always act in unison. They are not two gods, but one
God with the Father. And yet the Son and Spirit leave distinct marks on the lives
of believers. The Son especially manifests the Father. This is why the Gospel of
John calls the Son the Word of God. The Son reveals the Father because he comes
from him. Since the Son’s being or identity perfectly reflects the Father, the Son’s
revelation is reliable. When Jesus speaks about God and God’s action in the
world, he is not guessing or speculating. Christ knows what he is talking about.
The Spirit unites us to the Father. He can do this because the Father is the
Spirit’s eternal source. The Spirit is like an infinite river of love that flows from
the Father through the cosmos and carries us up into the heart of the Father. The
Spirit bridges the distance between God and us, the gap that our egoism and sin
create. The Spirit can bridge this distance because he is truly divine. The Spirit is
the coming of the Father’s love among us because the Spirit has received all of the
Father’s love from eternity.
We can rely on Jesus’ words and on the Spirit’s loving action in our hearts
because of who they are. Their identity is one of equality with the Father. When
the Father begets the Son, he holds nothing back, he gives everything to the Son,
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and yet the Father does not lose anything. When the Father and the Son speak their
love for each other, they speak their whole heart and they breathe forth the Spirit of
love. Without the Trinity, Jesus cannot be the definitive revelation of God. He
would be just one prophet among many. Because the Trinity is true, our faith in
Christ’s word is founded upon rock. Without the Trinity, we would remain far
from God, because only the Spirit whose loving power is divine can bring us into
union with God. Because the Trinity is true, when believers experience the Spirit
in their lives by a deep conversion or a profound healing, they do not experience
the work of some angel or a mysterious cosmic force. Rather, they have direct
contact with God, because the Spirit is divine.
The Trinity also dwells in our hearts. The Trinity’s interior presence is not
static or inactive. God is not just there in our souls, looking around, wondering
what to do. The Trinity does not dwell in us saying: “Who is this person, and what
are they doing?” That’s not God. You see, there are only three things that God
does not know. He does not know 1) how many groups of religious sisters there
are in the world, 2) what Jesuits are thinking, and 3) what Dominicans will preach
from the pulpit before they opens their mouths. Other than that, God knows
everything. He knows all of us, he knows us better than ourselves. That’s
liberating, because it means that God can always help and guide us.
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The Son and the Spirit do in us what they have done all through history.
Through faith, the Son dwells in us and helps us to understand who God is and
what he does. He still reveals or manifests God. The Son is in us by faith. Now
faith means placing our trust in the witness of the Church and of the saints, even
though we may not fully grasp what the Church and the saints are saying, and why
they say it. The Son whose light shines in our souls gradually help us to gain a
better comprehension of Christian teaching, to see its truth. The Spirit is the mark
of divine love that incites us to grow in virtue. When we seem unable to live
according to Christ’s values, we can trust that the Spirit within us will give us the
strength to do so. Jesus never promised an easy life to his disciples. Rather, he
promised them the Holy Spirit whose burning love enables believers to grow as
persons, to grow strong in their character.
When we let the Trinity guide us, then one day, we can join St. Joseph in
heaven and go hunting for doves.