He SOUGHT ME, BOUGHT ME AND TAUGHT ME

Fr. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Holy Names of Jesus & Mary Catholic Church

Memphis, TN, USA

June 7, 2009

Dearest beloved, today the Church celebrates the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. Today we celebrate one of the great mysteries of our faith: that God is three persons-Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Faith in the mystery of the Trinity is usually simply expressed each time we make the sign of the cross: “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” This is perhaps the most common religious gesture demonstrating belief in the Trinity. As Catholics, we were initiated into the Trinitarian faith when we were baptized ‘in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’.

The mystery of the Trinity is perhaps one article of Christian belief that most Christians are not particularly knowledgeable about. That there are three persons in one God is easily accepted by them, but what that really means is not really their chief concern. My mother believes strongly that there are three persons in one God, but I remember asking her to explain to me the meaning of Ito na-otu di Ngozi (Blessed Trinity) after a catechism class, her response was quite simple: Nna na Nwa na Muo Nso bu Chukwu- meaning Father, Son and Holy Spirit are God. That is all my mother knows about the Trinity; and there are not a few Catholics who have that simple understanding of the Trinity.

During my reflection, prior to the writing of this homily, I had the excitement to centre my homily on the theology of the Trinity. I had thought of giving a simple analysis of the mystery of the Trinity. That led me into studying the summary of St. Augustine’s Trinitarian theology (De Trinitate) and St. Thomas Aquinas’ Trinitarian theology I wrote when I was in the Major Seminary. After that, I picked up the Catechism of the Catholic Church and read the entire Part One, Paragraph 2, subtitled “The Father” (CCC 232-267). It is under this section that the mystery of the Trinity is explained and taught. After reading all that I was ready to prepare my homily. But before I could even start, I remembered the story of St. Augustine’s experience.

The story says that St. Augustine was walking on the beach contemplating the mystery of the Trinity. Then he saw a boy in front of him who had dug a hole in the sand and was going out to the sea again and again and bringing some water to pour into the hole. St. Augustine asked him, “What are you doing?” “I’m going to pour the entire ocean into this hole.” “That is impossible, the whole ocean will not fit in the hole you have made” said St. Augustine. The boy replied, “And you cannot fit the Trinity in your tiny little brain.” The story concludes by saying that the boy vanished as St. Augustine had been talking to an angel.

While reflecting on the experience of St. Augustine, several things crossed my mind. Something said that doing an analysis of the mystery of the Trinity could appear scholarly, and in end, I might have succeeded in putting my parishioners to sleep. In the end, I had to re-articulate the content of my homily. So this morning brethren, I preach to you a message which I have titled “He sought me, bought me and taught me”.

In the book, The Celtic Way of Prayer: The Recovery of the Religious Imagination, p. 43, we find a beautiful prayer to the Trinity:

“O Father who sought me

O Son who bought me

O Holy Spirit who taught me.”

Many religions call God “Father”. By calling God “Father” we mean that he is the first origin of everything. We call him “Father” because he is good and goodness itself. He loves and cares for all his children. God’s parental tenderness can also be expressed by the image of motherhood which demonstrates the intimacy between Creator and creature. Calling God “Father” does not mean that he is male. God is neither male nor female. He transcends all sexes. No earthly father is as fatherly as God is.

God is “Father” who has been seeking for us from the beginning. Since the fall of Adam and Evil, God has been seeking and searching for us. Seeking not in the sense of not knowing where we are. But seeking in the sense of reaching out to where we are. He knows how desperately we need him; he goes out of his way to reach us. From Old Testament, he called Abraham, formed a people for himself, the Israelites. God also called Moses and gave a covenant. He was faithful but the Jews were not. They broke the terms of the covenant. As a loving Father, he did not abandon them rather he sent out different prophets to call his people back to live in accordance with the terms of the covenant. But in their stubbornness, the Jews did not listen. In continuance of his effort to seek us, he sent his Son Jesus Christ to buy us with his blood.

Jesus, the Son of the Father bought us. St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:20 says, “You are not your own property, you have been bought at a price. So use your body for the glory of God.” One of the greatest revelations of Jesus is that God is our Father. Jesus himself called him “Abba”. The word “Abba” is an Aramaic word, which means something like our “Daddy.” By that, Jesus is simply saying to us not to look on God as being far away from us. Our heavenly Father is our Abba; he is our Daddy. He is close to us; he cares about us, he loves us and watches over us. He is someone we can turn to in good times and in bad times. He listens to us because he wants our good.

The baby Jesus is called Immanuel, which means God is with us. God is no longer loving us from heaven, in Jesus he now loves us in the form of a human like us. In Jesus, God is Immanuel. In Jesus, God is really with us. In Jesus, God is really present. In Jesus, God is healing us; in Jesus, God is condemning our oppressors; in Jesus, God is multiplying our food. In Jesus, God is standing with us and by us. In Jesus, God is reassuring that he will be with us until the end of time. In Jesus, God is delivering us from the hands of demons, and other satanic forces that want to destroy us. In Jesus, God is saying to us “It is finished”. In Jesus, God is feeding us as a shepherd feeds his flock. In Jesus, God is here right now!

Remember he bought you, me and us at a great price. You are worth as much as the precious blood of Jesus Christ because that is the price God paid for you- the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus is priceless so you are priceless. Revelation 5:9 says “Worthy are you to receive the scroll and to break open it seals for you were slain and with your blood you purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue, people and nation.”

The Holy Spirit, love of the Father and Son taught us. The gospel of John 16: 13 says “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” The Holy Spirit is our Helper; He is the comforter. Remember the experience of the Apostles after the death of Jesus. Gathered in the Upper Room before the Pentecost, the Apostles were terribly afraid, afraid of everything and everybody. But as soon as they received the Holy Spirit, the initial fear and depression left. The Holy Spirit is the Comforter; like the Father and Jesus, the Holy Spirit is also on our side to help us always.

Dearest beloved, today we celebrate the solemnity of the Most Blessed Trinity. Today, we celebrate the relationship in the Godhead. Today, we celebrate God who is a community- a community of persons. Today, we celebrate God who is our Father, our Daddy. We celebrate Jesus who is Immanuel- God with us and there is absolutely nothing that can separate us from his loving care except we reject him. We celebrate God who is also the Holy Spirit that helps and comforts us in the long journey of life. Life is a journey, and the journey is long. We need God in this journey. The journey can be dreary without God. The journey can be dry and painful without God. The Father, Son and the Holy Spirit want to journey with us. Are we willing to let the Father who sought and found us to walk with us? Are we willing to let the Son who bought us with his Blood to journey with us? Are we willing to let the Holy Spirit, the Comforter who taught us to accompany us in this journey? This journey is too long, but if we let God in, he will make the journey easy and light. Remember Matthew 11: 28!