Homily on the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity

The Community of God: A Challenge To Individualism  

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily on the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Year B

St. Gerard Majella Church

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

June 3, 2012

St Augustine of Hippo was said to have been preoccupied with the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity. He wanted to understand the doctrine of three persons in one God and be able to explain it logically. One day as he was walking along a sea shore reflecting on the matter, he suddenly saw a little boy all alone on the shore. The boy had dug a hole in the sand and was running back and forth from the sea to the hole.  Armed with a little cup, he would scoop some water with it and then ran up and poured it into the hole. Augustine drew up and said to him, “Hey boy, what are you doing?” He replied, “I am trying to empty the sea into this hole.” “And how do you think you can empty this immense sea into this tiny hole and with this tiny cup?” Augustine asked him. Then he fired back, “And you, how do you suppose that with your small head you can comprehend the immensity of God?” With that the child disappeared. 

Dearest beloved, today we celebrate one of the deepest mysteries of our faith: the fact that God is a Trinity of persons. While many religions worship one God, only Christians believe that God is three distinct persons sharing one life- the divine life. We believe in Three Persons in one God- the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is not greater than the Son; the Son is not greater than the Father; the Father and the Son are not greater than the Holy Spirit; and the Holy Spirit is not greater than the Father and the Son. The three are equal; they have one nature and one essence. We believe not in three Gods, but one God. This is the mystery of our God.   

The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is about the inner relationship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It teaches us that our God does not exist alone or in isolation.  Our God is a community! Now, if we expected today’s readings to give us a clear and elaborate presentation of the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity, we have found out that they simply do not.  In fact the very word “Trinity” is not found in the Bible. But in today’s Gospel, Jesus referred to the reality of the Trinity when he said, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.” 

Like St. Augustine, we will find the doctrine of the Trinity hard to comprehend. But our inability to understand it completely should not derail or impede our faith in God. It should rather make us to believe even more in God, for it only exposes the immensity and the greatness of our God. No one, no matter how smart and intelligent can comprehend God completely. St. Augustine himself once said, “If you know him (God) as he truly is, then it cannot be God.” God is greater and vaster than whatever we say he is. We may not be able to comprehend the “how” of the Trinity, but I think it is very important to understand the “why.” Why did God reveal the very nature of his being?  Why is our God three persons instead of one person? The importance of this doctrine lies in this: we are made in the image of God, therefore, the more we understand God the more we understand ourselves. Experts in religion tell us that people always try to be like the god they worship. People who worship a warrior god tend to be war-mongering, people who worship a god of pleasure tend to be pleasure-seeking, people who worship a god of wrath tend to be vengeful, and people who worship a god of love tend to be loving and lovable. Like a god, so the worshippers. Therefore, the more important question for us to ask today is: What does the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity tell us about the kind of God we worship and what does this say about the kind of people we should be?

God does not exist in solitary individualism but in a community of love, fellowship and sharing. God is not a loner. This means that a Christian in search of godliness must shun every tendency to isolationism and individualism. Isolation can lead to loneliness and loneness, that is, alone from self, from God and from others. We become who God created us to be when we are in a relationship with God and with the people of God.

True love requires three partners. You remember the old saying “Two is company, three is a crowd.” The Trinity shows us that three is community, three is love at its best; three is not a crowd. We are made in God’s image and likeness. Just as God is God only in a Trinitarian relationship, so we can only be fully human in a relationship of three partners- God, others, and yourself. Put differently, it’s Jesus, Others, and You- JOY. The self needs to be in a horizontal relationship with others and a vertical relationship with God. In that way our life becomes Trinitarian like that of God. Then we discover that the so-called “I-and-I” principle of unchecked individualism which is acceptable in our society today is not desirable to take home with. The doctrine of the Blessed Trinity challenges us to adopt rather God, neighbor, and I principle. I am a Christian insofar as I live in a relationship of love with God and other people. In striving to survive in this fast changing world, the Christian should realize that he or she does not exist alone. Whatever good one desires is equally desired by many others. The principle of I and I results in selfishness. While the principle of others and I results in live and let’s live. Instead of selfishness, we have self-giving and sacrifice. In Matthew 20: 28 Jesus says that “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”