Homily on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

The Primary Doctrine Of Christianity

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

St. Bridget Catholic Church, Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, June 12, 2022

Today we come to the wonderful Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. We come to Trinity Sunday which follows Pentecost. The Trinity: the strangest and most distinctive of all the doctrines of Christianity. The Trinity: the preacher’s nightmare, which has been characterized in a number of ways—some good, some bad. But what do we make of the Trinity? We invoke the Trinity every single time we make the sign of the cross. Every time you begin your prayer with “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” you invoke the Trinity. Yet a lot of us live our spiritual lives as if the Trinity does not really matter at all. Mind you, the doctrine of the Trinity does not define God, it reveals God. The great American Catholic theologian and philosopher, Peter J. Kreeft said that “Other mysteries of our faith tell us what God has done in time (the creation, the Incarnation, the Resurrection), but the Trinity tells us what God is in eternity.” How come the Trinity? In our Gospel today (John 16:12-15), the Church sets things up really well for us by giving us an amazing text that highlights, that shines a spotlight on the reality of the Trinity. Jesus speaks to his disciples about the reality and existence of two other divine Persons: the Spirit of Truth and his Father. Jesus tells his disciples that he has a lot to tell them, which they cannot bear at the moment. But that when the Spirit of truth comes he will guide them to all the truth. He tells them that the Spirit of truth will reveal to them things that are coming. He says that the Spirit will glorify him and will take from what is his and declare it to them. Jesus also tells them that everything his Father has is his.

From the text of today’s Gospel, we can see that the doctrine of the Trinity was not the invention of the early or medieval Christians. It was not invented by the Second Vatican Council fathers. It is biblically based. The starting point for Christian theology is first of all Jesus Christ himself. On the one hand, he called God his Father, prayed to him, loved him, taught his teaching, and obeyed his will. On the other hand, he claimed to be one with, and equal to the Father. As his ministry was coming to an end, he began to speak about the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. He promised to send the Spirit. The Bible, which is the scriptural data from which the Church drives the doctrine of the Trinity says that the Father is God (John 5:18); that Jesus, the Son of God is God (John 8:58); and that the Holy Spirit is God (Matthew 28:19).

Now why is God a Trinity? Because God is love. By its very nature, love requires threeness: the lover, the beloved, and the act of love between them. God is Trinity because God is in its completeness love itself. Because God is love, love is the supreme value. Because love is the supreme value, it is the meaning of our lives, for we are created in God’s image. The fact that God is a Trinity is the reason why love is the meaning of life and the reason why nothing makes us as happy as love: because that is inscribed in our design. We are happy only when we stop trying to be what we were not designed to be. Dogs are not happy living like cats, and saints are not happy living like sinners. 

As I said already, the Trinity tells us what God is in eternity and why God is a Trinity. It also tells us that God does not exist in solitary individualism but in a community of love, fellowship and sharing. God is not a loner. As the great St. Pope John Paul II said, “God in his deepest mystery is not a solitude but a family, since he has in himself fatherhood, sonship, and the essence of the family, which is love.” Therefore anything Christian in search of godliness must shun every tendency to isolationism and individualism. We become who God created us to be when we are in relationship with God and with the people of God.