Solemnity of the Holy Trinity, Year B

The Great And Precious Divine Promise

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Solemnity of the Holy Trinity, Year B

Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, May 26, 2024

The fascinating and quizzical thing about the Trinity is that it is concurrently the most extraordinary and the most ordinary of Christian doctrines. On one hand, it is the most esoteric, inaccessible, but on the other hand, it is the most obvious. On one hand, there is a highly developed, highly technical language regarding this great mystery of the Trinity. But on the other hand, every Catholic, intellectuals and simple faithful, regularly invoke the Trinity every time they cross themselves. The Trinity is often regarded as the preacher’s nightmare because of its highly developed technical language. But one thing we should understand is that we invoke the Trinity anytime we make the sign of the cross. Anytime 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 matter at all. Mind you, the doctrine of the Trinity does not define God, it rather reveals God. The great American Catholic theologian and philosopher, Peter J. Kreeft said, “Other mysteries of our faith tell us what God has done in time (like the creation, the Incarnation, Resurrection, Redemption etc.), but the Trinity tells us what God is in eternity. God is Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Not three Gods, but three Persons in one God. The Father is not greater than the Son, the Son is not greater than the Holy Spirit. The Father and the Son are not greater than the Holy Spirit. The Son and the Holy Spirit are not greater than the Father. 

Our Gospel for this Trinity Sunday is the narrative of the great commissioning of the disciples, taken from the very end of Matthew’s Gospel (28:16-20). We are told by Matthew that the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain (The Acts of the Apostles says it is the Mount of Olives). Notice that the disciples are eleven and not twelve. Judas Iscariot has followed his will and desires. He is no longer in the picture. Notice also that the disciples were together, not individually at home doing their thing. On Pentecost day, when the Spirit fell upon them and empowered them, they were also in one place together. On the Mount of Olives, they were also together. And they were there on the instruction and direction of Jesus. Suddenly, Jesus comes to them. The risen Christ was seen by his disciples with their bodily eyes. Here again we see that the Resurrection of Jesus is a historical fact, not a myth or a fantasy or a fiction. 

Upon seeing him, his disciples worshipped him. Why did they worship him? Only God can conquer death! Jesus was not only revered and loved but also adored and worshipped as God. As you can see, the divinity of Christ was not a later invention of the Church; it went all the way back to the earliest disciples. But even though they worshipped him, they also doubted. This means we don’t only have doubting Thomas, but also doubting Peter, doubting James, doubting John etc. Now, it’s okay to doubt but don’t be stuck in your doubt for the rest of your life. Seek clarification and answers. Doubt about this and that of our faith is not a cogent reason to stay away from your faith and from the Mass. God has given us the freewill to believe or not to believe, to doubt or to be indifferent. But let us remember that every exercise of this freewill has consequences here in this world and in the next. 

Knowing the doubts of his disciples, Jesus makes one of his boldest claims in the Gospel, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” This is not an ordinary prophet speaking. This is the very Word of the Father, the very imprint of the Father’s being speaking. What’s the implication of his declaration? Jesus is Lord! After my homily, what follows? We recite the Nicene Creed (I believe in one God). But the first and earliest Christian creed is not the Nicene creed. It was that three-word sentence: Jesus is Lord. In the first century, that’s how people declare on whose side they belonged— it’s either Jesus is Lord or Caesar is lord. By declaring that all power in heaven and on earth has been given to him, Jesus lays claim to everything on earth and in heaven. This means he is God. He is the one to whom all allegiance is due. The true Lord is Jesus and not any earthly king or prince or politician, no matter how powerful they are. 

After making his last and bold assertion, Jesus gives his disciples and by extension every Christian a mission, a task to do till he returns in glory: “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 have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19). Did you notice the Trinity? We are to spread the Good News by words and deeds, especially the moral teaching of Jesus preeminently laid out in his Sermon on the Mount. The goal of the Church is to make disciples for Christ. That’s why we exist here in St. Bridget. We become irrelevant the moment we are no longer making disciples for the Lord. And Jesus knows that this goal cannot be attained by force of human might and craft, hence, he gives us this solemn and infallible promise: “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b). In the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew, particularly in the infancy narrative of Matthew, the name given to the baby Jesus is Immanuel, which means God is with us (Matthew 1:23). At the end of the Gospel of Matthew, as Jesus winds down his public ministry, he echoes that same name, Immanuel, in his final great and precious promise to be with us until the end of time. God is with us always! His presence is real though invisible. God is faithful! God never lies! God never fails! The key word in the divine promise is “behold” (eido in Greek), which means “Be sure to see.” “Be sure to see” that you remember this promise; “be sure to see” that you turn your attention to it, “be sure to see” that you turn your attention to the one who made the promise. And when you do, remember to lay side by side this divine promise with your fears, anxieties, your feeling of abandonment, the lacerating problems in your life, the heartbreaks, the terrifying political and social environment we live in and then ask yourself the question: which do I believe? Now, the treasure of remembering the divine promise is not going to make your problems go away magically. But it’s surely going to assure you of this fact: I’m not alone in this trouble. The good Lord is with me. With that knowledge and assurance, begin to call upon him from the depth. 

God bless you!