YEAR B: HOMILY OF THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY

YEAR B: HOMILY OF THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY

HOMILY THEME: TRINITY – THE NATURE OF GOD

BY: Bishop Gerald Musa

Deuteronomy 4:32-34.39-40; Romans 8:14-17; Matthew 28:16-20

God is a mystery. Different cultures and religions in the world have various pictures of God. The Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity teaches that there is one God who exists eternally as three distinct but inseparable persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit, each fully God, yet together forming a unity of divine essence. No human mind can fully comprehend the nature of God. Nevertheless, we use all kinds of illustrations to explain or simplify the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

For example, just as the three legs of the pot work together to support and stabilize it, the Trinity represents the unity of three distinct persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—in one God. Each leg of the pot serves a unique function but is essential for the overall stability and functionality of the vessel, mirroring the distinct roles of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit within the Godhead. An African proverb rightly says, “The three legs of the pot do not compete.” This proverb emphasizes the idea of cooperation without rivalry. Each leg of the pot serves its purpose without vying for dominance, illustrating the importance of humility and mutual respect in relationships.

Furthermore, the Shield of the Trinity (Scutum Fidei) is a symbolic diagram that uses a shield to represent the Trinity. It shows three interconnected circles or nodes labelled “Pater” (Father), “Filius” (Son), and “Spiritus Sanctus” (Holy Spirit), connected by lines to a central node labelled “Deus” (God). The lines between the circles are marked with “non est” (is not), while the lines from each circle to the centre are marked with “est” (is), illustrating that while the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are distinct from each other, each is fully God.

Besides, another beautiful illustration of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is the Borromean Rings which consist of three interlocking rings that cannot be separated without breaking one of the rings, symbolizing the unity and co-equality of the three persons of the Trinity. The removal of any one ring results in the collapse of the entire structure, symbolizing the interconnectedness of the Trinity.

A careful study of these illustrations shows the most primeval and the profoundest ideas about God. Christian Scriptures paint a picture of God who is omnipotent (all-powerful) and omniscient (knows all) and a God who is transcendent and immanent. Transcendence means that he is over and above all creatures. He demonstrates his transcendence in the work of creation and recreation. He made the heavens with his Word; He spoke and everything came into existence (Psalm 33:6). The Immanence of God speaks of a God who is near and not far away from his creatures. The book of Deuteronomy summarily describes God’s transcendence and immanence by stating, “The Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath” (Deuteronomy 4:39). In Jesus, we see a God (Immanuel) who is near and dwells with us (Isaiah 7:14; 8:8; Matthew 1:23; 7:14.21-22). The scriptures emphatically say, “God is love” and “Loves the world” so much (John 3:16). Through this love, his creatures could relate closely with him as children and He to them as Father. St. Paul says, God’s children can relate with him God affectionately through prayers (Romans 8:14-17).

Christians believe in one God who is the Father of all and creator of the Universe, and the same God who came into the world in the person of Jesus Christ as Redeemer, and the same God who comes to comfort, inspire, sanctify, empower and enlighten us in the person of the Holy Spirit. Thus, according to Scheffczyk, God is above us as Father, God is with us as Son (Jesus) and God is in us as Holy Spirit.

Jesus specifically commissioned his disciples and declared that anyone who wishes to be his follower must be initiated into the fold through baptism, and this baptism must be done with the Trinitarian Baptismal formula: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). This instruction of Jesus is commonly known as the Great Commission. Christians worship one God in the Trinity and they are baptized in the name of the Trinity because it is in this Trinitarian God that they “Live, move and have their being” (Acts of the Apostles 17:28). A Jesuit Priest and great spiritual writer George Maloney says, it is this indwelling Trinity that lives within and transforms Christians into divinized children of God.

How is it possible to believe in one God and the Trinity? This is indeed a mystery because God is much more complex than our little brains. Various spiritual writers have attempted to explain the Doctrine of the Trinity. Among these writers is John of Damascus who paints a vivid picture of one God in the Trinity. He says, “Think of the Father as a spring of life begetting the Son like a river and the Holy Spirit like a sea, for the spring and the river and the sea are all one nature. Think of the Father as a root, of the Son as a branch, and of the Spirit as a fruit, for the substance in these three is one. The Father is a sun with the Son as rays and the Holy Ghost as heat.”

What can we learn from the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity? In the Trinity, we learn that God is a mystery that cannot be fully understood by the simple human mind. J. Wesley says, “Bring me a worm that can comprehend a man, and then I will show you a man that can comprehend the triune God.” The nature of one God, operating in three persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) speaks eloquently to a divided world, divided families and nations about the meaning of unity in diversity and the strength of cooperation. The unity of the Holy Trinity challenges human beings to be more united in love and to rebuild unity in families, communities and nations.

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