TRINITY RELATIONSHIP

Jesus is sent by the Father to save the world (Jn3:16-18) according to this Sunday’s Gospel and our second reading blesses us in “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.” (2 Cor 13:11-13)

Later in John’s gospel (Jn 14:26) Jesus assures us that in his name, the Father would send the Holy Spirit, which indeed he did in the Pentecost event we celebrated last week. So what is this “Trinity” we celebrate today all about?

Trinity, above all is about relationship. Understanding God as Trinity, as three distinct persons in unity, is fundamental to being a Christian. But of course we don’t really understand. By example and analogy we try to articulate our incomplete glimpses of the relationships between the Father - the Creator, the Son - who physically joined us in human time and history and the Spirit - who Jesus promised would guide us following his physical absence from us.

Pope Francis in his ground breaking encyclical Laudate Si (LS238) explains the relationship thus, “The Father is the ultimate source of everything, the Son, his reflection, through whom all things were created and the Spirit, infinite bond of love, is intimately present at the very hearts of the universe”.

And, amazingly, God invites each of us and the world into the relationship!  Pope Francis continues, “the Trinity has left its mark on all creation”…..“the world, created according to the divine model, is a web of relationship.” “Everything is interconnected, and this invites us to develop a spirituality of that global solidarity which flows from the mystery of the Trinity.” (Laudate Si 240)

A Trinity relationship reminder from the Catholic Catechism is “in union with all creatures, we journey through this land seeking God.” (CC 339)

Deacon Mark Kelly