Happy Feast of the Holy Trinity. I was only ordained three years ago, but this
is the third, if not the fourth, time I’ve preached for this feast day in that
time! Father Morgan does the schedule,
and I wonder if he’s not taking advantage of me, since I suspect this is not a
preacher’s favorite day to preach – I mean, what do you say to make real this
abstract theological belief? To make the
mystery of the Trinity applicable to our lives?
Well here goes nothing!
I used to work here in town before taking
a job in Newark a year ago, and when I worked here I would participate in what
are called “homicide prayer vigils” whenever I could break away from the
office. You see, whenever there is a
homicide in and around Rochester, there is a group of people, mostly Catholics but
also other people of faith, who arrange to gather on an agreed-upon date at
noon, at the site of the homicide, the murder. The group gathers in a circle – sometimes
only a few, sometimes twenty or thirty – hand in hand or arms locked across
each others’ shoulders. And then
spontaneously pray – for the victim, for the perpetrator. And to bless the neighborhood, bless that
very site, and especially pray for an end to such violence. The vigil ends with the Lord’s prayer, and everyone
goes their separate ways.
This image, this circle of prayer,
this circle of love, is the image that came to mind as I was reflecting on
today’s feast, the Most Holy Trinity.
And a circle, or even three intertwined circles, are two of the images
people have used over the centuries in an inevitably unsatisfactory attempt to
express our understanding of the mystery of the Trinity. This image of a circle of three – Father, Son
and Holy Spirit – came to mind – gathered together in a never-ending relationship
of unity, such that when we think of God we are to think not only of any of
these three persons, but to think of their relationship.
Indeed this circle is a circle of
relationship, a circle of love, of reckless self-abandonment, of constant self-pouring-out,
self-giving. Some even envision that
this is a circle of never-ending dance.
But while we often tend on this
Feast to focus on the three persons of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy
Spirit, What I want to focus on is their relationship, their “circle of love,” and
I especially want to focus on is their unity. You see, because our God is a God of love,
indeed because, as St. John tells us, our God IS love, our God is a relationship
in perfect unity. Our God is indeed
three persons, but our God is ONE. All
hail adored Trinity, undivided unity, so the hymn goes.
It’s a unity that can only happen
with complete selflessness, complete abandonment to the others, complete
love. Properly understood, it’s
impossible to imagine God without this unity, for without this unity? Wouldn’t be God! You see, undivided unity is absolutely
essential to Who God is.
Now you say, that’s very nice Deacon
Ed, but what’s that got to do with me and my life? What’s the practical take-away for me?
The practical take-away is two-fold,
I think. First of all, you and I are
made in the image and likeness of God, so says the Book of Genesis. So we can’t hope to understand ourselves,
indeed to understand the meaning of our lives, unless we understand God in
Whose image we are created.
And that means that you and I are
called to this same undivided unity, this same reckless self-abandonment, this
same outpouring of love. In all aspects
of our lives, in all our relationships.
We married people especially are
called to unity. Called to be an icon
of Trinitarian love. Such that in
marriage we are called to aspire not to lose our individual identity – we
remain separate persons – but to have such love, such unity, such total
self-giving and selflessness, that to anyone around us they would see not only
a husband and wife, two separate persons, but one – one couple united in love.
We all know married couples who have
progressed far toward being a perfect icon of this unity, but we also know that we are each fallen,
sinful people, who inevitably come up short of the goal, the ideal. But that shouldn’t stop us from continuing to
work toward the goal, continuing to make decisions to surrender ourselves to
the other, continue to lovingly and recklessly pour ourselves out for the
other.
And much like the Holy Spirit
proceeds from the love of the Father and the Son, so new life, praise God,
flows from the love of husband and wife, and this circle of love, of unity,
widens to include children. Children who
must be educated to come to understand what love means, what self-giving love
looks like, and they will learn this most of all from the example of their
parents.
Now imagine what all our other
relationships would look like if we were each to strive to self-giving love,
striving above all for unity of purpose.
Our parish. Our Church. Our community. Nation.
Entire human family! We will
never fully attain perfect relationships – no, far from it – but we Christians
are especially called to strive in our lives, in what we can control, in what
we can decide with God’s grace to do, toward that unity of love.
Now for the second practical aspect
of this image of unity: I would usually
rush out of the office to try to get to these homicide vigils, and more often
than not I’d be a couple minutes late, and I’d get there and the punctual folks
who’ve gathered have inevitably already started. But they would see me coming and the circle
would open to let me in.
That, my sisters and brothers, is an
image I like of heaven. When the eternal
circle of Father, Son and Holy Spirit opens to let us enter into their divine
life. The catechism, paragraph 260
teaches us “The ultimate end of the whole divine economy is
the entry of God's creatures into the perfect unity of the Blessed
Trinity.”
Meaning our eternal destiny, the
entire goal of the salvation won by Our Blessed Lord, and the whole purpose of
the Church, is for us and for many to enter into God’s divine unity, God’s
divine life. Enter into this eternal
reckless, self-giving love.
This life, my friends, is a practice
run – how we live our lives now is preparing us for the hereafter. Are we living self-less lives focused on
others? Or are we self-focused,
self-obsessed, all about me? If eternal
glory is being welcomed into that circle of love, and it is, then we’d best
live our lives now so as to prepare for that eternal destiny, that eternal
circle of love, eternal circle of unity, eternal circle of joy. Living forever in joyful communion with God,
who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
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