Sunday, June 4, 2023

SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY

(Exodus 34:4-6.8-9; II Corinthians 13:11-13; John 3:16-18)

Most preachers dread the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity. They don't know how to explain a mystery so profound that many say it doesn't make sense. However, the doctrine of the Trinity is the basis of the Christian faith. Somehow we have to say something that makes reasonable our belief that God is both one and three. In the process we hope that the explanation increases our faith.

Let's start with the second reading. Perhaps this passage was chosen for today's mass because it refers to the Trinity. As the conclusion of his letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul blesses his readers in the name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But another part of the passage is also striking.

Paul says, "Greet one another with a holy kiss." “Kiss” here is a sign of peace between people, but it is even more an expression of love. For this reason people missed this symbolic act during the Covid restrictions. In fact, in many places today people still do not share this gesture of fraternity before Communion continues to be missed. As distance learning is not a substitute for the classroom, and as video calls are not a substitute for the presence of loved ones at Christmas, you cannot equate the waving of a hand with a chaste kiss.

The kiss indicates a relationship of friendship between people. We don't kiss foreigners but dear acquaintances. It also expresses both the joy of seeing the other and the willingness to forgive any offense that has been committed. We remember how the father kissed his son profusely when the prodigal returned home. With a kiss, one breathes over the other, indicating the desire to share one’s life with him or her. Of course, the kiss at mass can be abused or misunderstood. However, since the first centuries of Christianity, it has been used to express love and unity.

“God is love” – says the First Letter of John. It could not be love if God were alone. True love always has an object other than the self. Self-love is really a parody because it divides the person in two. It is really solo pride or, better, selfishness. When Jesus instructs us to love others as ourselves, he only means to attend to the needs of others as we attend to our own.

God's love has existed for all eternity. God the Father and God the Son have always loved one another with the Holy Spirit serving as a type of kiss between them. Because of the enormity of this love, it was desired that it be shared with others. Thus God created the universe to be recipients of his love. He reserved his highest affection for human beings, whom he created in his image. They, that is we, not only receive his love but also must imitate it.

The gospel tells us the extent of God's love for us. He says that it is so much that he gave his only Son so that we might share in his divine life. God gets nothing for himself in his enormous display of love. But like any Father, he wants all his children to share what he has. If we want to please him, let us do the same. That is, let us love not only our family and friends, but everyone.

There is a Hebrew word for the love of God that all Bible students learn. It appears in the list of adjectives presented in the first reading. Hesed is faithful, generous, and undeserved love. On this Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity we can say that the Father is hesed, that the Son is hesed, and that the Holy Spirit is also hesed.