This weekend many of us will be involved in celebrating two events: one a national holiday, the other a major feast day, a significant “holy day” of the Church. As you’re well aware, Fathers’ Day and Trinity Sunday are the holiday and the holy day we celebrate. The former is a national holiday, proclaimed by Congress in 1972, to honor our fathers. Although some would maintain it’s mainly a commercial holiday to go along with Mother’s Day, we celebrate it never-the-less.
The latter celebration, Trinity Sunday, has a much older history. It goes back to the 4th century, to the time known as the Arian heresy, when some Christians denied the divinity of Christ and broke away from the established Church. However, it wasn’t until the 1300’s that Pope John XXII (yes, the twenty-second, not the more recent John the 23rd) declared the Sunday after Pentecost should be designated as “Trinity Sunday,” a special day to honor our Triune God: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
OK, for those of you who have been waiting for my question, here it is. How do you plan to celebrate these two events this weekend? For Fathers’ Day, do you give your dad another tie or another bottle of aftershave lotion? Was it Polo or Old Spice you bought him last year? Or will you be treating him to a dinner he doesn’t have to pay for? Or maybe you’ll gather together for a special barbeque he prepares for you? Or perhaps, this will be merely a day for him to relax and not have any weekend chores to do or places for him to take you. Yes, there are many ways for us to celebrate Fathers’ Day and make it a special day for each of our Fathers.
But what about Trinity Sunday? What are your plans for celebrating this special day for the one we call Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Perhaps, for many of us, the response is: “Nothing.” After all, what is so special about Trinity Sunday, anyway? In fact, what’s so special about the Trinity, itself. What’s the big deal?
Actually, for two-thousand years, the Trinity has been a very “big deal.” Our belief in a Three-in-One God has divided us from others. As I mentioned a few moments ago, early Christians were divided in their beliefs about the divinity of the one called Jesus. They asked: Was he divine or only another prophet? Did God really become man and take on human flesh? Did our God really suffer on a cross, die for us and rise from the dead?
And what about the spirit of God? Is God really present here and now, within this assembly, within each one of us, guiding us and strengthening us in our journey in and toward his kingdom? In reply to these questions, early Councils of the Christian church established a creed, a belief statement, about our Trinitarian God, our God whose name is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
This response, contained in the Nicene Creed we proclaim during each Eucharistic celebration, did not end the conflicts among us. In fact, our belief in a Trinity has been a major point of difficulty between Christians and Jews and Muslims for centuries. This Trinitarian belief has led to accusations by Jews and Muslims that we Christians worship three gods, whereas they worship only one God. And at certain times, this may seem to be the case.
Each one of us, at different times during our lives, seems to have a particular fondness for one of the three Persons of our Triune God, almost to the exclusion of the other two Persons. Many look upon Jesus as Lord and pay minimal attention to either the Father or the Holy Spirit. Others may be very spirit-filled with a particular relationship with the Holy Spirit and the charisms or gifts given to us through the Holy Spirit. And of course, there are those who find a special comfort in God, the Father, to whom we offer the prayer taught by his son.
Although these views are valid and helpful to each of us, we must not lose sight of what the early Church fathers taught us, namely:
● the divine nature of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is one, their glory is equal, their majesty is coeternal,
● both Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity must be venerated,
● whatever is said about the Father is equally true for the Son and for the Holy Spirit,
● whatever is said about the Son is equally true for the Father and for the Holy Spirit,
● whatever is said about the Holy Spirit is equally true for the Son and for the Father.
Sometimes, even our holy days may tend to emphasize one of the Persons of the Trinity with partial neglect of the other Persons. With Christmas, we may focus on the Incarnation of God the Father as the Son and downplay the role of the Holy Spirit overshadowing Mary. With Easter, we may focus on the passion and resurrection of Jesus, the Son of the Father, and downplay the role of the Father and of the Holy Spirit in our total redemption and salvation. With Pentecost, we may focus on the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and minimize the role of the Father and Son in the gifts which are included within this action.
Perhaps, this is part of the reason why John XXII designated the Sunday after Pentecost as Trinity Sunday, a celebration combining Christmas, Easter and Pentecost, a celebration of Father, Son and Holy Spirit joined as our one, loving and saving God.
Our readings for today call to mind our Three-in-One God. In our first reading from Exodus, we once more heard how the Lord God appeared to Moses and proclaimed Himself to be: “… a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.” In the Gospel reading we heard: “.. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” And Saint Paul in his writings to the Corinthians prays: “… The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.”
Perhaps, in our mutual celebration of Fathers’ Day and Trinity Sunday, we can also honor not only our human fathers but, also, our God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We do not need to give our Triune God, a tie or aftershave lotion, but we can clothe Him with our honor and love. We do not need to take Him to dinner or have Him prepare His special barbeque, but we can participate actively in the fellowship meal He has prepared for us at this Eucharistic celebration. We do not need to offer God an opportunity to relax and take a day off from caring for us. Instead, we need to acknowledge He has given us a day of rest, the day of Sabbath, in celebration of all that He has created and given to us.
We do not need to reserve only the “Sunday after Pentecost” to honor our Trinitarian God. We can do this every time we pray: (†) “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
Trinity Sunday: June 19, 2011
Ex 34:4b-6, 8-9; 2 Cor 13:11-13; Jn 3:16-18