This weekend we celebrate “Trinity” Sunday. So, my question should probably be about the Trinity. How about this one, this question, for Trinity Sunday: What is the usual symbol we use to denote “The Trinity?” If you’re Irish, I suppose you thought of St. Patrick’s shamrock. However, the more ancient symbol for the Trinity is the triangle, an equilateral triangle, one in which the three sides are equal, and the three angles are equal. Yes, this is often how in religious artwork the Trinity is depicted, a triangle standing for the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the three “persons” who compose our one, Trinitarian God.
But there is a third symbol, a predominantly Catholic symbol, that also represents the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Of course, I mean the “Sign of the Cross” which every one of our children learns to make at an early age, even if they aren’t quite sure whether the left or right shoulder comes first. Yes, Father, Son and Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost, if you are as old as I am) have played an import role in our lives. Or is it “roles?” Do the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit play one and the same role, or do they each play a different role in our lives?
The answer to this question is not an easy one. Scholars and people, in general, have wondered about it for centuries. Just what do we mean by our One, Trinitarian God? What do we mean when we say we believe in One God with three divine “persons:” Father, Son and Holy Spirit? In fact, there are some so-called “modern” interpretations which do not use these words in describing the Trinity. Rather than saying “Father, Son and Holy Spirit” some would prefer to say, “Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.” Somehow, they feel that these terms are more “inclusive,” since they do not rely on gender-suggestive words like “Father” and “Son.”
The Catholic Church does not agree. In the rite of Baptism, a priest or deacon must use the words: “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” We’re not allowed to say: “I baptize you in the name of the Creator, and of the Redeemer and of the Sustainer.”
On the other hand, these words can be used in an attempt to describe our Trinitarian God who acts as “creator,” and as “redeemer,” and as “sustainer.” In the same way, our readings for today, also, include these concepts of the Father who creates us, the Son who redeems us, and the Holy Spirit who sustains us.
In our first reading from the Book of Exodus we heard how: “Having come down in a cloud, the LORD stood with Moses there and proclaimed his name, “LORD.” Thus the LORD passed before him and cried out, “The LORD, the LORD, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.”” The LORD pronounced his own name to Moses. A word which in English is often said to be Yahweh: I AM WHO AM. The name of the God who has the attributes of an ideal father, one who is merciful and gracious, a father who is slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.
At the same time Moses, admitting his people were stubborn and, thus, reluctant to change, Moses pleaded with the LORD, saying: “… yet pardon our wickedness and sins and receive us as your own.” And the LORD did just that. The LORD GOD sent us his only Son to pardon us of “our wickedness and sins” so that we, as his people, could be received as his own. The Father-Creator sent his Son as our Redeemer, our Savior. We heard these words clearly stated in the passage from John’s gospel I proclaimed a few minutes ago: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”
But let’s return for a moment to another request Moses made in today’s first reading. Moses said: “If I find favor with you, O LORD, do come along in our company.” And our Trinitarian God has done just that. He has joined with us and remained in our company as the Holy Spirit who sustains us on our journey.
Saint Paul made this clear in his blessing in today’s reading from his second letter to the Corinthians when he wrote: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” How often have we heard those words and not really thought about what they might say about our Trinitarian God?
● Our Trinitarian God who is “the love of the Father”
● Our Trinitarian God who is “the grace of the Son”
● Our Trinitarian God who is “the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.”
Our Trinitarian God who is, at one and the same time, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Our Trinitarian God who embodies Love, Grace and Fellowship. The One who is Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.
Perhaps, for a moment, in an attempt to appreciate the Trinity of our spiritual lives, we might think about other trinities in our secular lives. There is the secular trinity of time, itself. The trinity we call “past, present and future.” If we remove any one of them, time as we know it, ceases to exist. There can be neither present nor future without a past. If only the past exists, how can there be either a present or a future? Who can say when the past becomes the present or when the future takes over from past and present? Is an attempt to separate past, present and future any easier than trying to figure out the relationship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, or of Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer, being one and the same?
Or consider space. What is the reality of length without both width and height? We exist in three dimensions and would cease to exist if we lost any one of them. And yes, we now say we exist in four dimensions. In our modern world we believe in the unity of a space-time continuum, a joining together of length, breadth and height with past, present and future.
However, I would suggest we might also consider the unity of what might be called a “spiritual space-time continuum.” A continuum based on three holidays, three “holy days”: Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. In this spiritual continuum, we celebrate the Incarnation of our God, the Resurrection of our God and the Inspiration of our God. In this Trinity, we recognize the Father who sends the Son, and then the Son who returns to the Father, and finally their sending of their Holy Spirit to us. In the continuum of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost, we acknowledge the Trinitarian love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit which prompts this Incarnation, this Resurrection and this Inspiration.
Sometimes we say, “love makes the world go around.” Indeed, it does. In fact, it is love that makes the universe go around. This “universe,” this so-called “one turning,” consists of a dance of love. Dancing with the Stars may be a popular TV program, but it is in the dance of the universe, it is in the dance of the Trinity, that the Father and the Son become the dancers, and the Holy Spirit becomes another name for the dance itself.
Perhaps, it is now time for all of us to be caught up in the rhythm and movement of this dance of the Trinity. As Saint Paul has said: “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with [each one of us.]” In the name (†) of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. So be it.
Most Holy Trinity; May 18, 2008
Ex 34:4b-6, 8-9; 2 Cor 13;11-13; Jn 3;16-18