Trinity Sunday A 2011.  June 19.  Our Lady of Grace 7:30. 11:30.   Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14b-16a.  1 Corinthians 10:16-17.  John 6: 51-58.

Practically speaking, most Catholics merely believe in God.  It is not that we don’t accept the ancient doctrine of the Holy Trinity. We do, but we really don’t seem to need it.  It is so much easier just to believe in God and pray to God or to choose a favorite person of the Trinity, saying “I pray to the Father, or I always pray to Jesus, or I prefer to pray to the Holy Spirit.”   In practice many of us ignore the Trinity in our daily lives.  We say to ourselves, “Why do we need the teaching on the Trinity?  After all there is only one God – isn’t that good enough?”   In reducing the Trinity to “Just plain God” we are missing the very core of our Christian faith.   The Trinity is certainly one God and only one God.  But the Trinity is much more. 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in himself. It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the "hierarchy” (or stepladder) of the truths of faith".(234)

The doctrine of the Trinity not only teaches us who God is, it also teaches us how God is. God is not a solitary person living happily in eternal bless all alone. God is a communion of there Divine Persons bound together and made one in a powerful relationship of love.   The Trinity is about One God being three Persons and three Persons being One God.  The Trinity may seem very complicated.  It is also very important in understanding the meaning of our Christian lives and God’s plan for healing our human family.    

Jesus said, “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.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”

What does the Trinity teach us about our lives?   What does it teach us about healthy and holy lives that will save our world?  The Trinity is about three distinct persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  The Persons of the Trinity are truly distinct.  They are not just different faces of God or different ways of looking at God.  Each of the persons of the Trinity is a distinct person with a distinct mission.  The Catholic Catechism says “By calling God "Father", the language of faith indicates two main things: that God is the first origin of everything …  and that he is at the same time goodness and loving care for all his children. God's parental tenderness can also be expressed by the image of motherhood, which emphasizes God's immanence, the intimacy between Creator and creature.” (239)  “Father” is not just another word for God.  Father is a Divine Person in the Trinity.

The Creed that we say at Mass affirms that the “Son is one in being with the Father.  And “Through Him all things were made.” “Son” is not just another name for God.  The Son is a living Divine Person and the perfect image of the Father.

The Holy Sprit is the giver of life who spoke through the prophets.  The Holy Spirit is also a living Divine Person.

Now, why am I telling you all of this? I am telling you this because grace makes us share in the life of God.  We are called to reflect and be the image of the Trinity in the world.  What does this mean?

• We are called to be distinct and real persons with a distinct mission, purpose or task.  It is a good thing to be a distinct person with a personal mission.
• We are called to be a communion of persons bound together by love so completely that we become one body, one family, one Church.
• The mission of each of us as distinct persons is a vital part of the mission of the whole body.  Just as the Persons of the Trinity work together for the health and salvation of the world, we are called to be a part of a common mission for the well being of our whole human family.

The grace of the Trinity empowers us to be distinct persons with a distinct purpose bound into a communion of love sharing a saving mission to the whole human race.

On this Fathers’ Day we remember that father, mother and children are distinct persons in the family.  Father, mother and children all have a distinct mission or purpose in the community of a family bound together by love.  The family is made up of distinct persons, each having a mission within the family mission to one another and to the world.  The family is one of the most important witnesses to the life of the Trinity in the world.  Because families participate in the life of the Trinity the family itself becomes an embodiment of the life of the Trinity and the family becomes a witness to the way that God is building up, saving and healing the world. 

The Trinity is not a mysterious puzzle about God.  We share in the life of the Trinity and the Trinity teaches us about the way we are to live our lives. For the mission we have to the world because of the Trinity living in our hearts we give God thanks and praise.