Holy Trinity Sunday Year B | Homily for 26th May 2024

 

My dear friends today we celebrate the Solemnity of The Most Holy Trinity and the readings today help us to better understand this mystery. In the first reading taken from the book of Deuteronomy, we have an extract from the speech of Moses exhorting the Israelites to obey Yahweh. Moses invites the Israelites to reflect on their experiences of hearing Yahweh speaking out of a fire and being rescued from Egypt to emphasize Israel's unique experiences and special status. The people in those areas worshipped other pagan deities, however, those deities were believed to operate out of self-interest, attacking other nations merely to expand their territory, not for the interest of their worshippers. But Yahweh is different. He is the only true God; there are no others. He invaded Egypt, the superpower of the day, demanding His people be set free from their slavery to worship Him, and humbling Egypt when Pharaoh refused, and bringing Israel out to Himself to be a special people. Moses concludes his exhortation with a strong call asking the people to recognize God’s sovereignty over the whole creation. He tells Israel that the LORD is omnipresent; He is everywhere at the same time. Since God alone can be present everywhere, Moses urged the Israelites to keep God’s commandments. The conditional covenant emphasized that if the Israelites kept the law, they would be blessed and live in the land. If they do not, they will be expelled from the land and be punished. The text mentions that we have to “acknowledge” and “take to heart” the message about God being supreme. Like the people of Israel, each one of us has had an experience of God but unfortunately, some do not acknowledge it. They write it off as a coincidence or sheer luck. At the same time, it is not enough to only know the truth about God in your head, but we have to let it penetrate our hearts so that it may control our life. It is said that head knowledge without heart impact is arrogance at best, and hypocrisy at the worst. Most likely our lives and our experiences with God have not been marked with dramatic signs like God speaking out of a fire or being rescued from slavery, but if we reflect a little, we will soon realize that he has done wonders in our lives. Let us recall these today, be truly thankful, and respond with loving and unconditional praise and service.

In the second reading taken from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, Paul emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The text here mentions that “God’s Spirit bears witness with our spirit” thus highlighting the relationship between God and God’s people, that God’s Spirit is intimately involved with ours. God’s Spirit reminds us who we are when we’re fearful and suffering. We are all made in the image of God. God’s Spirit witnesses that we are children of God. As children of God freed and forgiven. Paul highlights that to be children of God is also to be heirs of God. and to be joint heirs with Christ as Jesus is the heir of God. Being adopted into God’s family means that we too can cry out to God as a child cries to a parent. Paul continues, that to be a joint heir with Christ means to suffer with Christ. The same thing that happens to one happens to another. 

What does it mean to be a Son? The son partakes in the work of the Father. Jesus faithfully carried out God’s work in the world. When Christians, led by God’s Spirit, do likewise, then they are living faithfully into their baptismal identity in Christ, living as sons of God. Israel thought of itself as God’s heir and the Promised Land as its inheritance. But now God extends family privileges to all those who live according to the Spirit. Paul, however, makes mention of a package deal. To be eligible for the glory associated with Christ, the Christian must be ready to share in Christ’s sufferings. Paul and many other Christians of his day experienced persecution—even martyrdom. In many parts of the world today, Christians are being persecuted. While there is no virtue in seeking out persecution, we must be ready to face it bravely if it comes. We can be sure that our faithfulness in the face of persecution will not go unrewarded.

In the gospel taken from Matthew we have the narrative of the commissioning of the Disciples. The text highlights four features of the authority of Jesus  by mentioning the word “all” four times. First, All authority: Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Second, All nations: The purpose of God is to be reconciled with all humanity, which includes every nationality and race. Third, All that he commanded: Statements of faith are important but faith without appropriate behavior is empty. And Last, Always with us: Jesus, as Lord of all, promises to be with us, always till the end of time.

Before we get to Jesus’ instruction to baptize with the Trinitarian formula, let us briefly look at two important characteristics of the disciples which come across from the text. In the gospel, instead of the customary “the Twelve,” Matthew uses the words “the eleven disciples’ to remind about Judas’ betrayal. It is to these less than perfect disciples that Jesus gives the responsibility and authority to “make disciples of all nations.” Secondly, the text tells us “When they saw him, they worshiped him but some doubted” (28:17). The disciples were imperfect and doubtful to say the least. And I guess that describes most of us.  Though we would be quick to criticize the disciples for doubting, in all likelihood we would have not done better. Someone once said that the opposite of faith isn’t doubt ; it’s certainty. When we are certain of something, we don’t really need faith. When we are sure in our own minds, we don’t really need to trust anyone else. Jesus, however, does not rebuke the disciples. He understands their frailty and calls them to carry on his work. We can’t afford to wait until we are perfect and conditions are optimal to work in the vineyard of the Lord. The perfect time is now.

Let’s now look at the command to baptise in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. It is interesting to note that in the very early church, baptism was done in the name of Jesus (Acts 2:38; Romans 6:3). The threefold baptismal formula was adopted later, and it is that later tradition that is reflected by Matthew’s account of the Great Commission. Being baptized in the name of indicates a new relationship, a rebirth, an adoption. Being baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit indicates that the new relationship involves all three faces of the Trinity. The Catechism acknowledges that the Blessed Trinity is a “mystery that is inaccessible to reason alone” but explains that “God has left traces of his Trinitarian being in his work of creation and in his Revelation throughout the Old Testament” (ccc 237). The New Testament gives us a more complete portrait of the Holy Trinity. The classic example of the Holy Trinity being revealed in the Sacred Scriptures is the account of the baptism of Jesus. What remains crystal clear in the Scriptures is the truth that there is only One God and that this “One God” reveals himself as a Trinity of distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Catechism affirms, “by the divine missions of the Son and the Holy Spirit, God the Father fulfills the ‘plan of his loving goodness’ of creation, redemption and sanctification” (ccc 235). One of the analogies provided by the Catechism helps us to see the possibility of distinct persons who possess the same nature. When we think of a family, we can see how a father, mother, and child can be distinct persons and yet possess the same human nature, just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three distinct persons who each possess the same divine nature. The Christian family is a communion of persons, a sign and image of the communion of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit. (CCC 2205)

Let us today acknowledge and take to heart the various ways in which the Holy Trinity is working miracles in our life and may our lives be a reflection of the love and unity that is characteristic of the Trinity. May the Triune God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit bless us all.