Jesus has been given all power in heaven and on earth. So, he wants us to be teachers and baptizers of all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 

As they speak of the three persons in one God, Christian teachers and thinkers use words that Jesus does not use. They mean, of course, to make plain to others what this mystery is.

Yet many of us fail to grasp what these words have to do with our lives. And as we focus on the math, we end up with just the vaguest thought about why the Trinity matters to us.

But the Most Holy Trinity does matter very much to us, to our lives. For it is the Good News of peace, of the grace of union with God and with each other, of community. It announces that God is love.

And since he loves us first, we can love, too. Yes, God as Father is the source of love. But no one has seen him; only God the Son, who is closest to the Father, makes him known.

Jesus and the Holy Spirit, teachers of the Father’s love 

So, Jesus embodies, and thus shows us, this God who loves us so much he gives him to us. For God wants us to believe in his Son, so that we may not die but have eternal life.

And Jesus tells us to call God “our Father in heaven.” So, God rises above all forms and places of worship. He is not just of the Jews or of the Samaritans, but of all nations. Of the good, too, and of the bad; he is kind to all. And mercy is his distinctive trait (SV.EN XI:328).

So, then, as Jesus teaches about God and does good, those who hear and see him experience God’s love. They see and taste in Jesus’ love and mercy for sinners and those who suffer that God is Good News.

And such Good News is truest and most stunning as he dies for us. As he gives his body up and sheds his blood for us. No wonder there is the claim, “This man is in truth the Son of God.” Of love, the love that is poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

Due to this gift of the Holy Spirit, we know and feel that the Father and the Son are near. And this Spirit teaches us all things, reminds us of Jesus’ words, and takes us up into the life of the Trinity.

Lord Jesus, grant that we reflect the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity by our union (see SV.EN IX:80, 82). Help us to grasp that to be selfish and excluding means death, while to love and to be welcoming means life. And make us true teachers of this mystery.

26 May 2024
Most Holy Trinity (B)
Dt 4, 32-34, 30-40; Rom 8, 14-17; Mt 28, 16-20