Reflecting on the Word

By Rev. James A. Wallace, C.Ss.R.

Once a young priest was giving a blessing in our seminary chapel and he left  out the ands separating the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. An older  priest loudly whispered: “Modalism!” This was a heresy in the early church that  taught that there was one God but not three distinct persons, only three modes  or ways of experiencing God. Thus, those ands were important, giving emphasis  to three distinct persons. We believe in one God who is three: the Father and  the Son and the Holy Spirit. 

Your head can hurt trying to wrap your mind around this mystery. Today’s readings don’t try to “figure it out.” They simply allow God to be introduced. First God  gives Moses a name: “Lord.” God then spells out what that means for Moses and  a people liberated from slavery. God is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and  rich in kindness and fidelity.”

The Gospel of John reveals Jesus as beloved Son sent into the world. For “God  so loved the world he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him  might not perish but have eternal life” (3:16). God really loves creation and all  that continues to be created in love. 

Finally, Paul’s farewell to the Corinthians refers to the Lord Jesus who graces,  the Father who loves, and the Holy Spirit who draws everyone into community. In  brief, at the heart of God is found love, grace, mercy, community, kindness, and  fidelity. Not a bad introduction. More ways to know the Trinity will be discovered  as we move through “ordinary” time. 

Consider/Discuss

  • Do you have a favorite name for God? How do you think of the  Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit? 
  • How would you “introduce” the Father and the Son and the Holy  Spirit to someone who does not know them? 

Responding to the Word

We place ourselves before the most Holy Trinity, praying for a faith that can  humbly bow before this mystery, accepting that we have been given to know  God as three in one, that God is drawing us ever more deeply into sharing the  life and love that flow between and among these three Persons. We pray our  lives may witness to this love.

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