The Most Holy Trinity

Jan 15 2025

Scripture Study for

The readings for Trinity Sunday do not really explain the mystery of the Trinity. Rather, they underscore several divine characteristics that are relational and that throw light on ways that the Triune God interacts with us. Some of them traditionally have been associated with one of the three persons more than with the others.

In the first reading, though the cloud upon which God descends onto the mountain conceals God, God’s declaration to Moses is self–revelatory: “The Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity” (Exodus 42:6). Moses’ response to this spectacular revelation is worship. He prostrates himself on the ground in profound adoration. In this appearance, God reveals those divine traits that are associated with the covenant, namely, mercy, steadfast love, and fidelity.

Paul promises that if the Corinthian Christians follow his admonitions and live in the way he instructs them, they will experience the presence of God. The blessing with which he ends this letter embodies an early Trinitarian emphasis. It notes the gift of grace that is received through Jesus Christ, the love that God has for all of creation, a love that is the source of all good things, and the community of the Holy Spirit within which believers are rooted. There is no more meaningful benediction that Paul might have chosen.

In the Gospel reading, the extent of God’s love is drawn in bold lines in two significant ways. The first is the scope of divine love, and the second is the price that God is willing to pay because of that love. The passage is remarkable in its explicit declaration of God’s love for the entire world. This love for the world is so deep and so magnanimous that, for the world to be saved, nothing is spared, not even God’s only Son. Those who believe in that Son are saved; those who do not believe in him call down judgment upon themselves.

Jan 10 2025

The Trinity—A Divine Dance

We know so little of God. When it comes to describing the Trinity, we can feel that we know even less. The Mystery of Mysteries, the God-Who-Is—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is not just a philosophical doctrine to be illustrated with clovers and candles. The Trinity is a Someone, Someone who is deeply involved in our lives.

Saints Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Nazianzus (known as the Cappadocian Fathers) saw the interrelationship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as a dance. They described a divine give-and-take, a perichoresis (dancing together), a mystical solidarity of interdependence, a never-ending “I am here for you” and “I am constant in my care for you” within the oneness of God. That mutual love overflows to us.

In the scriptures, we see that God continually communicates as the Father who never stops seeking out wayward Israel, the Son who becomes flesh and gives up his life for us, and the Holy Spirit who is with us always.

Our Triune God so loves the world that those divine “hands” invite us: Come, join in the dance! What does that look like? Think of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers—they whirl and flow across a stage together with just a nudge or a touch. Folk dancers have a similar perpetual motion of bowing and twirling and jumping. With practiced responsiveness, they move as one.

Can we join in the dance? We might choose to live as plodders who stumble through life. Or we could discover holy agility. The Holy Spirit leans toward us, gently touching and nudging us in everyday life, whispering, “Be attentive. Follow my lead!” To move within the life of the Trinity is exciting, exhilarating. God’s tender “Take my hand. I am here for you” is offered to us at all times.

Consider/Discuss

We are not God and God is not us. How does that distinction set us free to be dancing partners with the Triune God? In the Gospel (John 3:1–5), how did Jesus offer his hand to Nicodemus to join in the dance?
Sometimes we do plod. We may not sense the movement of the Spirit. Sometimes we don’t “get” the Trinity. We may wonder, how can anybody get so excited about Trinity? Think of the little nudges that you have felt. How can we trust that God is constantly at work in our lives and learn to be even more attentive and responsive?

Living and Praying with the Word

God of Trinity, you are so beautiful, so beautiful in motion! All that we see in the created world leads us to you. Holy Spirit, surround us, enthuse us, and sustain us. You are deeply within us, and yet sometimes, we are not deeply within you. We beg for your grace to grow more agile. And when you do give us those tastes of abundant life in the divine dance that surrounds us, how can we keep from singing . . . and dancing!

Jan 10 2025

Scripture Study for

Much of the book of Exodus is concerned with answering the question “Who is the Lord?” In the deliverance from Egypt, provision in the wilderness, and establishment of the covenant, God is shown to be faithful, powerful, and wise. The present scene takes place shortly after the affair of the golden calf, which nearly ends the covenant relationship. Thanks to Moses, who reminds the Lord of his fidelity, the covenant has been renewed. It is against this background that the famous phrase must be understood: The God of Israel can be angered by human infidelity, but God’s mercy, grace, kindness, and fidelity far outshine that anger. This is who the Lord is.

Throughout his second letter to them, Paul has been admonishing the Corinthians to forsake the division and lack of fidelity to the gospel way of life that he has seen among them. He warns them to examine themselves to see if they are living in faith: “Test yourselves” (13:5). Despite the severe tone, he ends by exhorting them to rejoice—they have been saved by Christ. In that joy they should recognize their fellowship and act accordingly, with mutual encouragement, agreement, and peace. Then their community will be a sign of God’s love and peace. The letter ends with an invocation of Christ, God (the Father), and the Holy Spirit, one of the clearest “trinitarian” expressions in the New Testament.

In his conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus has told him that “no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit” (3:5). That is, one must be (re)born from above. This is a gift from God that can only be accepted by believing that Jesus is God’s Son, given by God—both in the sense of the incarnation of the Word and in his death on the cross—so that those who do believe might have eternal life. In John, “eternal life” refers to a “abundant life” (10:10), a quality of life that can be lived on earth and after bodily death, rather than simply a “duration” of life after death.

Dec 16 2024

A God Who Delights

We begin and conclude most of our efforts to pray with the simple words “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Many times a hurried gesture accompanies these words, touching forehead, chest, and each shoulder. But think for a moment about that gesture that makes a cross on our bodies, as it moves from mind to heart to the width of our bodies. Reflect on those words. How often our familiarity with this action can become a rote gesture and a hurriedly mumbled phrase.

The mystery of the Trinity is central to our faith. Our God is one yet three, three yet one. No matter which way you say it, the mystery doesn’t become any more comprehensible or less baffling. At the heart of this mystery is the reality of our loving God who created our world and all the worlds beyond ours, who has given us generous access by the gift of faith in Jesus Christ, and who has poured divine love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, the first gift to us at Baptism.

What can possibly make sense of this? I would hold up one phrase from today’s readings for meditation. Divine Wisdom speaks of herself as being the Lord’s delight while creation was taking place, playing before the Lord day by day. Then there is that beautiful conclusion when Wisdom says, “And I found delight in the human race.” God’s Wisdom delights in us! Can we return the favor?

Consider/Discuss

Do you think of God as taking delight in the works of creation, salvation, and sanctification?
How does having “God’s love poured into your heart” lead you to take delight in God?

Responding to the Word

God of creation, you sent your Son, Jesus, to bring us fullness of life, leading us into communion with you through the Holy Spirit. May we be a source of delight for you, and be worthy of the creation you have entrusted to our care. We thank you for all that has been, is, and will be.

Dec 16 2024

Scripture Study for

The created world is beautifully portrayed in today’s reading. There is no cosmic battle here, as is found in some of the other ancient creation myths. There is only one God who effortlessly establishes the entire universe in tranquility and order. There is rejoicing in this created world. God delights in Woman Wisdom; Woman Wisdom rejoices before God. Wisdom also takes delight in the inhabited part of the earth and in the human race. The last verse leaves us on an open threshold, gazing at the universe that unfolds before us, aware that this mysterious primordial figure of Wisdom has a special interest in us.

According to Paul, the justification of the Roman Christians is an accomplished fact. They have already been reconciled with God; their guilt has already been forgiven. Though God is really the author of their justification, it has been accomplished through their faith in Jesus Christ, who through his death and resurrection has reconciled all people with God. Believers still wait in hope for God’s ultimate glory. Here is an example of Paul’s already-but-not-yet thinking about the end times. The Trinitarian nature of Paul’s faith and teaching is clear: Christ brings us to God, and the Spirit comes to us from that same God.

The Gospel explains the relationship between the Father, Jesus, and the Spirit by relating all three to the teaching of Jesus. The Spirit will fill the void caused by Jesus’ absence, not so much with a presence as with a form of teaching. It will be through the unfolding of this teaching that the Spirit will glorify Jesus, and reveal him to be the chosen one of God. It was from the Father that the Spirit heard the teachings of Jesus, and then it was also from the Father that the Spirit was sent to bring these teachings to fruition. The Spirit glorifies Jesus by bringing to light the deeper truth of his teaching, teaching that also belongs to God.