Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Link to the Mass Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/053010.shtml

The first reading describes how the wisdom of God was with Him before all the world, and with God it took delight in the human race. This passage is about the Holy Spirit, and reminds us of the beginning of the Gospel of John: “In the Beginning there was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The point is to remind us of the Trinity, because as much as the Trinity is one of the most basic beliefs of Christianity, it is often taken for granted. This Sunday, we remember especially that God is One in three Persons, one distinct being and also three distinct persons.

But the readings as a whole remind us not just of the mystery of the Trinity, but of the role of the Trinity in salvation. God is wholly invested and involved in our salvation; we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, we boast in the hope of the glory of God, and “the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

Jesus has justified us through his death on the cross. Died so that our sins are forgiven. We yearn for the glory of God, and through faith in Christ we can attain it. The Holy Spirit is given to us as a gift so that we might love God, and know His Truth; and in knowing Truth might love Him the more because truth and love exist within each other.

In the Trinity, each Person leads to each other Person. God begot His only Son, but Jesus is God. The Holy Spirit is eternally begotten of the Father, and we know Him as the living Love between Jesus and the Father, a love so sublime it is a Person. They are all God, and God is one. A beautiful Mobius Strip. We see this in the second reading drawn out in our faith, where our afflictions produce endurance, endurance proven character, character hope, and hope that will be realized in the glory of God because of the love God has poured into us, the Holy Spirit.

Our faith life is one thing, and many distinct things, like God is one and distinct Persons. Our struggles, may they be alcohol, pornography, gossip, anger, despair, greed, are part of our lives. Paul says to boast of these, not that you should be proud of the unholy things in your life, but because our afflictions will lead us to the glory of God, if we keep faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and accept the love of God in our hearts. And we must accept the love of God; when we sin it is easy to hate ourselves, but we must remember that sin is not the end, and is never the end.

When we struggle to endure our sins we grow in character, and with each holy step we grow in hope of our God. When we fall, we must keep that hope, because the love of God has been given to us as a gift, and this love finds delight in the human race.