Sunday Reflection
The solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
The Trinity is a unity
✠ A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (3:16-18). Taken from this Sunday’s gospel for
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
1. The three readings of this Sunday are related to the identity of God. In the first reading (Ex 34:4-6, 8-9) God revealed himself as a unique God to Moses. God the Son and the Holy Spirit were as yet unknown to the people. The gospel speaks of God sending his son into the world. Here again it is about God the Father and the Son. It is with the baptism of Jesus that the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit will appear together for the first time (Mt3:16-17). Jesus will later speak of them in his ministry and will conclude his earthly mission with ordering the disciples to baptize the believers in the name of the Trinity. By the time of St. Paul, the Trinity is known. That is why he greets the faithful with trinitarian formula in the second reading (2Cor 13:11-13): “Grace and peace to you from God the Father in communion with the Holy Spirit.” The three readings show that the Holy Trinity is not an ab initio revelation at the beginning of Yahwism. God firstly revealed himself to Abraham and Moses as well as to the entire children of Israel as a unique God: “I am the Lord, there is no other.”
2. The coming of Christ, his life and ministry brought to the fore the idea of one God with multiple persons. On the day of his baptism, the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in form of a dove while the voice of the Father declared: “This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.” This incident did not stop the Jews from accusing Jesus of blasphemy. It was for this that they killed him “for being a man he calls himself son of God, thereby making himself God’s equal.” After his rising from the dead, just before he ascended to heaven, Jesus still emphasized the Trinity of persons in one God when he ordered the disciples to baptize “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”(Mt 28:19).
3. Convincing the early Christians that God is three in one was not an easy task for the disciples who were themselves coming from a tradition that has always known a single person in a single God. St Paul made it a habit to start all his letters with a greeting in the name of God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. After the apostles, the struggle continued until the year 325 AD and 381 AD when at the Council of Nicea and the Council of Constantinople the faithful decided to codify the faith with a creed which should be a summary of the christian faith. The creed is known as Nicean/ Constatinopolian creed and its shorter form is known as the apostles’ creed.We recite them at mass and at the beginning of rosary respectively. In both creeds, the belief in one God with three persons was formally validated by all. It was thus from that time that the doctrine become accepted. But do we understand what it means to have three persons in one God? In truth nobody has been able to clearly explain this. Most people who tried it ended up in heresy. It is easy to accept but difficult to explain. All that is important is to know that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. One substance, three persons. The three persons live in love and collaboration, each discharging his duty without competition. God the Father is the creator, God the Son is the redeemer and God the Holy Spirit is the sanctifier.
4. What does today’s gospel say about the Trinity? Not much. It merely shows that there is a God who is Father and that this Father sent his Son to save the world. Does this tell us about the Holy Spirit? No!
5. You grew up to know about the Trinity without trying to understand it. In doing the sign of the cross, in beginning and ending your prayers, at the beginning and ending of Eucharistic celebration etc you habitually affirm your belief in the Trinity. Today, we may not fully grasp the doctrine but we understand its implications. The celebration of the Trinity invites you to live in unity with those around you, to work in collaboration and not in competition with others, to be satisfied with your position without envying others. God is not solitary but social. He invites you to be open to others and not live in self-sufficiency. Even though we are different persons we all have the same Trinity living in us. The God in you is the same God in me. We are therefore one like God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
@ Vitalis Anaehobi , 31/05/26.
