Sunday Sermon for May 26, 2024, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Year B
Readings: Deut 4:32-34, 39-40; Rom 8:14-17; Mt 28:16-20
Today we celebrate a feast that is uniquely Christian. There are three religions in the world that believe there is only one God: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. All three also maintain that this belief is in the God Who revealed Himself to Abraham. What set Abraham and his descendants apart from anyone else in the world is that Abraham rejected the notions of the many gods and goddesses worshipped by the pagan nations. Instead, based on the revelation he had received, Abraham believed in only one God.
Over the centuries, God continued to reveal Himself more clearly. For instance, we know He revealed His Holy Name to Moses centuries after He revealed Himself to Abraham. What God was doing was slowly unfolding the truth so the people could understand and adapt themselves to this truth. The first order of truth is that there is only one God; there are no others. This truth, which we hold as being simple and clear, took a long time for people to believe and accept. We see that even the immediate descendants of Abraham did not accept God personally until He revealed Himself to them.
In other words, there was still an idea that everyone could have their own god or gods, Abraham just happened to believe in one particular God. It took time for the people to understand that this is an absolute and objective truth, not just the subjective opinion of Abraham. The task given to the Jewish people was to bring this truth to the rest of the world.
We know that even the Jewish people struggled to maintain this truth, falling into the worship of Baal, Ashera, and other false gods. God raised up Moses, the Judges, and the Prophets to continually call the people back to the truth and to lead them deeper into the mystery of God. This is why, in the first reading, we see Moses exhorting the people of Israel to recognize the grace given to them as the Chosen People of God and reminding them that “the Lord is God in the heavens above and on earth below, and that there is no other.”
Only after the truth that there is only one God was firmly established among the Jewish people could God then reveal Himself further as being three Persons in one God. Initially, this would cause confusion for some people because they thought it meant Jesus was teaching that there were three gods. However, as we see in the Gospel reading, Jesus instructs His Apostles to baptize in the Name (singular) of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
This truth, that there is only one God Who is three Persons, was given to the Church to teach all nations. The whole world needs to know God because we are all made in His image and likeness. Moreover, each person needs to know how much God loves them and desires union with them. So great is this love that God sent His only Son, the second Person of the Trinity, into the world to redeem us and offer us eternal salvation. He also sent the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, to dwell within us.
This helps us to understand that the mystery of the Trinity is not just a theological truth that may seem to have no impact on us. Rather, as we see in the second reading, this truth impacts us profoundly. It was already mentioned that we are made in the image and likeness of God. This means we must know God in order to know who we are and the purpose of our creation.
As profound as this is, it is merely the beginning. When we were baptized, we were baptized into Jesus; we became members of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Son of God, so as His members, we became sons and daughters of God, calling God our Father. In order to be truly sons and daughters of God, we must share in the nature of God. This happened at the moment we became members of the second Person of the Trinity. We were also given the Holy Spirit because He gives us the life of God, sanctifying grace. As children of God, and as members of the Son Who is the sole heir to God, we also have a share in the inheritance of Jesus. Scripture gives us two aspects of that inheritance: the nations of the world and God Himself!
What this means is that for eternity we will dwell in God and He will dwell in us. We will be brought into the life of the Trinity. So, our faith in the Most Holy Trinity is not merely theoretical, it is eminently practical and profoundly personal, both now and for eternity!
Fr. Altier’s column appears regularly in The Wanderer, a national Catholic weekly published in St. Paul, Minn. For information about subscribing to The Wanderer, please visit www.thewandererpress.com.
