The Poet Khalil Gibran wrote, “You give up little when you give of your possession. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”
For Christians, there is no greater example of this definition of true giving than what is written in today’s Lesson:” God loved the world so much that HE gave His only Son”.
The Feast of the Holy Trinity is and remains a profound mystery of unity and diversity. One God in three Persons. Only in using analogies can we try to geta deeper insight into the unity and diversity of the Trinity.
St. Ignatius of Loyola, while at prayer , perceived the Trinity in the form of three musical notes that made up a single chord or sound.
St. Patrick used the three leaves of one clover to convey the idea of the Trinity.
On this fest we have a chance to think about the nature of God himself and about who we are as Christians.
Our God is a giving God. The fact is we only know God as one who gives; we only know him because he gives. Humans first came to know God because he gave himself in creation. We discover that we only exist, the world only exists because God gives life. He breathed life where there was nothing at all.
And he created human life as the pinnacle of the world he had made.
God did not stop giving life when his creatures rebelled against him in sin. He continued to give existence and life.
God showed his infinite love for the world by giving the life of His Son. It is in this giving that we realize how complete God’s love is. The Father gives Himself in giving us his Son.
Now Jesus reveals his love for His Father, and His love for us, by giving. Christ’s whole life is one of praise and worship for his Father, and of caring, healing, compassion for humans. When the sacrifice of the Cross consummates his life it does so by completing his self-gift of all that He is.
Thus both the Father and Son are revealed as the God who gives. Both carry on their revelation by giving us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is known as the surpassing gift of God.
In the Gospel the triune God is revealed as a God giving and loving. St. John tells us God is love, for to love is to give. Love is revealed in giving. From all eternity God gives life in his Son and the Father and the Son share the giving of the Spirit. It is the privilege of our Christian faith to recognize such love revealed in Christ Jesus
And it is a greater privilege still not only to recognize such love but to share in it. God calls us to a personal relationship with him. We are invited to enter into the life of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; we become Temple of the Holy Spirit and the triune God.
What is our response to God who gives Himself to us. We have to give ourselves to him and to each other. Our life mirrors the life of the Trinity in our world.
God is giving and sending us. We are now the manifestations of God’s goodness and giving by our generosity. We are the hands and feet and voices of the triune God in our days. God who is a God of giving cannot be outdone by generosity.
Trinity is a mystery, but what it reveals is far more important than what it conceals.
A loving, giving, open God is what the word “Trinity” describe, not a mathematical formula or a puzzling philosophical riddle.
This word Trinity is a sort of love letter that spans history; in it are the most intimate sentiments of a God who wants to give himself to us and who demands an equally giving response. This is how God loves us; this is how God wants to be loved.
Mystery of the Trinity, rather than pointing to some exclusive secret about God, teaches us about where we are called to live, about the glory of the human condition, about the measure of love of which we are capable.
The celebration of the Trinity is the culmination of God’s declaration of love made to the human family throughout the course of history.
Trinity as the source and model of all personhood and community shows us that our fulfillment and happiness lies not in self-assertion, isolation and independence, but rather in openness and a loving commitment to others.
We have to share ourselves, our love and our talents.... thereby enriching ourselves, not for ourselves, but for the Church and for the Community.
The relationship we have with the Trinity leads us to an experience of freedom –
God claiming us as sons and daughters and his children.
Let’s conclude together with the Trinitarian action that has become the trademark of our faith-the Sign of the Cross:
“In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
Fr. Volker Futter, OSB