Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
June 12, 2022
Fr. John C. Garrett
This is the weekend that puts fear in the hearts of many priests and deacons. How does one preach on the greatest mystery of all, the Trinity. The fact or data is simple to describe – there are three divine persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but only one God – but trying to explain that fact is overwhelming. Of course it is, for God is infinite. It is impossible to completely understand and describe the Trinity.
St. Augustine of Hippo, one of the greatest minds that the Church has ever produced, in preparing to write his classic work, “The Trinity,” tells how he was struggling with how to understand the Trinity. As he contemplated the mystery while walking on the beach, he noticed a child who kept running to the sea to fill his bucket, and then pouring it into a hole that he dug. Curious, St. Augustine asked the boy what he was trying to do. The boy said, “Put the sea into my hole.” Augustine said, “That will be impossible.” “Likewise,” the boy replied, “it is impossible for you to understand the Trinity.”
Taking the cue from St. Augustine, I am going to preach on the Trinity knowing that what I say will inadequately address the great mystery. Hopefully, it will provide some insight, however.
Let us focus on today’s second reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans. A mere five versus long, but in it St. Paul gives us two golden chains by which God the Trinity binds us to himself.
The first could be described as the “theological” chain because it describes things from God’s point-of-view. It is made up of five links in the chain.
“Brothers and sisters: Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). This one verse mentions the first three links in the gold theological chain.
Faith is our saying “yes” to God who has revealed Himself to us. We should not reduce faith to mere belief, ideas that we believe in, rather faith is a relationship. Faith is what we do to God, by opening ourselves to His will.
St. Paul tells us that faith leads to the second link in this chain, justification. Justification is our reconciliation with God. Through our belief in Jesus and his passion, death and resurrection, our sins have been forgiven and we have been justified. Justification is God’s acceptance of us, His establishing a relationship with Him.
The third link is Peace. We need to recognize that peace is an objective fact and not merely a subjective feeling. Peace is our oneness with God. Because of Jesus’ triumph on the Cross we are no longer at war with God.
“[Jesus Christ], through whom we have gained access by faith to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:2). This verse gives us the final two links in the golden theology chain.
The fourth link is Grace. Most of us know that grace is God’s gifts to us. The primary and most important grace that God gives to us is Himself. Out of love He created us and sustains us. Literally every breath we take, every beat of our heart is a gift, a grace, from God. We do not deserve any gift from God, there is nothing we can do to earn God’s grace, and we have no right to God’s grace. Grace are surprises from God because He loves us.
The final link is Glory, or more specifically “the glory of God.” Glory is heartbreaking beauty, triumph, joy, exultation and happiness. As St. Paul writes in one of his other letters, glory is what “eye has not seen, and ear has not heard” (1 Cor. 2:9). The Glory of God is infinite and eternal. It begins on earth but is perfected in heaven.
Now we will examine the second golden chain. This one is described as psychological because it is from our point-of-view.
“Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character hope” (Romans 5:3-4). These two verses give us the first four links of the golden psychological chain by which God binds us to Himself.
Affliction or suffering is common to all human beings. However Christians have a unique understanding of affliction and suffering. We can “boast” of our suffering because we know that they are part of God’s perfectly loving, wise and all-powerful plan for our ultimate joy. As Christians we do not seek out suffering, nor do we boast about how well we suffer. Rather it is having faith that accepts God’s will that we boast about. We know who God is so we glory in everything God brings into our lives because of His perfect love and wisdom.
The second link is endurance, which is produced by our “boasting” in our afflictions. Everyone knows the saying, “Whatever does not kill me, makes me stronger.” However as Christians, we know that God is love and love always wills what is best for the beloved.
Endurance leads to Proven Character, the third link. A person with proven character is one that other people know they can rely on. The Hebrew word for this is often translated as “truth,” not the truth of an idea, but rather of a person. A true person is someone who is solid, reliable, and faithful. We know that God is Truth in this way.
The forth link is Hope. Too often we confuse hope with a wish or a desire. For Christians hope is a guarantee based on God’s proven character. God cannot not fulfill His promises. That is why St. Paul adds, “Hope does not disappoint” (Romans 5:5).
Finally, “because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Romans 5:5).
The final link in this golden psychological chain is love, with is the object of hope. God has promised us the Holy Spirit. The perfect love between God the Father and His son Jesus eternally becomes the person of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is love itself, divine love – infinite and unconditional. God’s ultimate gift to us is a sharing in His own life of love.