All things sail upon the infinite Sea of Love!
Year A – Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
John 3:16-18: “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son”
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. It is a relatively recent feast: it was introduced into the liturgical calendar in 1334 by Pope John XXII. The main reason was to give a solemn celebration to the central mystery of our faith: God, one and triune, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Incarnation and the Trinity are the two essential mysteries of the Christian faith. Indeed, all Christians are baptised in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
The placing of this solemnity on the Sunday after Pentecost is no coincidence. Throughout the ninety days of Lent and Eastertide, with Holy Week — the Passion, death and resurrection of Jesus — at the centre, we have experienced the saving action of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. On this Sunday after Pentecost, we contemplate the loving action of the three divine Persons in their unity and communion. “This feast is like an oasis of contemplation, after the fullness of Pentecost” (Don Angelo Casati).
Everyone can arrive at the existence of God through his epiphany in creation. Human intelligence can also come to recognise the oneness of God, that is, monotheism. But it is faith in Jesus that has led us to the Trinity of Persons in the one God, because “No one has ever seen God: the only-begotten Son has revealed him to us” (John 1:18). This is not, however, a theoretical or purely dogmatic knowledge, which would be of little or no use, but an introduction into the intimacy of God, an immersion in his immense, surprising and fascinating mystery.
God is love
The readings proposed by the liturgy, brief but profound, help us to deepen our understanding of this mystery. They all emphasise the love of God. In the first reading, the Lord presents himself as “a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34). In the second, the conclusion of the Second Letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul, with words full of tenderness, takes leave of the community by saying: “Brothers and sisters, rejoice, strive for perfection, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you” (2 Corinthians 13:11-13). The Gospel presents us with one of the most extraordinary and revolutionary statements in the whole of Sacred Scripture: “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost, but may have eternal life.”
In his First Letter, Saint John develops this truth to the point of affirming: “God is love” (1 John 4:16). The Trinity is a requirement of love: God is love, therefore he is Trinity! In meditating on this Mystery, the insight of Saint Augustine remains unsurpassed: he defines the Father as the one who loves, the Son as the one who is loved, and the Holy Spirit as the love that unites them.
As long as we do not welcome this Gospel novelty into our hearts, we risk turning God into an idol, made in “our image and likeness”: from a judging god to the most perverse distortions, as we can see in certain forms of fundamentalism. But let us not claim too quickly that we know God. The Word presents to the Athenians — and also to us — “the unknown God” (Acts 17:23)!
How can we perceive the love of God? How can we reach what Saint Paul wishes for the Ephesians: “May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, rooted and grounded in love, you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses all knowledge” (Ephesians 3:17-19)?
A journey from the outside towards the depths
Today we live projected towards the world and the universe, eager — rightly so — to discover the mysteries of the cosmos and of life. We also seek to know the “cosmos” we carry within us: what makes us human, what makes us unique, what distinguishes us from artificial intelligence… Yet few seem interested in deepening their understanding of the Mystery par excellence!
The astonishing progress of the sciences, our knowledge of the origin and expansion of the universe, of evolution and of the laws that caused the spark of life to be kindled, arouse wonder and amazement. Despite everything, however, the sense of the infinite and the deep meaning of life seem to escape us, elusive and beyond our grasp. They seem always to point us… further on! We ourselves continue to be an enigma to ourselves. For the believer, the thought arises spontaneously: could it be that only the knowledge of God and of his Mystery can offer us the key to existence?
This is how the italian theologian Paolo Scquizzato speaks of it:
“God-Trinity, the unfathomable Mystery — who knows — perhaps he is the Ground of being, the creativity of the Universe, the Beauty of beauty, the Goodness of good, the Life of the living, the Information of the Cosmos, the Soul of the world, the Consciousness of the Universe, the tenderness of lovers, the Leaven of matter, the Love that asks me at every instant to express myself fully and to grasp the sacredness of all that exists.”
A change of direction: from within outwards
“The love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us,” Saint Paul states in the Letter to the Romans (5:5). We usually speak of “following Jesus”, of going after him. This is the perspective of the Synoptic Gospels: Mark, Matthew and Luke. However, Saint John and above all Saint Paul prefer to speak of Christ and of God “in us”: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Christ dwells in Paul, animates him, transforms him.
Perhaps we have not sufficiently deepened this dimension. We need not seek God who knows where, outside ourselves. He is in the innermost being of each person, in the deepest core, there where we receive our being from the love of God. Jesus comes to meet us “from within outwards”, says Blessed John of Ruusbroec, the medieval mystic. We are naturally turned towards the outside; he, instead, is within. This marvellous reality makes Saint Augustine exclaim, in wonder: “You were more inward to me than my innermost self, and higher than the highest part of me.” God is hidden in our heart. There we find the source of the dignity of our humanity.
How shall we conclude our reflection?
Christians are not simply those who believe in God, creator of heaven and earth, an eternal and almighty God. We could be afraid of such a God. We could respect him, but not love him. We could be wary of him and see him as a threat to our freedom. Christians, rather, define themselves in this way: “We have believed in the love that God has for us” (1 John 4:16). Such a God we can love. In such a God we can trust, and to him we can abandon ourselves!
Suggested prayer for the week
“Eternal Trinity, you are like a deep sea, in which the more I seek, the more I find; and the more I find, the more my thirst to seek you grows. You are insatiable; and the soul, being satisfied in your abyss, is not satisfied, because it remains hungry for you, longing for you ever more, O eternal Trinity, desiring to see you with the light of your light.” (Saint Catherine of Siena)
Fr Manuel João Pereira Correia, MCCJ
Fr. Manuel João, comboni missionary
Sunday Reflection
from the womb of my whale, ALS
Our cross is the pulpit of the Word
