Father Rick Bolte's Homily

C: TRINITY SUNDAY

Since our earliest days, both at home and in school (if Catholic) we have learned that our God is a trinity.  One of the first prayers we learn is the Sign of the Cross.  We repeat this trinitine prayer at the beginning and end of most prayers.  We reaffirm it with blessings, in our creed, and at our baptism.  And we all know what it means.  Our God is one but three persons.  All are equal and eternal; all are separate yet work as one.

We can say the words and understand the concepts separately but we cannot logically put them together.  Intellectually we can not hold three equal and separate persons as one being.  We state it as our faith and call it a mystery.  But people sometimes ask, “What difference does it really make?  Would our lives be any different if our God were not a trinity?”

Sadly, the answer for many of us is “No.”  If our knowledge of the Trinity is limited to our intellectual understanding, there is little we can do with it.  But there is another way of knowing – experientially.  On this level we live with contradictions.  For example we know that to give something of ours away means we have less and that isn’t good.  Yet when we give out of love, even when we get nothing in return, we consider it good.  Experientially the Trinity has something to teach us and is a model to emulate.

We experience the Trinity as united in the love each person expresses to us.  That is the source of their unity.  Each person in their own way interacts with us out of love.  We attribute to each separate ways of being present to us but their purpose is the same.  Their love is total.  The Son most clearly gives his life to us but we can see such total generosity to us from the Father and spirit as well.

We experience this in our families as well.  We would think that logically when the family is dividing chores for the good of all, they would be united.  We’d expect even more so when about to share a treat.  Yet even husband and wife will disagree over household chores and sometimes harbor grudges feeling they are doing more than their share.  This is usually more so with children.  When going out to eat, if everyone has a chance to offer their preference, unity is often not seen here either.  Each member often has their favorites and perhaps places they just don’t like.

The opposite happens and many here can witness to this.  A friend or neighbor has a death in their family, has a serious illness, or their child is hurt in an accident.  Out of love, your family mobilizes.  With little hesitation your family is next door helping with the chores they don’t have time to do, you’re cooking meals and special deserts for them, and writing out cards expressing your prayers and support.  It’s more work than you had before but your family is united.

We see this in our parish too.  When the parish is offering something to the parishioners, we sometimes adopt an attitude of entitlement.  For example, we may even surprise ourselves to see how upset we may get when we failed to register for some event and now are told we have to pay extra or can not attend.  We begin to insist that this isn’t fair because we give so much, we been members so long, we’ve attended this event so often, we didn’t get enough notice the way we need it, etc. and so exception to the rule should be ours.  Usually we decide that at least for us the rule is unfair.  But we have a beautiful side as well.  Recently the preschool and kindergarten collected as part of their service project spaghetti and sauce for last week’s dinner.  The adult and children’s choirs practiced and performed a concert.  The concert was well attended and twice the money was collected as a donation than when there was a charge for the meal last year.  The youth group prepared, served and cleaned up after the meal.  The money will be used to help fund the mission week where still other volunteers will help homeowners needing help with repairs and maintenance.  When we give out of love, we are beautifully united.

The Trinity is a relationship of persons we are invited to be part of.  Jesus, in John’s Gospel, prays that we may be one as he and the Father, and even that we may be one with the Father as he is.  This unity will not come about through intellectual discernment but from lived experience.  As we learn to love as God loves us, we grow in the unity Jesus prayed for.