Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (C)

June 16, 2019

Readings:

First Reading: Proverbs 8: 22-31

Psalm: 8 “O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth.”

Second Reading: Romans 5: 1-5

Gospel reading according to John 16: 12-15

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Homily: Trinity Sunday

Today we are celebrating the Most Blessed Holy Trinity Sunday; it is the first Sunday after Pentecost in our liturgical calendar.  On this Sunday we recall the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the Three Persons in One God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus, the Second Person in the Holy Blessed Trinity, has many things to say to his disciples, even to explain to them his sudden passion, death, resurrection and ascension to heaven, though he taught them already about the Law and the Prophets, when he said: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophet.  I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. . . . Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven. . . .” (Mt. 5: 17-19).  He was not able to clarify himself about his teaching on the Reign-Kingdom of God and expound about the things in heaven; and many more things about himself for he is about to ascend into heaven.  “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now’.” (John 16: 12).  He wanted to say and instruct his disciples about heaven, earth, and hell; about learning good and evil (the tree of knowledge) and of life (tree of life) (cf. Book of Genesis, chapters 1 and 2); about heavenly things, about the ranks of angels and saints, and a lot more, even ordinary things (tree the fruits that can be eaten), because he is going back to his Father.  Although they received enough things the disciples needed to hear and learn from him whatever, but for Jesus it was not enough, it is not enough.  The disciples needed to hear more, learn more about him.  Nevertheless, Jesus knew the capacity of his disciples in grasping whatever he has shared to them.  They cannot contain them, for they are many and hard to understand. The disciples cannot bear them, for now.

Nevertheless, he introduced to his disciples the other Advocate, the Third Person in the Holy Blessed Trinity, the Holy Spirit, who would help them to carry all things about Jesus, about the truth of his teachings and the words he has spoken, and about God, the loving and merciful Father, the First Person in the Holy Blessed Trinity.  Jesus said, “’But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth’.” (John 16: 13).  Whatever Jesus was not able to say to his disciples, the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit, will guide them, as well as we, his followers also, to know more and love more Jesus, the Christ. 

Though the Holy Spirit will not speak about himself, but rather he will speak on behalf of Jesus Christ.  “’He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming’.” (John 16: 13). He will tell his disciples all the things he heard from and about Jesus, and more about the things to come. When the Holy Spirit comes he will teach us, according to what he knew, heard and learned from Jesus, the Lord.  He will even give glory to him.  “’He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you’.” (John 16: 14).  By revealing to his disciples and to us what Jesus has, the Holy Spirit will declare and share to them and to us.  Jesus said to his disciples by enlightening them what the Father has, all is his.  “’Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you’.”  (John 16: 15).  Whatever the Father has, Jesus has it, too.  So, also, Jesus, God the Son, shared all that he received from God the Father to God the Holy Spirit; and God the Holy Spirit will share all that he received from Jesus to his disciples and to us.

What follows, is an excerpt of a Letter written by St. Athanasius to Serapion of Thmuis:

“It will not be out of place to consider the ancient tradition, teaching and faith of the Catholic Church, which was revealed by the Lord, proclaimed by the apostles and guarded by the fathers. For upon this faith the Church is built, and if anyone were to lapse from it, he would no longer be a Christian either in fact or in name.

We acknowledge the Trinity, holy and perfect, to consist of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In this Trinity there is no intrusion of any alien element or of anything from outside, nor is the Trinity a blend of creative and created being. It is a wholly creative and energizing reality, self-consistent and undivided in its active power, for the Father makes all things through the Word and in the Holy Spirit, and in this way the unity of the holy Trinity is preserved. Accordingly, in the Church, one God is preached, one God who is above all things and through all things and in all things. God is above all things as Father, for he is principle and source; he is through all things through the Word; and he is in all things in the Holy Spirit.

Writing to the Corinthians about spiritual matters, Paul traces all reality back to one God, the Father, saying: Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of service but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in everyone.

Even the gifts that the Spirit dispenses to individuals are given by the Father through the Word. For all that belongs to the Father belongs also to the Son, and so the graces given by the Son in the Spirit are true gifts of the Father. Similarly, when the Spirit dwells in us, the Word who bestows the Spirit is in us too, and the Father is present in the Word. This is the meaning of the text: My Father and I will come to him and make our home with him. For where the light is, there also is the radiance; and where the radiance is, there too are its power and its resplendent grace.

This is also Paul’s teaching in his Second Letter to the Corinthians (13:13): The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. For grace and the gift of the Trinity are given by the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. Just as grace is given from the Father through the Son, so there could be no communication of the gift to us except in the Holy Spirit. But when we share in the Spirit, we possess the love of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the fellowship of the Spirit himself” (https://dominicanfriars.org/the-solemnity-of-the-most-holy-trinity/).