My Dear Sisters and Brothers! You and I are worshippers of the Holy Trinity. That what makes a person a Christian – believing there is One God in Three Persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Not three gods but One God in three persons.
In the Bible we read that there is One God: “Hear O Israel: The Lord our God is One.” (Deutronomy 6.4) But don’t get it wrong: One here doesn’t mean single. The word one was used for the first time in the Bible in Genesis when God created the first people: Listen to that: “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.” (Genesis 2.24). One means a very close union. Isn’t astonishing that with the creation of the first humans God started telling us about himself? Though people are week and sinful but their marriage union is reminding the world about the union of the Trinity. The union of the husband and the wife isn’t selfish, isn’t about having fun or satisfying urges but it is the expression of their love for each other. They love each other so much that their love doesn’t isolate them but their love becomes fruitful when there is a new life - a child, who expresses their love for each other. On this Holy Trinity Sunday I want to say to all husbands and wives: You are reminding us that our God is One. Not a lonely ranger, but a close union of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
When the fullness of time came Our Blessed Lord, Jesus Christ, revealed to us the Trinity explicitly when he said: “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” Before his death and Resurrection Jesus also revealed the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, who was to be sent to the Church. That’s why St John, the Beloved Apostle of Christ wrote in the New Testament “God is love.” (1 John 4.8). I am sure that all couples here present would agree with me that they got married with dreams of loving each other in the most beautiful way, like no other couple on the face of the earth. However I am also sure that all couples wouldn’t say that they are love, rather they would say that that they love each other or maybe more often that they try to love each other. Why? Because apart of love in each human relationship there is also another aspect of: selfishness, jealousy, pride, anger, stubbornness etc. I don’t want you to make a public confession now but I think that I am not making up stories here. That’s the drama of our human condition. There is no pure love among us.
When, with St John, we say that “God is love” we acknowledge that the union of the Holy Trinity is pure love. The Son isn’t jealous when the Father is loved and worshipped by us. The Father doesn’t see the love between the Son and the Holy Spirit as a threat to his Son’s love for him. Just think of some human fathers who become jealous when after their child is born they feel that their wives love the child more than them. We are not pure love.
It is a great gift that we believe that our origin as humans is in the Trinity, in the pure love, and that we can look up to that pure love in order to grow in love for each other in spite of our weaknesses. It is said that the greatest gift to a child is the love his parents have for each other, as husband and wife. The greatest gift we have is that we live our days exposed to the Holy Trinity, God who is love.
The famous icon of the Trinity of Rublev pictures God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit at the table where there is an empty seat. The seat is for each one of us. The Gospel tells us that “God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” It is not only about being with God after our death but it also means that now, as we grow up, we can not only grow out of our clothes but that we can grow out of selfishness, jealousy, pride, anger, stubbornness, in a word: a sin. At the beginning of this homily I said that believing in the Holy Trinity is what makes a person a Christian. However if you spoke to somebody who had no clue who a Christian is you could put it in a plain English: Believing in the Holy Trinity is what makes a person a loving person because the Trinity it is God who is love.
In the Bible we read that there is One God: “Hear O Israel: The Lord our God is One.” (Deutronomy 6.4) But don’t get it wrong: One here doesn’t mean single. The word one was used for the first time in the Bible in Genesis when God created the first people: Listen to that: “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.” (Genesis 2.24). One means a very close union. Isn’t astonishing that with the creation of the first humans God started telling us about himself? Though people are week and sinful but their marriage union is reminding the world about the union of the Trinity. The union of the husband and the wife isn’t selfish, isn’t about having fun or satisfying urges but it is the expression of their love for each other. They love each other so much that their love doesn’t isolate them but their love becomes fruitful when there is a new life - a child, who expresses their love for each other. On this Holy Trinity Sunday I want to say to all husbands and wives: You are reminding us that our God is One. Not a lonely ranger, but a close union of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
When the fullness of time came Our Blessed Lord, Jesus Christ, revealed to us the Trinity explicitly when he said: “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” Before his death and Resurrection Jesus also revealed the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, who was to be sent to the Church. That’s why St John, the Beloved Apostle of Christ wrote in the New Testament “God is love.” (1 John 4.8). I am sure that all couples here present would agree with me that they got married with dreams of loving each other in the most beautiful way, like no other couple on the face of the earth. However I am also sure that all couples wouldn’t say that they are love, rather they would say that that they love each other or maybe more often that they try to love each other. Why? Because apart of love in each human relationship there is also another aspect of: selfishness, jealousy, pride, anger, stubbornness etc. I don’t want you to make a public confession now but I think that I am not making up stories here. That’s the drama of our human condition. There is no pure love among us.
When, with St John, we say that “God is love” we acknowledge that the union of the Holy Trinity is pure love. The Son isn’t jealous when the Father is loved and worshipped by us. The Father doesn’t see the love between the Son and the Holy Spirit as a threat to his Son’s love for him. Just think of some human fathers who become jealous when after their child is born they feel that their wives love the child more than them. We are not pure love.
It is a great gift that we believe that our origin as humans is in the Trinity, in the pure love, and that we can look up to that pure love in order to grow in love for each other in spite of our weaknesses. It is said that the greatest gift to a child is the love his parents have for each other, as husband and wife. The greatest gift we have is that we live our days exposed to the Holy Trinity, God who is love.
The famous icon of the Trinity of Rublev pictures God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit at the table where there is an empty seat. The seat is for each one of us. The Gospel tells us that “God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” It is not only about being with God after our death but it also means that now, as we grow up, we can not only grow out of our clothes but that we can grow out of selfishness, jealousy, pride, anger, stubbornness, in a word: a sin. At the beginning of this homily I said that believing in the Holy Trinity is what makes a person a Christian. However if you spoke to somebody who had no clue who a Christian is you could put it in a plain English: Believing in the Holy Trinity is what makes a person a loving person because the Trinity it is God who is love.
Copy of the image of the Holy Trinity of Rublev
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