Homily: Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity – Cycle C
Friends,
we come here today to celebrate who God is in himself. It’s fitting that we do so this Lord’s Day,
since we have just completed our annual celebration of the mysteries of our
salvation. Perhaps many of you haven’t
thought of our celebration of the different liturgical seasons as a unified
celebration of the mysteries of our salvation, but this is exactly what it
is. If that is the case, however, let me
summarize it so that you can see it as a whole.
As
we go all the way back to the beginning of Advent, we marked not just the time
of preparation for the celebration of Christmas, but also remembered the long
years of waiting that our ancestors endured, holding tight the promise that God
would send a savior. In doing so, we
recognize that the world is continually in need of saving and we called for
Jesus to come again to manifest the fullness of his kingdom. Then, in Christmas, we celebrated the birth
of Jesus, our Savior, and praised God for delivering on his promise and
committed ourselves to proclaim this “news of great joy” to all those around
us.
In
the brief season of Ordinary Time that followed, we began to meditate on the
life and teaching of Jesus. In a way, we
entered into the life of the first disciples of Jesus, striving to learn “the
way” that Jesus has revealed to us by imitating our Master and by following his
teaching.
Then,
as Ash Wednesday opened for us the season of Lent, we acknowledged our failures
to follow Jesus rightly, sought his forgiveness, and prepared to celebrate the
great solemnity of Easter. In our
reflection during this time, we acknowledged once again that we are incapable
of saving ourselves and, thus, that we are constantly in need of one who can
redeem our sins. Then, in the days of
the Holy Triduum, we solemnly commemorated the Passion, Death, and Resurrection
of Jesus: the Worthy Lamb who has taken away the sins of the world and has made
it possible for us to enter into eternal life.
For
fifty days we celebrated this great event until finally we came to the
celebration of the sending of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost this past
Sunday. In this, we celebrate the final
mystery of our salvation: that, through the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, we live
in the divine life of the Holy Trinity even now as we continue our pilgrimage
on earth. With this, humanity’s
salvation is complete: there is nothing else to add to it. Our role, as those who have received this
salvation through faith, is to remain in this salvation by living according to
God’s commandments and to lead others into this salvation by befriending them,
sharing with them the good news that salvation is possible in Jesus, and by
leading them to Jesus so that they might befriend him and receive the salvation
that he has won for them.
Therefore,
as I said, it is fitting that, having completed our annual commemoration of the
mysteries of our salvation, we spend this Lord’s Day honoring God for who he is
in himself and for what he has done so that we might be saved. Interestingly enough, however, is that, by
God’s will, we can no longer celebrate who he is in himself without
acknowledging his wonderful care for us.
This is shown by the scriptures that we read for Mass today.
In
the first reading, we read from the Book of Proverbs in which “the wisdom of
God” is given voice to speak about how she was with God from the beginning and
was his “craftsman” who fashioned everything in creation according to God’s
will. Scholars have always attributed
this personification of wisdom from the Old Testament to the Second Person of
the Holy Trinity, the Son of God, whom we believe made all created things
according to the will of the Father.
It
would be enough, then, for this passage to describe how wisdom has been with
God eternally and how she created the material world from nothing according to
God’s design. Yet, it goes further by
saying something amazing. At the end of
the reading, wisdom says, “and I found delight in the human race”. This is amazing! Not only does God reveal himself to us by these
inspired scriptures, but he also reveals his heart to us: that he delights in
us, the human race, above the rest of his creation. What a gift to know that the all-powerful God
has looked upon us, his creation, with delight and a desire to share with us
his divine life. Our response is that of
the responsorial Psalm: “What is man that you should be mindful of him, or the
son of man that you should care for him?” and therefore, “O Lord, our God, how
wonderful your name in all the earth!”
In
the second reading, we are reminded of what Jesus did in our human nature here
on earth. Again, in revealing to us who
God is in himself, we see that this can no longer be separated from us. For what Jesus did in our human nature here
on earth was to restore us to friendship with God. Thus, Saint Paul describes that we “we have
been justified by faith” in Jesus Christ, through whom we have peace with the Father
and through whom the love of God, who is the Holy Spirit, is poured out to
us. Thus justified, we now live in the
inner life of the Holy Trinity. This is
echoed in the Gospel reading, in which we hear once again Jesus’ explanation
that, in returning to the Father, he will send us the Holy Spirit who will be
the ongoing power of the Divine Life dwelling within us.
Friends,
this revelation of who God is in himself and that God’s divine life is now
inseparably linked to us, his creation in whom he delights, is the good news
for which we must rejoice! Thus, we
celebrate this Holy Mass to offer God our gratitude in the best way possible:
by offering the same sacrifice that his Son Jesus made to redeem us and so to
restore our peace with God. That God
delights in us, so much so that he has given us a share in his divine life, is
something for which we should never cease giving thanks.
In
our gratitude, however, we should not forget that there are countless people
around us (perhaps even some of us who are here) who live fatherless in this
world, both literally and figuratively, and who desperately need to know that
they are loved and that there is someone who “delights” in them. This is the good news that we can bring to
them: that the God who created each of them delights in them and acknowledges
them as worthy of love. Let me say that
again to all of you who are here: the God who created you delights in you and
acknowledges you as worthy of love. As I
have told you this good news, so you too should go and share this good news
with those around you.
My
brothers and sisters, as we celebrate today who God is in himself and how we are
now inseparably linked to him in Jesus, let us give thanks that God delights in
us, his creatures. Let us recommit
ourselves to living with joy in the midst of the sufferings of this world, so
as to give evidence that “affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven
character, and proven character, hope”: the hope that a life without suffering
awaits those who dwell even now in the Holy Trinity through faith. In doing so, we will glorify God and his
kingdom will continue to grow among us.
May all glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
now and forever. Amen!
Given in Spanish at St. Paul Parish: Marion, IN – June 11th,
2022
Given in Spanish at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish: Carmel,
IN – June 12th, 2022
No comments:
Post a Comment