Trinity Sunday

May 18, 2008

Ex 34:4b-6, 8-9       Moses’ prayer

Dn 3:52-56                             A psalm from the fiery furnace

2 Cor 13:11-13       Grace, Love, Fellowship

Jn 3:16-18                               God so loved the world…

http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/051808.shtml

Three images. A first. The deep night sky, full of galaxies. Visible in an especially vivid way through the Hubble Telescope. Find the rich Virgo cluster of pinwheels and Christmas ornaments. Let these represent the 100 billion galaxies in the visible universe, using as reference our own galaxy of 500 billion stars, many of which are capable of supporting planets with life. The magnitude nearly paralyzes the mind.

Second image: Jesus of Nazareth, the Jew, walking the roads of Galilee, patches up the illnesses of the populace, healing and teaching, urging, warning, then moving toward Jerusalem to confront those at the center of the malaise. An image of social justice, or of prophetic challenge.

Third image: Our own daily encounter with life in the neighborhoods of the world. The dull routines that stretch the time out but cause it to pass all too quickly. Add the occasional crisis that punctuates the routine but threatens with one more surprise, another test. Maybe one I cannot handle this time. But I try to live my life in a spirit of trust, in a community. The trust is an act of faith, and the community is a community of faith.

We see God at work in each of these places. One God, and yet such a diverse array of what we think of as reality. How can one God be master of the far reaches of the universe, and yet be present to the prayer that I make in the privacy of my room?

Maybe seeing unity in this astonishing diversity is one way to make sense of the Trinity. One God, present in different ways.

The ancients of the pagan world tended to think of many gods, each assigned to different areas of concern. But as Christians we make our act of faith in one God. One God, that is, with different “faces.” (According to one theory, the origin of the word “person” was the theatrical mask, like those that represent tragedy and comedy on playbills. While it is obviously simplistic to call the three Persons the faces of God, there is something of that idea in the title.)

The biblical passages for the feast of the Holy Trinity present different sketches of God’s presence, in different modalities, different settings.

The Trinity is a revelation of the New Testament, and so the Old Testament contains little more than hints and an example of promises. Today the story from Exodus, of Moses encountering the Lord God on the mountain of Sinai, evokes an image of God as Father. Lawmaker, due all respect. Here is the image of holy awe that is sometimes named in the bible as “fear of the Lord.” It was a sensibility repeated in the design of the temple, with its circling courts of increasing holiness, as one approached the “Holy of Holies,” the Sanctuary at the center.

The second reading, from the conclusion of II Corinthians, sums it up. Paul signs off with: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” God’s love, so great that he sent his only Son, as John tells us today, took shape in that event, the grace, or gift, of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That event was succeeded by the sending of the Spirit. The community of Corinth is blessed by the fellowship of the Spirit who abides in the church.

The remote transcendent presence of God in Exodus, the near-at-hand immanent presence seen in the Gospel of John—both are part of our experience of the Holy. Along with the presence of the Spirit among us.

For reflection: The Trinity is not likely a frequent subject for reflection. But can we identify dramatically different ways in which we see or experience God?