Let us pray this Reflection by Hildegard of Bingen…
Good people,
Most royal greening verdancy,
Rooted in the sun,
you shine with radiant light.
In this circle of earthly existence
you shine so finely, it surpasses understanding.
God hugs you.
You are encircled by the arms
of the mystery of God. Amen.
On Trinity Sunday we celebrate the very essence of God – and how we experience this essence. And so, by this celebration we hope to come to experience this mystery more deeply within our real and everyday lives. This God of love, truth and life is not a puzzle to be solved, but a mystery to be loved, experienced, and lived.
From Elizabeth Johnson’s Quest for the Living God, “Trinity: The Living God of Love”:
Christians do not believe in three gods but in one. What is particular to this faith is the belief that this one God has graciously reached out to the world in love in the person of Jesus Christ in order to heal, redeem, and liberate . . .
It lifts up God’s gracious ways active in the world through Jesus Christ and the Spirit, and finds there the fundamental revelation about God’s own being as self-giving communion of love . . . This is about “an encounter with divine Mystery” . . . experiencing the saving God in a threefold way as beyond them, and with them, and within them . . .
‘Trinity theology’ too often has presented its findings as if they were a literal description of a self-contained Trinity of three divine persons knowing and loving each other. This, of course, is not the case, no such literal description is possible . . . we must think with humility. Our “God is not two men and a bird” even though artists have often depicted the Trinity this way. This art is a meditation not a photograph. (207-208)
God is love – God lives as this mystery of love. We humans are created in this image. “Knowing God is impossible unless we enter into a life of love and communion with others.” “The church’s identity and mission pivot on this point . . . Only a community of equal persons related in profound mutuality, pouring out praise of God and care for the world in need, only such a church corresponds to the triune God it purports to serve.” (223)
“The point is, with the three circling around in a mutual, dynamic movement of love, God is not a static being but a plenitude of self-giving love, a saving mystery that overflows into the world of sin and death to heal, redeem, and liberate. The whole point of this history of god with the world is to bring the world back into the life of God’s own communion, back into the divine dance of life (p. 214).
1st Reading – Proverbs 8: 22 – 31
The Book of Proverbs is sort of an ‘Owners manual for the Jewish mind, heart and hands. All the chapters tell the reader about a spirit of right living: a life of discipline, restraint, just judgment, and relational sensitivity. This passage is a poetic presentation of how Wisdom assisted in creation. The goodness of creation and of ourselves is affirmed so that we reverence and use well all of that creation. Larry Gillick, S.J., http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistr/053010.html
This passage in the Old Testament is considered typology…a foreshadow or hint of what may be understood further in the New Testament. Trinity is not a concept that was revealed well in OT, but this is a prefigurement: the idea that the Father had company in creation.
2nd Reading – Romans 5: 1-5
Paul insists that standing firm in the midst of trials yields to endurance and a firm hope. For Paul, the assurance that salvation was a free gift for all inclusively was based on his belief in God’s love shown to us through the power of the Holy Spirit. It was Paul’s firm belief in the triune nature of God that would later be the foundation upon which theologians based the doctrine of Trinity. For Paul it was the Christian anchor: hope and endurance come through faith in the Triune God’s transcendent power! (Birmingham, Word & Worship, p. 554) How has hope and endurance helped you in the midst of trial?
The Gospel – John 16: 12-15
This passage continues the Farewell Discourse of the Last Supper that Jesus has with his disciples. Note how gentle Jesus is in not wanting to overwhelm them by only feeding them bits of information that they are able to understand (Think of how we teach our children!). “Spirit” in this piece of scripture in Greek is “paraclete”…one who stands by us. We have a God that stands forever with us. How does this speak to you?
Let us pray this prayer by Richard Rohr…
God for Us, we call You Father,
God Alongside Us, we call You Jesus,
God Within Us, we call You Holy Spirit.
You are the Eternal Mystery
That enables, enfolds, and enlivens all things,
Even us, and even me.
Every name falls short of your
Goodness and Greatness.
We can only see who You are in what is.
We ask for such perfect seeing.
As it was in the beginning, is now,
and ever shall be.
Amen.
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