Complete Mystery

Today, the Church celebrates Trinity Sunday.  Once a year, on the Sunday after Pentecost, we focus our attention on God who is One, but who has been made known to us in three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  The readings that we have just heard help us to understand who God is in light of this mystery and to comprehend what God does for us.

In the Book of Exodus, we hear the story of Moses who rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai as God had commanded him to do ... The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there ... (Ex 34: 4-5).  Moses went up the mountain and God came down to meet him.  This is always the way.  We look to God for guidance, and he comes to us in order to reveal his mercy, his love, his faithfulness and his patience to us.  Whenever we ask God for the things we need, he answers us.  Sometimes his answers don't come immediately, and sometimes the answers are not as clearly defined as they were when they were chiseled into the stone tablets, but God always answers our prayers.

In the fullness of time, God revealed his plan for our salvation by sending Jesus his Son into the world.  Jesus took on human flesh so that we would be able to see him, to recognize his presence among us, to encounter the love that God has always had for us, his beloved children.  Through his life, death and resurrection, Jesus gave us an example of how we too can love God ... and how we can love one another.

After Jesus had risen from the dead, and after he had ascended to heaven, God the Father and God the Son sent us the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Our life in Jesus is a participation in this mystery which is beyond the limits of our understanding, but Saint Paul's letter to the Corinthians gives us some clarity about how we should live our lives.  He says that we should always strive to agree with one another, to live in peace with God and with one another (2 Cor 13: 11).  In order to help us do this, we must open our hearts and pray for the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor 13: 13) to be shared with us in great abundance.

Today, let us rejoice as we celebrate the great love that God has for each of us.  Our God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him (Jn 3: 16).  This is the good news that has been proclaimed to us.  We should strive to live it joyfully every day.