31 May 2026

31 May 2026 - Trinity Sunday

Transcript

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Reflect:   

I had everything written out for a homily for this weekend, but then decided to get rid of almost all of it. The reason is because it was so negative about our society. I think I’ve been preaching on that enough recently. So I got rid of it, and started… almost new. So…

I have said this before, but I like it: if anyone ever tells you they can fully describe the Trinity to you – run. I know it is a very poor joke, but it is also very true. There are a lot of ways that have been used to describe the Trinity, but every one of them has some problems.

I want to return to the one description of the Trinity that I think makes the most sense. Frank Sheed describes this best in his books titled “Theology for Beginners” and “Theology and Sanity” – two books I highly recommend. Both books cover a lot more than just the Trinity. They were on my list of books that I published for you over a year ago. His description, in a brief summary, is to describe the Trinity in terms of: love.

First, we need to remember that God is perfect in every way. Because he is perfect, He loves perfectly. Also, love must have an object – something or someone to love. You cannot just say “I love”. The response to that is: what or who do you love? So, the Father loves. And he loves perfectly. And the object of his love is perfect – it must be, because that object is God the Son. He loves the Son, who in turn loves the Father.

Their love is mutual and perfect between each other, so perfect in fact that it is best described as the Holy Spirit. Which means the entirety of the existence of God is caught up in a mutual, familial love that is perfect in every way.

This seems to be the best analogy I have heard – ever – for describing the Trinity. But I also read the following this week: “the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are each complete expressions of divinity. The only thing each is not… is the other.”

I think that needs some serious thought. “The only thing each is not… is the other.” Great line! We could spend a lot of time analyzing that simple statement. Actually is not that simple.

Apply:   

So how do we describe each member of the Trinity? I’m going to start in the reverse order.

Who is the Holy Spirit? We had Pentecost Sunday just last weekend where we focused on the descent of the Holy Spirit on the church. How would I choose to describe the Holy Spirit? Please bear with me, but I am afraid my previous life is coloring how I see the Holy Spirit. One of the ways I see the Holy Spirit in our lives is that he is: in the foxhole with us. He fights alongside us. He defends us. If we do not think we need someone who can fight with us, if we do not think we are in a war for our souls, we do not understand our condition. The Holy Spirit is our most intimate companion.

Furthermore, the Holy Spirit appears to be the member of the Trinity who prefers to remain least noticed. He appears to want to point us to the Son and the Father. We do have prayers to the Holy Spirit – and he needs to be prayed to because he is God: “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, kindle in them the fire of your love.” The images of the Holy Spirit that we have are of fire and of the dove. The study of the Holy Spirit is called Pneumatology.

Let me move on to the Son. We speak about the preexistent Word of God – that He became Jesus. He always has been and always will be. But there is much more to that than just saying “he has always been.” Let me go back to a military metaphor. Jesus is the captain, the commander of the Army of God. He entered into combat with the devil. It took him through the cross and the grave. And, to quote Philippians, “because of this, God highly exalted him, and gave to him the name above every other name. That at the name of Jesus every knee must bend, in the heavens, on the earth, and under the earth. And every tongue proclaim, to the glory of God the Father: Jesus Christ is Lord.” (Philippians 2:9-11)

But this is just one aspect of who Jesus is. Personally (red flag!), I have come to think that Jesus’ favorite way of seeing himself is as the bridegroom of our souls. This is very different from seeing him as commander. But as the bridegroom, he has fought for his bride – and he continues to do so, even from heaven. Let anyone or anything think they can defeat him – it will not happen!

There are other ways of describing who Jesus is. “All creation came into being through him” is one of those phrases.

These few comments do not exhaust our understanding of who Jesus Christ is. The study of the Son is called Christology. I do not have time to explore everything well. There are books written on this subject!

So let’s move on to the Father. The study of the Father is called Patriology. In our society today, the Father is probably the hardest to value – yes, I used that word on purpose. Our “Theology Thursday” program is looking at the movie “The Shack.” This movie begins with scenes of a young boy trying to defend his mother from his father who is alcoholic and abusive and an elder in their church. It should come as no surprise that the boy grew up to be a man who did not exactly like God. There are so many examples that one could make pointing out how hard it is to have a good and holy image of our Heavenly Father. How can you tell someone who has suffered under the effects of a bad dad that our Heavenly Father is a loving Father? As I was preparing this, I found myself thinking for a long time about my dad. My dad was a great example of a godly man – a man of faith, who loved his family – especially his wife, my mom – and strove to serve God in every way he could.

I would wish and pray for a restoration of godly fathers – not just in families, but in the church. We need holy priests who can be spiritual fathers.

I said earlier about Jesus that “All creation came into being through him.” Now, with this line I want to try to tie the Trinity together. A dangerous thing to try to do. 😉When we pray, we pray to the Father, through the Son, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Yes, there are prayers dedicated to the Son and the Holy Spirit, but the majority of the prayers – especially at Mass – are prayed to the Father.

Again, I repeat that other phrase from today: “the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are each complete expressions of divinity. The only thing each is not… is the other.” The study of the Trinity is called "triadology" or "Trinitarian theology."

Pray/Praise:   

Finally, this is the prayer I wrote with my homily that I got rid of. I decided to keep this prayer:

Heavenly Father the infinite nature of your love is under severe attack in our society today. Help us to show that your love is the only perfect solution to what ails our society. There is so much anger and hatred which is the direct result of the loss of love. We need your love more than we need anything else. We need to show your love. Make us apostles of your love for the sake of all those around us, especially our own children.

There is so much that wants to go against the holiness of your love. Send out your Holy Spirit in a new wave of love, a new Pentecost. Not some foolish worldly way of referring to love, but in your genuine holiness of love that leads people back to you – through families. Amen.

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