God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. There are three feasts (solemnities) that are observed immediately following the conclusion of Easter celebrations: Most Holy Trinity (which we celebrate today), Corpus Christi, and the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. The celebration of these three solemnities invite us to enter more deeply into the life of Jesus Christ so that we can be drawn into the mysteries of our salvation whose culmination is the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We begin this triad of celebrations today by reflecting on the nature of God as a community of persons under the title Most Holy Trinity.
The doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity is not only grounded in our Christian faith but also acts as the basis of that very faith. The belief in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is a teaching that is grounded on the fact that, in our salvation history, God has chosen to reveal the self in a trinity of persons (Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit). It is a mystery, not because we don’t or can’t understand it (we clearly do understand the mystery of the Holy Trinity: ONE God in three persons), but rather because it is a teaching that has come to us through divine revelation. The Holy Trinity as an article of our faith is not a fruit of our intellectual engagement but is rather a teaching that has been revealed to us by God.
From the Scriptures, the primary mode of God’s revelation to us, we encounter God as a “community of persons.” The first of such encounters is found in the very first book in the bible, in its first chapter: “God said, ‘Let us make man in
OUR own image, in the likeness of ourselves…” (cf. Genesis 1:26). Jesus himself on several occasions alluded to the
communityofpersons in the God-head especially when it came to the success of his mission: “And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me…” (cf. John 16:32g); “When the Spirit comes…he will say only what he has been told…” (cf. John 16:13). Most importantly, we learn from Jesus the essential feature(s) of the Holy Trinity: unity ('May they be one as we are one...' [cf. John 17:22c]) and love ('Just as the Father has loved me so have I loved you...' [cf. John 15:9]). It is this communion of love that we celebrate today.
The Church gives us the Holy Trinity as a model of how we should live our lives as those created and redeemed in the name of the Holy Trinity. A product of cooperation ('Let us make man in our own image and likeness'), the human person must him/herself cherish community/communion. The primary community/communion that the human person must be aware of is the created universe. As a steward of this community/communion of creatures, the human person must ensure that the universe endures. The thriving of this community/communion is essential not only because humanity's existence is tied to it (cf. Genesis 1:29), it also provides the human person with the opportunity to exercise his/her creative quality through which he/she mirrors the Holy Trinity.
The second element found in the Holy Trinity and of which the human person is expected to espouse is love. The unity that is present in the Holy Trinity results from the love that is shared amongst the three persons of the God-head. The cooperation that characterizes the life in the God-head is an outflow of the unselfish love shared therein. The human person loses the likeness of the Holy Trinity when he/she refuses to love. The human person was created out of love in order to love. The salvific work of Jesus was possible because of the love God has for creation (
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone should have eternal life). Without love, the human person cannot be able to carry out the God-given mandate of being a steward of creation. Without love, the human person cannot be able to cooperate with God as a co-creator. For to co-create with God, the human person must be selfless. Only he/she who is selfless who can love. Without love, that communion that is so necessary for the continued existence of creation ceases to be. Without love and communion, creation loses the gift of eternal life. Without love, the human person loses the very essence of his/her being. Without love, the human person loses his/her orientation to his/her salvation.