GOD’S LOVE HAS BEEN POURED INTO OUR HEARTS (Rom 5:5)

by Fr. JohnBosco Ezeonwumelu · June 15, 2019

SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY (Year C)

Prov 8:22-31; Psalm 8:4-5, 6-7a, 7b-9, (R.v.2a); Rom 5:1-5; John 16:12-15

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

The theology of the Holy Trinity remains a mystery which is beyond full human understanding. The reality of the idea of the three persons in one God spreads through the entire scriptures but it is more obvious in the New Testament.

The first instance is at creation right at the beginning of the book of Genesis. God is mentioned as the creator (Gen 1:1), the Spirit of God hovered over the waters (Gen 1:2), but God created with the word (Gen 1:3). Compare that with John 1:1-3. Again, God said, “Let us make man in ‘our’ own image…” (Gen 1:26-27). God could not have been talking to the angels since he would not have been sharing the same nature with the angels (cf. Heb 1:1-5). For other places where God speaks of himself in the plural form, see Gen 3:22. In Gen 18:1-22, God appeared to Abraham in the form of three men.

The Prophets also portray this idea. For instance, when Isaiah beheld the throne of God in his call, God spoke of himself in both singular and plural, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us? (Isa 6:8) But before then, the seraphs praised God in tripartite form, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts” (Isa 6:3).

The New Testament is more obvious in this teaching of the Holy Trinity and we cannot exhaust it here. But take a look at these passages: Matt 28:19, 11:27, Mark 1:10-11, Luke 11:13, John 1:1-18, Gal 4:4-7, etc. We equally got a new understanding of the equality between them (see John 10:30, 38, 14:8-11, 17:5).

Despite the obvious union, they were at times mentioned distinctly as we could also see in many of the passages mentioned above and others yet unmentioned. For instance, listen to 1 Pet 1:2-3, “…to those whom God the Father has called, according to his plan, and made holy by the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ…” They equally sometimes manifest distinctly. For instance, the Father creates, the Son is born of the Virgin Mary and dies on the cross and the Spirit descends on the disciples.

So we are talking about the union of three distinct persons in one unified divine nature. That means, even though they are sometimes seen differently, AT NO TIME DOES ONE ACT WITHOUT THE OTHER. This union is without confusion since it is made of love.

Today, St. Paul reminds us in the Second Reading that that same love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whose outpouring we just celebrated last Sunday. Therefore, we have the responsibility to show love to one another in emulation of the Trinity. We can do this by applying divine wisdom in all we do (see Prov 8:22-31) and by shunning selfish ambitions (see John 16:12-15).

And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you, now and forever. Amen (2Cor 13:14).

Happy Trinity Sunday dear. Peace be with you.