Homily: Feast of the Holy Trinity
Feast of the Holy Trinity (2021) “God is About Relationship”
When I was a deacon, I visited a county jail. One day as I was there, I toured a cell block. One of the inmates said, “Pastor, I need to talk to you a minute.” I said, “What do you want?” I thought the man might want to get a message to his family. Or that he might have wanted some money. But he asked me, to my surprise, to explain the Trinity, “How could there be three persons in One God?” I was caught off guard and I tried to explain the Trinity in the few minutes I had with him. I felt I did a poor job.
The incident taught me that everyone wonders about this teaching of the Christian faith. When we wrestle with this dogma of our faith, we find that we never will completely understand, but at the same time if we reflect on the Trinity, we will learn more and more about our God. It is a paradox.
People often try to understand by using philosophical constructs. Aristotle used an idea that might be helpful to us as we struggle with the idea of the Trinity. Aristotle taught that there were ten different qualities to all things. We could boil them all down to two qualities. Something is either a substance or it is a relationship. A rock is a substance. Being a father is about a relationship.
A substance is static. When we look at a rock it is well defined. We can pick up a rock. We can feel its heft. We can touch it and sense it is hard. A rock has color. Some even have a certain taste. A relationship, on other hand, is not static. Relationships are dynamic. We might have a strong relationship with a parent early in life. But things can get strained later in life. Somehow it is hard to understand our relationships at any given moment. Understanding the Trinity is pondering a relationship. This is not a bad thing. Relationships are fascinating to try to unpack and understand. The Trinity is an amazing thing to attempt to grasp as well. We can’t do it adequately by ourselves. We do better when we explore mystery with others.
Someone once said it is like the parable of the blind people and the elephant. In a certain town in India there was a school for the blind. One day it was announced that an elephant was being brought to school. The boys and girls at the school were excited to get to be with them for a few minutes. The children decided that they would all feel a certain part of the elephant. After that, they would trade notes.
The elephant was led by its handler to the square where it stood still for a few moments. The blind children were led to the animal. Each took a part of the elephant to explore. When the elephant moved on the children all tried to explain what the elephant was like. The boy who touched the trunk said that the elephant was like a snake. The girl who touched the ear said the elephant was like a fan. The child who touched the side of the elephant said that the animal was like a big wall. Another girl who wrapped her arms around the elephant’s leg said the elephant was like a tree trunk.
An argument ensued. How could the elephant be like all these things? The bickering got heated. Finally, a wise teacher asked the question, “If the elephant is such a wonderful animal why it couldn’t be like a fan, a tree, a snake, and a wall, all at the same time. The children had to agree. And they were more in awe of the elephant.
We come here to pray today, and we reflect on our God. We may all have a certain picture in our mind about what God is like. We will never be able to fully define the wonder of God, just like we will never be able to describe what it means to be a son or daughter, just like we will never be able to explain the love we have as a parent for our children, just like we may never be able to express why we love our friends. We remember today that God is all about a trinity of persons whose love is the building block for the universe. And that should cause us to stand back in awe of how great our God is.
Reflection Questions:
- How do I picture God? Is God a divine being looking on from afar?
- Is God a person I can have a relationship with? What kind of relationship do I want?
Dear Parishioners,
During the first days of summer, we will be tearing the old rectory down. Please do not get to close to the job site. There will be fencing up and trucks will be coming and going. The demolition will take about two weeks.
This Sunday will start collecting donations with the baskets again month. Please hold your donations until the offertory. During the month of June, we will also be reintroducing other aspects of worship that we are familiar with. We are waiting for information about the next phase of reopening from the State of Illinois. Then we will move forward.
I will start an eight-day retreat on the 1st of June. I was not able to make a retreat last year because of the pandemic. I will not be writing my daily reflections during this time. Messages and emails will be returned when I come back. Fr. Matthew will be taking care of any pastoral needs you may have. Please feel free to call him.
I will be praying for all during my retreat days. I have a lot to unpack due to the events of the last year.
May Our Lady and All the Angels and Saints watch over you this week.
Fr. Mark