2015/05/31 — Trinity Sunday

The readings assigned to Trinity Sunday this year illuminate different aspects of the doctrine.


The gospel —Matthew 28:16-20 (often referred to as the Great Commission) — contains a direct mention of the three persons of the Trinity. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all involved in Baptism, and thus in the life of the Church. Although the doctrine was clarified over the years and the word Trinity was eventually developed to denote it, it was present from the beginning.


The second reading is Romans 8:14-17. It also mentions Spirit, Father, and Christ (in that order). As with last Sunday's second reading, it speaks of being led by the Spirit. It also speaks of our being children of God by adoption. We understand baptism (which is commanded in today's gospel) as being the occasion on which this adoption occurs. When Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan, a voice from heaven proclaimed him God's Son, and the Holy Spirit was seen descending on him in the form of a dove. This tells us what happens in our Baptism: the Father declares us his (adoptive) sons and daughters, and the Holy Spirit anoints us for our mission as Christians.


The reading from Deuteronomy (Dt 4:32-34, 39-40) presents two points. First is the uniqueness of what God did for the Israelites in the Exodus. Second is the call to keep the commandments of the Lord. Just as the Israelites would not have known the Lord or the Law without the Lord's intervention, so we would not know of the Trinity without God's revelation of the mystery. And we too have a call to follow God's law: "led by the Spirit" (Romans) "to observe all that I have commanded you" (Matthew).


Genesis teaches us that God made us in his image and likeness. We bear the likeness of the Trinity. Pope John Paul II has developed this point in his Theology of the Body. As the Divine Persons are in a loving, self-giving relationship of communion with each other, so we are called to relationship, to self-giving communion. And as the divine communion of persons creates in love, our communions should also be loving and lovingly creative. The highest gift is that of life. Therefore the highest form of human communion, the fullest bodily image of God, is the union of husband and wife in the loving embrace which is for the procreation of new life. But love and communion are not just lived within marriage. All of us are called to love one another as the Lord loves us and to live in communion as members of one family, God's children, led by the Spirit, images of God for the world.