Feast of the Trinity
This weekend, the scriptures and the Church invite us to reflect on God’s very identity, its mystery, its power and its gift. There are so many analogies for our belief in the Trinity, telling us that God is three persons yet one God.
As we get swallowed up in the mystery of how this is actually manifest, let us step back and simply consider how vast God’s energy, love, forgiveness and mercy are. We begin by making analogies and metaphors based on human and physical elements. Through the centuries people have explained the Trinity with a shamrock, and the fact that water is manifest in three ways – liquid, ice and vapor. These are just a couple of them.
I connect the Trinity with the physical and spiritual dimensions of the number three. In the physical of the world, three stands for the beginning, the middle and the end. That is compared to the spiritual expression of three, which is the beginning, the next step and the eternal.
I believe that this is significant because it articulates the progression of our Judeo-Christian story. The beginning of the story is creation. God created all life. The next step is the covenant that God made with the chosen people in the desert. They were tired of their sojourn towards freedom. Many of them lost hope that they were ever going to get to the promised land. In the middle of that drama, God extended a hand to the people, making a covenant with them with the words, “I will be your God and you will be my people.”
The third part of the story is the eternal, that which lasts forever. Jesus Christ fulfills the covenant with the words at the Last Supper, “Take this, ALL of you and drink from it: this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the NEW and ETERNAL covenant…”
Jesus Christ fulfills that promise that God will be with us forever. The Trinity helps us to see the manifestation of God forever, and the Holy Spirit is the energy of that manifestation. An easy way to remember this pattern is the three C’s—Creation, Covenant, Christ.
The Trinity Offers Healing
Post-Covid is showing us both positive and negative trends. The pandemic was challenging for all of us, and yet it gave way to alternative ways of meeting, worshiping and connecting. We have learned that work can be done in a more flexible way and a hybrid way of doing things (some live, some zoom or live stream) isn’t all that bad. We are connecting in different ways these days.
We have also seen the downside of the pandemic. It increased isolation, anxiety, loneliness and depression. It has been particularly difficult for our teens. The U.S. Surgeon General tells us that people ages 15-24 years have 70% less contact with others since 2010, and a huge part of that statistic is Covid related. He reports that loneliness is about the quality of connections with others, especially friends, and that overuse of social media affects the quality of relationships. He concludes by saying that we must create a greater culture of connectedness.
I believe that Holy Family must take such trends seriously—VERY SERIOUSLY.
I agree that we must create a stronger culture of connectedness. Each Sunday we proclaim what we believe in the Creed. It is based on the Trinity. Each major section begins with words of belief in God the Father Almighty who created us, Jesus Christ his only Son and our Lord, and the Holy Spirit. We are saying that we believe in a God who is in relationship with us and is connected with us in three powerful ways.
In response to a post-Covid world, our staff and several ministries have begun to articulate what we stand for. We see many in need of healing, support and connection. Our belief in God who created us, makes a covenant with us, and has sent His son to fulfill that covenant offers hope amidst our challenges.
Creation, Covenant and Christ are foundational to who we are as a community. The Trinity helps us reflect on who God is. We here at Holy Family must continue to reflect on who WE are.