Divine synergy

Podcast

• Listen to this and other homilies

Scripture references

• Exodus 34:4-6, 8-9

• 2 Corinthians 13:11-14

• John 3:16-18

Reflection

Earlier today (yesterday), there was a wedding here in this church.  Jonathan Folz and Courtney McDonald started this day as two people, from two distinct families.  After pronouncing their wedding vows, they are still two separate people: they still have individual personality traits, there hasn’t been any physical change to their appearance, but they are now husband and wife.

Even after the celebration of a wedding, couples take time to grow into the new understanding that they are united by a special bond.  No matter how many times they may hear that Christ is an integral part of their marriage, the true meaning of this reality may only come to light once it has been tested.

Couples united in marriage live each day of their lives as manifestations of unity in Christ.  In a sense you might say that married couples are modern day examples of the Trinity.  Saint Irenaeus spoke in the second century about the Son and the Spirit as the two hands of God, intrinsically connected to one another, empowering one another, and unfathomable on their own.

It is by no coincidence that the Church celebrates Trinity Sunday one week after the observance of Pentecost.  Last week, the focus of our teaching and indeed our entire celebration was the decent of the Holy Spirit, God’s gift to his disciples for the life of the Church, for the life of the world.  This week, we deepen our understanding of the relationship between the three persons who make up the one God.

The Father has created us all.  He is the one who stood with Moses and gave him the Ten Commandments so that we could know the extent of his mercy (Ex 34:4-9).  Jesus, the Son of God came into the world as the fruit of the Father’s great love for us, so that we could be reconciled to one another and so that we could know the fullness of life (Jn 3:16).  On the day of Pentecost, the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit as a gift of love for the life of His people.  It was the presence of the Holy Spirit that allowed the apostles to understand the fullness of Jesus’ greeting, ‘Peace be with you’, and it is this same Holy Spirit alive in the Church today that is the abiding presence of God, instructing us even today in the ways of peace (2 Cor 13:11).  

The Holy Spirit, given by God on the day of Pentecost, is still among us today, and because we believe that this Spirit is one of the three persons of the Holy Trinity, we have been given a special gift indeed because God lives among us.  Together, the three persons of the Trinity allow married couples to grow in their love for one another, and instruct the hearts of all believers so that we may continue to deepen our understanding of and appreciation for the infinite love of our God.

The Holy Trinity is also a model for us of what it means to live in harmony and peace with one another.  Each of us is our own person.  Each of us brings a uniqueness to the Body of Christ, but together we are the living stones with which the Lord builds his Church.  We are the living and breathing signs of God’s love for his people, of the peace that exists among those He calls His own, and of the grace that allows us all to live in hope of the kingdom that is to come.