Friends,
here is the curious thing about the Trinity: at one and the same time,
it is the most extraordinary and the most ordinary of Christian
doctrines, simultaneously the most inaccessible and the most obvious.
On
the
one hand, there is a highly developed, technical language regarding this
great mystery. On the other hand, the most ordinary Catholic simply and
regularly invokes the Trinity every time he crosses himself.
Our Gospel for Trinity Sunday
is taken from the very end of Matthew’s Gospel. The risen and glorified
Lord speaks to the new Israel of the Church: "All power in heaven and
on earth has been given to me." This is not an ordinary prophet
speaking. This is the very Word of the Father, the exact replica of the
Father’s being.
Jesus
then tells them to go forth and to do the work of gathering in, of
drawing people into the very dynamics of the divine life. Now, how all
of this fits together theoretically is indeed a fascinating question,
but we should never allow the arcane language of theology to obscure the
revolutionary meaning of the Trinity: it is a summons to mission, a
call to action.
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
Lectionary: 165
Moses said to the people:
"Ask now of the days of old, before your time,
ever since God created man upon the earth;
ask from one end of the sky to the other:
Did anything so great ever happen before?
Was it ever heard of?
Did a people ever hear the voice of God
speaking from the midst of fire, as you did, and live?
Or did any god venture to go and take a nation for himself
from the midst of another nation,
by testings, by signs and wonders, by war,
with strong hand and outstretched arm, and by great terrors,
all of which the LORD, your God,
did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?
This is why you must now know,
and fix in your heart, that the LORD is God
in the heavens above and on earth below,
and that there is no other.
You must keep his statutes and commandments that I enjoin on you today,
that you and your children after you may prosper,
and that you may have long life on the land
which the LORD, your God, is giving you forever."
The eleven disciples went to Galilee,
to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them.
When they all saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.
Then Jesus approached and said to them,
"All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."
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