SPIRIT OF WISDOM, LOVE, TRUTH - TRINITY SUNDAY (6/12/2022)

TRINITY SUNDAY

June 12, 2022

Proverbs 8:22-31
Psalm 8
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15

SPRIT OF WISDOM, LOVE, TRUTH

The Trinity is a mystery which our finite minds cannot understand. You have probably heard the story of St. Augustine meditating on the Trinity while walking by the seashore. He comes upon a small boy digging furiously in the sand and running to the water and back with a bucket. Augustine asked what he was doing and the boy replied, "I'm trying to fit the great sea into this hole." When Augustine laughed and gently told him that was impossible, the child responded, "And so you could never possibly understand the Holy Trinity." Then the boy disappeared. All we can do in the face of this tremendous mystery is believe, adore, and love.

PROVERBS

The Old Testament does not reveal the mystery of the Trinity directly, however, it does contain certain hints or pre-figurements. Our first reading from Proverbs has one of them. The way wisdom is depicted here is almost as a Person of the Godhead - indeed, very much like the Holy Spirit.

Wisdom is present with God before anything exists. Wisdom works with God in creation: "Then I was beside him as his craftsman, and I was his delight day by day, playing before him all the while." Psalm 104:24 says: "How manifold are your works, O Lord; in wisdom you have made them all."

ROMANS

Today's second reading is explicitly Trinitarian: "...we have peace with God (the Father) through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Son)...the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us." 

Another "trinity" is also mentioned - the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and love.

GOSPEL

Our gospel also has a reference to the Trinity. John says that the Holy Spirit, the "Spirit of Truth," will guide us into all the truth. The Spirit will glorify Jesus, "because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you." Then Jesus says, "Everything the Father has is mine."

The Father sends Jesus into the world on his saving mission. After his death and resurrection, Jesus and the Father send the Holy Spirit upon the disciples and the early Church.

BELIEVE, HOPE, LOVE...AND ADORE

A famous quote from the Imitation of Christ is: "I would rather feel contrition than know how to define it." So with the Blessed Trinity, is our best response to try to understand the mystery, or rather should it not be one of faith, hope, and adoration before the mystery.

We are dependent on the grace of God - the Holy Spirit - to know God himself, so let us pray much today for the help of the Spirit to do that.