Trinity Sunday

Recently I awakened around 4 a.m. to a howling south west wind knocking furiously against the window, the large drops of rain are running 'pit pat' and I marvel at its power and playfulness. Then through all this – guess? - the single voice of a lone bird penetrates clearly this cascade of sound. I listen hardly daring to breathe when suddenly within moments the great dawn chorus breaks out, filling the air with beauty and joy, and harmony. The words of the Psalm we would sing later come to mind: 'The Lord fills the earth with His love'

I too marvel at the majesty of our God and remember the time that Moses asked Yahweh: 'Show me your glory’ and Yahweh replied ‘I will let my splendour pass in front of you ------ here in a place beside me, you must stand on the rock. And when my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and shield you as I pass by. (Exodus 33)

And here I am being made aware of the 'glory' of my God at play outside my window-pane.!

We could say much more and still fall short: to put it concisely 'He is all'
Many mysteries remain even greater than these,
for we have seen only a few of his works,
the Lord himself having made all things.

(Eccles 43)

Today on Trinity Sunday our first Reading at Mass presents us with another scene from the Book of Exodus where God reveals himself to Moses as “a God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in kindness and faithfulness”.
This is the same God who revealed himself in human form in the Person of Jesus Christ. St John’s Gospel which we read this morning tells us:

God loved the world so much
that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost
but may have eternal life.
For God sent his Son into the world
not to condemn the world,
but so that through him the world might be saved.

(Jn 3:16 – 18)

St Paul in the second Reading reminds us that the God of love and peace will be with us if try to be helpful to each other and live in peace and harmony with each other.

We remember Blessed Pope John Paul II's exhortation Novo Millennio Ineunte at the beginning of this century:

To make the Church the home and the school of communion: that is the great challenge facing us in the millennium which is now beginning, if we wish to be faithful to God's plan and respond to the world's deepest yearnings.

But what does this mean in practice? Here too, our thoughts could run immediately to the action to be undertaken, but that would not be the right impulse to follow. Before making practical plans, we need to promote a spirituality of communion, making it the guiding principle of education wherever individuals and Christians are formed, wherever ministers of the altar, consecrated persons, and pastoral workers are trained, wherever families and communities are being built up.

A spirituality of communion indicates above all the heart's contemplation of the mystery of the Trinity dwelling in us, and whose light we must also be able to see shining on the face of the brothers and sisters around us.

A spirituality of communion also means an ability to think of our brothers and sisters in faith within the profound unity of the Mystical Body, and therefore as "those who are a part of me". This makes us able to share their joys and sufferings, to sense their desires and attend to their needs, to offer them deep and genuine friendship.

A spirituality of communion implies also the ability to see what is positive in others, to welcome it and prize it as a gift from God: not only as a gift for the brother or sister who has received it directly, but also as a "gift for me".

A spirituality of communion means, finally, to know how to "make room" for our brothers and sisters, bearing "each other's burdens" (Gal 6:2) and resisting the selfish temptations which constantly beset us and provoke competition, careerism, distrust and jealousy. Let us have no illusions: unless we follow this spiritual path, external structures of communion will serve very little purpose. They would become mechanisms without a soul, "masks" of communion rather than its means of expression and growth.