by Fr. Tommy Lane
We like to belong. We like to belong to a family, to a parish, to a community. No one is an island, and we need the love, support, and friendship of others in our family and community. Not only do we like to belong, but we also need to belong. It is not good to be alone; it is for our good to belong. Above all, we want and need to belong to our family. When we grow up in a happy family, we are well set up for life. If the family environment is less than happy, it may leave a scar, but those scars can be healed. If they are not all healed before marriage, can you be such a loving husband or wife that you can help to heal the wounds of your spouse?
God revealed himself to us gradually as a Trinity. In the first reading (Deut 4), Moses reminds the people that they belong to God. What God did for them by leading them out of the slavery of Egypt with many miracles, God did not do for any other people. So, Moses asks them to always remember that the Lord is God and to keep his commandments.
More of the revelation of the Trinity was when Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, became incarnate. Before Jesus ascended, he promised the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost revealed the third person of the Holy Trinity. God is a Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is the happiest of families, totally united in love for each other. The Father loves the Son, and the Son loves the Father. We call this love of the Father for the Son, and the love of the Son for the Father, the Holy Spirit.
As God revealed himself to us gradually as a Trinity, Jesus revealed much to us about his Father and the Holy Spirit as he taught us about them:
Jesus taught us about his Father. He called his Father, “Abba.” (Mark 14:36) In the language of Palestine at the time of Jesus (Aramaic), that means something like “Daddy.” That is how Jesus wants us to look on our heavenly Father, as our heavenly Daddy. In the second reading today (Rom 8:14-17), Paul also refers to the Father as Abba, Daddy.
Jesus also taught us about the Holy Spirit. He called the Holy Spirit the Counselor or Paraclete (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7); in other words, the Holy Spirit is interceding or mediating for us. The Holy Spirit is for us. In the second reading today (Rom 8:14-17), Paul said the Spirit we received is not a spirit of slavery but a Spirit assuring us that we are sons and daughters of God. It is the Spirit that makes us call our heavenly Father, “Abba.”
Because the Trinity is such a happy family, God wants to share the happiness of the Trinity with us. God invites us to belong, and we enter God’s family when we are baptized. That is why in the Gospel we heard Jesus commanding that all be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matt 28:19). God wishes that all belong to his family. When we were baptized, we became sons and daughters of God. That can roll off the tongue so easily—sons and daughters of God—but it would be good to stop and think about it. Imagine, you are sons and daughters of God! You were adopted as God’s son or daughter on the day you were baptized; we belong to God. Jesus is the Son of God, and you are also a son or daughter of God. What does that mean? It means Jesus is your brother! Imagine, since the day you were baptized Jesus is now your brother; his Father is also your Father, Abba, your Daddy. Since your baptism you belong to the family of the Trinity. We do not think of each other often enough as sons and daughters of God, as brothers and sisters. There is one exception to this: the Legion of Mary who call their members “brother” or “sister” during their meetings. It is a beautiful reflection of the spiritual reality that we are in fact all brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of the one Father, Abba. We belong.
If you were the son or daughter of a rich father, you would expect your father to leave you something in his will. You would then be called an heir and we would say you inherited from your father. We are all sons and daughters of a rich father, the richest of fathers, a multi-billionaire. He is Abba, our Father in heaven. There is no end to the riches he has. Because you are his son or daughter since baptism, you will inherit his riches; you are an heir to God’s riches. The second reading today states, “And if we are children, we are heirs as well: heirs of God and coheirs with Christ.” (Rom 8:17) Since you are Jesus’ brother or sister, and you are a son or daughter of Abba, you too will inherit. That is why Paul in the second reading today says we are co-heirs with Christ. What will we inherit? We will inherit riches so unimaginable that will make all the riches of this world put together seem like nothing. The riches of heaven will show that all the materialism of our culture is foolishness. We think this is important (holding up money) but instead this is what is really important (holding up baptism cert), our baptism cert. The baptism cert is a copy of what the Pastor wrote in the Register of Baptisms on the day you were baptized. This (money) is worth only £20, but this (baptism cert) is priceless. It shows you belong to the family of the Trinity.
We like to belong to our family, our parish, our community. Not only that, but we also need to belong. Since the day you were baptized, you belong to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. How privileged you are to belong to the family of the Trinity. Turn to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in prayer every day. You belong to their family.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
is now,
and every shall be,
world without end. Amen.
Copyright © Fr. Tommy Lane 2000
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More homilies for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
The Most Holy Trinity: God wants the best for us 2021
The Most Holy Trinity: Abba, Emmanuel, Helper
Year A: The Holy Trinity rescuing us 2023
Year A: We are drawn into the love at the heart of the Trinity
Year C: Father who sought me, Son who bought me, Spirit who taught me
Story: St. Augustine and the Mystery of the Trinity