by Fr. Tommy Lane
Our celebration of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus at Easter, and last Sunday our celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, contain so much that we could benefit from more time every year to reflect on and absorb what God has done for us. We have this extra time by reflecting today on the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, next Sunday at Corpus Christi, and later again on the Feast of the Sacred Heart.
I think our Scripture readings today give us one way of summing up our celebration of the Most Holy Trinity: God rescuing us after we messed up. In the first reading from Exodus, we see God renewing the covenant with Moses after the people rebelled by worshipping a golden calf. Moses, in his anger at the people abandoning God while he was up the mountain speaking with God, broke the two stone tablets on which God had written the ten commandments (Ex 32:19) and God instructed Moses to bring two more stone tablets up the mountain. God described himself as
The Lord, the Lord, a
merciful and gracious God,
slow to anger and rich in kindness and
fidelity.
We see the same in the Gospel: God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16) Only for Jesus, we would perish. The Father gave Jesus so that we might not perish but have eternal life. Before God created humanity, God created the angels but some of the angels rebelled against God and earned for themselves exclusion from heaven (Rev 12:7-8). In the first sin of Adam and Eve, we also rebelled against God and ever since then God has been giving us opportunities to fix the situation. God’s covenant with Moses was one opportunity God gave. The final solution was the Father sending us Jesus so that we might not perish but have eternal life. The Father giving Jesus was the greatest cost—Jesus’ sacrifice of himself on Calvary in exchange for our sins; God gave his only Son on Calvary so that everyone who believes in Jesus might not perish but have eternal life. Why? Because, as the Gospel tells us, God so loved the world. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son Jesus on Calvary that we might not perish.
Clearly, God is—to use our human language—crazy about us. There is no other explanation. God shared his love by creating us, and shared his love again by redeeming us, giving Jesus for us on Calvary. But just as some angels brought on themselves exclusion from heaven because of their rebellion, we also alas have the possibility of missing out on what the Father is offering us in Jesus as our Gospel today says: whoever does not believe brings a condemnation on themselves. (John 3:18) When people turn their backs on God, God is always waiting for us longing for us to return to him since God is crazy about us. We see that so many times in all that Jesus says in the Gospels. Just think of the parable of the prodigal son. We see it also in the lives of those who wandered from God or did not know God but then found God and new life. One example is Holly Ordway who wrote about her journey from being an atheist professor of English to becoming a Catholic in the book From Atheism to Catholicism: Nine Converts Explain their Journey Home. She grew up in a nonreligious family that never went to church. She wrote
By my mid to late twenties, I was firmly an atheist. I did not believe I had a soul; rather, I thought I was just an intelligent animal and that when I died my consciousness would simply blink out. I thought that there was no ultimate meaning in life and that people who believed in any form of God were seriously self-deluded. (Kindle Location 323)
Seeds of faith were planted in her when she looked at a Christmas Nativity set, when she read C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia which she didn’t know at the time were about Jesus, and when she read Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. She did what was a strange thing for her at that time—she wrote her doctoral dissertation on Tolkien, a devout Catholic. What finally convinced her to become Christian? It was not one single event but by using reason she became convinced that God exists. Where did everything come from? The only satisfactory answer is God. She wrote
What atheism can’t provide is a convincing account of why goodness matters and where it comes from; moreover, it can’t supply the remedial help needed when we go wrong. What the Church offers us, which we can obtain nowhere else, is personal knowledge of the very source of goodness, plus salvation when we screw up, as we inevitably will—a salvation that consists not only in eternal life after we die, but in supernatural aid to our faith, hope, and love during our earthly lives. (Kindle Location 380)
On her journey to Catholicism she first became an Episcopalian, and after six years became Catholic because of the clarity of our teaching on important issues that she did not find elsewhere. She says becoming Catholic was the best thing she ever did and the most significant event of her life.
I think our Scripture readings today give us one way of summing up our celebration of the Most Holy Trinity: God rescuing us after we messed up. We see that also in the lives of those who wandered from God or did not know God but then found God and new life. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son Jesus on Calvary so that we might not perish but have eternal life. God’s wish for you is, as Paul’s letter today concludes: the grace of Jesus for you, the love of the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor 13:14).
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2023
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
God rich in mercy, Redeemer of man, Giver of life 2024
Year A: We are drawn into the love at the heart of the Trinity
Tear B: The Most Holy Trinity: God wants the best for us 2021
We belong to the Holy Trinity since baptism
Year C: Father who sought me, Son who bought me, Spirit who taught me