On this Sunday after Pentecost, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. It is through the understanding of the mystery of the Holy Trinity, that we have experienced the merciful love of God for the world and each one of us. Our belief in one God in three persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – is the foundational doctrine of Christianity. Saint Gregory of Nazianzus says: “… the Old Testament manifested the Father clearly, the Son obscurely. The New Testament revealed the Son and hinted at the divinity of the Spirit. Today, the Spirit lives among us, and makes himself seen clearly.”
Christianity is a religion based on divine revelation. God revealed himself to us as Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. A believer faithfully responds with a “yes” and then surrenders to God. In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is telling us that God so loved the world that he sent his only Son so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. How does God love us? Firstly, he created us in his image and likeness. Secondly, he was willing to give his own Son to save us from our fallen nature.
The Fathers of the Church tried to explain this profound truth in a simple manner. When God was about to create Adam, he wanted to create him in the best possible way. He looked at everything he had created for a model and realized that those images were not sufficient. Finally, he looked at his own Son and created Adam in his Son’s image. It means that we all must look like God’s Son, Jesus Christ. Thus, we also received a share in the divinity of God.
One of the saints who deeply meditated on the Holy Trinity is St. Augustine. He wrote a book, De Trinitate, to explain this mystery to the faithful. St. Augustine explains To God the Father as the Creator. In the Book of Genesis, God says: “let us make man in our image” (Gn. 1:26). God the Son is the Mediator, who revealed everything to us. God the Holy Spirit is the Unifier or the Sanctifier. The Holy Spirit dwells within us and unites us to God the Father and the Son. These explanations are very difficult for the people in today’s world to understand. It is where the acceptance of revelation through Christ comes to our aid.
In this world, no one can see God, but he has made himself known in various forms. An invisible God is made visible to the world through our concrete words and actions. Most often, we do not realize the presence of God in our lives. Those who meet Christ and enter a friendly relationship with him meet God in their life. Then we will realize that the world we live itself is not a dark illusion but a grand revelation of the presence of God. That is the reason our Church Fathers taught us that the Creation is an open book for us to understand and behold the Creator.
It is to this union of the Holy Trinity we are also related profoundly. Since the day of our baptism, we belong to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. How privileged we are to belong to the family of the Trinity. Now we must turn to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in prayer every day.
On this Trinity Sunday, we must be willing to renew ourselves with a new Pentecost. It enables our Christian life to be constantly filled with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God is always at work, and we should submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit. Let us pray that God may breathe his life into our souls so that we may transform this world for God.
Rev. Dr. Mathew Charthakuzhiyil