Sunday, June 12
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
“O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!”
Reflection
“O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!”
Our psalm today reflects a great approach toward how we should go about articulating the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity: Always start with a sense of wonder that echoes praise and thanksgiving from the depths of your heart. In other words, allow this mystery to awaken within you a hunger and longing for the divine. Rather than be intimidated by talking about the Trinity, it’s always better to attempt and in the process grow in gratitude that God can never fully be understood or contained by our limited senses. This is a good thing! As a result, our relationship with the Lord continually unfolds and deepens whenever we engage this ‘longing’ within us.
Trying to get to the heart of the Trinity, it becomes difficult to grasp at the same time both the vastness of God and also his profound intimacy/closeness with us. This is what leads us to wonder and amazement at God. God becomes more and more knowable but in a way where we cannot exhaust the depths of his newness. St. Augustine described the beauty of God as being both “ever-ancient” and “ever-new.” Consider again our reading from Proverbs, a wisdom book we don’t often hear from. The more we soak in this infinite beauty of God, the more we realize there is no limit to being saturated with it. I think of this when I hear Jesus say in our gospel reading today, “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now... the Spirit of truth will guide you to truth” (cf. John 16:12- 13). With this assurance, Jesus promises that his Spirit will continually fill us and draw us into deeper knowledge of himself. Even in the moments we don’t understand, the Spirit can lead us to a place of consolation.
It was in our Baptism that the Trinity first claimed us as beloved sons and daughters, and it was in that moment that the very Spirit of the divine life was poured into us for our transformation. St. Paul to the Galatians: “Since you are children of God, God has sent into your hearts the Spirit of his Son, the Spirit who cries out: Abba, Father” (Gal 4:6). It is the work of the Spirit to diffuse and communicate in the depths of our hearts the love of the Father and the knowledge of his Son. The Most Holy Trinity wants to be known by us and to lead us to share this communion of love. Psalm 8, again: “When I behold your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you set in place — What is man that you should be mindful of him, or the son of man that you should care for him?” O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the Earth.
Peace,
Fr. Brendan Foley
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