Homily Holy Trinity Sunday 2020
Today, we celebrate the Most Holy Trinity God. Within the word Trinity, there are two words: Three (3) and Unity. Then, Trinity means Three Persons united in one: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God who lives and reigns for ever and ever. For the first time, the Trinity God was revealed to the world at Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River. The heavens were opened and the Father’s voice was heard: “ This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him.” And Jesus the Son and newly baptized saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. Finally, the Lord Jesus is the one who revealed us the Unique and Living God in 3 persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He revealed us the Father as the Creator and Master of everything, the Creator of heaven and earth. He also revealed himself as the Only Begotten Son of God. And He is the one who, after his ascension sent the Holy Spirit to his apostles as the Paraclete, the Advocate and Defender, to guide them, protect them, and assist them in their mission of proclaiming the Gospel. In my homily today, I’ll focus on three main points.

1. The Holy Trinity is a mystery of faith

Although we put words around the inexpressible mystery of the Trinity, the reality lies for ever hidden from our understanding and glimpsed most profoundly in our prayer. My homily today about “the Trinity God” is unable to tell you or find the right words corresponding to the mystery we celebrate. But what I am doing is what is called, in Greek, an approach by “ Antonomasia,” which is “ the use of an epithet or title in place of a proper name”. In other words, the Trinity God is materialistically inexpressible and beyond any human explanation. In his life, Saint Augustine gave himself a personal challenge to understand and solve this mystery, to understand how the outcome of 1+1+1 could be equal to ONE, contradicting the rational and universal truth of Maths’ calculus. After years of research on the topic, Saint Augustine wrote a book entitled in Latin “ De Trinitate” = “ About the Trinity God,” in 15 volumes, in which he shares his reflection and understanding about the Trinity God. He said, “ In front of the divine mystery, the best attitude to have is to believe because the Mystery of the Trinity God is beyond our understanding”.  It is true that God is exalted in mystery and majesty, triune and one in glory. Yet through the divine indwelling he is nearer to us than we are to ourselves. What can we offer but praise that dares to go beyond the small boundaries of our finite understanding into the realm of light inaccessible? Therefore, what I ask you today is not seeking to understand the mystery of the Trinity God, but I rather want you to open your heart to believe, to contemplate and adore the Trinity God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. For according to me, the only key that can let us enter into the incommensurable labyrinth of the Mystery of the Trinity God without getting lost is faith. As the Catechism of the Church says, “ The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God himself. It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them.”

1. My Second point is about the relationship existing between the 3 Persons of the Trinity God

In the Trinity God, the relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is a communion of love. As the Catechism of Church states, “ By sending his only Son and the Spirit of Love in the fullness of time, God has revealed his innermost secret: God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and he has destined us to share in that exchange.” To explain this relationship of love, a theologian Bishop from the 14 ^th Century used an interesting metaphor. He used the image of the Sun, the Rays of the Sun, and the Heat coming from the Sun. According to him, the Sun was the Father. The Rays of the Sun were the Son. And the Heat coming from the Sun was the Holy Spirit. It’s a different manifestation, but all this energy comes from one and unique source. These three Persons are indivisible in the love and the unity of the Divinity. Today, let us imitate the communion of love of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We generally start and end each prayer with a sign of the cross: in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. By doing so, we call upon us the power of love of the Trinity God to overshadow us and give us strength, to share the communion of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and also to be the messengers and apostles of Unity, the unity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity invites us to bear witness of God’s unity around us. As Saint Francis of Assisi said, “ Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace!” That where there is division, like in this time of protests here in the United States of America, I may bring the super glue of unity; where there is violence and disarray and tension as we see now nationwide, I may bring the light of divine peace; where there is cancer of hatred and racism, l may bring the healing power of Jesus’ love, fraternity, true justice and respect of human rights and life.

1. This Solemnity of Holy Trinity calls us to love and imitate the Holy Trinity God

There is a famous Carmelite Saint who really loved the Holy Trinity: “ Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity”. She took that name to express her deep love and devotion to the Holy Trinity, and also to try to be the reflection of God’s love in her community and in the world. She had a special and unconditional love for the Holy Trinity God. Let us imitate her to love the Holy Trinity God with unconditional love.  So the question is: Why do we have to love the Holy Trinity God? The answer is simple. We have to love the Trinity God because as human beings and Christians, we are created in the image of the Trinity God: God the Father who created us; God the Son who saved us; and God the Holy Spirit who continues to guide and protect us. Our life should reflect the Trinity God. It means that we should always be creative like the Father. We should always be compassionate like the Son. And we should always dispose our talents in the service of others like the Holy Spirit. I’ll conclude my homily with two wonderful quotes. The first quote is from Meister Eckhart, who said, “ When God laughs at the soul and the soul laughs back at God, the three Persons of the Trinity are begotten. When the Father laughs at the Son and the Son laughs back at the Father, that laughter gives pleasure, that pleasure gives joy, that joy gives love, and that love is the Holy Spirit.” Then, my second quote is a prayer of Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity we can make ours today to adore the Holy Trinity God saying, “ O my Three, my all, my beatitude, infinite solitude, immensity in which l lose myself…Bury yourself in me that l may bury myself in you until l depart to contemplate in your light the abyss of your greatness. Amen!”
Rev. Fr Pepin W. F. DANDOU
Georgetown, CA June 6, 2020.