The Most Holy Trinity Sunday Deut. 4:32-34, 39-40; Rom. 8:14-17; Matt. 28:16-20
“Did anything so great ever happen before?” “Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking from the midst of fire and live?” These are words from the first reading today – words that capture the astonishment, amazement, and surprise that the people of Israel experienced as God formed them, fashioned them and continued to breathe new life into them. The people are asked to “fix this in your hearts” to remember, remember, remember. For it is these memories that will inspire and sustain them in their long journey. It takes courage.
Today’s celebration of the Most Holy Trinity celebrates the creating, saving and life-giving dynamism of our God – a community of three persons. This is not something that can be grasped or comprehended simply by using the human mind. It can be experienced through deepening our communion with one another. Our God is truly a communion of relational love, and we are held by this divine communion of love. It is the experience of this communion that moves us into the works of justice, mercy, and compassion so desperately needed in the world today. It takes courage. In Romans, Paul calls us to remember: “You did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear.” If we allow ourselves to be opened and led by the Spirit, we can rightfully call ourselves “children of God.”
Jesus was all about wholeness, oneness. His approach to life was ALL in. We hear it loudly and clearly in today’s Gospel passage from Matthew. “Go, therefore, and make disciples of ALL nations….” “…….teaching them to observe ALL I have commanded you.” We hear it in his great promise to us: “I am with you ALWAYS, until the end of the age.” Remember. It takes courage.
Ilia Delio, Franciscan sister, and author writes: “When I pray, when I breathe with God, I become part of the intimacy of God’s life. The Spirit of God who breathes within me draws me into the circle of love between the Father and Son. Through prayer, I am drawn into the dance of the Trinity.” We are all called to this dance by divine invitation. Can we dare to accept? Can we move gracefully from the “I” to the “we”? Can we trust that we, and all else that is, are drawn together and held by the One? Remember. It takes courage. It takes love.
Sister Diane Forrest, O.P.