26th May 2013 – The Most Holy Trinity (Solemnity) (C) It is common knowledge that many clergy struggle to prepare a sermon for Trinity Sunday. It is as if they collectively throw their hands up and say in frustration: 'The Trinity - it's a complete mystery to me.' Well, I guess that is the point: the Holy and Blessed Trinity is a mystery which is beyond the human mind to fathom. Where do you start? Where do you end? God has no beginning and no end. Which is why, as Sirach the sage would say, we need 'revealed knowledge'. Although we speak of the mystery of the Trinity, the word 'mystery' does not imply that nothing can be said. Consider this wisdom and light from the Catechism of the Catholic Church: '{The Trinity] is the source of the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the 'hierarchy of truths' (para. 234). It is, however, a truth that cannot be accessed by reason alone. It is hidden in God and could not be known unless revealed by God. Although the Trinity was hinted at in creation and in Israel's history, this mystery only became explicit with the incarnation of God's Son and the sending of the Holy Spirit. The teaching quoted earlier from the Catechism of the Catholic Church provides us with a golden key to open up our understanding of Scripture: it encourages us to see all its teaching in the light and context of the Trinity. Through the Scriptures God progressively and gradually reveals that he is Three Persons in One God, culminating in the sending of his One and Only Son. The secret kept hidden for many ages is that God is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. When we make the sign of the cross we proclaim our faith in God as Trinity: 'In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.' There can be no doubt that the Church's greatest minds have grappled with the revelation of the Trinity. The most important truth we need to grasp is that the Blessed Trinity is three divine Persons and we are called into a relationship with each one. 'Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen!
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