Christ the Cornerstone

Making disciples in the name of the Most Holy Trinity

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19).

Last week, in my reflections on the Solemnity of Pentecost, I made the following observation:

The Holy Trinity is fully revealed in our observance of this solemn feast (Pentecost). The tender and creative love of the Father, the redemptive power of God’s Son, and the burning flame and mighty wind of the Holy Spirit come together and fill the world with sanctifying grace. As the catechism says, this infusion of divine grace inaugurates the Church, which is the sacramental sign of God’s kingdom “already inherited though not yet consummated.”

Pentecost Sunday celebrates the gift of the Holy Spirit, which all who are baptized receive as a sure sign of God’s presence in our lives and in our world. The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, which we will observe this Sunday, provides us with a glimpse of who God is both in his inner life and in his outward manifestations to those who believe.

We say that the Blessed Trinity is a mystery, and that is correct. No one who ever lived has been ably to fully comprehend the transcendent mystery we call God. Human understanding is too limited. All our attempts to grasp this ultimate reality necessarily fall short. Even the most brilliant thinkers among us, such as St. Thomas Aquinas, readily admit that our attempts to comprehend God only amount to so much “straw.”

And yet, what we do know with the certainty of faith is that this mysterious God communicates with us. He reveals himself to us and shares with us both who he is and how we can come to know him better: especially through our prayer, our reception of the sacraments and our service to others through the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. The triune God we worship is not remote and inaccessible even if he is a mystery.

As Pope Francis frequently reminds us, God is close to us. He reveals himself in tender acts of love, forgiveness and encouragement that disclose his presence and ensure his involvement in our daily lives.

The first reading for Trinity Sunday is from the Book of Deuteronomy (Dt 4:32-34, 39-40). It emphasizes that there is only one God: “This is why you must now know, and fix in your heart, that the Lord is God in the heavens above and on Earth below, and that there is no other” (Dt 4:39). Our faith strongly affirms that in spite of our human tendency—even today— to worship many different gods, the true God is one undivided unity.

The second reading (Rom 8:14-17) speaks about God in terms of the relationships that exist both within God and among us. St. Paul tells us that we are members of God’s family who “received a Spirit of adoption, through whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ”

(Rom 8:15-17). The triune God is one, but God relates to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit because that is who God is: Unity in diversity, three persons in one God.

The Gospel for this Sunday affirms that the Holy Trinity is fully revealed with the disciples’ reception of the Holy Spirit. Before Jesus returns to the Father, he communicates to the Apostles, and to all of us, the “Great Commission” that serves as the permanent mission of the Church in all times and places:

“All power in heaven and on Earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Mt 28:18-20).

The God who is mystery remains close to us always. God shares himself with us—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—and he commands us to do likewise, making disciples of all nations in God’s holy name.

Let’s pray for the grace to allow the Holy Trinity to remain close to us even in our moments of doubt and confusion. May the tender and creative love of the Father, the redemptive power of God’s Son, and the burning flame and mighty wind of the Holy Spirit fill our hearts with the wisdom to do God’s will, in good times and in hard times, and the courage to proclaim God’s presence even when he seems to be far away. †