Homily

Sunday, May 18, 2008, Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Year A
Assumption Grotto Parish, Detroit

A Meditation on the Trinity

            On February 1, 2008, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, with the approval of Pope Benedict, issued a Response to a Doubt filed with said office. A problem which we all know had already arisen in the English speaking Catholic world: that persons, infant and adult, were being baptized with this formula, “I baptize you in the name of the Creator, and of the Redeemer and of the Sanctifier.” In other places these words were said, “I baptize you in the name of the Creator, and of the Liberator and of the Sustainer.” These erroneous formulae arose mostly out of ideological feminism and select followers of liberation theology.

            The Holy See declared that said baptisms were not valid, and that these persons must still be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.(1)

            Yes, God is the Creator, and Redeemer, and Sanctifier, and Liberator. For all of God’s actions are one, or as St. Augustine says, “The operations of the Trinity are indivisible, even as the essence of the Trinity is indivisible.”(2) Yet Jesus gave us the commandment, “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).

            This Sunday after Pentecost is “Holy Trinity Sunday,” and we are invited to meditate on this mystery, the most central of all, the mystery of who God is, the mystery of God who lives and gives life. For if other religions today or in the past claim to worship one God, we Christians alone worship the Holy Trinity; for what is important is not the number of the object of our adoration, but the identity of the God we adore.

            “The names of the three divine Persons are those by which they are repeatedly designated in the New Testament and in the Tradition of the Church.”(3) This witness of scripture and tradition has come from the Holy Spirit, and is not of man’s creation; nor are the names, “Father,” and “Son,” and “Holy Spirit” ever changeable. “They are relative names,” for “the real distinction of the Persons from one another resides solely in the relationships which relate them to one another.”(4)#_ftn4

            We can refer to some works being done by one person or another of the Trinity, and we call this “attribution.” We attribute power to the Father, wisdom to the Son, and love to the Holy Spirit. Pope Leo (5) says it is right that the Church speak thus, because said attributes excel in each of the three Persons. For the names “Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” revealed to us by our loving Redeemer, show us something about principle and origin within the true and eternal God. St. John of Damascus teaches us that the First Person is uncaused and Father, the Second Person is caused and Son, and the Third Person is caused and proceeding. (6) , yet let the word “caused” not lead us to think that there was ever a time when the Son or Spirit did not exist. All three persons forever existed, exist and will exist, for it is God’s nature to be Three Persons in One Substance.

            The name “Son” is most correct, not because he is not God, for he is. But sometimes a word names something in reference to its origin, for example, a branch can be called a “shoot,” not because it is not a branch, but because it has freshly sprouted. A shoot is a branch; indeed, it is one with the tree; similarly, the Son is God, and one with the Holy Trinity. These inner-relationships of the Holy Trinity are the principle of the differentiation of the Persons, and justify our applying one attribute or another to each of the three Divine Persons.

            This is important to us for our spiritual life, because it demonstrates how God is a living God. He’s not a mathematical principle, nor is he a lifeless rock or other inanimate thing. The name “God” does not declare him the author of life; the name “Father” does declare that he is the author of life. The name God does not declare him as enlivened; but the name “Son” does show he is enlivened, alive with the fullness of the Substance of the Father. The name “God” does not express dynamic power of love; yet the name “Holy Spirit” does express that power. Therefore this God who is the Trinity lives, shares his life, and lives by his love.

            St. John of Damascus tells us of the origin of the ancient hymn, where we sing, “Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us.” “When Procul was archbishop, the people of Constantinople were making public entreaty to avert some threat of divine wrath, and it happened that a child was taken up out of the crowd and by some angelic choirmasters was taught the Thrice-Holy Hymn after the following fashion: ‘Holy God, Holy Strong, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.’ When the child came back again and told what he had been taught, the whole crowd sang the hymn and the threat was averted.” Even in our time, we pray this on Good Friday and on Divine Mercy Sunday. Thrice holy, because “Holy God” refers to the Father, “Holy Strong” refers to the Son, and “Holy Immortal refers to the Spirit.” This is another instance of attribution, giving attributes of the whole Trinity especially to one of the three Persons.(7) Remember this during the “Holy, Holy, Holy” at Mass today just before the Eucharistic canon.

            If this is the truth about the revealed names “Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” therefore, why would anyone want to change the words of Baptism by his own arrogant judgment? Does he wish to re-define God? Or perhaps correct Jesus the Lord when instructed us how to Baptize? Maybe he thinks his imagination can come up with a better God than the only true God!

            When you pray, then, remember that you are from God and by God and in God. All you do and have is from God, through God, and in God. This Trinity lives in your heart, and wants you to know him. Ask him for his light, worship him with your lives, and adore him in his Catholic Church. For “the Godhead of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal,”(8) and this Triune God wishes you to see Himself forever in heaven when your time on earth is done. Amen.