God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are depicted
in a stained glass window at the Glasgow cathedral in
Scotland. Photo: CNS. The Sunday Gospel
Fr Silvester O’Flynn OFM Cap.
As he was about to ascend to heaven, the Lord Jesus instructed the apostles to go, make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Today we are celebrating the Most Holy Trinity.
Four hundred years before Christ, the Greek philosopher Plato came up with two questions about God: if there is only one God, what does he think about, for if God is an intelligent being he must think about something?
And question number two: if there is only one God, whom does he love? And to be happy one must love. Plato was on the right track but the answers to his questions would only come to light in the New Testament with the revelation that the one God is a threesome of interpersonal relationships. Scripture reveals that God is not distant and isolated but a community or family of knowing and loving.
The mark of the Trinity on all creation
Six years ago, in preparation for the assembly in Paris on climate change, Pope Francis wrote an encyclical letter on the subject, drawing attention to theological and moral aspects of the problem. “For Christians, believing in one God who is Trinitarian communion suggests that the Trinity has left its mark on all creation” (Laudato Si’, 239). Some 900 years previously, an extraordinary Benedictine nun in Germany, Hildegard of Bingen, wrote that God arranged everything in this world in consideration of everything else. This is what Pope Francis described as the mark of the Trinity on all creation.
The development of quantum physics has increased an awareness among scientists that no single unit in the universe exists on its own but is part of the whole. A growing number of scientists who previously dismissed any idea of God are now intrigued by the notion of God as an inter-related Trinity of Persons. It makes sense to them.
Science needs moral guidelines
Theology establishes a foundation for moral principles. Science will always require moral principles. The advances in globalisation and instant communication worldwide ought to develop the inter-connections between all nations and all people, but without moral principles, problems are getting more serious. The gap between rich and poor is ever increasing. One per cent of the population own 50% of the wealth. That cannot be right.
Events of recent weeks reflect the callous greed of people. Oil-rich tycoons want to take over golf and soccer for chosen clubs and players, paying them exorbitant monies while the struggling club or player is driven to the wall. Vulture funds buy up new housing estates for future profit, thereby preventing struggling people from investing in their new home. A known criminal gang hacks into our national health service, gathers sensitive personal information, and demands an outrageous ransom while putting the health and lives of many people at risk. As technical power increases, then moral guidelines are increasingly necessary. As Pope Francis continues to remind us, we do not live in isolation but we’re all brothers and sisters.
A global community
The Covid-19 pandemic has been an immense tragedy in many ways, but one good result has been an increased realisation than we are a global community, all of us inter-related, each one of us depending on others and each one of us sharing responsibilities with others.
Recalling the words of Pope Francis, the triune God has left a mark on all creation. We are made in the image and likeness of God, each one connected with others in knowing and loving.
Some prayerful reflections
Let us reflect now on the Blessed Trinity in a more prayerful way, listening to some holy people of the past. St Paul began his letters with a blessing such as, “The grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Our most familiar little expression as we begin to pray is, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” St John, in his first letter, described how love begins in God the Father, is shown to us in the human life of God the Son, and is planted in us by the gift of the Holy Spirit.
St Patrick used the shamrock, with its three leaves on the one plant as a symbol of the blessed three-in-one.
Julian of Norwich was absorbed in God as ‘my Maker, my Upholder and my Lover’.
St John Damascene applied the imagery of the movements of water to God’s movements with us. “Think of the Father as a spring of life, of the Son as the river flowing from that spring, and of the Holy Spirit as the sea. For the spring, the river and the sea are all one nature. Think of the Father as a root, of the Son as a branch and of the Holy Spirit as a fruit, for the substance in these three is one.”
Prayer
As I get out of bed in the morning, I like to greet God in this little prayer. Father of life, Word of light and breath of love. But surely, the greatest prayer is in the celebration of the Eucharist. Through Jesus, with him and in him, O God, almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honour is yours, for ever and ever. We pray through Jesus, our mediator, because no one can go to the Father but through him. We are with him because he is our brother who came to share our human nature. And in him, as members of the body of which he is the head.
Silvester O’Flynn has recently published a book Gospel Reflections and Prayers (Columba Books)