A TRINITY OF PERSONS AND LOVE

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Prv 8: 22 – 31 / Ps 8 / Rom 5: 1 – 5 / Jn 16: 12 – 15

After his talk, the seminarian was asked by a catechist, “Brod, we have been teaching children about the sign of the cross, now let me ask you, ‘who invented the sign of the cross?’”

To get away from embarrassment, he jokingly answered the catechist, “Sister, what a wrong timing. My Lola who knew the answer to your question died last month.”

My dear friends, the sign of the cross is not a mere introductory and closing statements of our every prayer. It is a reminder of the central doctrine of our Catholic Faith – our belief in the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – three distinct persons yet one God. Likewise, the Trinity is not just about a theological statement. We must realize that the Trinity is a relationship of persons who are alive and active.

Our Gospel today shows us the kind of relationship that exists in the Trinity.

Jesus tells his disciples about the role of the Spirit who tells them the things that are to come. But these things come from Jesus, as He claims that everything the Father has is his. And so, we realize that in the Trinity there is no “YOURS” and “MINE” but only an “OURS.” There is no possessiveness but a communion of persons. There is no uniformity but a unity of persons. And such communion is characterized by love. Why love? Simply because John tells us that God is love! What binds the three therefore is love!

My dear friends, since we are made in the image and likeness of God, we are then called to mirror in our relationships the relationship of the Trinity. We must not be possessive because others will be choked. And as we know, when people are choked up, they let go and leave. What we must have in our relationships is a communion of love. Our love for one another must result to communion because the more we are in love with the other, the more we want to stay close to the other. Mao na nga sa mga manag-uyab diha, if dili na gani na siya mo kupot sa imong kamot, it could mean one thing – may mahal na siyang iba – duna na tingali siya’y lain! That is why we stay close with the other because we find joy in them.

The communion of love in the Trinity must also find its dwelling in the family, the basic unit of society. A father must work well out of love for his family and not his neighbor’s family. A mother must control her voice out of love for her husband and children. And children must study well out of love for their parents. Thus, if everything is motivated by love in the family, then, such love will surely bear a unity, a communion in the family.

In one of the episodes of ABS – CBN’s The Story of Us, Christine Manalo frankly told Makoy Sandoval, “Umuna kana Makoy, hindi na ako sasama sa iyo… Hindi na magkakaroon ng tayo, Makoy.” There will never be an Us!

Fortunately so, such statement is not true for us Christians since we believe in a God who is not an “I” but a “WE.” We have and will always believe in a God who is a community of persons, a community of love.

In this Mass, we pray that our earthly relationships especially our families will always become a communion of love in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.