Brothers and Sisters,

This Sunday, we celebrate and renew our faith in one of the most important doctrines of our Church: The Most Holy Trinity - God as Father, Son and Spirit in one single, indivisible communion of persons. Many have attempted to explain this dogma in a variety of ways.  None of them can adequately explain the meaning and the power this doctrine has on our lives. We must strive to know God as God is. It is one thing to know about God. It is yet another thing to know God as a person and as three persons in one, single indivisible communion.

Once, a little girl was painting a picture. Her mother asked her what she was painting. “I am painting God,” she said. The mother responded, “No one has ever seen God. How can you paint his picture.” The girl replied, “wait a few minutes, mom. When I finish this picture, everyone will know what God looks like.” We tend to paint and portray our own images of God.

Images of God as an angry, a vengeful and punishing authority have been used to scare people to conversion. We have heard of an angry, judgmental God who is just waiting to catch us in our mistakes, errors, or sin and seems almost eager to eternally punish people. We have heard about God keeping a book of records of our sins and failures which will be opened at the last judgement. Even some of the events described in our Sacred Scriptures portray God as vengeful and threatening punishment.

There was a time when God was seen as tremendous, fascinating, awe-inspiring and frightening mystery before whom one couldn’t even stand (Exodus 3:5; Luke 5:8). God was “wholly other” and could not be seen or named (Exodus 3:5-7). God said to Moses, “you cannot see my face, for no one can see me and live” (Exodus 33:20). God was mystery – beyond ordinary human touch, understanding and vision. And yet, God revealed himself in Jesus as a forgiving father who loves all his children. Jesus said, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” (John 14:23)

St. John writes in his first letter… No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God dwells in us, and His love is brought to perfection in us. The way we know that we remain in him and he in us, is that he has given us of his spirit. We have seen for ourselves and can testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. When anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him and he in God (I Jn. 4:12-15).

To read more of this Sunday’s reflection, please click on the links below…