I am going to begin today with a simple math quiz. I am sure everyone will be able to answer. 1+1+1=?

 

Mathematically you are correct if you said 3. Today we celebrate the Holy Trinity, which means that the math question of 1+1+1=1. We have God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, three persons in one God.

 

Jesus told his disciples to go forward and baptize the world in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. A statement we hear each time there is a baptism in the church and constitutes the validity of that baptism. The church does not recognize a baptism that does not include the Trinitarian statement. So how can we explain to either children or those who don’t believe about this three in one Trinity we profess?

One analogy would be three bottles of water, each distinct on its own. They may be in different bottles and may have come from various sources, but in the end, the water in the bottles still contains the same combination of elements, two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, H20. But then, of course, we need to figure out why we can buy one bottle for a dollar, but the next bottle over in the same size is two dollars. What are we adding to the already perfect hydration fluid to supposedly make it better?

 

When we consider the Holy Trinity from a human perspective, it can be a mystery to us how we can determine three in one. When we realize we are talking about God, who does not need to conform to our rules, we realize it is ok for some things, like the Trinity to be a mystery. In working on this homily, I came across a prayer.  It comes from a book of Celtic prayers that I thought summed up the Trinity in a wonderfully simple way for my simple mind.

 

O Father who sought me

O Son who bought me

O Spirit who taught me

 

We hear in Proverbs about the Wisdom of God; she was around before the universe was created, yet she took delight in the human race. We understand we are saved by faith in Jesus from Paul and Jesus tells us in the Gospel that the Father will be sending the Spirit to the disciples.

I often wonder why God sent his only begotten Son into the world to give us a way to attain eternal life. I assume since he took delight in the human race he wanted to ensure that we would be able to spend our eternal lives with him to see and understand him.

 

Are we as a human race doing a good job of living up to the Father, the Son or The Holy Spirit’s expectations? We need to remember that God through the Holy Spirit comes to us in the quiet. It was not in the roaring wind he spoke to Elijah, but in the softest breeze. He came to Samuel in the dark of night to talk to him.

 

The Trinity works together as a single unit to assist us in our lives. Christ came to show us how the Father wants us to live. The Son through the Father sends the Holy Spirit for us to be in constant contact with the one God. When we put in so much noise, we are not able to hear the sound of the gentle breeze.

 

The outcome of this is seen in the world today in a multitude of different ways. We hear politicians, friends and neighbors use the plight of the poor and hungry as a way to get their point across. We do not seem to be helping them as it seems more join the ranks of the poor every day. We hear others speaking, but all we hear from them is what Charlie Brown used to hear from his teachers, blah, blah, blah. We don’t listen. We react to what we believe they mean.

 

It has led to a society where racism, sexism, and many other isms have begun to be used not to open a conversation, but to close it. We are not listening to each other, and we each believe that the only viewpoint that is right is the one in which I believe, no opposing view has any merit, and if I hear it, I will just shut it down by saying it is offensive to me.

 

Jesus was not afraid to offend people with his teaching as He knew it was coming from God the Father.  The Holy Spirit would continue the conversation in His absence. He was here for a brief time to show us what God wanted for us, not the other way around. We seem to be looking at what God can do for us rather than what we can do for God.

 

O Father who sought us

O Son who bought us

O Spirit who taught us

 

Do we care that God wants us to be close to him, so much so that he sent his Son to die for our sins so that in asking for forgiveness in an honest way they would be forgiven? Through wisdom comes understanding, and wisdom only comes from having faith and reason to discern what is right.

 

Do we follow the Son’s lead in dealing with people through a conversation that includes mercy and compassion, not just how you have sinned? Through caring for the sick, the suffering, and those on the fringes of society we get to see the face of Christ. We also gain the wisdom and faith necessary to have the conversations needed to not only ensure I am on the right path, but that I am bringing others along with me.

 

Do we take the time to listen to the Holy Spirit when we are in times of distress or do we try and tell her what we plan on doing and ignore her advice? Through taking the time to attend mass, pray and listen we can learn to deal with all the stress of life. It helps us to lead a life worth emulating so that others will follow us, not because we are the loudest or the best orator. They will emulate us because we are the happiest most content in the noise and confusion of daily life.

 

Now the question each of us needs to ask ourselves is can I attain all of this on my own or should I be asking for help?

 

O Father who sought us

O Son who bought us

O Spirit who taught us