The Most Holy Trinity, May 22, 2016
At the end of their formation, Jesuits do what we call ”tertianship”, usually nine or ten months abroad. It is a kind of “third year” of the novitiate, that’s where the name comes from: tertianship, third year. I did mine in Australia – and the Jesuit father who accompanied my group had one sentence that did remain with me: “Keep it relational”. Whatever you do, whatever you think, keep it relational, relational to yourself, to others, to God.
Today we celebrate Trinity Sunday. God is Trinity. God is relational. And we are like God: we are all connected as a community of faith, hope and love, we want to be a community of justice and peace, a community that hopes to be one family, a community that brings rich and poor together. The Spirit of God is part of that community.
Let us have a look at the three readings we just heard:
The Book of Wisdom includes two themes which I really like: The first is: the Spirit of God was present in creation from the very beginning: The Wisdom of God cries out aloud (chapter 8): “22 From the beginning, I was with the Lord. I was there before he began 23 to create the earth. At the very first, the Lord gave life to me. 30 I was right beside the Lord, helping him plan and build. I made him happy each day, and I was happy at his side. 31 I was pleased with his world and pleased with its people. “ The sacred and secular are connected. There is no separate space only for the sacred. In other words, God is found to be intimately connected to the world. We can find God in creation and we hear God’s call to respect creation. Ignatius of Loyola said: “Find God in all things”.
The second theme is: God takes “special delight in the human race”, God is pleased with the human race (Prov 8,31) or in other words, every human person has a special dignity and goodness. The wisdom of God says: “I was at play everywhere in his world, delighting to be with the sons and daughters of men.”
The Letter to the Romans reminds us that this presence and action of the God in our world is a source of hope. The world is fundamentally good, we read: “1 By faith we have been made acceptable to God. And now, because of our Lord Jesus Christ, we live at peace with God. 2 Christ has also introduced us to God's undeserved kindness on which we take our stand. So we are happy, as we look forward to sharing in the glory of God. “ (Rom 5,1)
The gospel according to John reminds us not to forget that it is the very Spirit of God that will guide us through all the complexity of our life. The Spirit that is with us is the same spirit that creates, redeems and sanctifies. The Spirit is present in the challenges of our human life. John writes (chapter 16): “13 The Spirit shows what is true and will come and guide you into the full truth. The Spirit doesn't speak on his own. He will tell you only what he has heard from me, and he will let you know what is going to happen.“
From all of this, it follows that as friends of Jesus
- We are concerned with the issues of the world and everyday life.
- We are concerned with justice and peace and we have hope in the midst of all the challenges and problems of the world.
- We are concerned about any political and economic power that excludes the poor.
- We are concerned about the protection of the environment.
- We are concerned about those philosophies and attitudes that see people simply as consumers.
- We are concerned about domestic violence, the violence in the Holy Land, the wars in Syria and Afghanistan, any violations of human rights, and all forms of violence.
- We are concerned about any spirituality that disconnects us from the concerns of the world.
Our concerns are as big as the world. God is Trinity. God is relational. So are we.
With the Creator, we respect the creation.
With our Redeemer, we work together to heal divisions and promote a more just, a more humane world.
With the Spirit, we are committed to the way of peace and nonviolence in order to change our world.
This is our faith in the Trinity – and don’t forget: “Keep it relational!”
https://educationforjustice.org/resources/lectionary-reflections-trinity-sunday-c-may-26-2013
Fr. Wolfgang Felber SJ