June 15, 2025 ☩ The First Sunday after Pentecost: Trinity Sunday
on
Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31; Ps. 8; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15
“Interconnectedness & Relationality Experienced”
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In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Trinity Sunday is a unique observance that tests our theology. The Holy Trinity is a mystery that centuries of theologians attempted to identify and describe with concise words or earthly imagery. Like icons, those specialized paintings of holy people, these attempts to describe the Holy Trinity are meant to draw us toward understanding, away from the limitations of this world. However, humanity does not possess enough understanding to explain a reality of relationship between the Divinity of God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Nonetheless, there is a unity between and within this Triune God that is demonstrative for humanity and the desire of the faithful to join, participate, and live as One in the Body of Christ. The unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is complex. Unity is multifaceted for us too.
Early Church Fathers, the theologians of the early centuries, identified the interconnectedness and oneness of the Trinity as “Perichoresis.” The term indicates a ‘rotation,’ what has been described as an eternal intertwining dance between the three persons of the same divine being. The relationship of this Triune God expresses and understanding of togetherness that exceeds human understanding. Humanity has long been structured with a hierarchy of one greater than the other. Nations have emperors, monarchs, presidents at the top of the hierarchy. Our basic government structures are a model for most structures. Companies and organizations have CEOs or presidents. Our diocese has a singular leader, our bishop.
During the liturgy, take careful notice today of the words and phrases that pray for, yearn for, and seek unity and oneness. It is a unity of faith, rooted and centered outside of ourselves and our own ideology. It is a unity that only God can forge and sustain. Each Sunday, we are invited to participate into this unity. To not just temporarily step into a convenient togetherness, but to fully let go of what we hold on to that separates us one from the other.
Unity goes beyond words. While some words indicate a focus on this unity, our common prayers, especially ones we use weekly bond us in common preparation for openness (The Collect for Purity), a common recognition of belief (Nicene Creed), common understanding of human sin (Confession of Faith), and a common desire for God’s intercession in human life (the Prayers of the People). These familiar prayers go beyond an intellectual appreciation of unity and begin to sink deeper into our hearts.
Beyond words and prayers, the simple act of maintaining a commitment to oneself, to fellow parishioners, and to God to keep holy the Sabbath by faithfully attending communal worship in our weekly Mass binds us in practice. In our liturgy, we each come forward to receive the very being of Christ through the Sacrament. We physicals bring ourselves forward, reverent in heart, with an openness and earnestness to be One in the Body of Christ that we receive. We act with humbly hearts coming before God “to present [our] bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God…” [Romans 12:1]. We hear the words “The Body/Blood of Christ” and know that Christ first gave entirely of himself, so we are brave enough to do the same. We respond with a single word of finality and commitment – “Amen” – which means ‘let is be so.’
Our words, our actions, our shared prayers and shared life as a parish is practice in living in a special unity – one forged by, sustained by, and centered in Jesus Christ.
On this Trinity Sunday, we can appreciate the Triune God as Creator (the Father), Redeemer (the Son), and Sustainer (the Holy Spirit). The perpetual intertwining is an example for us. For our desire for unity, expressed in words, is useless without a practice of unity in a common life of worship. Gathering in unity finds purpose through unified belief. Entering into unity is not possible without that same belief, named with the shared words and prayers, and disposition of heart to be one of another.
Jesus says in John’s Gospel: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” [Jn 16:13] As we know from our endurance of faithful commitment to the common Sacramental and prayer life in our common worship, our unity is one of experience. May the Holy Spirit come, provide the truth, so that we may not only come to understand unity with God and one another more deeply, but savor the unfolding experience of such unity in the very fabric of our lives. The Holy Trinity and its eternal dance, is not a static reality far outside of ourselves, but an experiential reality of oneness with God and one another that threads all of life and creation to its Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.
Here is a guide for a Forum Hour Discussion on The Holy Trinity.
