Trinity Sunday Prov 8:22-31; Rom 5:1-5; Jn 16:12-15 (Year C)
“When I see the heavens, the work of your hands, the moon and the stars which you arranged, what is man that you should keep him in mind, mortal man that you should care for him?”
Anyone who has experienced the wonder of the heavens has been brought to a sense of their own insignificance. At the same time they will have sensed a longing to reach beyond the wonder of the heavens so as to become one with the God who is their creator.
Such feelings undoubtedly stirred the author of Proverbs when he spoke of one who, before the foundation of the world, had stood at God’s side, a master craftsman, delighting to be at his side. At the same time this mysterious figure had been ever at play in the world, delighting also to be with the sons of men.
With such words the Book of Proverbs sought to put into words a universal longing to become one with the God who lies beyond the wonder of creation. We long to know, and to experience within ourselves, this hidden God. Only with Christ, and in his revelation of the God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, did this longing find its answer. Here this mysterious figure, ever at play in the Creator’s presence, was revealed as the Word made flesh, dwelling amongst us. In Christ, we, once so far away, became the sons and daughters of the Father.
Throughout his ministry Jesus had emphasised the love that brings us into a living communion with both himself and the Father. “Father, may they be one in us, as you are in me and I am in you.”
We struggle to understand fully what it means to be loved by the Father with that same love with which he had loved the Son before the foundation of the world. What we cannot fully understand becomes our deepest reality in the Spirit promised by Jesus. “But when the Spirit of truth comes, he will lead you into the complete truth.”
The complete truth about the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit reaches far beyond any formulation. It is “the love of God that has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us”. More than words, it is a life lived with Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
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