HOMILY FOR HOLY TRINITY SUNDAY YEAR A.
THEME: God of Love and Compassion!
BY: Fr. Jerome Ituah, OCD
Readings: Exo 34:4-6,8-9; Dan 3:52-56; 2 Cor 13:11-13; Jn 3:16-18
The catechism of the catholic church says: ‘The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in himself. It is, therefore, the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the “hierarchy of the truths of faith.”’ (CCC 232). It is difficult for many people, including Christians, to comprehend this teaching. Rightly so, because it is a mystery we cannot fully understand with our rational minds. It becomes even more complicated when we read the Old Testament, and as many people say, the God of the Old Testament was a God of wrath and that only Jesus revealed the God of love in the New Testament. Many people erroneously hold this belief, but God’s love flows throughout the pages of the Scriptures. Hence, our theme today is ‘God of love and compassion.’
God created the world out of love, and there were already signs of the three divine persons at work in the creation story. The Holy Spirit hovering over the waters reveals God’s care for the world and preparation to breathe life into creation. God created through his Word, Jesus Christ. All three persons were acting in love to bring creation into existence.
This mystery of the love of the Trinity gradually unfolded in the Scriptures, as we see in the readings today. In our first reading, after previously destroying the two tablets of stones containing the Ten Commandments because of the sin of the golden calf, Moses cuts two tablets of stone like the first, rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai for God to inscribe the commandments again on them. The Lord descended on Mount Sinai and proclaimed his love and compassion for his people. Instead of pouring out his anger for the sin of his people, he proclaims that he is rachum, compassion, channun, gracious or friendly, arek, longsuffering or patient, hesed, loving kindness and emeth, faithful.
RELATED: HOMILY FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY.
God shows the people the compassion and friendliness they did not deserve, his loving kindness and faithfulness, which they lacked towards him. Moses then quickly bowed and worshipped, confessing that the people truly do not deserve God’s favour because they are stiff-necked. All they deserved was God’s pardon and mercy. God continued to show that pardon and love to his people whenever they sinned and turned away from him. The height of God’s love was to send his Son into the world to die for our sins.
John tells us in the gospel that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son to redeem fallen humanity. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn but to save the world because of his deep love. Everyone is invited to this saving love of God through faith. Only the person who adamantly refuses the love of God and cuts themselves off from God by a deliberate choice is condemned. The refusal to accept God means that they do not acknowledge the existence of God or choose to ignore God. Although that love of God continues to call, God allows the human being to accept that love willingly.
St. Paul sees the love of God as flowing from the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the second reading. The love already evident in the Old Testament has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit promised by Jesus Christ, who died for us (cf. Rom 5:6-7; Acts 2:33), so we, too, can cry out Abba Father (cf. Rom 8:15).
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