Trinity Sunday, Year C, 2019

May you be granted, in the Eucharistic celebration of today, the singular grace to relate deeply in love not only with the Godhead but also with each of the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity. Happy Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity! +John I. Okoye

DOCTRINE AND FAITH
(Proverbs 8,22-31; Romans 5,1-5; John 16,12-15: Trinity Sunday, Year C,   2019) 

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, the most sublime doctrine of the Church that indicates one Nature but three divine persons in God. We are to bear in mind that the readings of this feast are chosen because something in them either exemplifies or elucidates the doctrinal theology of the feast. This means that the readings will be interpreted through the lens of the feast and not the other way around. In the first reading, Proverbs 8,22-31, the mysterious figure of Woman Wisdom, with her several puzzling characteristics about her, is present and active during God's wondrous acts of creation. She is there as amon (v, 30). The meaning of this word is uncertain, but the context lends its rendering as craftsperson or architect very plausible. However, as active as she may have been in these primordial events of creation, it is God who really creates. The created world itself is beautifully portrayed in this passage. There is no cosmic battle here, as is found in some of the other ancient creation myths. There is only one God, and that God effortlessly establishes the entire universe in tranquility and order. What in other myths were enemies to be conquered, such as the heavens and the sea, here are docile creatures that have been set in place by the Creator and have been given limits beyond which they cannot advance. This is a solid world, securely founded and wonderful to behold. If Woman Wisdom acted as craftsperson or architect for this magnificent project, then the principles of wisdom are woven into the very fabric of creation. This would explain the order that can be discerned within its workings. There is rejoicing in this created world. God delights in Woman Wisdom; Woman Wisdom rejoices before God. This is the kind of rejoicing that springs from the very heart of the universe. It is delight in the glory of creation and in creation's God. Creatures would cry out in praise; God and Woman Wisdom sing out in delight. The last verse brings all of these home to us. Wisdom takes delight in the inhabited part of the earth, in the human race. This brief statement locates humankind squarely within the created world. No other species is singled out in this way. The verse leaves us at an open threshold gazing at the universe that unfolds before us, aware that this mysterious primordial figure has a special interest in us.

The overarching theme in the second reading, Romans 51-5, from the letter to the Romans is justifi­cation by faith. Every blessing mentioned in the passage rests on the believers having been justified by faith in Jesus Christ. According to Paul, the justification of the Roman Christians is an accomplished fact. They have already been reconciled with God; their guilt has already been forgiven. They are now in right relationship with God, and though God is really the author of their justification, it has been accomplished through their faith in Jesus Christ who, through his death and resurrection, has reconciled all people with God; he is the mediator of the new covenant of peace. Also In this passage of the second reading, there is also a trinitarian theme present, appropriate for the feast we are celebrating today. The trinitarian nature of Paul's faith and teaching is clear. It is faith in Christ that justifies us with God; it is faith in Christ that gives us peace with God, it is faith in Christ that grants us access to the grace of God. Because of the reconciliation won for us by Christ, the love of God is poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. In other words, Christ brings us to God, and the Spirit comes to us from that same God. God, Christ, and the Spirit are all involved in our ultimate union with God.

In the gospel reading of John 16, 12-15 the gospel writer attempts to show the relationship between the Father, Jesus, and the Spirit by somehow relating all three to the teaching of Jesus. However, what we find here are seeds of theological thought that will come to fruition at another time in the development of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. This passage, as brief and oblique as it is, gives us but a glimpse into the author's incipient trinitarian thinking. In this passage it is Jesus' concern for the instruction of his disciples that prompts his discourse. He states that he has much more to tell them, but they cannot bear it now. By implication, they will be able to bear it at another time. The reason they will be able to understand in the future is that they will then have been instructed in truth by the spirit of truth. Thus the teaching of Jesus is referred to as the truth. The Spirit is somehow to fill the void caused by the absence of Jesus and to fill it not so much with a presence as with a form of teaching. Jesus insists that the Spirit will not bring new teaching but teaching the Spirit has heard from another. However, the Spirit of truth is more than a messenger who merely repeats the words of another. Jesus says that this Spirit will also announce things that are to come. This could refer to an unfolding of the mysteries Jesus himself announced or alluded to when he was with them, mysteries that had not yet been brought to completion. Or it could allude to some of the ancient expectations that had not yet been brought to fulfilment. In this way the Spirit would teach and reveal what had already been taught yet was nonetheless new. It will be through this unfolding of the depths of the mysteries Jesus proclaimed that the Spirit will glorify Jesus and reveal him to be the chosen one of God. The mission of the Spirit seems to be the guidance of the disciples into the deep meaning and radical implications of the teachings of Jesus. The truth the Spirit reveals is grounded in the teachings of Jesus, but it goes far beyond it. In this way there is continuity but not repetition. In a statement that seems to be an abrupt shift in thought, Jesus clearly asserts that what belongs to the Father belongs to him. This could mean that it was from the Father that the Spirit heard the teachings of Jesus, and it was also from the Father that the Spirit was sent to bring these teachings to fruition. The Spirit glorifies Jesus by bringing to light the deeper truth of his teaching, teaching that also belongs to God.
Like we mentioned earlier, we celebrate the solemnity of the Most Blessed Trinity.

The readings of today’s Eucharistic Celebration are chosen because something in them either exemplifies or elucidates the doctrinal theology of the feast. This means that the readings will be interpreted through the lens of the feast and not the other way around. Both the first reading and the psalm response celebrate the marvels of creation and, by inference, the marvellous Creator who brought them into being. They invite us to join the psalmist, standing back in awe of the creative power and imagination of God. We have only scratched the surface in our understanding of the myriad of species that are on our planet alone. One thing we have discovered about these creatures is that each is unique. No two persons are exactly the same, no stars, no snowflakes. What creativity! What imagination! The passage from Proverbs states that God created all these things through Wisdom, through which the glories of the God is extolled. It is with Paul that we find the beginnings of trinitarian theology. In the epistle reading for today he very clearly credits God with our justification through faith and our possession of divine love. There is no doubt in Paul's mind about the source and mediator of our salvation. Justification, or salvation, is accomplished by God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The love of God is poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Paul does not clearly state that the love of God we receive through the Holy Spirit sanctifies us, but one could certainly understand it in this way. The trinitarian theology we find in the reading from the Gospel of John resembles very closely that of Paul. In it Jesus reveals the intimate connection between himself and the Father as well as himself and the Spirit. The Spirit continues the mission of Jesus, neither adding anything to his teaching nor omitting anything from it. The Spirit's task is to lead us ever deeper into the truth that Jesus brought, truth that is really found in God. 
One point is clear from these readings. While this is a feast that glorifies the central mystery of our faith, a mystery based on the way the three divine Persons relate to one another (ad intra), the readings all address the ways God relates to us (ad extra). This feast, which follows our celebration of the completion of the paschal mystery, is not intended for our clear articulation of doctrine; it is meant to give us an opportunity to commit ourselves to this God who, though beyond our comprehension, is present and active at the very core of our being. If we concentrate merely on the doctrine, we might be awed by an intellectual concept. But if we concentrate, as the texts for today suggest we do, on all the ways our triune God has blessed us, we may be more inclined to cry out with the psalmist: How great is your name, O Lord our God, through all the earth! “. May we be granted the grace in the Eucharistic celebration of today the singular grace to relate deeply not only with God but also with each of the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity. Happy Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity! +John I. Okoye