THE TRI THAT INSPIRED EVERYTHING

HOMILY FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

God is three consubstantial persons –Father, Son, and Holy Spirit– as one God in three divine persons. They are distinct, yet are of one essence. 

Today, we encounter a three-sentence and a three-verse episode which are read as one Gospel (John 3:16-18). It is not out of place to think that this is possible because of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity that we celebrate today. Today, we are faced with the greatest of all mysteries which cannot be explained in its plenitude or even understood in its fullness. This reminds me of the experience of Okonkwo in the Things Fall Apart. The villagers had gathered to listen to the missionaries explain the Trinity to them. After the effort of the missionary to explain to the people of Amantain Umuofia that the one true God they were being introduced to had a son, Jesus Christ, Okonkwo immediately intercepted: then this God must have a wife. No, replied the missionary. At this point, according to the author, Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo knew that the missionary was really mad. Okonkwo failed to comprehend such a being due to the limitations of his human mind. He had not conceived how a Father can exist with a Son without a mother. Today, we must know that the reality of the Trinity is not a human thing, but a divine reality, even though we see very many human and natural realities that are inspired by the Trinity, the reality of three-in-one.

The Gospel spells out God’s reason for allowing his son to be killed for the salvation of the world; this reason is love. He so loved the world that he gave his son. The mainspring of God’s being is love, and this God is trinitarian. As classical theology says, the Father is the Lover, the Son is the Beloved and the Spirit is the love, and the overflowing of this love is creation, which gained its highest expression in mankind. And so human beings are called to love which is the life of God, their creator. The Second Reading (2 Cor. 13:11-13) gives us the way to practice this love on earth: rejoice, mend your ways, obey God, agree with one another, and live in peace. If we do this, then the grace of Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Spirit would remain with us. You don’t love God if you don’t love your neighbour. And in the First Reading (Exodus 34:4b. 6. 8-9), God revealed himself to Moses as a God who abounds in steadfast love and mercy. It is the love that saved the Israelites from the hands of Pharoah. God is simply love. His love is both saving and merciful. Love binds the three persons of the Trinity together. And the inspiration felt from this reality of these three are all over nature and created reality. Let’s go.

In all of material creation, we see the reality of three individual manifestations that possess one reality. Matter exists in three forms: solid, liquid and Gas. Matter is anything that has weight and occupies spaces. The material reality is created by God and reflects the structure of the Godhead in its three forms of solid, liquid and Gas. Water as a material reality can also exist in three forms. As water it exists in liquid form. When cooled, it is ice, and hence solid form. When heated, it is vapour and hence gaseous form. But it is the same reality. In combustion, the fire also produces the effect of heat as well as smoke. If we move to the world of vegetation, especially of fruits, we come to realize that many fruits have three major parts: the outer layer, the middle layer and the inner layer. In the mango or the pear, the outer layer covers the edible part of the fruit which covers the seed; all making up the fruit.

In biological realities, we notice this same inspiration from the three-in-one reality. The egg has the shell, the albumen and the yoke. Man is composed of body, mind and spirit. The body of man makes for his physical nature, the mind of man makes for his mental nature as the spirit of man makes for his spiritual nature. In the world of technology, scientists were inspired to produce machines that have three relational parts but working as a whole to achieve wholeness. The fan is an example; even the tricycle too. Also, in production, we see the mathematical application of three. Three lines are necessary to form a plan figure. Three dimensions of length, breadth and width are necessary to form a solid.

In temporal (timeliness) reality, time exists in three forms –past, present, and future. All are necessary for a worthy living. I have not also seen any clock that has more than three hands. There are the seconds hand, the minute hand and the hour hand. God is spoken about in Rev. 1:4 as a God who was, who is and who is to come. During our liturgical celebration, we notice the triad repetition of some words. In the Confiteor, the penitent clearly beats his/her chest three times with the words, mea culpa. Have you asked yourself why the expression is said thrice and not less or more than? During the praise sand after the preface, we meet the words, Holy Holy Holy... this connects us to Isaiah 6:3 and Rev. 4:8). Why are there not more than three holies, and not less? Another point here is, why are the words not in progression –Holy, Holier Holiest? Our God is holy; yes. None is greater than the other and none is less than the other. They are equal. In fact, three as the first of the numbers of perfection in the scriptures denotes divine perfection. There are three divine attributes of God: omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotent.

We wrap it up with the presence of the trinity in the Bible. The Trinity was evident in the words of God in Genesis 1:26 and in Gen 11:7; let us. They are not one, but three. When the Lord visited Abraham in the appearance of three persons in Gen. 18, the Bible recorded in the very first verse that the Lord (singular) appeared to Abraham. Abraham addressed them as one (v.3). The three spoke as many (vv.5.9) and as one (vv. 13.15). The question comes: why did the Lord choose to appear as three men? The Lord gives Moses a three-format blessing of how to bless the Israelites in Numbers 6:23-24. Why are the blessings not more than three and not less? I have also continued to imagine why God identified himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. There is no fourth name. The Psalmist in 62:12 says that the Lord has said only one thing (as One God), but he understand two (as a human being), and ended up saying three (as a community of three).  

Jesus came to be born into the family of Mary and Joseph, making them three. He prolongs the community of three he has ever lived in before the creation of the world. At his birth, he inspired three wise men to visit him and present to him the three gifts of gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. The gifts show that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all a part of the mission. The gifts have no permission not to be up to three. In 1 Corinthians 13:13, there are three things that last, Paul says: Faith, Hope and Charity. These three virtues are eternal because the three persons of the Blessed Trinity are eternal. Three things will always last. The three are eternal.

And so, dear friends, the three persons of the Most Holy Trinity must inspire also our human society. The Father, the Mother and the Children must live together in unity and peace. The inseparable unity and love of the Trinity has to reflect in our domestic Church. Following this identity of the three, the Church has three hierarchical structures among the clergy: the deacon, the Priest and the Bishop. We must also work hard to reflect the love and unity of the Trinity in this hierarchy by being in one heart and mind with ourselves and with the Church. We must not allow ourselves the joke of not participating to work for an indivisible unity in the Church. It is true that no two persons are the same; but it is even truer that we can live as same. The three persons in the Trinity are distinct persons and this is shown in their function in the economy of salvation (the Father creates, the Son saves and the Spirit sanctifies); yet they are inseparable in their substance and essence. We may be different, but we can understand and tolerate one another.

Providentially, our system of Governing has chosen a three dimensional pattern of the Executive, the Judiciary and the Legislature. The question should be constantly asked: how do they work in an incorruptible harmony to achieve oneness and progress in the country? The success of the Trinity cannot ever be over-emphasized. Unity brings forth progress. The onlookers will be overtaken by events that they will ask themselves: when did they achieve all these? If you want progress, seek for unity. The trinity had resounding success in their work of salvation for mankind because of their inseparable unity and love. We can achieve too resounding success if we develop and work for unity in our various areas of human endeavour. May the trinity inspire me; inspire you and inspire all of us. I wish you a blessed week ahead. God bless you.