Most Holy Trinity (A)

 Most Holy Trinity (A) [Jn 3:16-18]

04.06.2023

God’s Boundless, Life-giving and Saving Love

Readings: (1) Ex 34:4b-6.8-9 (2) 2 Cor 13:11-14

1.  Theme in brief

Holy Trinity is a model for self-giving and self-communication

2.  Focus Statement

The Trinitarian God loves the whole of humanity so intensely and so universally that he goes out of himself in total self-giving, life-giving, self-communicating and saving love.

3.  Explanation of the text

“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…..” (3:16). Since the Church prescribes this widely quoted and most famous statement in John’s gospel for the feast of Holy Trinity, we need to understand its meaning in the context of this feast. From the NT as a whole, we understand that our God, though one, is a community of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Hence, when we read the above-mentioned statement in John’s gospel we are to read it from this angle: it is the Trinitarian God who loved the world so much. How much? Of course, to the extent of giving his only Son as a gift to the world deprived of his genuine love, and to the extent of giving him up as a sacrificial offering on the cross. [Note: Biblical experts say that the word “gave” has both the meanings of giving a gift and giving up or sacrificing somebody]. God so loved the world means, he loved all the people of the world precisely in this manner and so intensely. The Holy Trinity is therefore another expression of John’s briefest definition of God mentioned in his Letter, "God is Love" (1 Jn 4:8). The basic nature of love is self-giving. Love needs somebody with whom it is shared, to whom it is given and from whom it is received. If God were not love, he could have been a solitary God; he need not be a community of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Triune God himself becomes the best model of this nature of love within the Divine Community of three Persons.

When Jesus says, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son….,” it implies quite a few things: (1) saving people is fully God’s initiative; (2) the motive behind such an action is his pure love; (3) that his love is so intense (he “so” loved…); and (4) that his love is universal because the word “world” as John uses in the present context means all the people of the world – Jews and Gentiles, virtuous and sinners, or nationals and foreigners. In the context of today’s feast, we understand that the Father loves humans so intensely, purely, selflessly and universally that he gives them the greatest of gifts, namely his Son; the Son also loves in a similar manner and out of love lays down (sacrifices) his life on the cross; and the Holy Spirit too loves humans similarly by becoming a permanent Advocate – a constant companion at their side at all times.

The second nature of love is self-communication. Jesus says in today’s gospel that the self-communication of God to the world through him was an act of purest love (3:16). Just as we communicate our thoughts, intentions, love and desires through our words, so God communicates and reveals his love and designs for humankind through his Word who is his Son himself.  Hence, Jesus is called the Word of the Father because through him we come to know the mind or thoughts of God. Jesus discloses to us that God’s thoughts are thoughts of self-giving love and this love is nurtured by self-communication or self-disclosure.

Though God’s love is a universal gift, that is, given to everyone who believes (3:16), in order to make it effective, one must be well disposed to receive it. The sad fact is that people have the power to reject this gift! Hence, Jesus puts a condition for God’s love to be effective: the receiver must believe in the Son (Jesus). ‘To believe’ as John uses this term, does not mean intellectual assent given to the truths of faith as we understand in catechism, but a decision to entrust oneself to Christ or to put one’s trust in him or to be personally attached to him by faith.

What is the purpose of God’s boundless love for the world? As the given text says, the first purpose behind Trinitarian God’s boundless love for the world is to share his own divine life (also called eternal life) with human beings through Christ and in the Holy Spirit who is the giver of life (or spring of living water, Jn. 4:14; 7:37-39), so that they do not perish eternally (3:16). The second purpose is to save humans rather than condemn them (3:17). We find a definition about the first purpose of God’s giving his only Son, namely to give eternal life to all believers. In Jn 17:3 Jesus defines eternal life thus: “That they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent”. This word “to know" is used throughout the Scripture to describe the most intimate and personal relationship that one can have. So, eternal life is a personal relationship with Jesus, or a loving communion of life with him and through him with the Father. It is through Jesus we can have an intimacy with God. The Holy Spirit who dwells in our hearts is the fire which keeps this loving communion ever burring.

4.  Application to life                      

The Old Testament reveals to us the strictly monotheistic faith of Israelites. But from the New Testament we come to know that our God, though one, does not exist alone, in isolation or seclusion. He is neither a loner nor recluse; neither unrelated nor disconnected. He is a community of three inter-related persons – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit – where love is shared through self-gift and self-communication. When we reflect on the inner life the Holy Trinity, we come to know that the love relationship which exists among the three persons flows into the world. Since we are baptized in the name of the Holy trinity, we are inserted into the Divine Family by baptism. Therefore, by baptism itself we are called to reflect the life of the Trinity. How?

First of all, we are called to imitate the self-giving love of the Holy Trinity. If God’s love for everyone in the world is so intensive, generous, selfless, self-giving, boundless, universal and sacrificial, what about our love? God's love is surprising, undeserved and unconditional. When we are confronted with this kind of love, our response should be either to submit to God's love or run away from it; nobody can remain neutral to it. Today’s feast calls on Christian families and religious communities to reflect on how they can love one another better by generously giving their  time, energy, knowledge, talents and gifts out of love for one another. They need to examine whether their love is selfless and generous, or selfish and business type; whether it is intensive, or just superficial; whether it is sacrificial, or seeking one’s own advantage and comfort; and whether it is universal, or exclusively confined to loving one’s own group (ethnic/ racial/ tribal/ caste/ linguistic), or only those who are good, obedient, submissive and well behaved.

Secondly, the Holy Trinity is the model for perfect love-relationship among us.. The essence of this heavenly community is the personal relationship of love among the three Divine Persons. Christian communities, especially the communities of Religious among us, are called to be rooted and grounded in love. The Triune God loves the world so intensely that he goes out in self-communication to all of humanity through his Son and continues to do so through the life-giving Spirit. Communication is a process in which one reveals something of oneself by way of self-disclosure. The very fact that God has revealed to us his own Trinitarian character is itself a proof that he loves us boundlessly. Nobody reveals or discloses oneself to those whom one does not love. Hence, this feast of the Holy Trinity invites us to imitate God’s own Trinitarian nature of self-communication or self-disclosure. Unless we disclose something of what is going on inside of us, how can we grow in each other’s love?

 Nobody will know what is going on inside of me, unless I decide to share it with others. Jesus shares with his disciples all that he heard from his Father on equal footing and in total transparency (15:15). None of the Divine Persons hold back or hide form each other what is theirs but share it fully with others (16:14-15). Jesus says that he has many more things to tell us (16:12-15) about the mystery of God’s love. He has given us the Holy Spirit to guide us in our discovery of God’s love as well as each other’s love in daily life. We are called to imitate the qualities of sharing, communication and transparency that exist within the Divine Community in our families and religious communities. Communication involves a sharing of our likes, dislikes, doubts, hopes, fears, faith and experiences. By this we discover who the other person is and each other’s love. The uncontrolled use of TV, mobile phones, computer and the internet has brought down the level of communication in our families and religious communities so much that it tends to be more superficial and not deeper. Further, tendencies of individualism make us more isolated and selfish. If we follow the unwritten principle of, “I do my work; you do your work” and “I mind my business; you mind your business,” faith in the Holy Trinity becomes meaningless!

Thirdly, we are called to live a life of unity in spite of so much diversity among us. We come to know from the NT that within the Divine Family of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, there is perfect unity of purpose in spite of diverse roles or functions. Creation is attributed to the Father or the Creator of heaven and earth, redemption to the Son who laid down his life on the cross for our salvation, and sanctification to the Holy Spirit who dwells in our hearts. Each Person is unique and all share in the divine nature in perfect unity. Similarly, each one of us is unique but as humans and as Christians we share a common origin, common nature and a common destiny. All the three Persons fulfil their roles for one purpose: universal salvation of humankind. Therefore, if we want to love the world as God loves (as today’s gospel tells us), we need to work out unity among us in spite of differences of race or caste, language, ethnicity, culture, opinions, faith tradition (religion), and other social affiliations. This requires respect for others’ differences, accepting them as they are, appreciating whatever is good and noble in them and sacrificing our own prejudices, judgements and wrong attitudes. Do we try to work out unity by respecting diversity among people, or look for unity with uniformity, that is, by forcing everybody else to be like us? Our God is a God of pluriformity and not uniformity; all differences are like seven colours and all are needed to make a ‘rainbow.’

Fourthly, this feast invites us to make our love more universal and inclusive. Our faith is a response to God’s universal love. Do we love the people of “our world” (our human society) as God loved and loves the world? This feast motivates us to fight against evil forces which block the universality of love such as prejudices, narrow-mindedness, groupism, racism, jealousies and individualism. It motivates us to respect and accept the differences among us and work for unity in spite of our diversity of ethnicity or race, culture, language, religion, opinion and ideology. It also inspires us to question our ghetto-mentality and appreciate something good in everything and everybody, or to collaborate with any people of good will who work in the line of gospel-values.

Fifthly, this feast motivates us not be judgmental and become ‘experts’ in always condemning others who are weak or do wrong. Since the Trinitarian God wants that nobody should perish, but all be saved, and showers his mercy and salvation on sinners, we too need to imitate these attitudes. We have to examine whether our love is merciful and saving like that of the Holy Trinity.

5.  Response to God's Word

Do we love the world (our civil society, neighbourhood, village community) as God does? Is it selfless and generous, or selfish and business type; intensive, or just superficial; sacrificial, or seeking one’s own advantage and comfort? Is our love universal or selective? Is there genuine and deeper communication in our family or religious community? What should we do to overcome superficial communication among us? Do we fight against evil forces which block the universality of God’s love such as racism, ethnic loyalties, religious and national prejudices? How often have we offended the Trinitarian God by wishing terrible things including death to our opponents and enemies? Is our love merciful and saving, like that of the Trinity?

6.  A Prayer.

Most Holy Trinity, we adore you as a community of three Divine Persons who reveal boundless love to us through total self-giving and self-communication. Grant our love may be selfless, generous, deeper, sacrificial and universal like yours. Grant that we may discover each other’s love in our family (community) more and more, deeper and deeper through regular communication. Give us the grace to overcome our prejudices, narrow-mindedness, groupism, racism, jealousies and individualism. May our love be merciful and saving like yours rather than condemning? Amen.