Most Holy Trinity
[Jn 3:16-18]
31.05.2026
God’s Boundless, Life-giving and Saving Love
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 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 Father, 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 or Mind or
Thought of the Father. Through Jesus we come to know that God’s thoughts are
thoughts of self-giving
love and this love is nurtured by communication or self-disclosure.
Though God’s love is a universal
gift, that is, given to everyone who believes (3:16), in order to be 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’ in John’s
gospel does not mean intellectual assent given to the truths of faith, 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? 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 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.
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