Revealed as Love in Three

Today is described as The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity in the Roman Catholic Lectionary. Liturgical celebrations today will present our continuing wonder about a mystery surrounding the nature of God which is proclaimed by Paul at the end of the second letter to the Corinthians described by biblical commentators as one of the clearest trinitarian passages in the New Testament. Andy Alexander SJ cites teaching of Pope Francis on the Trinity that reveals the name and nature of God is Love. Our struggle with how to understand that Love is as least as ancient as the revelation of God to Moses which is the subject of the text today from Exodus. Friar Jude Winkler notes that the Lord proclaims himself before Moses and through this revelation Moses understands that even a stiff necked people will be pardoned based on the goodness and mercy of God. The passage today from the Gospel of John includes the banner quote seen in the crowds at professional sports in the US. Dan Lacich writes a Provocative Look at John 3:16 which is a bit more about a God of justice than some commentators are comfortable expressing. Richard Rohr OFM was quoted in a recent CBC Tapestry episode Spirituality is not Stamp Collecting as expressing that our image of God is our model for practicing our relationships with others. Andy Alexander SJ writes “We all know that we can orphan ourselves, by clinging to independence and the illusion of "freedom" and identifying ourselves with what we accomplish and what we possess. The spirit which is evil loves to divide and scatter us. But the Holy Spirit offers gifts to heal our wounds and bring us a peace the world's attractions can't give. Today we can celebrate the work of the Spirit within us and among us.” As Friar Jude notes Saint Patrick and Saint Augustine tried to express the Trinity in simple and theological ways. In the action of Love we are in invited to an experiential understanding of Trinity.