Today is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
and Father’s Day.
If I asked a child to explain the Holy Trinity,
it might give a great big story full of imagination. With that vivid imagination,
a child might get close.
If I asked anyone reading this to explain the
Holy Trinity, probably they could give me this answer: Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, three persons yet one God. Asked how to you explain three persons, yet,
one God; and, the imagination dies. Our imagination is stuck in this world.
In our studies for the diaconate, we had all
these big text books. Two or three for each class, but, the text book studying
the Holy Trinity was less than a ½ inch thick.
Even there, the Holy Trinity was a mystery hard
to tackle.
Jesus said “I have much more to tell you but you cannot bear it now.”
One description of the Trinity is Infinity,
Immanence, and Intimacy (R. Rohr). Most will say it makes since as God the
Father is infinity. Christ Jesus is immanence. And, the Holy Spirit is
intimacy.
We’d be wrong. The early Fathers and great
doctors of the Church had a different experience of the Trinity. Jesus
told us the reality of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the
Most Holy Trinity is that ALL truth is given to the other.
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare
to you the things that are coming.
He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and
declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I
told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you."
That sharing of ALL truth comes from love. The
truth and mystery of the Blessed Trinity is Love. That is why the reality of
the Trinity is that all is given to the other.
That brings us to the ALL giving that is the
truth of being a father. It is not just a truth for father but for every parent
or those who desire to be parents.
Look at the reality that is family. It is a
trinity of father, mother, and children. In the love of family all is given to
the other.
Since this is Father’s Day, I will focus on
fathers.
Using the description of family as a trinity of infinite,
immanent, and intimate where all is given to the other look at the father’s
role.
To a child, a father’s love must be infinite. The
father is powerful, the protector, and the provider giving all to his family. The
child looks to the father and loves without reservation. Fathers should love
the child without end; but, many fathers are in love with self or the world more
than their family. They forget the importance of a child’s need for a father’s
infinite love in a child’s life.
To a child, the father’s love must be immanent.
The father should hold a position in the family that is permanent, pervading,
and sustaining. The father should be in every aspect of the child’s life. This
is where many fail. Career, money, possessions, and ego become the important
things in the father’s life and the father becomes less immanent in the child’s
life.
To a child, a father’s love must be intimate,
close, and familiar. It is a love that must be found in the love for a child
but also love for the family, and the mother. It is the reason of a Godly
marriage. It is to strengthen familial love. That is the intimate, close and
familiar love a child needs. Because the father has answered the world, where
he is the most important, the intimate love a child needs from a loving father
is lost.
The world is broken. People can’t understand the
trinity. People don’t understand how important love is to those around us;
especially to our children.
We say we are Christians; but, God knows us.
And, Jesus knows us. God knows we are a hard hearted people. It is our hard
hearts that make it hard to give others the love they need; even our children.
The hard heart the world has given us stifles an
imagining of the love that is the Holy Trinity and tramples an imagining of the
love we should have for each other. But by the Holy Spirit, we are to know
peace with God through Jesus Christ. God, (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)
the blessed Trinity wants to soften the affliction of our hard hearts.
St. Paul writes: “Knowing that affliction
produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character,
hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out
into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”
Happy Father’s Day.
Be good, be holy, and preach the gospel by the
way you lives and love one another especially our children. Amen.
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