June 16, 2019: Holy Trinity C

June 16, 2019: Holy Trinity C
Audio Homily: https://oembed.libsyn.com/embed?item_id=10220561

“Tell me about your family.” It’s one of the first questions that I ask a newly engaged couple as they prepare for their marriage. The question about our “family of origin”--the family that we grew up in--reveals much about how our family has shaped who we are, our values, our belief systems, and how we view ourselves. The bonds created in our family have an impact far beyond our childhood. With an engaged couple, I also like to ask, “Tell me in what ways does your fiance resemble his father or mother?” This discussion usually leads to surprising observations that the fiance may not have noticed about himself or herself. However, an outsider of a family may not be able to capture everything about the inner workings or dynamics of a family. It can only be revealed by a family member. You all have known me now for eight years. I can reveal to you that I get my mild, gentle, and go-along-to-get-along attitude from my father. But I also get the hot-tempered, impatient, and go-getter attitude from my mother. Many times these attitudes clash with each other. My parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this year. It’s been interesting to notice over the years how much I’m like my dad and how much I’m like my mother. Sometimes I have to consciously dial-up or dial-down my dad’s or mom’s tendencies depending on situations. 

Where do we get this notion of a family? Our family identity is built right into the image of who we are from the very beginning of creation. The fact that God is triune--that is, consisting of three in one--is a great mystery. We cannot know this from logical deductions; it has to be revealed by God himself. From the first chapter of the Book of Genesis we learn God’s intention for his creation of human beings, “Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness.” (Gen 1:26) Throughout the Old Testament, the Israelites addressed God as their Father--”Is he not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you?” (Deut 32:6) God is also like a mother as we read in Isaiah,“As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.” (Is 66:13) In our own human experience, our own father and mother stand for origin and authority, for what is protective and supportive. 

God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to fully reveal to us what God the Father is really like. Jesus said to his disciples, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:5). In the parable of the Prodigal Son, Jesus shows us the Father as a merciful father who is patient, understanding, and compassionate. Jesus teaches us to regard his Father as our Father and to address him as “our Father.” Our understanding of our earthly father and mother is limited to human experience; we will never grasp the depth of the love of the eternal Heavenly Father. 

The deeper mystery that Jesus reveals to us about his Father and the Holy Spirit is that God is love in his inner life. With eternal love, the Father begets the Son and both give themselves to each other in the Holy Spirit. That image is stamped right into our own human bodies. The profound love between a husband and a wife begets a child who is the fruit of self-giving love of the spouses. St. Augustine wrote, “Wherever there is Love, there is a trinity: a Lover, a beloved, and a fountain of Love.” With our baptism, communion, and confirmation, our lives are deeply intertwined with the love between the Three Persons of the Trinity. God desires the self-giving love He has for His Son, the sacrificial love His Son has for the Father to be born in our own love for others.  In our own human relationships, we may see a glimpse of this divine love, and at times the weakness of our human love. 

A challenging question that I ask an engaged couple is, “What aspect of your parents’ relationship do you want to emulate in your own marriage? What aspects of their relationship would you not rather repeat in your own marriage?” The same question can be asked to everyone. We all know the challenge from St. Paul, “Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Cor 13:4-7) In what ways can I improve the way I love my spouse, family, and neighbors?