
In doing this, I remember reading a comment by that great Jesuit preacher, Walter Burghardt, who said that: “without the Trinity, life would make little sense.” The reason for his comment seems simple: it’s because of God’s love that you and I even exist! He desires to share His very life with us, and all He asks in return from us is that we return His love! Our Gospel today (Jn 3:16-18) proclaims that very fundamental nature of God, “love.” “Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave us his only Son that we may have eternal life.” Believing in Him, and living fully the Christian life that He taught us, is “returning” His love.
If you’re single, you have experienced the unity, oneness and total self-giving of your parents, which co-created love: you! If you’re married, you have experienced unity, oneness and total self-giving which of itself co-creates love: your children! This isn’t about “me”; it’s about the “us” which is created by total self-giving. All of this total self-giving mirrors the love within the Holy Trinity. This is also why the Sacrament of Marriage is a wonderful example of, and mystery of, the Holy Trinity itself, just as St. Paul teaches (Eph 5:32).
Our Catholic Church teaches that God is One, in three Persons, the “Trinity”. This is an undivided Unity, and the distinction of Persons resides solely in the relationships between them; that relationship is always self-giving love.
So, clearly, the key words we can see from above are “total self-giving.” This is the divine life God wants to share with us, and the kind of human life we’re called to lead. This is what “unity” is all about, and that is why, Burghardt, makes the statement that, “without the Trinity, life would make little sense.” This too, is how the Holy Trinity can be a part of our own daily lives.
As we reflect today, on the Holy Trinity- we should also reflect on how that “totally self-giving” love is present in our daily lives, and what the implications of our answer is in our life.