The solemnity of the Holy Trinity offers the perfect opportunity for me to talk about a spiritual exercise that I find quite helpful. Now and then, without even taking into consideration our ever-expanding universe and the inconsequential smallness of our planet, I think about my insignificance when compared with its relatively “enormous” size.
Or I reach the same conclusion by thinking in reverse. I pause to imagine the zillions of leaves on zillions of trees fluttering in the breeze and how our Creator God has every single one of those random moves under the control of His providential design.
Or I think of His full knowledge of the size and shape of every single grain of sand on the surface of this earth while never losing awareness and knowledge of my every sigh and thought!
I find it spiritually healthy to acknowledge with glee that, throughout the course of my sojourn on this earth, I will never even come close to wrapping my head around the mystery of my God, the mystery of the Holy Trinity, one God in three distinct Persons equal in majesty, power and glory.
As we can see in the Book of Deuteronomy (4:32-34, 39-40), there is nothing new about my spiritual exercise of contrasting my smallness with God’s majesty, grandeur and infinite magnanimity. While employing all of his persuasive skills, Moses spent a lot of time trying to convince the Israelites that they were so privileged even in their insignificance. Well, in spite of my limited knowledge of the New Testament and my hesitations and setbacks, I am confident I can easily outdo Moses:
“Dear Moses, all the grandiose feats mentioned by you as done by Yahweh God in the Old Testament are great, but are all easily surpassed by what the Lord God has done through his Son Jesus in the New Testament.”
Speaking of “riches to rags,” in Jesus, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, our God has taken on human flesh like ours after dwelling for nine months in the womb of the Virgin Mother.
Jesus, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, is the Word of life always ready to bring us comfort, light and guidance. Jesus, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, has made himself so small and so accessible as to pack all his infinite power into a little wafer so that we could always draw life, strength, purpose, meaning from becoming one with him in Holy Communion.
Jesus, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, has taught us by his example that the way to eternal life passes through suffering and the cross. Thus, he has left etched in our minds the image of a grain of wheat as the icon of the secret to resurrection and to abundant life.
Jesus, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, has given us the ultimate new commandment of loving each other the way he loves us as the remedy for all the ills afflicting this world of ours.
Jesus, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, by anointing them with the Holy Spirit, has given to some men the very power of God to forgive and to retain sins, thus guaranteeing humankind physical reassurance of the Father’s infinite mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
The list could continue, but this should suffice to make us realize that, in Christ Jesus, we are truly divine; we are sons and daughters of the heavenly Father; we are the still imperfect and sin-prone parts of the Holy Trinity! Yes, we are immersed in the Holy Trinity in spite of our miseries, pettiness and sins!
Now, let us pause and consider: if it is truly so, if we are wrapped and immersed in our triune God with all the dross of our human imperfections and misdeeds, why does this thought still fail to reshape our outlook on life? Why are we still lacking the energy and the resolve we need so much?
Let us think: if we could afford the best physicians and surgeons, and we could have access to the best healthcare available, could we take care of ourselves and of our loved ones better than what the Lord Jesus offers us free of charge?How could we live a life of worry if Psalm 139 is true? Or consider the reassurance found in Psalm 56:9: “My wandering you have counted; my tears are stored in your flask; are they not recorded in your book?”
How could we fail to live serene lives if the Father has an accurate account of each strand of hair on our heads, as Jesus reveals in the book of Matthew?
How could we remain tense and apprehensive if we believed Paul’s words in Romans: “You did not receive a spirit of slavery leading you back into fear, but a spirit of adoption through which we cry out, ‘Abba!’ (that is, ‘Father’).
The first disciples were certainly a very scrawny, powerless, mostly uneducated, band of peasants and fishermen. As we recall from today’s Gospel passage, some of them were hesitant and timid even after the resurrection of the Lord, i.e. after the most earthshaking event in the history of the world. But, eventually, they were able to transform the mighty Roman empire with their preaching because they kept hearing in their ears these reassuring words: “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
It should not be too hard for us, then, to convince ourselves that, on our own, we do not amount to a whole lot. True, in moments of radical honesty, we are willing to admit our insignificance, our smallness, our frailty. So, the lesson that we should learn on Trinity Sunday is a very vital, very existential one: the Lord of the whole universe, the One through whom all things came into being has always a direct, detailed, personal, individualized knowledge of each one of us. He does so effortlessly for the reason that he is always driven by infinite love and also because there is no limit to his will, to his might, to his wisdom.
The more this thought of living inside the Holy Trinity, in spite of all our miseries, can sink into our heart, the more good things we will accomplish and the more serene and hope-filled our lives will become.
To our triune God be all the honor and glory forever and ever. Amen!
