Saturday, June 14, 2014

Trinity Sunday, Year A, 15.06.2014

Exodus 34:4-6, 8-9/ 2 Cor 13:11-13/ Jn 3:16-18

Today we celebrate the feast of Trinity Sunday. Sounds like a heavy and serious kind of feast.

But not knowing how to start the homily seriously, I can only think of starting with a joke.

But I was warned not to use this joke unless the congregation is matured enough, and also they may not laugh.

But I will take the risk and see how. So here it goes.

Q. Why is the doctrine of the Trinity important?
A. Those who abandon it begin prayer with the words “To Whom it may concern.”

Psalm 2:4 states: “He who sits in the heavens laughs.” (NRSV). So it seems that God has a sense of humor but this is not the unanimous opinion of all theologians.

Well, if someone were to ask us – What or who is the Holy Trinity?   How would we reply?

We will probably have recourse to some textbook answer like – The Holy Trinity is 3 persons, one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

After that we might not know what else to talk about, and we might also not be too sure what we are talking about.

Or we might just start reciting the Creed, an easy way out, but people will still not know what we are talking about.

Well, today’s feast is not about words, or description or definition.

The Holy Trinity is essentially a mystery. But that mystery is revealed – we know that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

But that mystery is revealed and yet it is also revealing. In other words, we know something about God, but yet not everything.

Today’s gospel gives us another revelation of the mystery of God. It’s a profound revelation and it is this : 

God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.

Now, do we know what that means essentially?

But before we start to give serious answers, let me share with you another joke.

After being married for 25 years and intending to make their silver anniversary a memorable one, the wife asked her husband to describe her, after being married for 25 years.

He looked at her slowly, and said – You’re A,B, C,D, E,F,G,H, … and I,J,K.

The wife was puzzled and so she asked – Now what does that mean?

So he said – Adorable, Beautiful, Cute, Delightful, Elegant, Foxy, Gorgeous, Hot.

The wife smiled and beamed and said – Oh you are such a sweet darling. What about I,J,K?

He said – I’m Just Kidding!

Hope that the wife won’t ask for any more descriptions when it comes to their golden anniversary.

Well, the man was only one letter away from telling his wife what she meant to him.

From A to K, he just have to move on to L, and L would stand for “love”.

And that’s what the feast of the Holy Trinity is telling us.

That God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life.

To have eternal life means to live in the Spirit of God’s love, which is the love of the Father for the Son, and the Son for the Father.

And what does that mean practically? The 2nd reading would put it as this – help one another, be united, live in peace.

Today is also Father’s Day, and we thank God for our fathers and the love they give to us.

Myself being a spiritual father to this spiritual family, I can say that I understand what a father feels for his family.

Fathers want to protect and provide for their family.

They may not show that kind of tender love which is associated with mothers, but fathers give that assuring presence of love.

As I was reflecting on the presence of the father in the family, a childhood memory came to mind.

There was a time when my father had to work the night shift, and at that time I was in my early primary school age.

So after dinner, my father would rest for a while, and then leave for work around 9pm.

I remembered that every time he left the door of the house, I had this sad feeling that I would really miss my papa, and I didn’t want him to go.

But yet, all I could say was “bye bye”.

I guess that to our fathers, we are not so emotionally expressive.

But I can certainly say that the presence of the father in the home brings about a sense of love and security.

So fathers may not be Adorable, Beautiful, Cute, Delightful, Elegant, Foxy, Gorgeous, Hot. 

But for them, we can say it’s I,J,K, and it’s not I’m Just Kidding.

But I,J,K as in I Just Know. Know what? I Just Know that my father loves me.

Yes, we just know that our fathers love us.

We call God our Father. We also know that God our Father loves us.

We also know that God will empower all fathers to be living reflections of His love for us.

With all the fathers present here, we give thanks to God.

And with all the fathers present here, we also want to proclaim that God is Trinity, and that God loves us eternally.