Today we are celebrating the
feast of the Most Holy Trinity. We believe in one God, who is in three persons;
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All our liturgical celebrations and prayers begin
and end with the invocation of Triune God in the form of sign of the cross: In the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit. Even our blessings consist of Triune God. At the end of
the sign of the cross and blessings we pronounce the word; Amen, which means so be it/I am
faithful to what I said/I vouch for it. We always acknowledge our God as
Triune God.
In the Old Testament God
revealed Himself to the people of Israel as One God; “the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” (Ex 3:6). To Moses He revealed His name as YHWH/Lord
(Ex 34:5). God loved the people of Israel very much that even the wickedness
and stubbornness of this stiff-necked people could not keep Him away from them.
He always forgave their sins, especially whenever they turned toward Him with
broken and repentant heart. Because He is a merciful and gracious God, slow to
anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (Ex 3:6). But the more
He loved His people, the farther the people went away from Him with their sins
and evil ways. To end this misery and restore the sinful people into His love,
God sent His only Son Jesus to save the people of Israel and the whole humanity
at large. In today’s gospel (Jn 3:16-18) Jesus says, “God so loved the world
that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him… have eternal life… God
sent the Son into the world… so that the world might be saved through him.” Jesus
through His passion, death and resurrection saved us from sin. He restored us
to the love of God.
Our understanding of God as Triune
or Trinity begins from New Testament or from Jesus who spoke of God as three
persons. Jesus called God as His Father (Mt 16:15) and manifested Himself as
the ontological Son of the Father (Mk 14:62). He Spoke Himself and the Father
as one (Jn 14:11). As stated above, God loved the world so much. As an
expression of His love towards humanity the Father gave His own and only son
Jesus as a gift. To Jesus, the Father expressed His love by gifting Him with the
resurrection; by raising Him from the dead.
Jesus as an expression of
His love towards the Father gifted the humanity to him as blameless and holy
people by saving us from sin through His passion. Jesus as an expression of His love towards humanity
gifted us with the Holy Spirit who help us to remain in the love of God forever.
Therefore, love is an exchange of gift. It is an agape. It is a sharing of
gift. It is giving of oneself as a gift to the other and receiving the other as
a gift. Father gifted us with Jesus and received as from Jesus as a Gift. Jesus
gifted us with the Holy Spirit to remain in the love of the Father. We in turn
need to gift Him with our daily fidelity.
As we celebrate the feast of
Most Holy Trinity, let us entrust ourselves to Jesus that He may fill us with
the gifts of Holy Spirit. So that we may lead our lives toward God the Father in
holiness, walk in the path of Jesus with reverence and remain in the love of
Trinity with the help of the Holy Spirit.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love
of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Cor 13:14)
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