Today we celebrate the feast of the Holy Trinity, so I’d like to begin with the sign of the cross. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Every time we say these words we are professing our belief in a triune God. When we enter the church by blessing ourselves with Holy water the symbol becomes even stronger and the significance of our baptism more visible as we recall we were baptized in the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, We believe that the God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob is one God but three divine persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit who exist eternally as distinct persons while sharing an essential absolute sameness                    

In defining the trinity theologians have looked at their specific roles referring to God the Father as creator, God the Son as redeemer and God the Holy Spirit as Sanctifier and yet we need to be careful not to allow their roles to somehow separate their oneness. In John’s Gospel the Apostle Thomas said to Jesus: Show us the father and that will be enough for us to which Jesus responds How long must I be with you Thomas - if you have seen me, you have seen the father - for the Father - is in me and I - am in the father. Jesus would also show his oneness with his father by referring to himself as I AM - the very title God the Father gave Moses - when asked who he was - at the burning bush

St. Paul in Ephesians 4: tells us we are all called to serve one lord as he states: I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in the manner worthy of the call you have received as you and I are called to live as imitators of God with all humility and gentleness and patience, bearing with one another through love striving to preserve the unity of the Spirit thru the bond of peace. You and I are called to serve one Lord, one Faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. Just as the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one you and I are one. To totally give of oneself to another is what it means to be imitators of Christ who was willing to give his life for us. We recall that Christ is the image of the invisible God who sent his son to teach us how to love and - forgive and - sacrifice - for one another.

To support the father and the son’s commonality, the church redefined its reference to Jesus in the creed several years ago by changing one in being - with the Father to consubstantial with the Father in other words Jesus is not just one in being with the Father but of the same substance as the father. The church also changed its reference in the creed to Jesus being born of the virgin Mary to being incarnate of the virgin Mary; to be born of Mary could suggest Jesus is a man born of Mary being incarnate of the virgin Mary means he is God and man. Incarnate means a Deity is embodied in the flesh of Mary    

St Faustina said God’s greatest attribute is mercy and seeing God as love and mercy, calls us to that same expression of love and mercy if we hope to be imitators of that Love.  Sister Mc Carthy, a theologian of the order of St Dominic when speaking about the mystery of the trinity - states that we shouldn’t ask ourselves whether or not we believe in God but whether or not we believe in Love - for It's when we love that we experience God. She also stated that when we know God -doubt disappears -like an early morning mist disappears before the Sun. She also warns us that if we don’t live according to our beliefs, we will lose a clear image of God until he finally doesn’t seem to exist to us at all and that the holy trinity is not something we should argue about but it’s something we need to pray about.

I think this reinforces the importance of living out our faith. How much time do we give God every day, and even if we do how does he rank? It’s only after we do all the things we want to do then maybe if I’m not too tired I might think about him. The fact we are even able to breath and our heart is able to beat is because of him yet how often do we forget about our lifeline. Tolstoy says: to understand God is beyond me but to do his will is in my power. God’s will is for us is to love one another and be in a relationship with him. If we don’t have a relationship with him, how can we say we love him? Our relationship begins with prayer, attending mass and being involved in our faith. 

St. Paul in his 2nd letter to the Corinthians summarizes a common under-standing of the Holy Trinity for all of us -as they are the - very first words spoken at - the opening of every mass as we profess: May the Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you.  Listen to those words again – may the grace and the love and the fellowship of God - be with you!  At the very beginning of mass the priest is inviting God’s grace and love and fellowship to be part of our lives, we are all called into a love and fellowship with God - the love of the father, the grace of the Son and the fellowship of the Spirit.

St. Athanasius said that we acknowledge the trinity as holy and perfect and that in this trinity there is no intrusion of any alien element or of anything outside… rather it is wholly - a creative and energizing reality, self-consistent, and undivided in its active power for the Father makes all things through the Word (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit. In this way the unity of the trinity is preserved.

Accordingly in the church one God is preached, who is above all things as Father for he is the principle and source, as the Son is through all things in the word, and as the Holy Spirit is in all things as - the life giving Spirit. 

Father in your gentile mercy guide our wayward hearts for we know that left to ourselves we cannot do your will -make us aware that you are always near us, inspiring us to love one another and that every time we make the sign of the cross and every time we bless ourselves with holy water and every time we baptize someone and every time we welcome someone into the church we are showing our belief in a triune God  the father the son and of holy spirit