Most Holy Trinity Sunday Year A - 4/6/2023 - Gospel John 3: 16-18
Belief
The Feast of the Holy Trinity is the celebration, of not three gods, but one God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This Feast requires neither knowledge nor logic to understand, but love, and love alone leads to having faith in Jesus. Without Jesus, we know nothing about the Trinity. Through Jesus we know the Godhead, three persons of God; and each person of God reveals God's love for the world in different ways. It is worth noting that the word 'The World' in St John's Gospel has little to do with landscapes of our physical world, but rather it includes all people who sincerely love Jesus.
The Father loves 'The World' through Jesus. He made His love visible through Jesus by sending Jesus to us; and through Him; we will be blessed and receive the gift of everlasting life.
Jesus loved 'The World' by making his love visible through the cross. By his cross and resurrection, Jesus permanently removed the stain of sin. He defeated death forever. Our second reading last week revealed,
'No one can say Jesus is Lord unless he is under the influence of the Holy Spirit' Cor. 12,3.
The Holy Spirit loved 'The World' by making himself visible through the sacraments of the Church; especially through the seven gifts of the Spirit. The Spirit is God's love. Love is unseeable. We can detect its goodness, namely, acts of charity, kindness, compassion, and love. They are the goodness of the work of the Spirit.
No one has ever seen the Father; including Jesus' apostles. Without a person; there would be no voice of that person. And again, without a person; there would be no shadow of that person. At Jesus' baptism, the apostles didn't see the Father.
They 'saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove'.
They heard the Father's voice from the cloud, saying,
'This is my Son, the Beloved, listen to him' Mat. 3,17.
When the apostles were up in the mountain on the Feast Of The Transfiguration, they, again, saw not God, but only heard the Father's voice from on high, saying,
'This is my Son, the Chosen One. Listen to Him' Lk. 9,35.
The brightness of God has invaded the apostles' spirit to the point that they were unable to look up, but face down. It tells us, that we, mortals, are not created to view God, the Immortal, face to face, until our physical bodies are being incorporated into the glorious body of the Risen Lord. It is then we can see God. Both times, the Father calls us to listen to Jesus' teaching. One of his teachings is that,
'No one can come to the Father except through me' Jn. 14,6.
Philip, one of Jesus' apostles, requested,
'Lord, let us see the Father and then we shall be satisfied' Jn. 14,8.
Jesus replied,
'To have seen me is to have seen the Father'. Jn. 14,9.
Jesus is telling us, he is the spitting image of the Father.
The third Person of God, the Holy spirit, is much harder to describe in terms of a physical body. Jesus' apostles only saw the 'shapes' of the Spirit. After Jesus' baptism, the apostles saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove upon him.
Last Sunday, we celebrated the Feast Of The Pentecost, the Spirit came upon Jesus' apostles like tongue of fires. When we burn charcoal, its flames are up and down all the time, and each time its shape is not the same, but changes. The Spirit looks like a tongue of fire implying that she is not confined in one form of shape, but rather she is visible in all forms of goodness. Without her, we are unable to do anything worthwhile. Jesus' message spreads throughout the entire world; The Holy Spirit reminds, guides, and directs the hearts of Jesus' followers to spread and live out His message. In that way, God's love is active and alive in our world.
The Father loves 'The World' through Jesus. He made His love visible through Jesus by sending Jesus to us; and through Him; we will be blessed and receive the gift of everlasting life.
Jesus loved 'The World' by making his love visible through the cross. By his cross and resurrection, Jesus permanently removed the stain of sin. He defeated death forever. Our second reading last week revealed,
'No one can say Jesus is Lord unless he is under the influence of the Holy Spirit' Cor. 12,3.
The Holy Spirit loved 'The World' by making himself visible through the sacraments of the Church; especially through the seven gifts of the Spirit. The Spirit is God's love. Love is unseeable. We can detect its goodness, namely, acts of charity, kindness, compassion, and love. They are the goodness of the work of the Spirit.
No one has ever seen the Father; including Jesus' apostles. Without a person; there would be no voice of that person. And again, without a person; there would be no shadow of that person. At Jesus' baptism, the apostles didn't see the Father.
They 'saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove'.
They heard the Father's voice from the cloud, saying,
'This is my Son, the Beloved, listen to him' Mat. 3,17.
When the apostles were up in the mountain on the Feast Of The Transfiguration, they, again, saw not God, but only heard the Father's voice from on high, saying,
'This is my Son, the Chosen One. Listen to Him' Lk. 9,35.
The brightness of God has invaded the apostles' spirit to the point that they were unable to look up, but face down. It tells us, that we, mortals, are not created to view God, the Immortal, face to face, until our physical bodies are being incorporated into the glorious body of the Risen Lord. It is then we can see God. Both times, the Father calls us to listen to Jesus' teaching. One of his teachings is that,
'No one can come to the Father except through me' Jn. 14,6.
Philip, one of Jesus' apostles, requested,
'Lord, let us see the Father and then we shall be satisfied' Jn. 14,8.
Jesus replied,
'To have seen me is to have seen the Father'. Jn. 14,9.
Jesus is telling us, he is the spitting image of the Father.
The third Person of God, the Holy spirit, is much harder to describe in terms of a physical body. Jesus' apostles only saw the 'shapes' of the Spirit. After Jesus' baptism, the apostles saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove upon him.
Last Sunday, we celebrated the Feast Of The Pentecost, the Spirit came upon Jesus' apostles like tongue of fires. When we burn charcoal, its flames are up and down all the time, and each time its shape is not the same, but changes. The Spirit looks like a tongue of fire implying that she is not confined in one form of shape, but rather she is visible in all forms of goodness. Without her, we are unable to do anything worthwhile. Jesus' message spreads throughout the entire world; The Holy Spirit reminds, guides, and directs the hearts of Jesus' followers to spread and live out His message. In that way, God's love is active and alive in our world.
Written by Fr Vũđình Tường
St Francis Xavier Catholic Parish
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane Australia
St Francis Xavier Catholic Parish
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane Australia
