Trinity Sunday, Yr A
Sermon Notes by Fr Aidan Jerry Hix, OSC/Priest
St Aidan’s Anglican Mission in Antioch, CA
Readings:
Genesis1:1—2:3
Ps 150 or Canticle 2
2 Corinthians 13:(5-10)11-14
or 13 Matthew 28:16-20
Almighty and everlasting God, who hast given unto us thy servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity: We beseech thee that thou wouldest keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see thee in thy one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
- The Doctrine of the Trinity
- The Worship of the Holy Trinity
- The Test of Steadfastness in the Faith
As a child I loved and was drawn to the awe of mystery. Whether it was the romance between fire and darkness (I have always loved the dance of candlelight and shadows casting silhouettes on the wall) or reading a good mystery novel, such as the Hardy Boys, I was greatly affected by the numinous. Taking old appliances apart to see how they worked enthralled me- how all those gears and wheels turned! I was rarely able to put such things back together but I little cared for that anyway. The joy was in taking things apart and in discovery of something new, the finding out of a secret.
I was fascinated with the hidden symbols of the mind, dreams and the unconscious realms of the soul. My heroes were the prophets, priests and mystics- the shamans who lived at once in two worlds- upon earth and the realm of the spirit. Qui Chang Cain of the TV series, Kung Fu, is one example of the wielder of the mysterious realms- a martial artist and a priest trained in the Shaolin Temple and Monastery. I took these flights of fancy and awe and adapted them to my faith, for I felt the call of the Deep calling unto deep. It was such deep stirrings of the heart that finally led me to the catholic faith and the world of mystery and sacraments where the Real Presence of God was made manifest through earthly realities- truly living between both worlds, where heaven and earth overlap.
I have spent most of my life exploring the mysteries of the faith and taking spiritual things apart seeking the numinous things of God. I am no scholar but I have grasped many of the cardinal doctrines of our religion but there is one mystery which has alluded me- the Mystery of the Holy Trinity. It is a cardinal doctrine of our faith but one I have little understood or been able to find relevance in or apply to my life, until recently. It is a mystery beyond mortal understanding and we are not meant to grasp fully the nature and essence of God. But God has not left us comfortless and has made himself known to us as three divine persons- of Father and Son and Holy Spirit.
Today is Trinity Sunday and the time during the liturgical year when we commemorate the doctrine and especially render our worship to the most Holy Trinity. Vernon Staley summarizes this doctrine in these words:
"There is one God in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. These three persons are co-equal in all things. " The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God, and yet they are not three Gods, but one God." x This is the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, taught by the Church, and proved by the Scriptures. Whilst the Holy Scriptures teach that there is but one God, they speak of each of the three persons as divine, and thus prove to us their co-equal Godhead. The doctrine of the Trinity in Unity is a great mystery. A mystery is a truth revealed by God which we are therefore bound to believe, but which we are unable fully to understand. Though the doctrine of the Trinity is above the understanding, it is not contrary to it. It is reasonable that there should be mysteries in religion, and above all that there should be mystery about the Being of God. If we could grasp the doctrine of the Trinity, we should ourselves be God. The fly on the ceiling cannot understand the nature of man, because man is so much beyond a fly in the scale of creation. But there is less interval between a fly and a man, than there is between man and God; for man is a creature, and God is the infinite Creator."
Although the doctrine of the Trinity is a great mystery about the very essence and being of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Lord has left us clues in the story of salvation to assist us in our worship of the Trinity and manifesting this mystery in our lives!
First, we must go back to the beginning of the Story. 26Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness... So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply."
The Trinity is a divine and spiritual mystery but in the economy of God spiritual reality is made manifest in the and through the physical realm.
- Let us make man and women in our image
- Our humanity itself was designed to reflect the mystery of the internal relationship of the Holy Trinity.
- Our common daily life not merely the times we set apart for the special ceremonies and rites of the church- baptisms, weddings, funerals, and Sunday worship
- Not divided into the Sacred & profane
- Gnosticism: Spirit (good) vs the physical/body (bad)
- The Mystery of the Trinity is Sacramental/Incarnational
- Kenosis- Jesus emptied himself/ poured himself into an earthly tabernacle
suffered bodily/ raised bodily - Eucharist- took himself in his own hands and offered himself to his disciples as real food and real drink
- Our own bodily resurrection
- Examples
Lembas bread
Ring- anti-sacrament
Worship
Imagination/story/mythology
Lewis- Great Divorce ºspiritual = more heavy, more real
Gandalf (angel)
Contrast with evil
Wraiths/ wraith process
Orcs- captured, tormented, twisted, corrupted
evolving downward
fading- less real
The mystery of the Trinity is a relationship - Father, Son, Holy Spirit
- Ex: Christ’s Baptism: Jesus, Voice of God, HS as a Dove
- Our call to be fruitful and multiply
- Family
- Helpmate
- companionship
- Ex: Frodo & Sam
- Merry & Pippin
- Legolas & Gimli
- Contrast with the self-seeking & destructiveness of evil
- Saruman & Grima
Individualism
Isolationism
arrogance & pride - Called to be part of the Church & Kingdom
Call of Abraham & Family
The Tribes & Nation of Israel
The church
Kingdom of God
community
Family Church
Conclusion: The Mystery of the Holy Trinity.
It is said that on a certain occasion a preacher named Alanus, promised to make plain to his hearers on the next Sunday, the doctrine of the Trinity in Unity. Whilst considering the matter by the sea shore, he saw a child with a spoon in his hand walking to and fro between the sea and a hole which he had made in the sand. Alanus asked the child what he was doing. He replied, I am trying to empty the sea into this hole. Alanus said, Why dost thou waste thy time in attempting an impossibility ? The child again replied, I am not more wasting my time than thou art, for thou wilt no sooner get all the knowledge of the Holy Trinity into thy small mind, than I shall empty the great sea into this hole in the sand.1 Though a philosopher cannot explain the doctrine of the Trinity in Unity, a child can believe it. This great truth is not one about which we are to puzzle our minds. We are simply to believe it, because God has revealed it to the Church, and the Church teaches it. Reason becomes lost in wonder, and gives place to adoring faith.
"The Catholic Faith is this; that we WORSHIP one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity. . . . In all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity is to be WORSHIPPED."
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