Holy Trinity sunday. Why celebrate the HOLY TRINITY?
We celebrate Holy Trinity sunday.
Fr. Fred Wekesa, osa
5/29/20264 min read
Sunday Homily for Holy Trinity Sunday year A
3 REASONS TO CELEBRATE HOLY TRINITY?
This is a Sunday Homily for Holy Trinity Sunday year A. On this Holy Trinity Sunday, we reflect on the 3 major reasons to celebrate this HOLY TRINITY Sunday. Later, we shall look at the origin of the Holy Trinity and finally the importance of the Holy trinity in our Christian life today.
Before all else, let us remind ourselves some of the important liturgical events that we have celebrated so far right from the beginning of year A up to now. At the beginning of Advent year A, we were reminded and prepared for the coming of the messiah as well as his birth on Christmas day. Thereafter, we reflected on his baptism and his public ministry at the start of ordinary. The season that followed was Lenten period where we Journeyed with Jesus Christ on the way to his passion, death and resurrection on Easter Sunday. Moreover, 40 days after his resurrection, we celebrated his ascension and finally last Sunday, being Pentecost Sunday, we celebrated the descending of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles that marks the birth of the Church. Now, on this Sunday, we are celebrating the most holy Trinity Sunday because we are reminded that it is not only Jesus Christ who is involved and responsible for the salvation of human kind, but actually the father, the son and the Holy Spirit, the most holy trinity are included.
What is the Origin of the Holy Trinity and its celebration? There are two origins, 1. Theological origin based on the scripture and 2. Liturgical origin. First, the theological origin is stipulated in the New testament that shows Christ himself, more particularly the gospel passage of today, Christ responds to Nicodemus by mentioning the three persons in one God. However, the term trinity is absent in the Holy Bible but rather it came about because of some theological reflections based on Christ’s revelations in the scripture. The Second origin is more of liturgical. This implies that the origin of the solemnity of the most Holy trinity as revealed by Christ himself in the New Testament, its celebration was accepted by Pope John XXII in the year 1334 A.D and it would be celebrated on Sunday that comes after Pentecost Sunday.
Is the Holy trinity important in our Christian life today? Of course, yes it is important to us and at the same time it is a mystery meaning that it cannot be understood entirely but it can be understood partially. The Holy trinity is important to us as Christians today because it helps us 1. To know the identity of God 2. To understand the Communion and 3. To know the foundation of our faith. Let us start with
1. The identity of God as a triune God. The God we believe in and worship, is three persons in one God. We are monotheistic, believing in ONE God. As we have seen above, for God to save humanity, the Blessed Holy trinity is involved as revealed by Christ in the gospel text. How can we know the identity of our God? For us to understand better, I often use the image proposed by the church fathers in their quest to explain God as a triune God. They used the image of the Sun. let us see the components of the Sun. The sun represents the Father; the rays from the sun represents Jesus Christ, If you don’t know the rays of the sun, you can see it during morning hours especially when the house is not well swept. Lastly, the heat from the sun represents the Holy spirit. In addition to that, from the second reading of today, we find the introductory words that a priest uses at the beginning of mass that invokes the Holy trinity-2 Corinthians 13:11-13. These words are: “The grace of our lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the holy spirit be with you all”. The second aspect that the Holy trinity reminds us is
2. To understand the communion. The Holy Trinity as three persons in one God work together harmoniously because of the love that exists between them as Christ explains to Nicodemus in the Gospel of today. Moreover, St. Augustine in his book entitled “THE TRINITY” book 5-chapter 3 number 12 would say that “the holy spirit is a kind of inexpressible communion or fellowship of father and son”. In fact, Christ reveals the intention of God, the Father by saying that it is because God loved us that he sent US his only son to save us. Let the holy spirit warm our hearts to live in communion in our communities, to live communion in our families and to live communion in our world today. Let us recognize the fact that we cannot live alone in this world because no man is an island. Indeed, we need each other. The final aspect that the HOLY TRINITY reminds us is
3. The foundation of our faith. The Holy trinity is the basis through which our faith is built as Christians. God the father created us, God the son redeemed us as seen in the Gospel text today and the Holy spirit sanctifies us, therefore, whether we like it or not, we share in the life of the blessed holy Trinity. That explains why, we are baptized in the Trinitarian formula, that explains why we profess our faith in the holy trinity when reciting the creed, that explains why, we make the sign of cross at the beginning of mass or any prayer and at the end.
To conclude, on this solemnity of the most Holy trinity Sunday year A, we are invited to know, acknowledge and believe in one God who is three in one.
AMEN.
HAVE A BLESSED HOLY TRINITY SUNDAY!!!!!