On this beautiful Solemnity of the Holy Trinity, my mind goes back to this same Feast ten years ago. I had just been ordained a priest for the Diocese of Columbus the previous day, and now I found myself standing in the sacristy of St. Catharine Church in Bexley, where I had grown up. As I got vested for Mass, the material of this very chasuble passed over my head and I said the prayer, “Lord, you have said my yoke is sweet and my burden light, grant that I might carry your yoke well, so as to obtain your grace.” Now vested with the symbol of God’s love, to be worn over everything, I was ready to celebrate my very first Mass. Sitting on the credence table in the sanctuary of St Catharine was this very chalice, a gift from the late Msgr. James Reuf, who had been my pastor and spiritual father during my college years. It is the chalice that he likely used at his first Mass.
With this chalice and wearing this beautiful vestment, I knew that I was surrounded with tokens of love. My mom had spent hours figuring out the seams and sewing together this and a whole set of vestments for me as an ordination gift. The red, white, purple and green chasubles and stoles had been presented to me at a gathering of family and close friends shortly before my ordination. This vestment is not only the product of hours of loving labor by my mom, but it speaks to her joy at having a son dedicated to the service of God and His Church. Wearing it reminds me of the joy of that first Mass and also gives me a renewed gratitude for the love between mother and son that was such an important part of my journey to the priesthood and remains an important part of my life as a priest now.
That chalice that I lifted up at the altar at St. Catharine ten years ago at my first Mass, and will lift up again today, is a token of the love between a spiritual father and his son. I enjoyed getting to know and love Msgr. Reuf during my time as a student at OSU and his parishioner at Holy Name Parish. I saw the love that Msgr. Reuf bore for all the students and how he had a shepherd’s heart for them, even though that sometimes expressed itself in the grumpiness of an old man. I experienced his love firshand in his gentle, fatherly advice in the confessional and in his interest in my discernment of my vocation to the priesthood. All of that love reverberates in my heart as I look at this chalice which he left to me.
Look around this beautiful church. Everything that you see is a token of love in its own way. Love is the reason for us being here. We were created by the God who is love; created for love. Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity, where we remember as a Church that most holy and central mystery of our faith: the mystery of the God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, One and Three. There are few more difficult topics to dive into, but few with more glory and possibility of illuminating our lives.
It is right that we should set aside time to ponder the identity of God, because by coming to know Him, we better know ourselves, each other, and the destiny to which He calls all of us. Without knowing Him, we are left in darkness. The God who is Love lights the way for us all.
The readings for Mass today point us to the goodness that comes from knowing who God is and who we are in relationship to Him. St. Paul speaks of the peace that we know by being drawn into the life of the Blessed Trinity, being justified by Jesus, made right with God the Father, and thus having the love of God poured out into our hearts by the Spirit. In our Christian lives, we aren’t just put in contact with God, we are drawn into the very inner life of God, brought into the peace of being held secure by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is the peace that goes beyond understanding and can carry us through our journey in this life.
The reality of the Trinity is that of a perfect, self outpouring communion of Three Divine Persons, each fully God and together fully God. We don’t exactly know how that works, but we have been given to know that this is who they are. We know that they are equally God with each other because of what Jesus has revealed to us. When Jesus talks in the Gospel passage we just heard about the Spirit taking from what is His and declaring it to us, He is speaking of a co-equal. The Spirit is one in nature with the Father and Son, sharing in their Divinity. Therefore, when He dwells and works in us, He never does anything apart from the Father and the Son, but draws us more deeply into the life of God and draws us together as the mystical body of Christ which is the Church.
The God who is that perfect Trinity of self-outpouring love has allowed all of us to be invited into the center of His love. Within that perfect giving of the Father to the Son and the Son to the Father, their love so Perfect that He is a Divine Person Himself; by His very presence, the Holy Spirit creates space. The relationships of the Trinity allow for space into which we are invited! So the destination for all of us, provided we live in Him, is to be in the center of the Divine Communion of the Trinity, participating in the Perfect Divine Embrace of love for all time!
Knowing who God is points us to where our hearts were ultimately made to dwell. Jesus came to reveal the Father and the Holy Spirit to us and give us that way to enter into Communion with them. What a gift we have in Jesus, who united humanity to divinity in His one Person, embraced the cross and defeated death to save every one of us, rose again and ascended with our now glorified humanity to the right hand of the Father, and sent the Holy Spirit to dwell within us and be our Advocate. All this for us, so that we might, in the fullness of time, partake in the Divinity of God in Heaven!
When we experience those moments of joy in the love we find here on earth, God wants to draw our hearts to our ultimate Home not just with Him, but in Him. The love of my mom for me is like a diamond through which the light of God’s love shimmers and shines. Her love points me and draws me beyond it to the Source, the Trinity, more glorious than the light of ten thousand suns, which, God-willing, we will one day enjoy together. The love of Msgr. Reuf and all of the other spiritual fathers I’ve known draws me beyond itself to the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, beating now in the glorious communion of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God-willing, I will be able to serve at the Heavenly banquet side by side with my brother priests who have gone before me. All those relationships of love in our lives are purified and fed by God who is Love, and they have the potential to draw us beyond themselves to the God who has made us for Himself. As St. Augustine once so beautifully put it in his Confessions: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”
+ Heavenly Father, thank you so much for revealing yourself to us through Your beloved Son. Jesus, help us to return to the Father through You. Holy Spirit, give us that peace that comes from You. Holy Trinity, we bless you and praise you. Please help us remain in your embrace now in our lives, so that we can enjoy the fullness of your embrace in Heaven. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen. +