TRINITY SUNDAY, YEAR C

THE TRINITY FOR STRONG RELATIONSHIPS

(photo: St. Hildegard of Bingen’s illustration of her vision of the Holy Trinity)

These are some of the all-too familiar stories we hear around us:  a married couple split up after 20 years, a man feels unhappy in his family, a person finds out his friend’s deception, a woman discovers her lover’s manipulation, a worker falls away with his boss, a mother or father loses contact with his child.

Life is marked by relationships - personal, family, work, church, community - and yet so many relationships end in destruction.  While these started out with fervor and gusto, they end up in rancor and bitterness.

Today we celebrate the God of relationships.  As Christians our God is One but within a relationship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  This puzzle of One God in Three Persons has meaning only in terms of relationship.  God is not an isolated God but a reaching-out God, both in Himself and outside Himself.  The first reading mentions something very intriguing and delicate when it describes God “playing on the surface of the earth” (Prov 8:31).  God is not confined to heaven. He descends to our earth and touches every one of us, enjoying the encounter!

Our God is all about relationship - strong and durable relationships.  We do not see in God the breakdown and division we find among us. What is the secret of this enduring, compact and happy unity? 

First, relationship in God is never selfish but is always generous.  The gospel (Jn 16:15) says the Father gives everything to the Son, who receives everything in turn.  Then the Son shares everything with us through the Holy Spirit.

Even our best relationships can fall into selfishness.  A satisfied couple do not want to have children.  A rich family is indifferent to the poor.  A club or gang selects its members.  When this happens, the relationships do not grow but becomes restricted. Relationships must be generous and open in order to blossom and spread.

Second, relationship in God is one of truth. Jesus says that the Holy Spirit contributes and disseminates only the truth (Jn 16:13).  The Father and the Son are true to each other and therefore true to us as well.

Many relationships today ignore truth.  Young people hide the truth from their parents and thus avoid being guided.  Friends keep secrets from each other when honesty should prevail.  In families and communities, we know others only superficially. Or we establish hurtful and forbidden contacts that harm us and those we love.

Are we part of broken relationships? Do we want to heal hurting relationships in our lives? Do we want to correct the mistakes we made in our own relationships? Then let us turn to the Trinity and ask for the grace of two things:  generosity and truth.  May the Trinity give us the grace of strong relationships in our families and communities.