Trinity Sunday Mass Readings and Homily: God's Revelation as Father, Son, and Spirit
Readings for May 31, Trinity Sunday; Virtual Homily; Graduation at O'Dowd; Summertime and the Livin' is Breezy; June Schedule
Dear Friends and Family,
Readings for Mass this Sunday:
Exodus 34:4-6, 8-9
Daniel 3:52-55
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
John 3:16-18
The Feast of the Holy Trinity is one of my favorites of the year. I love it for a variety of reasons, but it is especially joyful to me, from my perspective as a preacher. I suppose that this is because the concept of the Trinity offers so many, many possibilities for informative and relatable homilies. I have several homilies for this Sunday, and rotate them so as not to be repeating myself one year to the next, but in fact several homilies I have never preached are certainly possible as well -- I mean homilies about the Trinity that might occur to my mind, let alone the homilies that have and will occur to other priests, to deacons with preaching responsibilities this Sunday. This subject is inexhaustible.
The Trinity, as I say often from the pulpit and which I know I have said several times in these written homilies, is the deepest mystery of our faith. It is the mystery of the Divine Being itself. It is beyond us.
Having said that, I have to immediately admit the deeply interesting fact that the Greeks, in their philosophical concept of the One, the Logos and the World Soul, came within striking distance of our own Trinitarian understanding. But I attribute this accomplishment on the part of Greek philosophy to the intercession of the Trinity itself. We are, after all, made in the image and likeness of God. So it seems reasonable that, guided by God (that is, by the Holy Spirit) we might attain to a rough approximation of the nature of God.
But in any event, the ancient Greek philosophical understanding lacks some of the nuances of the Christian revelation. I have always maintained that the doctrine of the Trinity may be said to provide proof for the existence of God, because the human mind could not have conceived of it. It HAD to have been revealed to us -- by the Triune God.
As to this Sunday's readings, well...Exodus is one of the several examples from the Old Testament of "the Lord" appearing to a human being and conversing with him (the actual passage says the Lord descended in a cloud and stood with Moses, suggesting human, or human-like appearance; vs. 5). This passage is one of several which theologians -- Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant -- agree is one in which Jesus appears to persons in the Old Testament. That is, this is one of the "pre-incarnate Christ" appearances; the theologians argue that the Second Person, outside of time and space, incarnate in the man Jesus of Nazareth, was able to enter into human history before that first Christmas morning in Bethlehem.
This set of speculations takes us to the second deepest mystery of our faith -- the Incarnation. Fascinating as these speculations are, they are beyond the scope of this homily, which is about the Trinity.
The reading from Daniel, which functions as today's psalm, repeatedly, even rhythmically, attests to the glory of God but there is nothing in it to suggest a Trinitarian concept and I need to point out that this concept -- that God is three Persons in one Divine Being -- is in fact, only latent in the Hebrew Scriptures. Though there are many references to both the Word (Second Person) and the Spirit (Third Person) of God in the Hebrew Scriptures (that is, the Old Testament), it is possible to read these references (as the Jewish people do) as pertaining only to aspects of the divine nature, not to separate Persons within the Godhead.
No such qualifications needed with Paul's sign-off in the Second Letter to the Corinthians. This is the way most priests start the Mass -- it is a transparently Trinitarian blessing (vs. 13). By Paul's time, of course, the reality of the Trinity had been made manifest to the first Christians.
Finally, John 3:16 is, of course, one of Scripture's most famous passages. "For God so loved the world that he sent his only Son..." In fairness it is possible to read past the words of the passage and still not recognize the Trinity. But Jesus' repeated references to himself and the Father as one (for instance, John 14:9-10), tell us that God's only begotten Son is, in fact, God.
I'll wrap here -- despite wishing that I could go on for several more paragraphs -- by observing that it was precisely Jesus' insistence that he and the Father are one that so rattled the Pharisees. They had no concept of the Trinity. Merely in revealing the truth about the Godhead, Jesus placed himself at such odds with the religious leaders of first century Israel that they sought his death. They sought his death for a number of other reasons as well, but the great mystery which we celebrate today, one God, three Divine Persons, lay at the very heart of the debate between Jesus and the religious leaders. As much as he was killed for anything else, Jesus was killed for revealing the truth about the nature of the Divine Being, the Trinity.
I am getting this baby wrapped on Saturday evening, and my apologies for the fact that it did not arrive this morning, for which I generally aim. I cannot even claim that it has been a particularly heavy week, and thus my lateness with this e-mail. It was finals week, this past week at O'Dowd. My kids did not take a final. I've been busy with grading, off and on, but the main reason this homily was not in your inbox at eight this morning is that I have already splashed into summer...
Have taken it fairly slow and easy this past week; a couple Happy Twentieth Anniversary lunches, one such dinner celebration, sleeping late the two mornings I neither had the parish morning Mass nor had to be on campus, proof-reading a book we will be bringing into print in the fall, and so on.
As far as I am concerned, summer started a week ago, but graduation, tomorrow, confirms it. As is always the case, there are numerous members of the class of 2026 I will miss seeing around campus, next fall. At the same time, and this is just part of the rhythm and reality of the chaplaincy, I am glad to see them move into the next chapter of their young lives.
Meanwhile, the week's strange weather (not as weird here in Hayward as it has been in some parts of the state) notwithstanding, summer is here. I have this summer little in the way of travel plans and a lot in the way of ministry plans, especially as regards San Gabriel Media. I also have plans to genuinely kick back, here and there, enjoy a bbq with my family, linger over brunch on the patio at Vic's with good friends in Pleasanton, indulge myself with extra time at the gym.
I hope your summer, too, is off to a good start.
Take care and God bless.
Love,
Fr. Brawn
June Schedule:
Sunday, June 7
8, 1115 AM (both English)
Sunday, June 21
8 AM (English)
CATHOLIC COMMUNITY OF PLEASANTON/Seton Campus
11 AM (English)
Sunday, July 5
8, 1115 AM (both English)
Weekday Masses (all 8 AM, all English)
Mon, June 1
Fri, June 5
Sat, June 6
Mon, June 22
Tue, June 23
The weekday Mass schedule is likely to change -- I mean, I will have the Masses listed, but I am likely to pick up a few more. There was a miscommunication between myself and Fr. Jesus, regarding my June availability. Assuming I get more weekday Masses, I will report same in a future e-mail. I am not on the schedule the weekend of the 13-14 or the 27-28 because I am in London, the first of those weekends and am giving a retreat at St. Clare in Soquel the second.