The Mystery : Our Call

Holy Trinity Sunday

Today we celebrate the Holy Trinity Sunday. And the mystery of the Holy Trinity is one of the most difficult doctrines in the Catholic Church, because it is A MYSTERY.

The doctrine is often perceived as anything but practical…if we are not careful, we may be trapped in the intellectual speculation as we try to uncover the whole mystery of the Holy Trinity. In fact, there are theologians in our church that may have been focusing too much on the speculation until the God in the theology is far from what we experience in our lives.

In our first and second readings, Moses and Paul share a similar point that we may not have the full knowledge, but we have experienced the Trinity. No one sees God physically or hear God verbally, but we believe that God created us and the whole nature.

Through the life of Jesus as recorded in the Bible, and in the activities of the Holy Spirit since the Pentecost, we experience God’s presence in our world.

Jesus was sent to be one of us…He is fully human. From His short life on earth, we have glimpses about what God is all about. In Jesus we found God who is full of mercy and compassion. From Him we know that God is a loving Father who always pursues us…to be in love with Him. Jesus invites us to have a personal relationship with God, to be one with God, just as Jesus is one with the Father.

Jesus showed us that our God is a God of relationship.

Last week, we celebrated Pentecost. The same spirit that came down to the disciples 2000 years ago is still at work in our lives today. The spirit is the little voice that always speak to us in our heart although we may not listen to Him. The spirit always holds us, reminds us, and bring us back to our identity as children of God.

In the Spirit, God continues pursuing an intimate relationship with us, and at the same time, the spirit guides us to be intimate with one another. Now, the Gospel tells us that we are baptised in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. What does it mean?

It means that through our baptism, we are no longer live on our own. Our lives have now been inserted to God’s own life. We are now joining the communion of God. The Father and the Son who eternally love each other perfectly in the Spirit now share the same love with us, and this love calls us to live from and for one another, just like the Father and the Son, who live for and from each other in the Holy Spirit.

This is a very beautiful faith…beautiful doctrine…. But…I actually struggled when I did my reflection to prepare for this sharing. How come this sharing sounded so theoretical? I was challenged to explore the connection of the doctrine and my life experience.

I join the friars because I would like to live up this call for communion, but in reality, there are times when I wonder if this call is realistic, because such communion does not exist in our world, even with the person that I love the most. All of us could acknowledge that… in husband and wife, in our family, in friendship, none of us has that perfect love and communion.

I asked myself further,

Is the communion worth pursuing

when I heard about the church bombing in Indonesia few weeks ago?

Or when the innocent people are killed in the school shootings?

Where is the communion when the migrants do not have a place to live peacefully?

Where is the communion when physical and mental abuses

happen every day and everywhere?

The communion of the Holy Trinity indeed does not exist in this world. That perfect communion will only happen in heaven. But that does not mean it is not pursuing in this world. In fact, our life on earth is our preparation for that perfect communion in heaven. The world that we are living now is our temporary home before we join the Holy Trinity in our eternal home.

This is our call as Christians, whose God is a God of perfect communion, God of perfect relationship. As our lives are grafted in God’s life, our goal is to be God-like.

When we are hurt, we are called to be like the Father,

who came out running to forgive and welcome the prodigal son.

When we are misunderstood, betrayed, and killed,

we are called to be like the Son,

who would still love and sacrifice His life for those who hate Him.

And in the Spirit, we will all gather as one.

In my seminary study, I have just completed this module on the Holy Trinity. I have written four essays about the Holy Trinity, and I am very very verrryyy confident that I will pass this module. But sadly, even after passing this module, the Holy Trinity remains a mystery. But I know one thing sure, that our understanding about The Holy Trinity can only deepen through our lives.

The Holy Trinity is not meant to be understood, but to be lived in.

When we live in communion with God and one another,

we may not have solved the mystery,

but we become parts of that mystery.