Homilies

SOLEMNITY OF THE HOLY TRINITY: PURSUING THE SAVING WORK OF THE TRIUNE GOD

AFTER THE SOLEMNITY of Pentecost, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. This mystery is the core of our Christian beliefs. Every time we make the sign of the cross, we directly link this to our belief in the one and triune God.

Our gospel today is about the commissioning of the “Eleven” disciples. They were now eleven because Judas Iscariot hanged himself. This gospel passage contains three important instructions of Jesus: to go, to baptize, and to teach.

First, Jesus instructed the Eleven to go and make disciples of all nations. It is a way directing them to continue the work and mission of the one and triune God. The economy or plan of salvation is a work of the triune God. It was from God the Father that the plan of saving humanity came. To reveal and to fulfill it, he sent his only Son to the world: he became man, suffered, died, and rose from the dead. Now that Son went back to the Father, he sent the Holy Spirit to continue the work of sanctification. When Jesus commissioned his disciples, he asked them to be part of the saving plan of the one and triune God for humanity by making people believers of the triune God.

Second, Jesus instructed them to baptize the prospective disciples “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” The Church fulfills this each time a child or an adult is incorporated into the Church by using the Trinitarian formula in baptism. Baptism shows a union between the baptized, the Church community, and the triune God. In the celebration of baptism, the “baptized” becomes a child of the one and triune God.

Third, Jesus instructed them to teach them the importance of observing his commands. Obedience to the will of God, obedience to God’s commands, and obedience to the laws of the Church… these may not sound appealing to modern-day believers. Why? It is so because there is now a great drive towards freedom and independence. Existentialist philosophy, for instance, defines man as “an utter freedom.” Consequently, there is a need to disregard or reject God because he curtails human freedom. Furthermore, husbands or wives want greater freedom from their spouses, and modern-day children want total freedom from their parents. Following the Church commandments is not an experience of freedom for some. They can only feel liberated as soon as they get rid of these ecclesial commands and laws.

Ironically, those people who distanced themselves from God and the Church in the name of freedom were actually “enslaved” by sins and sinfulness. In contrast, those people who abide by Christ’s and Church’s commands are the ones who live in true freedom because they do the will of God in their lives. St Paul emphasized this. To live in freedom is a mark of a person renewed in and by Christ.

Thus, our celebration today invites us to cling to our belief in the one and triune God, to be part of the mission of the one and triune God, and to live as free children of the one and triune God.

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