06/04/2026
Homily for the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity
May 31,2026
I’ll begin today by saying that, pretty much, I don’t know what I’m talking about. Some of you might be thinking, “It’s about time he admitted it” While others may be wondering, “So, why am I listening to him?”
Today is an important Feast Day of the Church. It is the one that we most often call to mind, whether we realize it or not because we generally begin our prayers by mentioning it. It is one that we live and are a part of. And it is one that we will never come close to understanding, at least not in this life.
Today is the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. You might think, “That’s not so complicated. I know all about the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. St. Patrick used a simple shamrock, a three-leaf clover to explain it. How difficult could it be?
Actually, nobody knows all about the Trinity. We can’t. The fullness of it is a reality that is completely beyond our comprehension. The mystery of the Eucharist might be easier for us to understand than this is.
But just because we can’t understand something completely doesn’t mean that it can’t be meaningful or useful to us. I don’t have a clue how a cell phone or a computer function, but they still manage to work when I use them, though not really to their full potential because I’m not knowledgeable enough to take full advantage of everything that they have to offer. I really just use the basics.
This can also be true when it comes to God. The more aware of who God is and how He works, the more we can benefit from our relationship with Him. Sadly, we don’t always get as much as we can from God because we allow our lack of knowledge to get in the way.
If there is one word that helps us to understand what the Trinity is about, it would be “relationship” and specifically in how that word relates to family. Those might not be the words that we would initially think of when we think about this topic. Other words like mystery and holy are more likely to come to mind.
But the Trinity is really just that. It is a family relationship. The technical theological terms that are used are more confusing than they are helpful. What we can understand and what matters most, I think, is this: there are three “persons” in this one God, Father, Son and Spirit. We use the word “person” because we don’t have another word in our language to use. It’s not that they are three different people, in the way that we understand it but that they are three “entities” in this one God. And that each one of them “performs” a function, so to speak. The Father is the Creator, the Son, Jesus, is our Savior and the Spirit is there to help and guide us through life.
We don’t need to know exactly how they work in order to benefit from what they can and want to do for us, but the more we do know, the more we are able to appreciate and experience.
Of the three the one that is probably the most confusing to us is the Holy Spirit. We know who Jesus is and we know what He did for us: coming into the world as one of us; teaching and preaching the Gospel message; dying for our sins and rising from the dead to make our salvation and eternal life with Him something that is possible for us. We see images of Him, or at least different artist’s interpretations of His image all around us in statues, pictures and so on. And, of course, He is physically present to us in the Eucharist.
We can understand the idea of the Father, the Creator. We experience Him through all of His creation, the world around us and all that is in it, especially in one another.
But what about the Holy Spirit. His existence is more difficult for us to understand. I guess that by definition, He is something that we can’t see because He is spirit… or can we? If we say that someone has “spirit”, what does that mean? It means that we see something very much “alive” in them. There is an air about them that is appealing and maybe even infectious. They are happy and positive and motivated. When we speak about someone having “spirit”, we don’t ever really associate anything negative with it.
If we raise that to a divine and supernatural level, imagine how positive and powerful it could be. We Catholics are generally a bit more reserved in the way that we worship than some other Christian denominations. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a matter of style and there are many different ways for someone to express their faith.
Some people are filled with the Spirit and it is very evident. They are almost larger than life. But it doesn’t have to show itself in that way. Someone can also be very Spirit filled while at the same time being quiet and serene. God calls each of us in different ways to live our faith and that faith will show itself in different ways, as well. Each of those ways is good and each of those ways can be effective in living and spreading the Gospel message, while helping us to grow deeper in our own faith and relationship with God.
As I said, the Trinity is about relationships, the relationships between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and it is also about the relationship that we have with each of them. St. Paul describes what that relationship should be like in one word: Abba. No, it isn’t the musical group from Sweden that first hit the charts way back in the 1970’s with hits like Mama Mia and Dancing Queen. It is an Aramaic word. Paul says that it means “Father”. That’s not exactly right. Yes, it does mean that, but it is actually a much more personal and intimate word. We would say, “daddy”. This was not the type of relationship that people had or even thought to have with God at the time. Yes, we do see some people in the Old Testament having this type of relationship with God, like Abraham, Noah and Moses. But for most people it was more of a formal thing.
But what Jesus has brought and what God wants is different. It implies the closeness that God wants to have with His people, the type of relationship that He calls us to have with Him…to be able to see Him as “Daddy”.
I also said that the Trinity has to do with the idea of family. They, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are the original Holy Family, even before Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
We all know that family can be difficult at times, but more so, our families are great. They mold and form us into the people that we become. Our earthly family, as well as our membership in the family of God, are the foundation of who we are.
Each time we make the sign of the cross, let’s do so mindful of the fact that we are a real part of this great Trinity of persons that we call God, and we are because the Holy Spirit dwells in each one of us.
Let us learn to react to and treat each other mindful of that same fact, realizing that, no matter who it is that we might be talking to or dealing with or are just in the presence of, no matter how difficult they might make things for us or how much we disagree with them about something, that they are someone who God loves and that His Spirit is within them, as well.
And let us look within ourselves to find the Spirit that is there and let Him be visible for all to see and experience in whatever way is best for us to do.