05/29/2026
Dear friend in Christ, kindly receive the reflection for the Solemnity of The Most Holy Trinity, Year A, May 31, 2026. And may the grace of Almighty God, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you now and always.
When love spilled over
By Rev'd Dr Emmanuel ODOEMENE
At an international festival of families in Philadelphia, USA, in 2015, Pope Francis shared with the audience an experience with a little boy who asked him a tough question. Ryan, eight, a Canadian, asked the Pope: “What did God do before creating the world?”
The Pope conceded that it was a ‘really difficult’ question before proceeding to answer as follows: “Before creating the world God loved; because God is love. He has so much love – God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…that God would not be egoistic; it had to be poured out of Him so as to share that love with those outside of Himself and then God created the world.”
This Q & A encounter gives an illuminative background to the great mystery of the Holy Trinity we celebrate today. It’s a dogma, which is a truth revealed by God and declared by the Church as infallible and binding. Otherwise, how could it be logical, that: “There is one God, Who has Three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Each Person is God, yet there is still only one God” (Catechism of the Catholic Church #234, #253-256). The Church presents this dogma not for us to solve the mystery of the Trinity, about how arithmetically, 1+1+1 = 1 and not 3, but to grow in our understanding of the triune God.
Even the word Trinity is not explicitly written in the bible. This is the futility of trying to fully comprehend this mystery with the human mind, but can only stammer with inadequate human concepts; which is why St Augustine declared: “Si enim comprehendis, non est Deus”; if you have understood, then what you have understood is not God (Sermon 117.5). St Paul had also written: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!” (Romans 11:33).
Yet the bible gives us clues that help us make sense of the Trinity. In the Old Testament, indirect references are made of the Trinity; for example: Genesis 1:26 presents God speaking to Himself: “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness”. In relation to the Tower of Babel, God says, “Come, let Us go down among them and confuse their language (Genesis 11:7). These references imply, but not state the doctrine of the Trinity. Today’s 2ndR (2 Cor. 13: 11-13), is an apostolic blessing given in the name of the Holy Trinity: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
To each Person of the Trinity is ascribed a function proper to Him: to God the Father the work of Creation, to God the Son the work of Redemption and to God the Holy Spirit the work of Sanctification. But they neither exist in separation nor act in isolation. There is intrinsic unity.
In the encounter with Nicodemus in the gospel (John 3:16-18), Jesus speaks of the love of the Father who sent Him. And He in turn has given the Holy Spirit as the love between Him and the Father. This shows not only the unity of purpose in the Trinitarian family, but also the constant communication of love. By his nature, God is relational, and He invites us to this relationship of love, mercy and graciousness (1stR, Exodus 34;4b-6,8-9).
And so, we bow in humility before the immensity of the Holy Trinity and should preoccupy ourselves with the lessons we can learn from the Trinitarian life overflowing with love, mercy, and goodness. Love is God’s identity revealed in His works. We share in the Trinitarian life insofar as we reflect that identity. Like Ryan we too seek to know more about God who is love and whose love spilled over to beget all of His creation.
