Walking with Jesus on the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity

For Sunday, June 15, 2025

Proverbs 8:22-31, Romans 5:1-5, John 16:12-15


I remember the Catechism from way back when we had to memorize it. I recall the question: Who is God? God is an infinitely perfect creature who made all things and keeps them in existence. That’s what I learned. God is described as omnipotent, meaning all-powerful; omniscient, meaning all-knowing; and omnipresent, meaning present everywhere at all times. Who is God to you? God is all-loving … God loves you and me every moment of our lives. Do we believe that? Do we live that? Has that changed our lives?

Today’s first reading, from Proverbs, tells a different creation story than the one many of us know from Genesis. It starts with, “Thus says the wisdom of God” — and continues, insisting that God created wisdom (a famine word) first, before everything else ֫— including light. It demonstrates full awareness of the creation’s vastness and God’s power as Creator. So what or whom exactly is this “wisdom” coming from the mind of Solomon? Divine Wisdom is not a personification; it is a person. The one thing you cannot personify is a person. The One God is three persons. Persons are more real than abstract attributes. He is neither one person alone, nor is he three gods. He is one God in three persons. We worship a God. The Bible is very clear about that: The Father is God; the eternal son of God, Jesus, is God. The Holy Spirit is God. Yet there is one God. In God, the three persons are related to each other in eternal, infinite and perfect love. They are not one person but three persons in total harmony, in total love. We are loved by each one, all the time. The bottom line is that divine wisdom is so real that it is not just an attribute of a person — it IS a person. When He took on human nature, His name was Jesus.

Paul helps us understand how each of us is justified by our faith in God. This is ALREADY an accomplished fact. THINK on this. We and everyone have already been reconciled with God. All the guilt I have from disobeying … hurting … getting even … rejecting … not loving people in my life right up to now ... has ALREADY BEEN FORGIVEN. It has been accomplished by Jesus in His life, suffering, death, and resurrection. This is what Paul is telling us: There is no longer enmity, hostility, animosity. Rather, there is union in love and forgiveness, providing a way to heaven for each of us. This is what Jesus did! The consequences of this justification are peace, hope and love. True peace can only be mediated by Jesus. Hope is hope in God’s glory which, though it only will be realized fully later, is even now so powerfully present to believers that it sustains us through trials. This truly is God’s love that Jesus showed and proved. Am I grateful? Am I using the difficulties of life to their best advantage rather than to harden and isolate me from others? God loves. Do I?

John is expressing Jesus’ last words at the Last Supper — speaking of the Holy Spirit who will come in His stead. We saw this last Sunday when Jesus Himself breathed the Spirit on the disciples. A few verses before, Jesus had identified Himself, saying, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you know Me, then you will also know My Father.” (John 14:6-7) The Spirit tells only what He hears from Jesus, who in turn gets it from God the Father. We can tell from today’s passage that the Spirit is completely embedded in the Father-Son relationship between God and Jesus, making this an important passage for the doctrine of the Trinity, which is today’s feast. The Spirit glorifies Jesus by bringing to light the deeper truth of His teaching — teaching that also belongs to God.

So I reflect on:

• Those who say there is no God, or that God cannot be known, have already closed out the possibility of finding any joy in getting to know God at all. Do I show joy in God?
• Our relationships unite us with others, and yet we know we are separated from others. Jesus repeatedly invites us to be part of the relationship between Father, Son and Spirit, which is all about love. Do I respond? Do I partake in this love?  

Sacred Space 2025 states:

“The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Love between the Father and the Son. As the Spirit of Truth He continues the work of Jesus in teaching and enlightening us as Jesus promised us. Let us learn how to listen to Him and ask Him to lead our leaders and ourselves in the path of justice and truth.”