The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
June 15, 2025 — Year C
Readings: Prv 8:22-31 / Ps 8 / Rom 5:1-5 / Jn 16:12-15
by Rev. Nixon Negparanon, Pastor

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, the central mystery of our Faith, and the heart of who God is:  one God in three divine persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Though the Trinity is a mystery, beyond full human comprehension, it is not a puzzle to be solved, but a truth to be lived and loved.  The Trinity is not a distant theological concept.  It is the life of God, shared with us, and the pattern for how we are to live in this world.

In our first reading, from Proverbs, we encounter Divine Wisdom, present before the beginning of the earth.  The Church has long recognized in this passage a reflection of the second person in the Trinity:  the eternal Son, the Word of God.  “Then was I beside Him as His craftsman,” we hear, “and I was His delight day by day.”  Wisdom is not just knowledge.  It is relational delight, creative joy, and eternal communion.  God’s very being is the relationship.

In Romans, Chapter 5, St. Paul invites us into that relationship: “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  This peace is not the absence of conflict but the process of God’s life in us, poured out through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.  The Trinity is not only revealed to us; it is shared with us.  In Baptism, we are drawn into the life of the Father, Son, and Spirit.  We become living temples of the Trinity.

In the gospel of John, Jesus prepares His disciples for the coming of the Spirit—the Spirit of truth—who will glorify Christ and declare what belongs to the Father.  This mutual giving and receiving, this perfect communion between the persons is the very light of God.

Notice that the Spirit doesn’t speak apart from the Son.  The Son reveals the Father, and the Father sends the Spirit.  This is the unity of truth and love we are called to mirror in the Church and in the world.  God is not solitary.  God is a communion of persons.  This has profound implications.  We are made not for isolation but for relationships—with God, with each other, and with the truth.

And yet we live in a time marked by division, relativism, and attacks on the most vulnerable among us, especially the unborn.  Today, the unity of the Trinity challenges us to bear witness to the truth with love, especially in the public square.  We, as believers of the risen Christ, must engage our consciences and communities in defending life and dignity in our Commonwealth of Virginia.

There is currently a great attempt underway—a two-year process—to add an extreme abortion amendment to Virginia’s constitution.  This amendment would not only permit abortion at nearly all stages but could possibly eliminate basic protections for unborn children.  The Virginia Catholic Conference has prepared vote reports for every parish showing how our elected representatives voted on this and other key issues.  We are called as Catholics, not just to worship the Trinity on Sunday, but to live the truth of the Trinity in our public witness.  That includes being informed, engaged, and faithful to the gospel of life.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, §234, says,

The mystery of the most holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life.  It is the source of all other mysteries and the light that enlightens them.

This mystery teaches us that God is love, and that all Christian life is a sharing in the life of the Trinity.  If we have received this gift, we must also share it, with courage, with compassion, and with clarity.

The Church teaches in the encyclical letters, Evangelium Vitae by Pope John Paul II and Caritas in Veritate by Pope Benedict XVI, that love must be truthful, and truth must be loving.  In a world that tells us to keep our faith private and accept moral confusion as tolerance, the Trinity calls us to a higher standard:  to unity in truth, charity in action, and clarity in conscience.

How can we respond to this higher calling?  Consider the following:

1. Pray and draw near to the Trinity. Make time daily for prayer, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Let God draw you deeper into His divine life.
2. Read and reflect on the vote report when it becomes available. Share it respectfully with your family, friends, and neighbors.  Voting is a moral act.
3. Speak the truth with charity. Defend the unborn and the vulnerable with both conviction and compassion.
4. Live unity in diversity. Just as the Trinity is unity in three persons, we must learn to work together as a Church.  There are different vocations, different gifts, but one mission.
5. Let your love be sacrificial.  Love as the Trinity loves, not in self-interest, but in self-gift.  That means being generous with our time, treasure, and truth.

The mystery we celebrate today is not distant.  It is intimate.  The Trinity is our origin, our destiny, and our guide.  As Pope Benedict XVI once said, “The Christian God is not a solitary being, close in upon Himself.  He is life, love, gift, and communion.”

Let us be living icons of the Trinity in today’s world.  People of truth, communion, defenders of life, and agents of peace.  Let us walk boldly and humbly, not to impose, but to propose the Gospel in the spirit of love and truth.  In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.