Homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
15 June 2014
My brothers and sisters, this great Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity reminds us of the great Mystery of Faith that we profess each week as we stand together and proclaim the Creed of the Church.
Now, I can stand here today and try to explain to you the vastness of the Mystery of our God. I can also tell you simply, "God is love", and be done with it. But neither of those approaches would be fair in this circumstance.
Rather, I'd like to take a moment to extend that which was presented to us in our readings this day: an invitation. Though Moses extended it to the Lord, and Paul extended it through his instructions, the invitation is for us and our God to be companions on a unique, but ultimately fulfilling journey.
To completely understand this invitation, we must turn to the Gospel. This passage from the Gospel of John is one the best-known, or most recognized, from either the Old or New Testament. But within the passage lies the basis for being on this journey of faith.
God the Father wanted the Chosen People of the Covenant - the People of Israel - to be in a true relationship with Him. He wanted to look them in the eyes so that they could know His tender compassion and engaging charisma. And so, as John reminds us, "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son." Jesus Christ, both Son of God and God, Himself, invites us into that personal relationship with Him so that He can lead us to the Father. But true entrance into that relationship can only come about when we open our minds, our hearts, our lives, and submit to the One who was sent by the Father and the Son: the Holy Spirit.
Each time we make the Sign of the Cross, we not only invoke the Names of the Persons of our Triune Godhead, but we also convict ourselves of actually having a relationship with our God, and in that conviction, we re-accept the invitation to journey with our God - and each other! - along the road of faith.
For, in the end, the invitation to journey with our God (and each other) is the invitation to live in community. And to live in community is to live as our God lives - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Our God lives as a perfect Community of Love - and we are invited to join in that very act of living as part of that community.
Each time we enter into communion with our God, be it in prayer or in the liturgies of the Church, we profess to the world that not only do we accept God's invitation to community, but also do we accept the call to support one another on the journey of faith.
And this is the basis of who we are as being made in the image and likeness of our God: Being fashioned in love to express that love - though imperfectly on our end - in the realm of community. If we, as humans, are to emulate God in all things, then living in community is one of the very foundations of our lives along the journey. And to make the Sign of the Cross - invoking Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - is the acceptance of that invitation; a spiritual "RSVP", if you will, of our intent to consistently be in communion with our God and each other.
One of the greatest ways to remain in community and to repeat our "yes" to the acceptance of the invitation is to become bound to God and to one another. Some of the most common ways we bind ourselves to God is through our prayer, our liturgies, and our participation in the Sacraments. This idea of binding should not be too foreign or strange, for most people here in the church today are bound to another through the Sacrament of Marriage. I am bound to this parish and this diocese through the promises I made at my ordination to both the diaconate and the priesthood. Binding is a choice freely made to share in the life of a community, or with another individual, forming a community at the smallest level. Yet being bound is also an acceptance to an invitation to not be only a part of a community, but to enter into a relationship - and, dare I say, a SACRED relationship - in which the love of the community protects from the deformities of love, the privations of good those who choose to accept the invitation to be a part of the community. This is what our Founding Fathers meant when they signed the Declaration of Independence, "mutually [pledging] to each other [their] Lives, [their] Fortunes and [their] sacred Honor."
And so, sitting in these pews today, we have freely chosen the invitation to be bound to the community who journeys this road of faith. We freely choose to be bound by Word and Sacrament to the God who loves and formed us, and to our brothers and sisters who believe in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Saint Patrick, as we know through the story of the shamrock, was a great defender of the Mystery of the Holy Trinity. In fact, the Prayer of Saint Patrick's Breastplate is one of the most beautiful and widely-prayed prayers to the Trinity throughout the history of the Church. And so, it seems most appropriate that we pray it this day:
I bind to myself today
The strong power of an invocation to the Trinity,
The faith of the Trinity in Unity
The Creator of the Universe.
I bind to myself today
The might of the Incarnation of Christ with that of His Baptism,
The might of His Crucifixion with that of His Burial,
The might of His Resurrection with that of His Ascension,
The might of His Coming on the Judgment Day.
I bind to myself today
The power in the love of the Seraphim,
In obedience of the Angels,
In the ministration of the Archangels,
In the hope of Resurrection unto reward,
In the prayers of the Patriarchs,
In the predictions of the Prophets,
In the preaching of the Apostles,
In the faith of the Confessors,
In the purity of the holy Virgins,
In the deeds of righteous men.
I bind to myself today
The power of Heaven,
The brightness of the Sun,
The whiteness of the Snow,
The splendor of Fire,
The speed of Lightning,
The swiftness of the Wind,
The depth of the Sea,
The stability of the Earth,
The firmness of Rocks.
I bind to myself today
God's Power to pilot me,
God's Might to uphold me,
God's Wisdom to guide me,
God's Eye to look before me,
God's Ear to hear me,
God's Word to speak for me,
God's Hand to guard me,
God's Way to lie before me,
God's Shield to shelter me,
God's Host to secure me.
Against the snares of demons,
Against the seduction of vices,
Against the lusts of nature,
Against everyone who meditates injury to me,
Whether far or near,
Whether few or with many.
I invoke today all these virutes
Against every hostile merciless power
Which may assail my body and my soul.
Against the incantations of false prohpets,
Against the black laws of heathenism,
Against the false laws of heresy,
Against the deceits of idolatry,
Against the spells of witches, and smiths and Druids,
Against every knowledge that blinds the soul of man.
Christ protect me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
That I may receive abundant reward.
Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ in me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ at my right, Christ at my left,
Christ when lying down, Christ in sitting,
Christ in rising up.
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
I bind to myself today
The strong power of an invocation to the Trinity,
The Faith of the Trinity in Unity,
The Creator of the Universe.
Enjoy the journey . . .
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