There was an elderly bishop who was celebrating Confirmations often, and as bishops do, they walk around, talk to the kids and asks them questions. This bishop was a little hard of hearing. He was walking in the aisles, and he was asking the kids to tell him what the Trinity was. He said to the children, “Can anybody tell me what the Trinity is?” A little girl raised her hand, he walked over to her and said, “Oh good. Can you tell me what the Trinity is?” She said, “Yes, it is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.” The bishop could not hear her and he said, “Could you speak a little louder? I could not hear you.” She said, “The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.” The bishop again said, “What was that?” She said, “The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.” The Bishop said, “I still cannot hear you.” So, the little girl said, “Bishop, if you do not know by now, you are never going to know what the Trinity is.”
As we come here today, we celebrate this great feast of the Trinity, and it is a good thing for us to reflect on what the Trinity is. We all know the answer. The Trinity is God the Father, God the Son, and God The Holy Spirit. More important than knowing what the Trinity is, it is important that we know who the Trinity is. Who God the Father is to us, who God the Son is to us, and who God the Holy Spirit is to us. I like to do this, and I often ask people, “When you pray to God, who do you pray to?” A lot of time people will look back at me and say, “I pray to God.” I then ask them a little bit further, “Well if you think of God as Trinity, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, who do you normally pray to? Whom do you most comfortably relate to?”
I am going to take a quick survey of you. Who do you feel the most comfortable with? How many would say God the Father when you pray? If I were to ask who are you most comfortable with, would you answer God the Son, Jesus? Raise your hand if you feel more comfortable with Jesus. Now how about God the Holy Spirit? Raise your hand if you relate most to the Holy Spirit. I can see that it is a little bit different for everybody on who we relate to. What I would encourage you to do on this Trinity Sunday is ask whoever you most relate to, the Father, the Son or The Holy Spirit, to reveal to you the other two persons of the Trinity. If you are most comfortable with God, I would encourage you to say, “God the Father, help me to know Jesus. Help me to know the Holy Spirit.” If you relate most to Jesus say, “Jesus, help me to know your Father and the Holy Spirit.” Do the same thing if you relate to the Holy Spirit and say, “Help me to know Jesus more. Help me to know the Father more.”
The whole idea is that it is not just about knowing that the Trinity is God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit but really knowing each person of the Trinity. We can relate to each person of the Trinity. We can talk and have a relationship with God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The amazing thing is that as we get to know each one of them personally, we will get to know each one more deeply and intimately. If you hear nothing else, know what we hear in the gospel today: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but have eternal life. Jesus did not come to condemn the world. God the Father does not want to condemn the world. The Holy Spirit does not want to condemn the world. They came that we might have life. God wants you to know his love. He wants you to know his love as Father, as Son and as Holy Spirit. Just as the bishop was trying to get that answer out of the girl, God the Father wants to get that answer out of us. He wants us to know the Trinity is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but even more so, he wants us to know personally the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. I invite you to let that be your prayer and reflection on this Trinity Sunday – that each and every one of us can come to know the Trinity in a very personal and loving way.
