Shikrot Mpwi - Sunday Synopsis with Fr. Justine J. Dyikuk

Trinity Sunday – June 11, 2017

Readings: Ex 34:4B-6, 8-9; Responsorial Psalm Dn 3:52, 54, 55, 56; 

2 Cor 13:11-13 & Gospel John 3:16-18.

Theme: The Holy Kiss as a Metaphor for the Trinity!

Introduction

Friends in Christ, today we celebrate Trinity Sunday. The theme for our reflection taken from the second reading (2 Cor 13:11-13) where St. Paul urges us to greet one another with the Holy Kiss is: “The Holy Kiss as a Metaphor for the Trinity.” In the light of the homiletic theme, we shall reflect on the Blessed Trinity by highlighting the Trinity, hypostatic union/Trinitarian communion and Trinitarian mystery:   

1. The Trinity: Simply put, the Church teaches the theology of the Trinity as three divine and eternal persons in one God - The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  In his article, The Trinity, the Hypostatic Union, and the Communicatio Idiomatum, Matt Slick (2010) explains that by “person” is meant the characteristics of self awareness, speech, having a will and emotions.  Although there are three persons in one God, the Father is not the same person as the Son; the Son is not the same person as the Holy Spirit; and the Holy Spirit is not the same person as Father - Each of them has a will and speaks to each other and to people. We must clearly understand that they are not three separate gods or beings. In the bible, there are various passages that teach about the Trinity: The Father is called God in (Phil. 1:2); the Son is called God in (John 1:1, 14), and the Holy Spirit is addressed as God in (Acts 5:3-4). 

One of the commonest metaphors for explaining the Trinity is the relationship that exists in the life of a married woman who has children – she has to relate with her biological parents as a daughter, to her husband as his wife and her children as a mother with the same degree of love, care and affection. The mind, soul and spirit have also been used to describe the Trinity. These human analogies only present us with a glimpse of what constitutes the Trinity. 

2. The Hypostatic Union/Trinitarian Communion: The teaching of Hypostatic Union is encapsulated in the angelus when we pray, “And the Word was made flesh” – the mixing of water and wine during the celebration of the Holy Mass while the priest prays silently, “By the mystery of this water and wine may come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity” further proves the point. The hypostatic Union does not imply that Jesus is half God and half man. On the contrary, He is fully divine and fully man - That is to say, Jesus has two distinct natures namely, divine and human as indicated in scripture: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... 14 and the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us...” (John 1:1, 14).  This means that the divine word became flesh in the single person of Jesus, who is thus both human and divine in nature – The divine nature was not changed or altered in this union.

Closely related to the theology of the hypostatic union is the Latin communicatio idiomatum which translates into (communication of properties/attributes). This teaching ascribes both divine and human natures to the one person of Jesus (Cf. John 17:5; John 3:13; Matthew 28:20). Since the person of Jesus died, His death was of infinite value because the properties of divinity were ascribed to the person in His death (Slick, 2010). The Trinitarian communion of the Father, the Son and the Holy is encapsulated in this teaching: God the Father created the world, God the Son redeemed the world and God the Holy Spirit sanctifies the world.

3. Trinitarian Mystery: Though they are three distinct persons, they constitute one Godhead absolute in perfect harmony, consisting of one substance. They are coeternal, coequal, and co-powerful (Slick, 2010). In summary, the Holy trinity is a mystery we cannot fully understand unless we become eternal like God. Since it is a mystery, we must be careful not to introduce inequality when addressing the Trinity in prayer – for instance some people say: “In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit” which is wrong. In addressing the Trinity, we should say: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Sometimes we make the mistake of removing the definite article in the Son and the Holy Spirit after addressing the Father.