Trinity Sunday Homily - June 15, 2014

Trinity Sunday Homily

June 15, 2014

 

            Growing up, we had a parish priest who was…shall we say…an interesting fellow. You never knew what would come out of his mouth in the pulpit. One day he started his homily by saying, “The very first thing God will say to you when you get to Heaven is, ‘Did you have a good time?’”

            On the way home from Mass my dad turned to all of us in the car and said, “The first thing God will say to you when you get to Heaven is not, ‘Did you have a good time?’ but ‘How much good did you do in your time on earth?’”

            I never forgot that. Life isn’t about what you can get, but what you can give. As Pope John Paul II said, “Men and women can only find themselves when they give themselves away.”

            I think this could actually be a great definition of the Trinity: the Trinity is self-giving. The Father gives all the glory and honor to the Son, sharing His very life with the Son. The Son, in turn, brings all things back to the Father, in honor and glory and praise. Their self-giving is so intense that it brings forth a third Person, the Holy Spirit.

            And it’s that kind of self-giving, self-emptying that we are called to imitate. We only find ourselves when we give ourselves away, right? When I meet people who are struggling with depression – after making sure that the biochemical part is properly dealt with – I always recommend volunteering. We always feel better when we go outside ourselves and look to the needs of others. That’s the lesson of the Trinity – we only find ourselves when we give ourselves away.

            Just recently, Pope Francis made headlines by telling couples in Italy that they shouldn’t choose to have pets instead of kids. That’s a common thing that is becoming a part of our culture – more and more marriages are purposely remaining childless and instead substituting pets for kids, because hey, you can go on more vacations when you don’t have kids, and you might actually get to eat at a nice restaurant every now and then. And yet the Pope says that this choice is utterly loveless. Real love sacrifices, real love gives. And there is no better way for a couple to grow in love than to be generous with God and being open to as many children as God chooses to bless them with.

            After all, self-giving is fruitful. The Trinity was not content simply to love each other in isolation. No, their love was so intense that it wanted to overflow on other creatures, so the Trinity created the world so they could lavish their love upon the world. In the same way, self-giving love must be open to life as well – especially in families, where the love between a couple should naturally overflow to generosity with having and loving children.

            Mother Teresa said, “I have seen the paradox: when we love until it hurts, there is no more hurt, there is only love.” Self-gift is where we find our happiness.

            Of course, the practical consequences of self-giving aren’t easy. It does demand that we maybe give up buying that second Porche or that sixteenth pair of shoes because there are better ways in which we could give our money to a family who is having trouble making ends meet. It does demand that we are open to children in our marriages. It does demand that we look for ways to volunteer, instead of being stingy with our time. It does demand doing unpleasant tasks around the house, and laying down our lives – our wants, our dreams, our strength – for others. Behold the Cross – this is the love of the Trinity.