Trinity Sunday - May 22, 2016

Homily for Trinity Sunday

May 22, 2016

Unity in Diversity

 

            Growing up, my mom was usually the cook, except on rare occasions. Whenever my dad cooked, watch out – it was casserole time. He would merely open the refrigerator and pull out anything and everything that could possibly go into a casserole, throw it together with brown gravy, and that’s what we would have for dinner. Meatloaf, pork chops, old chicken, vegetables, rice, pasta – all of it into one pot, covered in brown gravy, and dinner was done. I suppose gravy covers a multitude of sins, because no matter what he put into the casserole, it all tasted the same!

            Cooking is a perfect example of unity in diversity. All sorts of different foods, blended together in the right amounts, makes a delicious dish. How boring it would be if all of our food was the same! But at the same time, if you put the wrong things together it doesn’t work either – if you’ve ever been to the Big E fair in Massachusetts, they have a burger that is served on a bun of donuts. An odd combination if ever there was one. Diversity needs an overarching unity!

            This is one of the lessons that we draw from the mystery of the Trinity. The Trinity is diverse – three distinct Persons (the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), all of Whom have their unique and irreplaceable roles – the Father is the Source of all being, the Son took flesh to redeem us, and the Spirit dwells in our souls through grace. But these three different Persons are united – they are all one God, and when one Person acts, He does so in union with the other two Persons.

            We live in a culture that worships diversity. College brochures are always touting their “diverse” student body; employees of many companies have to undergo “diversity training”; people recently criticized the Oscars for not being “diverse” enough. And certainly, God loves diversity! Look at the many different species of plants and animals; the different landscapes from desert to mountain to rainforest; the wide range of languages and cultures and races in the world. God loves to create a wide variety of things!

            But diversity, in itself, is not a virtue unless there is also unity. Just like cooking – throwing a lot of different ingredients together makes no sense unless you know what you’re trying to cook. Diversity by itself is meaningless.

            What is it that unites the diversity of creation? All of the different things in creation glorify God in different ways. Birds by singing and building nests, bees by making honey, trees by providing shade and wood. All of creation is united in fulfilling its purpose of glorifying God.

But then what is it that unites us human beings, as diverse as we are? Love. Human beings alone were created out of love, created for love, and find our fulfillment in love. We were created by a loving act of God, created to know and love Him in this life while also loving our neighbor, and find our fulfillment in pure Love in Heaven. Love is the “brown gravy” that unites all of the different elements in the dish!

A few years ago I hiked “El Camino” – the 500-mile ancient pilgrimage route through northern Spain to the bones of St. James at Santiago de Compostella. While hiking for 33 days, we met people from all across the world, and I went to Mass in six different languages! What united us was our common love for Jesus Christ. Another time I had the privilege of being in Rome for a gathering with about 800,000 people from across the world. As we prayed together, I really felt the universality of the Church – the Church was diversity in unity, because we were united in a single purpose – to love and serve the Lord, and through Him, to love our neighbor.

The Trinity is the exemplar of diversity in unity. All three Persons in the Trinity work perfectly together, while remaining distinct. Humanity is called to that same diversity-in-unity – we celebrate the uniqueness that God has given us while realizing that we are united because we have the same origin (the love of God), the same challenge (to love God and our neighbor) and the same destiny (the enjoyment of everlasting Love in Heaven).