The solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity in the Catholic Church is an opportunity for every Catholic practitioner to consider the profound mystery of  God’s nature—and invites each of us—to deepen and expand our own relationship with God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  It also enables us, with this understanding, to conform our own relationships in love, community and unity. 

We celebrate this solemnity liturgically and spiritually with special prayers, with a focus on the Gloria and Creed’s meanings, e.g., the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, which is central to our   Christian faith and doctrine.  Following last weekend’s celebration of the birth of the church with the coming of the Holy Spirit, we are now called to consider how each of us identifies, relates and   illustrates the relationship within the three distinct persons of our Triune God. 

Let’s consider the question put to Alfie,”  “What’s it all about…?” 

• The Holy Trinity speaks to the belief of One God in three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; and while each person is distinct, they are all of one essence, co-equal and co-eternal, as we say each Sunday in the Creed, Consubstantial.   
• The roots of the doctrine of the Trinity are found in Sacred Scripture, Mathew 28:19, when Jesus commissions His disciples to “baptize in the names of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” as well as in John 1:1-14 and 2 Corinthians 13:14, by way of example. 
• Church teachings illustrate the nature of God and the relationship between the three Persons of the Trinity as comprised of love, community and unity. We, too, are called to develop these ideas of love, community and unity in our relationships as Christians, whether between spouses, within families or amongst the Church or community; we are called to seek the common good and its excellence. 
• In our Mass this weekend the Solemnity is marked with special prayers and readings that         emphasize the unity and diversity within the Trinity. The Gloria is sung, and the recited         Nicene Creed profess our belief in the Trinity. 

• As we leave this Sunday’s Mass we need to ask ourselves what we shall carry from the liturgy out into our cars, homes, workplaces, school, on the sports fields or in our private and public       discourses? What kind of impact will my faith have on me and the world around me? Will it inspire my Catholic actions in our day-to-day living...our care for all creations, our granting and seeking redemption, our call to sanctification personally and how we offer it to others; will we go forth united and in community, with love, to heal the people around us or will we be divisive, obstructive and separated? Our world and our politics and culture have enough of that already. 
Our understanding of living in community and being united to others—both in action and in need— should call us to try to mimic, in a very human way, the unity of the Trinity by way of our own relationships.   

John 16:12-15 In today’s gospel, Jesus assures his apostles that He will not leave them (or us) abandoned but that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, will come. In verses 13 and 14, Jesus states that the Holy Spirit   will not speak on His own but will speak what He hears and will declare the things that are to come. We see in this declaration by Jesus that the perfect unity of the Trinity is lived out in that the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus and reveals the Father’s Will. This specific relationship of the Trinity illustrates to us believers that we too are called to reflect a similar dynamic: live in communion with one another, and to foster relationships that are built on love, respect and truth. Wow!       

God’s Truth is so powerful that we cannot  handle all  at once, but the Holy Spirit will reveal it over time, and in  God’s time, to each of us as we need it, as it serves our intended purpose from God. Our “job” is to be open to the Spirit and to Believe what Jesus told us, to live it in our own relationships, and then to share it with those around us. Believe it, Live it, Share it! The challenge is ours. And the rewards are ours too.