On a beautiful summer weekend, even though this is the feast of the Trinity, I think the last thing you are probably needing is a homily that tries to explain the Trinity. I went back and looked at my previous homilies over the years on Trinity Sunday, and once or twice I think I actually went a little in that direction, so I think I should start by saying that if you were around for any of those, I’m really sorry. So instead today, one thing to notice about the Trinity. And let’s take that one thing from the first reading. So God the father is supposed to be unapproachable…
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Today is Trinity Sunday, early June, a day when everybody’s ready for something upbeat and short, and instead the homilist, and you, face the Trinity. Let’s take the issue head on. Pick up a first-class theological textbook, and you’ll find sentences like this, and this is from the idiot’s summary at the end of the chapter on the Trinity. There are four relations among the Persons of the Trinity: paternity, filiation, active spiration, and passive spiration. Ah, but then we are told, there are only three subsistent relations, since active spiration is not really distinct from paternity or from filiation. Again, I don’t mean to go over old ground, since…
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Many years ago now, right after this church was built, I brought an old friend of mine over to see it. When he came in and looked at the setup of the place, he said, “This is the perfect arrangement for a Catholic church.” When I asked him why, he said, “More seats in the back than the front.” I don’t mean to put any heat on anyone in the back today, since I see some pillars of the church sitting back there even as I speak, but here is my question: If you had to place yourself on a map in terms of how close a relationship you have…