MAY 31/JUNE 1, 2021
On May 31, 1982 – 39 years ago – at Arlington National Cemetery, President Ronald Reagan gave a speech on Memorial Day.
He reflected on the Gettysburg Address, but also he reflected on the inadequacy of words to express our gratitude for the sacrifices made for us as a nation by those who came before us, and not to treat what we have received lightly – but rather to value it through our own gift of self.
He also spoke of wisdom and understanding – and in the middle of the Cold War, he dared to speak of peace.
This weekend, is Memorial Day weekend. And in varied ways, between sips of beer and burning of hamburgers . . . we, too shall remember, commemorate, and honor those who volunteered to defend our values and our civilization. As well as recognizing that while “all gave some, some gave all.”
Reagan ended that speech by pointing out that the American National Anthem ends with a question and a challenge, saying: “Does [our] flag still wave over the land of the free and the home of the brave?”
Today is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity – or more simply, Trinity Sunday.
The theology of the Trinity is both complicated and simple at the same time. Latin and Greek words such as circumincession, consubstantial, communio, homoousius, perichoresis, koinonia – abound untranslated in trying to explain the unexplainable.
Words fail us in expressing the economic or the imminent aspects of the Trinity. No matter our wisdom or understanding – mere words are inadequate to explain the great mystery of the Supreme Godhead.
But it can be stated quite simply as, “one God in three Divine persons … equal in all things … [and] having one and the same Divine nature and substance.”
This particular Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity – sandwiched between Pentecost and Corpus Christi – reminds us that we are all baptized into the life of the Most Holy Trinity through the Trinitarian formula:
I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
That same formula captured in the Great Commission given by Our Lord to the Apostles at the end of St. Matthew’s Gospel – which we heard in today’s Gospel reading.
At Pentecost, we reflected on the gifts of the Holy Spirit – wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord – the power of God, which through grace perfect our own virtues. And the fruits of the Holy Spirit – which provide us while still on Earth, a foretaste of the glory of Heaven.
On Corpus Christi, we will reflect on the Most Holy Eucharist – the Source and Summit of our Christian Life – Jesus Christ, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity – given to us and for us. The supreme Sacrifice of God the Son, offered to God the Father, through the power of God the Holy Spirit.
And so, today, we celebrate what the Catechism calls “the central mystery of Christian faith and life … the mystery of God in himself … the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them [all].”
As we approach this altar to receive Holy Communion, let us reflect on that central Mystery into which we have all been Baptized – let us reflect that we are called to share in the life of the Most Holy Trinity [CCC 265] – here and now – and to share in that life in perfection – in eternity.
