“Saved Through Him” by Rev. Paul Berghout (@FatherPB)

“Saved Through Him” by Rev. Paul Berghout (@FatherPB)

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Piety

Moses, at once bowed down to the ground in worship. Then he said, "If I find favor with you, O Lord, do come along in our company. This is indeed a stiff-necked people, yet pardon our wickedness and sins, and receive us as your own."  Exodus 34:8-9

Brothers and sisters, rejoice. Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the holy ones greet you. 2 Corinthians 13:11-12

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. John 3:16-17

Study

Michael A. Harbin remembered, “One night during my time at the Naval Academy, the brigade was lined up for evening formation at the end of the weekend. All of the midshipmen were dressed in white uniforms freshly washed and pressed at the academy laundry. They were an impressive sight as they fell into ranks.”

Then one individual who had been on weekend liberty came rushing up. While home, he had sent his uniform to a commercial laundry that had used bluing in the washing process. His uniform was a brilliant bluish-white, and suddenly the uniforms of the rest of the midshipmen looked yellow and dirty. Although in fresh white uniforms, they felt somewhat dirty in a physical sense.”

A story like this one may reflect a little of what Isaiah must have experienced in his vision of seeing the six-winged seraphim closest to God who were calling out to one another three times about the Most Holy Trinity: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts…”

Except Isaiah felt dirty in a moral sense, saying: “woe is me for I am a man of unclean lips.”  He had just finished pronouncing judgment against others, saying “woe” to them six times.

Isaiah lamented their unjust affluence, their drunkenness, their business dishonesty. He also rebuked their moral relativism, saying, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil” (v. 20). He chastised their intellectual pride: “Woe to you who think you’re so smart, who hold such a high opinion of yourselves!” (v. 21). And he spoke against their injustice: “Woe to those who . . . deprive the innocent of his right!” (vv. 22–23).

Isaiah pronounces the seventh Woe! It is the famous Woe in chapter 6, verse 5: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.”

So, here is a challenge for every Christian: take any one area of your life and ask the Holy Spirit to convict you of sin.

Because of the Cross, and Jesus’ resurrection and Ascension, we no longer need to say, “Woe is me!” Instead, we can say, “Thank you, Jesus.” Then and only then will we be ready to say what Isaiah said next: “Here I am! Send me to do your will.”

Another way to look at today’s Scripture is to see that Isaiah experienced in his vision of heaven was the primary meaning of holiness, which denotes the morally pure relationship of the three Persons of the Trinity.

Morally pure means inherently pure without sin or corruption and the right action or right behavior.

In the Most Holy Trinity, the Father gives himself so thoroughly that the Son thus has His Divine Being.

From the Father and the Son proceed the Holy Spirit. The mutual giving between the Father and Son is another Divine Person: The Holy Spirit.

The true benchmark and model of true holiness is by recognizing the relationship of the Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity.

That is why Leviticus 11:44 tells us:  Be holy as I am holy.

God is saying, “Because I, the Lord, am distinct in terms of my moral purity, you, as my people, must be distinct in terms of your moral purity as well.”

Action

While culture can restrain personal immorality, culture itself can establish moral standards that are problematic and promote immorality.

Holiness is to be understood not just as moral purity, but also in actions and behavior. As such, holiness is also a collective concept as when God uses the plural “you” in directing the nation to be holy.

Ultimately, as we heard in our Gospel, that God did not send his Son, who is the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, into the world, to condemn the world, but that Jesus might save the world through him.

The Trinity acts in love. “God is love” (1 John 4:8).

Thomas Parlette shared that there was once a very compassionate woman named Rene Denfield, who adopted a little girl from the foster care system in her city. Three years later, a caseworker called and said she had another child Rene might consider taking. He was a toddler, but he’d already suffered a great deal in his short life. The little boy named Tony had bounced from one foster home to another. His rage and his acting out were too much for other families to handle. But the caseworker believed that Rene, who had grown up in an abusive home herself, had the love and toughness to get through to this angry, scared little boy.

As Rene wrote in an article for the New York Times, “When he raged, I told him I loved him. I told him over and over.” Rene reports that it took years before Tony’s rages subsided. But one day, he was in the middle of playing on the floor when he looked up at Rene and said, “You brought me home. I love you too.” 

The entire spirituality in the life of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity was about making her heart a House, a Home for the Trinity.

When we think of our heart as a home for the Trinity, it helps us to imagine a warm cozy place.

Jesus says in John 14:23, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.”

St. Elizabeth of the Trinity advised, ‘‘God dwells within you, do not leave Him so often.” To another, she wrote, “It is wonderful to recall that, except for the vision of seeing God, we possess God as all the Saints in Heaven do. We can surely be with Him always, and no one can take us away from Him. He dwells in our souls!’ She often referred to the Blessed Trinity as “The Three” or “my Three.”

Once St. Elizabeth wrote to a friend, “I am going to give you my ‘secret:’ think about this God who dwells within you, whose temple you are; St. Paul speaks in this way, and we can believe it.”

“The Three” or sometimes even “my Three” …. the benchmark and standard of all holiness and happiness.

Amen.