“The incarnate one is the glorified God: ‘The Word was made flesh and we beheld his glory.’ God glorifies himself in man. That is the ultimate secret of the Trinity. The humanity is now taken up into the Trinity. Not from all eternity, but ‘from now on even unto eternity;’ the Trinitarian God is seen as the incarnate one. The glorification of God in the flesh is now at the same time, the glorification of man, who shall have life through eternity with the Trinitarian God . . . God remains the incarnate one even in the Last Judgement.”
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), Christ the Center)
“Do you not know that you are God’’s temple and that God’s spirit dwells in you?” ( I Corinthians 3:16)
Growing up as a cartoon-watching youngster in the 1970s, I confirmed my ability to multiply by 3 with the ABC Schoolhouse Rock short “Three Is a Magic Number”.
Since those tender days, I have become more aware of how prominent that number and its multiples have been in so many areas in our world’s history. In geometry, there is the three-sided triangle as well as the 90, 180, and 360 degrees which constitute right angles, straight lines and circles. In the build-up of jokes, there are usually three attempts or lead-ups before the punchline is dropped. Such noted trios in our knowledge include Larry, Daryl, and Daryl (Newhart); Tom, Dick, and Harry; “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod” (children’s poem by Eugene Field (1850–1895)), this, that, and the other; the Three Stooges; three blind mice; the Andrews Sisters; and Lady Antebellum. Fully fleshed out depictions are described as being in 3D or having three dimensions. The simplest story has a structure of a beginning, a middle, and an end. Tic-tac-toe has inspired many classic game show variations. In baseball, there are three strikes for an out, three outs per team’s half of an inning, nine innings, and nine players on the field. In hockey, there are three periods, and making three goals is called a hat–trick. In basketball, there are three–point shots, and a football team is awarded three points for successful field goals. I am often alerted on Facebook of deaths coming in threes, and most divisions of time in a year (seconds, minutes, hours, months) are divisible by three as well as being classified in the past, present, and future. Throughout Mozart’s masonic-inspired opera Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), the symbolism of three is reinforced. If one studies the texts of the Latin mass in its spoken and musical settings, there are many sections in which there are triple repetitions or three–part structures. The list continues.
In the United Methodist Church in North Carolina where I was reared, the concept of the Trinity was reinforced when reciting the Apostle’s Creed or singing the final line of the hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty” which defines “God in three persons, blessed Trinity”. In Sunday school, it was compared to the three states of water — liquid, ice, and steam. So it is in a number of Christian churches, Trinity Sunday is designated after all the events of Lent, Easter, and Pentecost to remind believers that the omniscience and omnipresence of God throughout biblical and human history lies within the triumvirate of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Wherever, whenever, in whomever, or in whatever ways we may encounter God, we are His and He dwells within us.
Heavenly Father, Help us to be ever mindful that you are always with us in the present, that you have always been with us in the past, and that you always will be with us way into the future. Amen.
Contributed by Kenneth
Monday May 23, 2016
Liturgical Year C: Week 26
Liturgical Color: white
Sunday Gospel reading: cTrinity
The Holy Trinity