Communion

Trinity Sunday 2019:

The first Sunday of Ordinary Time after Pentecost is always Trinity Sunday.  We celebrate God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Now, you might say: don’t we always celebrate the Trinity?  It’s true.  Every mass is offering the sacrifice of Christ to the Father, through the power of the Holy Spirit.  So, each and every mass is a mass to, for, and with the Trinity.  But, today gives us a chance to reflect on this doctrine, this teaching.  We firmly believe and profess our faith in One God.  And, this one God is a loving communion of persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We might be tempted to think that this teaching of the Trinity is not all that essential to our human lives.  This teaching can seem somewhat distant and remote.

But, we should remember that we are made in God’s image and likeness.  So, reflecting on the doctrine of the Trinity can teach us about how to live out our human lives.

One of John Paul II’s greatest contributions to the Church was his great Theology of the Body.  If you are unfamiliar with this work, you really owe it to yourself to become familiar with it.  Now, I’ll tell you, the talks themselves can be quite difficult to get through.  JP 2 was an immensely brilliant theologian and philosopher.  So, I would recommend Christopher West.  He has books, tapes, videos online, and other resources that make the Theology of the Body more accessible to all of us.  

The part I wanted to mention today was the notion of communion. Since the Trinity exists from all eternity as a loving communion of persons, and we are made in God’s image and likeness, then JP 2 states that human beings are made for communion.  In the heart of every human being there is a longing for communion.  Ultimately, this longing will only be satisfied by our eternal communion with God in heaven. But, our human relationships should provide a foreshadowing of this communion even here on earth.  JP2 points to marriage as being the preeminent sign of the loving communion of persons.  But, even the Church itself is called to reflect this notion of communion. All of us, as Christ’s disciples, called to live in love and friendship with each other.  Human beings are made for communion, and it will lead us to our ultimate happiness of communion with God.

However, this is not so easy to achieve.  We have many things conspiring against us.  First, there is sin.  Selfishness is pretty much the root of all sin.  Rather than choosing communion, when we choose ourselves it leads us away from happiness.  Also, our society is increasingly putting the emphasis on the individual and not on communion.  I read an interesting article this week that states that our society is become increasingly atomized.  This means that each individual is becoming like a separate atom.  I really find this to be true.  So many people feel isolated, disconnected.  And this does not lead to our human flourishing.  Even in the Church itself, we can experience tensions and disagreements instead of communion.

So, as we celebrate this Trinity Sunday, let’s try to reflect on the concept of communion.  The word means something like union with another.  It’s essential to our human flourishing that we establish union with others.  And, of course, union with Christ.  Maybe call a friend you haven’t seen in a while.  Maybe make time for your spouse and share an evening together.  Spend time with your kids.  I think we need to be a bit more proactive in seeking communion, especially when our culture is trying to atomize us all.  

Today we celebrate this Holy Mass.  When we come forward, we call it “communion.”  The Eucharist is communion with God, it’s also communion with one another.  We were made for communion, because we were made in the image and likeness of God: a loving communion of persons.   May this Blessed Sacrament help us to increase our sense of Communion with God and one another.