West Derwentside Catholic Partnership

Today is Trinity Sunday but in mediaeval times priests were forbidden from preaching on the subject because the idea of three persons in one God was deemed too hard to explain. Since then many have used St Patrick’s shamrock or the three states of water steam and ice to try and make sense of this mystery but the truth is, not even the cleverest theologians will ever be able to explain how God is three and God is one. It is a mystery beyond the capacity of our human minds yet the Trinity does describe what God is about. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit co-exist in relationship. God is not a loner or a recluse, God is love and love needs another to be fulfilled. This means that God needs us. He passionately pursues us and even took human form as Jesus to give us a way back to Him. All God wants is for us to love Him back and the only way we can do that is through relationship with others. We will never be real until we allow ourselves to learn to love and to be loved by others and by God.
We are made in God’s image, in the image of love and so we need to reach out to others and to forgive when we are hurt. To do this we need to recognize God’s spirit in others. We are not meant to be journeying to heaven alone, my humanity is caught up, inextricably bound, in yours and yours in mine, a person is only a person through other persons, just as God is only God through Jesus Christ, in union with the Holy Spirit.