Trinity Sunday

God's incredible love is totally incomprehensible. We can try to imagine it, and we can compare it to the love we experience as human beings, but the reality is that God's love is so overwhelming and unconditional, that it will never be possible for us to comprehend how great God's love is. That's why the feast we celebrate today, the Most Holy Trinity, can leave us with more questions than answers. In truth, any theologian who has tried to plumb the mystery of the Trinity, whether saints like Thomas Aquinas or Augustine, or contemporary scholars like Karl Rahner or Gerald O'Collins, may write page after page, but in the end is still left standing before the mystery.


One of the most famous images of the Trinity, the icon by the Russian master Andrei Rublev (ca. 1360-1430), is an image of hospitality. The three persons of the Trinity are represented by angelic beings seated around a four-sided table inviting the viewer to come and take a place to dine with them. When we encounter the love of God and truly experience it, this is in effect what happens to us: we are seated at the table and enveloped in God's love.

In the icon, the place at the table is empty, because it is there for anyone and everyone. It is not just my place or yours. Everything that the Father has, is also of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And so it is with the place at the table. When God invites us in, it is not to the exclusion of others, but to the welcome of all. We may question how this is even possible, since as limited creatures we parcel out our time, our resources, and even our love. God does no such thing. And the more we are caught up in God's love, the more we are able to express that love to others.

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