Love is the Common Denominator

Father’s Day began officially in the United States in 1909, but did you know it has deep roots in Catholic history?  Historians say as early as the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church celebrated fatherhood annually on March 19.  Does this date sound familiar?  It should because it’s the Feast of St. Joseph.  Under the initiative of the Franciscans, the Church began to associate St. Joseph’s feast with fatherhood.  In modern times, our country sets aside the third Sunday of June to celebrate our dads. Father’s Day expresses love and gratitude for father figures in our lives.   It can be also a time to celebrate all that it is to be a father, to love unconditionally and instill values upon our children.

When we want to look for role models to exemplify these traits, we only need to look to the Holy Trinity. For example, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit love us unconditionally.  So, it’s appropriate that Father’s Day this year falls on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. Even though this Solemnity is only once a year, the Holy Trinity should be in our lives 365 days a year. For example, we recite the name of each member of the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit when we make the sign of the cross. We reference each member of the Trinity when we recite the Gloria and the Creed. Christians are baptized in the names of the Holy Trinity.  So, the Holy Trinity’s fingerprints are all over our Catholic faith.

The Church teaches the Holy Trinity “is at the very root of the Church’s living faith. …and is the central mystery of Christian faith and life.”  However, “the mystery of the Trinity” will be just that, a mystery that will remain inaccessible to the human mind. None of us can even begin to comprehend the Trinity. It is so beyond our imagination that only God himself revealed the Trinity to us. For example, at the Last Supper in the Gospel of John, Jesus talked about his relationship to the Father and the Spirit, and the Spirit’s relationship to the Father and the Son.  Christ also spoke about the Trinity when he gave his apostles these instructions, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Mt 29:19)

Why is the Trinity so important to each of us?   In a world fraught with dissension, we are all looking for love. We don’t need to look far for love. We only need to look to the Holy Trinity to find love.  You see, at its very core, the Trinity is a communion of infinite love. As a communion of persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit love each other completely and entirely.  Indeed, God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that the world might be saved through Him.  Through this unselfish gift on the cross, we should have a better understanding and deeper appreciation for what love really is.  Love is expressed in the giving of oneself to another such as a husband and wife sacrificing themselves for each other to help their spouse get to heaven. Love is respect for one another as a child of God no matter who they are or where they are from or what they look like. 

Our goal should be to be in communion with all three members of the Trinity.  God loves us and wants us to know Him.  We were created out of love AND we are created for love.    Each member of the Trinity loves each of us unconditionally despite our failings.  In turn, we should love each of them unconditionally and equally.  Our goal is to imitate that Trinitarian love with each other.   

Let us surrender to the Holy Trinity. Let us imitate the Trinity in love and deed.  Think about how God the Father, God the Son or God the Holy Spirit would want you to emulate their never-ending love for us.  Let us pray, that as chosen people, that the eternal and self-giving love of the Trinity becomes our model for life today.