Trinity Sunday (A): The Triune Koinonia of God in Connection with Our Koinonia of the Holy Spirit, the Ekklesia

The Scripture Readings for Trinity Sunday on Cycle A (Exodus 34:4b-6, 8-9; Daniel 3:52, 53, 54, 55, 56; 2 Corinthians 13:11-13; John 3:16-18) address Trinity in this way:

The First Reading (Exodus 34:4b-6, 8-9) reflects on the Father, focusing on His mercy (rachum) and love (chesed).

In its responsorial Psalm from Daniel 3 (52, 53, 54, 55, 56, NABRE), responding to the merciful Father reflected in the First Reading, we bless, glorify, and praise Him with joy.  

The Second Reading (2 Corinthians 13:11-13) is about fellowship (koinonia) of peace (eirene) and love (agape) through the Holy Spirit (Pneuma Hagion), sent from the Father (Pater), who has also sent the Son (Huios) as a gift (grace - charis).

The Gospel Reading (John 3:16-18) reminds us that the Father has sent the Son as a gift out of His love for us (John 3:16) so that the Son is in fellowship with us, as the incarnated Word dwells among us (John 1:14).

Through these readings, we can sense the steadfast love of God, chesed, which is more than agape, as chesed is only of God, the very essence of Trinity, the Triune God. Therefore, all three personas of Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are in hypostases of chesed, which is the ousia of Trinity. And, out of this chesed, the Triune God reaches out to us through the Son, who has commanded to practice agape (John 13:34), for the koinoia (fellowship) of eirene (peace), which has been born of the Holy Spirit as the Ekklesia (Church) (1 Corinthians 12:13).

Both the Son (Parakletos, 1 John 2:1) and the Holy Spirit (another Parakletos/allon Parakleton, John 14:16, 26) are send by the Father so that Parakletos is always with us (John 14:18; Matthew 28:20), as in the human flesh of Jesus, the Son, and as in the Holy Spirit. This is a desire of Jesus the Son (John 14:20; 17:21) to unite our fellowship of peace, the Church, with the Triune fellowship of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is succinctly reflected in the Nicene Creed, which addresses all three personas of Trinity, as well as our identity as the Church.

See, how all three personas of Triune God are reflected in connection to us in today’s readings?


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The First Reading (Exodus 34:4b-6, 8-9) focuses on the Father and reflects on His love (chesed) . Because of His love, the Father is merciful and therefore, slow to anger. Moses latched on the Father’s mercy for his fellow Israelites, who were stiff-necked, during the Exodus. During the Sermon of Plain, Jesus, the Son, has called us to be as merciful as the Father is, in dealing with people, who bring grievances to us (Luke 6:36), reflecting how God responded to Moses’ plea to the  for His mercy upon his fellow stiff-necked Israelites (Exodus 34:4-10). In fact, there is a bit of parallel between Exodus 34:4-10 and Luke 6:27-42, in regard to our call to strive for mercy in imitating the Father, who is abound with mercy.

Of course, being merciful to those who bother us, including our enemies, does not mean to turn our blind eyes to their wrongs. As Exodus 34:7 reminds, even the merciful Father does not overlook our wickedness but punish us for that. Likewise, Jesus does not teach us to ignore the wickedness of those who attack us but to protest it with our courageous firm resolve, as symbolized with “turning the other check”, (Luke 6:29). “Turning the other check” is a powerfully symbolic confrontation to the wrongs. It is not a mere pacifist passive surrender to the wickedness. Yet, it is not for us to judge and punish (Luke 6:37) as we are not God, who is perfect. That is why Jesus, the Son, calls us to be more mindful of our sinfulness (Luke 6:39, 42) and focus on becoming more merciful as the Father is so, with our unshakable determination to fight the wickedness. And, this is how God’s justice can be made into the reality through our imitation of God’s mercy.

In Christianity, God Godself is a koinonia (fellowship): in the fellowship of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These are the three personas of the Triune God. And, the Father has created the universe through the Son (Hebrews 1:2; cf. Matthew 28:18), and sent the Son in the human flesh of Jesus through the flesh of the Immaculate Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit as Christ (Luke 1:26-38; cf. Matthew 1:18), our Parakletos (1 John 2:1). It is because the Father loves us (John 3:16). The Christ, the Son, has called us to follow him as his disciples (i.e. Matthew 4:19), and he has formed a koinonia with us through the Word and the Bread. This table fellowship has become evident at the Last Supper. As his disciples, we strive to make our koinonia with Jesus, the Son, the Christ, the fellowship of love, which he has commanded (John 13:34-35), extended to even our enemies so that our love may be unconditional (Luke 6:27-36).

The Father is so merciful to us, stiff-necked sinners, because He loves us immeasurably. As reflected in the First Reading, there is nothing greater than His steadfast love (chesed), which can overcome our fallings and bring us back on the right path toward Him in the Kingdom. And, His mercy (rachum) is always readily available to us as His gift/grace (chen), flowing out of His chesed as what Pope Francis has called, “the current of grace”. In response this Father’s abiding love and mercy, how can we not to praise and glorify Him?  So, we bless, glorify, and praise the Father for His mercy out of his unconditional love poured out to us, even though we do not deserve (Daniel 3: 52, 53, 54, 55, 56).

Though these verses for this responsorial Psalm, taken from Daniel 3 (NABRE), are actually found in the “The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Jews” in the Apocrypha of the Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation of the Old Testament. In the Catholic  Bible (NABRE), “The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Jews “ is inserted in Daniel 3, from v.24 to v. 90.  As this poetic writing is part of the Apocrypha, these are only found in the Septuagint but not in the original Hebrew Old Testament (Tanakh). As a matter of fact, these verses are the praises sung by the three Jews, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, while they are in the burning furnace of King Nebuchadnezzar. And, they were praising God for His steadfast love (chesed) and mercy (rachum) , protecting them in the fierce fire, as the protective womb (rechem), as the fireproof. In the biblical Hebrew, mercy of God (rachum) is derived from rechem, which means mother’s womb, where a new life is securely place, growing from a fertilized egg into a fully drown fetus, through zygote and embryo, protecting the most vulnerable form of life. And, citing these praising psalm words of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were protected by Father’s chesed manifested through His rachum as the fireproof rechem, we are praising, glorifying, and blessing the Father’s mercy’s protective power from harms.  Indeed, the fireproof protective shield of the Father’s mercy (rachum) out of His steadfast love (chesed) is the ultimate protective “womb” (rechem) of the mother.
 

 Moses asked the Father to stay with him and his fellow Israelites, asking for His favor (grace), forgiving their sins, taking them to His inheritance, the Land of Milk and Honey (Exodus 34:8-9). And, they found themselves in the Father’s favor, as He made a covenant to ensure of His companionship with them throughout the Exodus journey, as they honor and observe His Commandments (Exodus 34:10-11). Now, the Father’s favor for us, the sinners, has manifested through the physical presence of His Son, Jesus, as reflected in the Gospel Reading (John 3:16-18).

It all began with Nicodemus’ conversation with Jesus on the Kingdom of God. To be entitled to the Kingdom, Jesus told Nicodemus, we need to be born again (John 3:3), and it means that we need to be born not only of water but also of the Holy Spirit, as we need both flesh and the Spirit  to enter the Kingdom (John 3:5-6). Furthermore, Jesus touched on the nature of the Holy Spirit with a metaphor of a wind with its sound but its origin we may not know (John 3:8), further implicated with comparison to the water (John 7:37-39), as read for Pentecost Vigil Mass Gospel Reading, and reflecting the Holy Spirit on Pentecost  (Acts 2 :1-4). And, Jesus implicated to Nicodemus that the Holy Spirit to be baptized of and to be born again for the Kingdom and eternal life will be available upon his glorification, being lifted up as the serpent on Moses’ pole, referring to his death on the Cross, resurrection, and ascension (John 3:14-15).

With this, we can appreciate that the Gospel Reading (John 3:16-18), in connection to the First Reading (Exodus 34: 4b-6, 8-9 ). The Father, who is love (agape, chesed) (1 John 4:8, 16 cf. Psalm 136), and therefore, so merciful (Exodus 34:6-7), has sent His Son, to us out of His love (John 3:16) so that we are not condemned though we have been stiff-necked sinners as the Israelites on Exodus. And, the Holy Spirit, of which we are to be born again, upon being baptized of water, is sent by the Father, upon the Son’s glorification. On Pentecost, we have received the Holy Spirit and been born again of this One Spirit to be born as One Body of Christ, namely, the Church (1 Corinthians 12:13). And, this is reflected also in Jesus’ Farewell Discourse and Prayer in John 14-17.

By becoming the One Body of Christ, having being born again, being baptized of the Holy Spirit, sent by the Father, upon the glorification of the Son, who has been sent also by the Father, we are not condemned but enjoy salvation through eternal life, leading to the Kingdom, father than the Land of Milk and Honey. Throughout our spiritual Exodus to the Kingdom, the merciful Father, ensures that we are always accompanied by Parakletos, in flesh, as well as in Spirit: Jesus Christ the Son (Parakletos) and the Holy Spirit (and has sent the Holy Spirit as another Parakletos. And through the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, we have been baptized to be born again – to be reborn as the Ekklesia, One Body of Christ with many parts with Christ the Son, the head, and Mary, the mother the heart. This is our koinonia of eiren, in which, we are greeted with these words, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you" (2 Corinthians 13:13) as we begin our Mass with its two pillars: the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. So, the Presider offers a greeting of peace, “Peace be with you”, and we respond, “With your Spirit”, recalling the risen Christ offering the Holy Spirit in his gentle breath (John 20:22).  As reflected in the Second Reading (2 Corinthians 13:11-13), the fellowship of peace, in which we greet each other with holy kiss for peace and harmony, as One Body, in which all its parts in functioning harmonious order, in sanitas (health), leading to salus (salvation).

The Lord Jesus is the grace (gift), the Son, Parakeletos (1 John 2:1), sent from the Father out of His steadfast love (John 3:16) to dwell among us (John 1:14), as Immanuel (Matthew 1:23), in our communion (fellowship) of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 13:13), another Parakletos (John 14:16, 26). And we call this communion with Christ the Son, in the Holy Eucharist, sanctified with the Holy Spirit, the one holy catholic apostolic Church.