For All Who Are Led by the Spirit of God Are Children of God (Rom 8:14) 1

Trinity Sunday (B), May 31, 2015

“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God” (Rom 8:14)1

Readings: Deuteronomy 4:32–40; Psalm 33: 4–22; Romans 8:14–17; Matthew 28:16–20

It is remarkably difficult to preach on Trinity Sunday. We preachers have to work hard not to talk about triangles or shamrocks. The church’s teaching on the Trinity is not about triangles, not about old men with beards, not about kings on thrones, and not about doves in flight. The mystery of the Trinity is about belonging to Christ, about becoming heirs to the promises of God, about understanding and acknowledging that the Lord is God, and that, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are God’s people, God’s children.

The Trinity was not invented by philosophers and theologians in deep conversation in smoke filled rooms. Instead, our understanding of the Trinity has grown out of our shared experience of God as Father,

Son and Holy Spirit.

Pope Benedict XVI wisely observes that in the Trinity, we encounter

“The intimacy of God himself, discovering that he is not infinite

1 For a more complete treatment of this Sunday’s scriptures, see “Adopted Into the Family of God,” in America: May 25-June 1, 2015 Issue John W. Martens solitude but communion of light and love, life given and received in an eternal dialogue between the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit

—lover, beloved and love.” Our God, moving among us day by day, quickening the hearts of believers, reveals the relational nature of

God, God as communion of love revealed in creation, in the incarnation, and guided everywhere and always by the Holy Spirit.

God is revealed to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and so we who are baptized come to know ourselves as children of God, members of

God’s family in the Body of Christ, sharing the covenant of God, rejoicing in the promises and the goodness and the mercy of God.

We belong to the family of God because we belong to Christ the Son.

In the mystery of the Trinity, we see the true nature of the family and of familial love. Just as the Father sent the Son, just as the Father and the Son sent the Spirit, so too are we sent by Jesus as missionaries to make the family of God, the Body of Christ, bigger and bigger, inviting all people to share in our communion.