The Most Holy Trinity

May 22, 2016

This weekend we pause to be drawn into the magnificence of God.  The revelation of the Father, the sacrifice of the Son and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit allows our awesome God to communicate with us.  It is by the grace of God that all of this takes place.  To the wonderment of all, we are blessed by a God whose love overwhelms.  The starting point is the realization that the Trinity is undivided in unity, equal in majesty.  It is a God who is, who was and always will be.

One of the programs on television I watch on a regular basic (and there are not many of them) is Madame Secretary. In the season finale I was struck by a story line that found Madame Secretary’s speech writer giving a graduation commencement address to a small college.  He was not supposed to give the speech, she was, but when she had to back out, she sent him.  While he was uncomfortable and told them he was obviously not who they were expecting, he made a fascinating point about our society and technology.  He spoke about being a writer in the dark in a society that longs to put everything out there in the light.  He spoke of everyone having blogs, Facebooking events and sending instant messages about everything happening.  We have moved to a place in society where there is not an unpublished thought.  Yet, he works behind the scenes. We will never know how much importance happens behind the scenes and how much actually takes place to have all that we have.  While I am not doing it justice, the concept caught my attention.  I truly believe many feel they are so important, the world cannot exist unless their ideas are shared and blogged.  Thoughts are there to help others, because we have the answer.  I was out to breakfast with someone who took a picture of the breakfast before him to send it immediately to Facebook so others could know what he was eating.  The immediate and totally exposed seems to be the trend, yet that is not the way it is with God.

The Trinity of one God always works together, yet it is not always revealed.  When Jesus walked on the earth, He did so not separate from the Father or the Holy Spirit.  When the Spirit inspires us, it is done with the Father and the Son who are not seen, yet are present.  We live in a time when the temptation is to post or tweet to get the news out.  Yet a patient God reveals when the time is right.  A patient God reveals in a way that what is behind the scenes, that which is hidden, is actually more revealing than what we see.

In the great prayer of the Doxology, which concludes each Eucharistic Prayer no matter which one we use, we sing “through Him, with Him and in Him”. That first phrase is referring to the Body and Blood that the presider and deacon are raising up in front of our eyes.  The Doxology goes on to say, “O God, Almighty Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit.” Now we are referencing the things that are unseen or behind the scenes.  We have called down the Holy Spirit in the Epiclesis before the Consecration and all Eucharistic prayers are prayed to the Father.  Both are present, yet not seen in the same way the Body and Blood is seen.  We conclude the Doxology with “All glory and honor is yours forever and ever.”  We are acknowledging all glory belongs to God. What takes place on the altar is a gift of the covenant of Jesus, yet what is unseen is the commitment of the Father and the constant provoking of the Holy Spirit, all done in love.  All of this begins in one place, the love of God.  God so loved the world.

Blessed are we who live in His love.

Rev. John J. Ouper