The first Sunday after Pentecost is dedicated to the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. With the conclusion of the Easter Season, the liturgy returns to Ordinary Time, inviting us to contemplate God in his deepest reality.
Today's solemnity, in a certain sense, summarizes the whole revelation of God as it unfolded through the paschal mystery: the death and resurrection of Christ, his ascension to the right hand of the Father and the descent of the Holy Spirit. It is as if the Church were leading us, step by step, to the very heart of God. As we come to the mystery of the Trinity, we delve deeper into what it means to say: «God so loved the world».
Today's readings trace a path of this revelation. In the first reading, Moses meets the Lord on Mount Sinai, where God reveals Himself: “Lord, Lord, compassionate and merciful God, slow to anger and rich in clemency and loyalty”. Here God does not yet reveal himself as Trinity, but we already glimpse something of his inner life: a richness, a fullness, an overflowing love.
This divine love reaches its fullest expression in the Gospel: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”. The Father sends the Son; the Son gives his life; the Spirit is poured into our hearts. God is not solitude, but communion.
This is the profound simplicity of our faith: there is only one God, and yet this one God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three distinct Persons, united in perfect love. Love, by its very nature, cannot remain closed in on itself. In a suggestive and almost playful way, G. K. Chesterton once commented that “it is not good for God to be alone”evoking the words of Genesis about man: “it is not good for man to be alone”.”. While, of course, God is perfect in himself, the mystery of the Trinity reveals that in God there is an eternal communion, a living exchange of love.
We are introduced into this divine life through Baptism. We are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. The life of the Trinity has not only been revealed to us, it has been given to us. Every time we make the sign of the cross, we invoke that name, the name of God who is love. This simple gesture marks our entire existence: from the beginning of our life in Christ to its fullness, it accompanies us, reminding us of who we are and to whom we belong.
St. Paul expresses this beautifully at the end of his Second Letter to the Corinthians: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all always.”. It is not just a greeting; it is a summary of the Christian life.
If it is true, in a certain sense, that “it is not good for God to be alone”, then it is certainly not good for man to be alone without God. We are created for communion with God and with each other. The Trinity reveals both our origin and our destiny: we come from love and are called to enter fully into that love.
