News & Events
Trinity Sunday
Posted in News
31st. May 2026
Gospel: John 3:16-18
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
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Homily
I remember as a little boy returning home from school and making a rather hostile remark about a boy from another ethnic group. My mother, a very wise person, called me and asked me how many heavens existed. Surprised I responded, “one mummy” She said to me, “you are correct, there is only one heaven. There is not a special heaven for Chinese people and another for Syrians, and another for Indians, and another for white people and another for black people. We will all go to the same heaven.” Then she added “if you do not have the habit of getting on well with them here, you will not be allowed to get to heaven where you will have to get on well with them there”
As I prepared to celebrate the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity, I remembered this teaching of my mother. This feast is a solemnity which does not celebrate an event in the life of Jesus but rather celebrates Trinitarian love, i.e. the love which exists between the three persons of the Trinity and its consequences in the world. Trinitarian love is love which does not remain locked up but goes out to include others within its ambit. It is because of this that God’s creation happened and we are included in that love. It is because of this that you and I, having experienced that love, are called to widen the circle of love bringing others to experience that love themselves and in their turn help others to experience that love also.
“As we look at the Trinity and compare it with our human families, we can say that the Trinity is the family life of God. God is relationship and, in the Trinity, there is revealed not only something about God, but also about fatherhood. It is an intimate, self-giving relationship. As we hear of delinquent, absent and abusing fathers, and “fatherless children”, we conclude that the lost father is lost relationship, broken promise, torn covenant, lost Trinity. The disappearance of fatherhood is the disappearance of intimacy.” (John Kavanaugh, S. J. of Saint Louis University). How important it is therefore that we do not act as orphans when we talk or think about God.
As I reflected on the gospel this week and the demands of Trinitarian love, I remembered that some time ago a young man came to me to ask for help. He told me that he had just been released from prison and could not find work. Those who could employ him turned him away as soon as he told them that he had been in prison. The same attitude is prevalent in those who call for the death penalty. The argument is of course that in certain countries the death penalty for murder, and certain other offences, like spying, is written into law. As I listen to these calls, I often ask myself whether it is possible to love someone as Christ loves us and still be in favour of the death penalty. Unfortunately, even among clergy and religious there are those who support the death penalty, generating the prevailing attitude amongst many of us, which is to condemn those who commit crimes, whether to death or to prison, and so write that person off. It is to say that the person condemned is not fit for this world. It is to create a pariah, someone against whom we shut our hearts and our minds, someone we refuse to admit within the ambit of Trinitarian love. Of course, those who commit crime must be punished but the punishment meted out must rehabilitate so that they too become capable of experiencing the love of the Trinity for them. People who experience Trinitarian love and help others to experience it are saved.
The Gospel reading for this Sunday reminds us that God did not send his Son Jesus into the world to condemn the world but rather so that the world might be saved. During the Easter season which we have just completed, on more than one occasion, the Gospels reminded us that we, the present-day disciples have been sent into the world to continue the mission of Jesus. We were told, “As the Father has sent me, so am I sending you.” We are sent therefore not to condemn the world but so that the world might be saved through us.
The question then for all of us who consider ourselves to be disciples of Jesus is how we go about saving this world in which we live. The answer is also given to us in the gospel reading, “everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” And “Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
My dear brothers and sisters, it is important to remember that believing in a person is the fruit of love. It is loving my dear brothers and sisters that engenders trust. It is because of love that spouses trust each other, that friends trust each other, that we believe what the other says to us.
It is because of our love for the Lord that we believe what he has said to us. We believe that love, as he has loved us, is the guarantee of happiness in the life to come. It is our belief in Jesus, our trust of Him, that guarantees eternal life.
You and I my dear sisters and brothers, are called not only to believe in Jesus ourselves, but also to foster belief in Jesus. In a world in which there are so many voices calling us to follow, we, the disciples of Jesus, must make our voices heard and convincingly so. Pope Paul VI reminds us of this when he said, “the world is tired of teachers and only listens to a teacher when the teacher is also a witness.” Unfortunately, so very often we are teachers without being witnesses, our lives give the lie to what we say; we do not walk the talk.
Yet our history as a church reminds us that the heroes of our faith, the saints, all walked the talk, and did it so convincingly that up to today, long after their deaths, many still follow them. Today how many follow Mother Theresa of Calcutta or Francis, or Benedict or Dominic. And how many will follow our founder if our lives convince them that we do what we say we believe. The world is still being saved because their followers continue to foster belief in Jesus, a belief expressed in the lifestyle which they adopt.
Today, in all our lands, we need disciples of Jesus who are true witnesses. As missionaries of the Poor do we embrace the poverty which allows us to truly understand the pain that some of our residents endure? Do we encourage each other to love as Jesus did? We need to encourage parents to walk the talk, loving others as Jesus did and do it so convincingly that their homes become schools of discipleship, from which disciples, imbued with Trinitarian love go out to help others believe in the name of Jesus and become witnesses themselves. What we ask of families we also ask of religious congregations. We too, must walk the talk. Our lives must be characterized by trinitarian love. We also must so live that the witness of our lives will encourage others to be true disciples of Jesus. This my dear friends is the task that we have accepted. The fulfilment of this task will ensure for us eternal happiness in the life to come.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, we thank you for including us within the ambit of your love. We thank you for the myriads of saints who have so lived that we and others have experienced the tremendous love which you have for all humanity. Help us who believe in the name of your Son Jesus, to understand that we too are called to foster believe in your son Jesus, not only by our words but more importantly by the lives we live. Help us to do whatever is necessary so that others are included within the ambit of your love. We ask this through the intercession of Mary our Mother and your Son, Jesus. Amen
