Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Trinity Sunday is a celebration of the mystery of God’s love. As St. John says, ‘God is love’ (1 John 4:16). In our prayer and liturgy, we worship the mystery of God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The three persons of the Trinity exist in relationships of love. Created in the image and likeness of God, we too are created to live in relationships of love and communion becoming peacebuilders in our society. God wishes us to be drawn into this love of the Trinity, into this togetherness.
One icon which explores this mystery is that written by the early fourteenth century Andrei Rublev. It is well-known. My summary may lead you to look it up online. It is called both ‘The Hospitality of Abraham’ and ‘The Trinity’. It shows the three strangers or angels who visit Abraham to tell him that Sarah will conceive. They are seated around a table on which there is a cup of hospitality and welcome. It can also be read as the three persons of the Trinity who look lovingly at one another revealing the mystery of the communion of love and who also look outwards to us with love. God the Father (on the left) is clothed in gold. God the Father’s eyes look lovingly at the Son (in the centre in blue) and the Holy Spirit (on the right in green). They reciprocate this love by looking at the Father. From the love of the Father and the Son proceeds the love of the Holy Spirit who lovingly looks out towards you and me. We are invited into this circle of love and to sit on the open side of the table or altar. The cup or chalice can be understood as the cup of welcome and more deeply the chalice of Christ’s blood given for many. Before such an image, we can kneel to worship and find some little time for God; and rest for a little time in him. We can speak heart to heart to Him.
Our hearts yearn for fulfilment in God and a communion of life and love in the Holy Trinity. This inner yearning for God was expressed by those who stepped forward to become Catholics and were baptised and confirmed at Easter. This human longing is seen in the spiritual searching of many people who no longer go to Church, maybe by an interest in other religions or new spiritualities. The TV programme ‘The Pilgrimage’ showed a group of celebrities exploring spirituality as they walked to Lindisfarne.
Today we gather to express this yearning but do so as pilgrims; pilgrims because we believe in Jesus Christ and follow him. Of course, we each walk our journey with questions, with doubts, with faith and with the ups and downs of life. But as pilgrims we keep walking with Christ knowing God’s love for each one of us. As the gospel said,’ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life’. The gift of God’s merciful love gives us hope for our journey or pilgrimage. We have come to know and believe in the love that God has for us.
As we are drawn into God’s love, so we are sent out to build relationships of love with others. St John writes ‘Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.’ We know God through our love for others by building relationships and recognising our interdependence. As Church, we are called to communion.
“If you see charity, you see the Trinity”, wrote Saint Augustine. These words summon us to love. We touch the mystery of the Trinity through our prayer, the sacraments and our love for others. The Church through her love for others expresses the mystery of the Trinity. It is a call for our parishes to build ever deepening relationships of love reaching out to others in need. In this way we overcome divisions and build peace.
Deaneries and parishes have begun the process of reflection on their mission in the Archdiocese. Schools are beginning to consider how they work more effectively with others for the good of all the children in Catholic education and build a more secure future. Together we are asking how the Church can better proclaim Jesus Christ to all peoples and live our mission more effectively. The more we see charity, the more we see the Trinity. Accompaniment is at the heart of the pastoral plan; to accompany those who do not know Christ and those who have walked away from the Church while also walking with those in our churches. Accompaniment must also be at the heart of our reflection on how the Church makes Christ’s love real and comes to the aid of the poor, those in need, the hungry, the thirsty, and the stranger, just as Abraham welcomed his angelic visitors. I encourage you on this feast to make this charity ever more real and see the new calls to which parishes and schools can respond. Living charity, our caritas, is the mission of the Church and there we meet the Trinity of God’s love.
Be assured of my prayers.
Archbishop John Sherrington
Archbishop of Liverpool