(Trinity Sunday 1998 (C): This homily was given on June 7, 1998 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I. by Fr. Raymond Suriani. Read Romans 5: 1-5; John 16: 12-15.)

THE TRINITY
"The CENTRAL mystery of Christian faith and life!"

Dr. Peter Kreeft is a philosophy professor at Boston College (which, of course, is a Catholic institution run by the Jesuits). Several years ago he taught an evening class on world religions which had 24 students in it: 22 of them were Catholics, 1 was Jewish and 1 was a Muslim. The class was 3 hours long, with a 20 minute break in the middle of it. One evening during the break, Dr. Kreeft was speaking with the Jew, the Muslim, and several of the Catholic students. The Muslim happened to notice the faint outline of a cross on the front wall of the room, and so he said to Dr. Kreeft, "Was there ever a cross on that wall?" One of the Catholic students immediately spoke up and said, "Oh yes, there used to be crucifixes in all the classrooms years ago, but we took them down." (He said it rather proudly.) The Jew said, "You took them down? Why?" The Catholic student said, "Because we wanted to be ecumenical." The Jew said, "Who are you kidding? You took them down because the government wouldn’t give you any money if you were a sectarian school. Well, I hope you got more than thirty pieces of silver from the government this time!"

The Muslim then chimed in and said, "I don’t understand this word ‘ecumenical’; could someone define it for me, please?" Another Catholic student answered him: "Ecumenical means that we love everybody equally, and we don’t want anyone to feel offended." The Muslim responded, "I see. Well, I must tell you that I am offended—greatly offended. You’re telling me that you took down your crucifixes not to insult people like me, a Muslim, and my friend here the Jew. Well, imagine for a minute that you came to my country and enrolled in a Muslim university--knowing that it was a Muslim school--and when you came into the classroom you saw quotations from the Koran on the walls. Would you be offended?" The Catholic students replied, "No, not at all." The Muslim said, "And why wouldn’t you be offended? It’s because you’re not bigots, right? Only a bigot would be offended at that. And by the same token, only a bigot would be offended by a Catholic symbol in a Catholic school. So you see, by taking down that crucifix, in effect, you’re calling me a bigot! I am highly insulted." The Jew said, "So am I!"

The Muslim continued—he said to the Catholic students, "Do you really believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?" They said, "Yes." The Muslim said, "I don’t think you believe that at all. As a Muslim, of course, I don’t. The Koran says that’s a blasphemy. But we do have a very high regard for Jesus. We believe he’s one of the greatest prophets of all time. He performed miracles; he was virgin-born; and, next to Mohammed, he’s probably the greatest man who ever lived. Therefore, if we had pictures of him (which we don’t; but if we did) we would NEVER take them down—not even if government soldiers came into the room and threatened us! We would be very happy to position our bodies in front of his pictures and die for his honor. And now, you have taken him down voluntarily! I think that makes us better Christians than you are!"

Why do I share this story with you this morning? It’s because this weekend the Church celebrates Trinity Sunday. This is a day when our attention is focused on what the New Catechism calls "the central mystery of Christian faith and life." This means that, in a certain sense, EVERYTHING we are supposed to believe as Catholic Christians rests on the truth of this dogma; everything stand or falls with the Trinity! For example: if Jesus Christ was not the divine Son of God, if he was not the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity made man, then he did not atone for your sins and mine when he died on that Cross! You see, if he was only a man, then his actions did not have infinite value; consequently his sacrifice did not win forgiveness for the whole human race. Which means that St. Paul lies to us today in our second reading from Romans 5 when he says that "we are [now] at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." That is only true if Jesus was (and is) God. Furthermore, if Jesus was only a man, then he certainly didn’t have the power to send us the Holy Spirit. Which means that today’s gospel also contains a lie! In this text from John 16 Jesus says, "When [the Holy Spirit] comes . . . he will give glory to me, because he will have received from me what he will announce to you." That line can only be true if Jesus and the Holy Spirit are divine, as God the Father is divine.

Today, unfortunately, there are many Catholics who are just like the Catholics in Dr. Kreeft’s class. They say, "Oh, it doesn’t really matter what you believe. Just be a nice person." Consequently, in the name of "love", they "water-down" the truth of the gospel, thinking that this will win them a hearing and convert the world. It will not! What we believe influences how we think and how we act and how we treat others. That means that what we believe matters! God bless that Jewish student and that Muslim student for reminding their Catholic friends of this important fact! Their message to the Catholics in that class was: "Look, if you want our respect, then don’t be hypocrites! A hypocrite is someone who doesn’t believe what he says he believes. You’re telling us that you believe Jesus is the divine Son of God, but your actions are telling us that you don’t. For heaven’s sake, you don’t even want his image in your college classroom! We would have much more respect for you and take what you say much more seriously if you would simply be true to your profession of faith."

There is an important lesson here for all of us.

In a few seconds we will stand to recite the Nicene Creed in which we will profess our faith in the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In that prayer we will also profess our belief in the Church. That is not a coincidence! To believe in the divinity of Jesus is to believe in the Church that he founded on the rock of St. Peter! To believe in the divinity of Jesus is to believe that his promise in today’s gospel has come to pass: that he has sent his Holy Spirit for the last 2,000 years to guide the Church to all truth. Many people want to separate what Jesus taught from what the Church authoritatively teaches today on matters of faith and morals. But you can’t do that. It’s either both, or it’s neither. If the dogma of the Trinity is true, then it’s all true (what Jesus taught 2,000 years ago and what the Church teaches authoritatively today in his name); if the dogma of the Trinity is false, then it’s all false.

Let me close today with something that Mother Teresa wrote in one of her books. She said:

When our sisters were in Ceylon, a minister of state once told me something very surprising. He said, "You know, Mother, I love Christ, but I hate Christians." So I asked him how that could be. He answered, "Because Christians do not give us Christ; they do not live their Christian lives to the full."