Scriptures: Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40; Romans 8:14-17; Matthew 28:16-20.

One of the most pervasive and pernicious heresies in our contemporary society comes not from a denial of Catholic dogma or of Christian doctrine, but rather from a rampant belief in individualism: a belief that the individual, that I, am completely self-sufficient, able to provide myself all the things that I need in order for me to achieve those things that I deem important. This individualism goes further and says that I am able to have family life and commitments entirely on my own terms, and that God is something that doesn’t require a connection with anyone else but is rather something that I can determine and define and place in a box of my own choice.

All of that of course is complete rubbish! And the feast of the Most Holy Trinity is a very powerful reminder that at the very heart of the Christian faith is that wonderful thing called ‘relationship’. The relationship between the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit is so perfect, so full of love, that they are but One, yet still Three. This relationship within the Trinity is so absolute that it overflows into our world through the gifting of the Holy Spirit – as we celebrated last week at Pentecost.

We are reminded by this feast that Christian faith is never about God and me – but is rather about God and us. We are not able to have a real and full relationship with God if we choose to ignore our brothers and sisters, if we say “leave me alone”, if we say “I’ll just go to Mass and get what I need in order to get through my week”. At the very centre of our Christian faith is the Trinity, a God that is constituted by relationship…how, then, can we think that we could do anything else?

Our belief and faith in the Holy Trinity – Father, Son and Spirit existing in one dynamic relationship of love – impels us – nay, demands us – to ensure that we don’t walk the Christian journey in a manner where we choose to ignore those who walk the journey with us. We can tempted to, it would be so much ‘easier’ if we choose that path – but the example of the Trinity poses some different questions:

Are we prepared to walk alone, isolated from our brothers and sisters, a path that is of its nature meant to be walked in the company of others?

Are we prepared to inject ourselves into the lives of our brothers and sisters along the way, or do we simply wish to try to do it all alone in defiance of the Holy Trinity, who is Three yet One?