By Tony Brennan on Tuesday, 14 June 2022
Category: Bishop's Homilies and Statements

Homily - Trinity Sunday 2022 - Bishop McKeown

Sunday, 12 June 2022 

Over the last weeks, we have been praying about different aspects of our faith - Christ's suffering, death and resurrection; his departure and return to the Father at the Ascension, and then

Our task as missionary disciples is to be open, not to recreating a world of decades ago but to reaching the people of our time and place. Unless our synodal conversations focus on our mission as Church, we will be getting the wrong answers because we are asking the wrong questions.

Thirdly, the Trinity frees us from another temptation. At a time when Church is widely attacked and condemned, it is easy to believe we must defend the institution, its reputation and its power in society. But the only plan the Trinitarian God has is to heal the world. A defensive mentality is concerned about us. A missionary heart shares the divine concern for other people in their need. A navel-gazing Church is not capable of revealing Jesus to those who suffer and cry out for mercy or love. Pope Benedict talked about the love story between God and humankind, told in the Bible[1]. We were made in the divine image and likeness. Even when we abused out freedom, on Calvary God wanted to bring us back to what we were created for. We wait in joyful hope for the coming of Jesus when all things will be reconciled in Christ. That is a story, not of the Trinity sitting in heaven like the Greek gods on Mount Olympus but of a God who is constantly at work for the salvation of the world. Our task as missionary disciples is to be open, not to recreating a world of decades ago but to reaching the people of our time and place. Unless our synodal conversations focus on our mission as Church, we will be getting the wrong answers because we are asking the wrong questions.

Trinity Sunday brings us back to God as mystery who wants us to enter into the divine mission of mercy. As the Second Vatican Council taught, the Church is a sacrament of sign of intimate union with God and of the unity of all humankind.[2] In word and sacrament, we celebrate the Trinity at work in the love of the Father, the forgiveness of the Son and the power of the Holy Spirit. In all forms of prayer, we adore the loving mystery of God at work. This week, give thanks to the Father, who welcomes you with open arms. Give thanks for the Son, who offers forgiveness through his open arms on the Cross. And be open to the Holy Spirit who sends us out with open arms to reveal divine love to the hurting of the world. The Holy Trinity is a mystery of love. We can only offer that mystery if we have come to know it. Pope Francis defined Jesus as the face of the Father's mercy[3]. Only a church that knows this loving face can share it where it is most needed. The mystery of the Trinity invites us into the mystery of who we are. For that liberating mystery we never cease to give thanks and praise.

+ Donal McKeown


[1] Deus Caritas Est, para 17

[2] Lumen Gentium, para 1

[3] Misericordiae vultus, para 1

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