CT - Three teachings about God

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (B), Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40.

Easter time ends with Pentecost. Ordinary Time resumes on the day after Pentecost, to run until the end of the liturgical year on the Saturday after the Solemnity of Christ the King. But the first two Sundays of this resumed Ordinary Time are Sundays of special observance: Trinity Sunday and Corpus Christi. It's as if the church wants to underline these two great realities of our faith before it gets back to merely "ordinary" observance of the unfolding of our faith.

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity is not one of the church's ancient feasts. As a matter of fact, for a long time the apostolic see of Rome did not favor the celebration of a special feast of the Holy Trinity. Pope Alexander II, who died in 1073, said, "It is not the custom in Rome to set aside a special day for honoring the Most Holy Trinity, since, properly speaking, it is honored daily in psalmody by the singing of the 'Glory be to the Father.'" But the celebration became common in monastic liturgies, and, finally, Pope John XXII made the feast obligatory for the whole church in 1334. He assigned its observance to the Sunday after Pentecost where it has remained ever since.

The readings for Trinity Sunday have been chosen to illustrate the principal themes of the celebration rather than to harmonize with one another. For Year B the first reading is from the last part of chapter four of The Book of Deuteronomy. In these verses, the author is portraying Moses talking to the Israelites about the proofs of God's love that have been shown to them. In this account of how God had dealt with the Israelites, the text also teaches its readers something about the nature of the Lord.

"Has anybody ever heard of anything like this?" Moses asks. "God actually spoke to us amid the fire and thunder of Mt. Sinai, and we have survived! God made us His own people by bringing us out of Egypt in the midst of miracles of His power! And now? Now we must acknowledge that our Lord God is the only God there is. We must follow His directions and obey His commands if we are to live peacefully and prosperously in the land to which God is bringing us."

There are three teachings about God inherent in this exhortation. First, there is the uniqueness of God. The God of Israel is not like the false gods of the Egyptians, a whole gathering of various powers each of which required special attention and devotion. No, God is one and there is no other God but the God that had manifested himself to the Israelites.

Secondly, this God is transcendent. That is, He is not a power that is rooted in our world so that we can relate to Him as we relate to our fellow creatures. God is different from us, so different that even hearing His voice would destroy us unless God made special provisions for our safety.

Thirdly, this God is also immanent. That is, despite His total difference from us, God has chosen to be part of what goes on in the world. God as chosen one particular people for His own. God has become involved in the affairs of that people. God expects to enter into a kind of dialogue with this people, a dialogue in which God will offer direction and His people will follow. God is a participant in what is going on here and now.

What God did for His first chosen people revealed something about God, and what God revealed about himself to them is also valid and true for us who are successors of that first chosen people. In His life and ministry, Jesus showed us still more about God. Jesus gave us the means to know God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But what Jesus taught us and showed us is founded on what God revealed to the Israelites in the desert.

God is one. God is totally different from us and is infinitely beyond us. Yet God is also concerned with us and involved with our human existence and our human history.

Each of those truths has consequences for our life. We must not pursue other gods such as power and comfort and success. The real God is one. And God is transcendent, totally different from us. We must therefore be careful not to scale God down to our own image and likeness. Yet we must also be careful to be attentive and responsive to God's overtures to us through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit. God is immanent, part of what's going on in this world.

The God of Moses: unique, transcendent, immanent. That's what we recall and celebrate on this day.

For reflection and discussion
What does the transcendence of God mean to me?
What does the immanence of God mean to me?



		Welcome to the online edition of The Catholic Telegraph, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati Serving 500,000 Catholics in the southwest Ohio counties of: Adams, Auglaize, Brown, Butler, Champaign, Clark, Clermont, Clinton, Darke, Greene, Hamilton, Highland, Logan, Mercer, Miami, Montgomery, Preble, Shelby and Warren.

*Overtures* Reflection on the first readings of the Sunday liturgy By Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk Three teachings about God The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (B),** Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40. Easter time ends with Pentecost. Ordinary Time resumes on the day after Pentecost, to run until the end of the liturgical year on the Saturday after the Solemnity of Christ the King. But the first two Sundays of this resumed Ordinary Time are Sundays of special observance: Trinity Sunday and Corpus Christi. It's as if the church wants to underline these two great realities of our faith before it gets back to merely "ordinary" observance of the unfolding of our faith. The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity is not one of the church's ancient feasts. As a matter of fact, for a long time the apostolic see of Rome did not favor the celebration of a special feast of the Holy Trinity. Pope Alexander II, who died in 1073, said, "It is not the custom in Rome to set aside a special day for honoring the Most Holy Trinity, since, properly speaking, it is honored daily in psalmody by the singing of the 'Glory be to the Father.'" But the celebration became common in monastic liturgies, and, finally, Pope John XXII made the feast obligatory for the whole church in 1334. He assigned its observance to the Sunday after Pentecost where it has remained ever since. The readings for Trinity Sunday have been chosen to illustrate the principal themes of the celebration rather than to harmonize with one another. For Year B the first reading is from the last part of chapter four of The Book of Deuteronomy. In these verses, the author is portraying Moses talking to the Israelites about the proofs of God's love that have been shown to them. In this account of how God had dealt with the Israelites, the text also teaches its readers something about the nature of the Lord. "Has anybody ever heard of anything like this?" Moses asks. "God actually spoke to us amid the fire and thunder of Mt. Sinai, and we have survived! God made us His own people by bringing us out of Egypt in the midst of miracles of His power! And now? Now we must acknowledge that our Lord God is the only God there is. We must follow His directions and obey His commands if we are to live peacefully and prosperously in the land to which God is bringing us." There are three teachings about God inherent in this exhortation. First, there is the uniqueness of God. The God of Israel is not like the false gods of the Egyptians, a whole gathering of various powers each of which required special attention and devotion. No, God is one and there is no other God but the God that had manifested himself to the Israelites. Secondly, this God is transcendent. That is, He is not a power that is rooted in our world so that we can relate to Him as we relate to our fellow creatures. God is different from us, so different that even hearing His voice would destroy us unless God made special provisions for our safety. Thirdly, this God is also immanent. That is, despite His total difference from us, God has chosen to be part of what goes on in the world. God as chosen one particular people for His own. God has become involved in the affairs of that people. God expects to enter into a kind of dialogue with this people, a dialogue in which God will offer direction and His people will follow. God is a participant in what is going on here and now. What God did for His first chosen people revealed something about God, and what God revealed about himself to them is also valid and true for us who are successors of that first chosen people. In His life and ministry, Jesus showed us still more about God. Jesus gave us the means to know God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But what Jesus taught us and showed us is founded on what God revealed to the Israelites in the desert. God is one. God is totally different from us and is infinitely beyond us. Yet God is also concerned with us and involved with our human existence and our human history. Each of those truths has consequences for our life. We must not pursue other gods such as power and comfort and success. The real God is one. And God is transcendent, totally different from us. We must therefore be careful not to scale God down to our own image and likeness. Yet we must also be careful to be attentive and responsive to God's overtures to us through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit. God is immanent, part of what's going on in this world. The God of Moses: unique, transcendent, immanent. That's what we recall and celebrate on this day. For reflection and discussion What does the transcendence of God mean to me? What does the immanence of God mean to me?

	[Return to top of page ] Copyright (c) 2006 The Catholic Telegraph