Today’s solemnity is one of those many elements of the mystery of our Christian faith that is very hard to explain. Yet it is the core of our being baptised Christian, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. It is quite hard and a big challenge to try to explain this mystery of our faith, that God is one and three or God is three persons in one God. This is what we call the Trinity. This is what we celebrate today.

We can however talk about this mystery of the Holy Trinity in forms of analogy. For the lovers of nature, God is like the sun. The Father is the Sun, the rays emanating the earth is the Son, and the warmth, the energy we feel and benefit from is the Holy Spirit. For the singers, the Father is the singer, the Son is the Song and the Holy Spirit is the beautiful sound of music that comes out of both. For the musician the guitar can even be used as the analogy, the Father being the hand or the person playing, the Son as the guitar and the music that is produced is the Holy Spirit. For the mathematician, God is perfect triangle- three perfect angles in one Triangle. One God in three or three in one: a mystery indeed.

As a mystery, it always eludes us. We just couldn’t make a simple explanation to this. Theologians, ever since, are trying to explain this mystery, they wrote books and books about this. But still it remains a great mystery for all of us. The theologians said, that God is love, and his love is so intense, so perfect and complete, strong and personal, that it becomes a person, the Son. The Son loves the Father back. His love is so intense and strong, perfect and complete and personal, that it becomes a person, the Holy Spirit.

This really blows our mind away. But here is the beauty of it. This mysterious nature of our God is revealed to us when we love somebody. It takes two persons to love, the lover and the beloved and this love makes them one. The two persons truly in love don’t care about the rest of the world, don’t feel shame or embarrassed because their love is true and personal, strong and intense. Their love unites them as one, and in fact the only one, as if the world revolves around them.

And we can tell this, that when we are in love, we just have to let things be, without trying to explain why for instance, do I feel in love to this specific person and not to someone else there? When we are in love, at times we wonder why is this like this or like that. Sometimes we even can say “Love is blind” really because I didn’t even take notice of my beloved’s weaknesses and limitations, because I love him or her so much that no matter what people would say, my love will prevail.  I just want to tell the world how much I love my beloved.

In like manner, this is the kind of love that binds the Holy Trinity, the One God in three persons, in perfect communion. The love between them is so strong and overflowing and personal that God shares this love to us, his creation. Whoever we are and what we do, God loves us in a very personal way, and he always invites us to accept this offer of love. His love is not enforcing, it is inviting. Our God is love. This is what Jesus said to Nicodemus in our Gospel today, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son…the love of God. This is our God, the God of love and peace as St Paul tells us today in the Second Reading. The God who is God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in kindness and faithfulness as Moses declares in our First Reading today.

But how can we understand this love between the Trinity which overflows to humanity? An analogy might be of help here. See that God’s love is like the sun. It always gives light to the world. It always gives warmth to the earth. It always energizes the creation. Even if a heavy cloud is blocking our sight to see it, it remains there. The sun does not hide. Even if we hide in a totally dark cave, it does not affect in any way, nor diminish the sun’s light. It always remains as is. In a similar way, this is how God loves us.  If we have realized, convinced and have experienced this wonderful love of God, we know that we have a great support. We take courage in what we do.  And we can ask anything from this loving God of ours. Because he loves us, he really knows what his beloved needs.  The other day, I sat down for the exam to hear confession. I had to face a Canon lawyer and a moral theologian. Before that I was really nervous, ill-prepared, lack in confidence and just anxious because I don’t know what confessional cases would be asked for and respond to. There are only two possibilities there, either I pass or I fail no credit, no distinction, just pass or fail. If I fail, I have to come and sit on the exam again in two weeks, and I don’t want to do that.  I literally was praying to the Holy Trinity. I said, “Father, I trust in you. Jesus help me here. Holy Spirit, enlighten my mind and heart that I may be able to speak and respond adequately the questions and to the situations laid out before me.” I took the exam. I was relieved later on when I learned that both of the examiners have immediately agreed that I passed. I don’t know how I did it. I could not exactly remember now what I said in my answers to their questions. But when I expressed my concern to one of the examiners that I am worried if I dealt each particular case accordingly, he said, “except that you’ve given all the right answers.” I spent the rest of that day thanking God in all my heart for his help and for showing that he loves and really cares for me.

That is how God loves us. If we just let him love us and embrace his love. We just can’t help but savour the sweetness of his love. Eventually then, by living in his love, we’ll be able to have a glimpse of how perfect a love it really is the love that binds the three persons in One God.