The Most Holy Trinity

dwvm55

Oct 7

3 min read

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Exodus 34:4b-6, 8-9; Daniel 3:52-55; II Corinthians 13:11-13; John 3:16-18

Whether for an evening stroll or metaphorically in life,

what does it mean to walk with someone?

Doesn’t it mean you walk shoulder-to-shoulder?

You don’t walk slightly ahead as if leading.

Nor do you walk slightly behind as if following.

You become one.

Pope Francis used the word accompanying.

We should accompany people. To my mind either word holds no suggestion of judgement or control in this invitation. The person we choose, and it is a choice, to walk with decides the direction we will go in. Even if we think the direction is mistaken or wrong. We are accompanying them.

Genesis brings us to Sinai, the mountain of God.

The people, anxiously having waited for Moses, make and worship the Golden Calf.

Moses coming off the mountain throws down the tablets of the Law and breaks them.

We find ourselves back on the mountain.

It is quiet and intimate.

Moses is the only person to see God face-to face; the only person God calls a friend.

And as a friend Moses makes a request.

“If I find favour with you, O God, do come along in our company.”

Moses warns God that the people are stubborn and sinful.

God must make a choice. Will God accompany / walk with Moses and the people or not?

We know that God chooses to walk with his people who wander for forty years.

God walks with them in their midst.

A great column of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire during the night.

We find a similar story in the Gospel of Luke.

It is the first day of the week. Unbeknownst to everyone, it is the day of resurrection.

It is late afternoon.

Cleopas and his wife are walking home to Emmaus.

Deeply sad. Disappointed. Frustrated. Hopeless.

Jesus walks up from behind and catches up with them.

He listens. He asks questions. He listens more. He offers insights.

Jesus, as he did with some many people, eats with them.

The night before he was arrested, tortured and crucified,

Jesus promised to send an Advocate, the Spirit.

In Europe you see signs: Advocatus. We write and advertise, Attorneys at Law.

A lawyer walks with, accompanies their client; whether guilty or not.

The Advocatus, Advocate, lawyer pleads, defends, and protects their client.

One of the great mysterious beliefs of our faith is that God is One and God is Three: Father, Son and Spirit. Our personal and public communal prayer begins with declaring: In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. We plunge a person into the dying and rising of Jesus Christ in baptism by calling on Father, Son and Spirit. We bless in the name of this Divine, Holy Trinity, God.

Whom do you walk with in life?

Who have you let walk, or as with Cleopas and his wife, found yourself being accompanied by?

No judgement, no control.

Over the centuries, much ink has been spilt and breath wasted trying to explain, understand, teach theologize and preach this belief of a God who is One and Three, a community of being, at the heart of our Christian faith.

Mystery can never be understood or explained.

Mystery is not an equation to be solved.

But Mystery can be experienced.

This God of ours, One and Three, can be experienced.

This God, Father, Son and Spirit, has chosen to walk with us.

This Holy Trinity of Being walks with us wherever we may wander.

In our stubbornness and sinfulness.

Amid our disappointments and sadness.

When we feel hopeless and afraid.

When we need someone to stand up and speak for us.

When we need to be defended and protected.

This God, Father, Son and Spirit is shoulder-to shoulder walking alongside of us.

No judgement.

Allowing us to lead.

This is what it means to be gracious, slow to anger and rich in kindness.

Theologians we still try and explain and understand.

Priests will still preach.

Parents and catechists will still teach.

But nothing will touch us more than asking, like Moses, this God to walk with us.

What more be really said. And so, we pray:

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit;

to God who is, who was and who is to come.

31 May 2026

Whether for an evening stroll or metaphorically in life,

what does it mean to walk with someone?

Doesn’t it mean you walk shoulder-to-shoulder?

You don’t walk slightly ahead as if leading.

Nor do you walk slightly behind as if following.

You become one.

Pope Francis used the word accompanying.

We should accompany people. To my mind either word holds no suggestion of judgement or control in this invitation. The person we choose, and it is a choice, to walk with decides the direction we will go in. Even if we think the direction is mistaken or wrong. We are accompanying them.

Genesis brings us to Sinai, the mountain of God.

The people, anxiously having waited for Moses, make and worship the Golden Calf.

Moses coming off the mountain throws down the tablets of the Law and breaks them.

We find ourselves back on the mountain.

It is quiet and intimate.

Moses is the only person to see God face-to face; the only person God calls a friend.

And as a friend Moses makes a request.

“If I find favour with you, O God, do come along in our company.”

Moses warns God that the people are stubborn and sinful.

God must make a choice. Will God accompany / walk with Moses and the people or not?

We know that God chooses to walk with his people who wander for forty years.

God walks with them in their midst.

A great column of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire during the night.

We find a similar story in the Gospel of Luke.

It is the first day of the week. Unbeknownst to everyone, it is the day of resurrection.

It is late afternoon.

Cleopas and his wife are walking home to Emmaus.

Deeply sad. Disappointed. Frustrated. Hopeless.

Jesus walks up from behind and catches up with them.

He listens. He asks questions. He listens more. He offers insights.

Jesus, as he did with some many people, eats with them.

The night before he was arrested, tortured and crucified,

Jesus promised to send an Advocate, the Spirit.

In Europe you see signs: Advocatus. We write and advertise, Attorneys at Law.

A lawyer walks with, accompanies their client; whether guilty or not.

The Advocatus, Advocate, lawyer pleads, defends, and protects their client.

Whom do you walk with in life?

Who have you let walk, or as with Cleopas and his wife, found yourself being accompanied by?

No judgement, no control.

Over the centuries, much ink has been spilt and breath wasted trying to explain, understand, teach theologize and preach this belief of a God who is One and Three, a community of being, at the heart of our Christian faith.

Mystery can never be understood or explained.

Mystery is not an equation to be solved.

But Mystery can be experienced.

This God of ours, One and Three, can be experienced.

This God, Father, Son and Spirit, has chosen to walk with us.

This Holy Trinity of Being walks with us wherever we may wander.

In our stubbornness and sinfulness.

Amid our disappointments and sadness.

When we feel hopeless and afraid.

When we need someone to stand up and speak for us.

When we need to be defended and protected.

This God, Father, Son and Spirit is shoulder-to shoulder walking alongside of us.

No judgement.

Allowing us to lead.

This is what it means to be gracious, slow to anger and rich in kindness.

Theologians we still try and explain and understand.

Priests will still preach.

Parents and catechists will still teach.

But nothing will touch us more than asking, like Moses, this God to walk with us.

What more be really said. And so, we pray:

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit;

to God who is, who was and who is to come.

31 May 2026

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