Trinity Sunday Year C

There is only so much information and so much emotional burden we can cope with at any one time. Jesus understands that. He has been telling his disciples and friends that he will not be with them too much longer and that they also can expect to suffer at the hands of those who have rejected him. He knows that grief or sorrow has filled their hearts (16:6). He wants them to understand that his departure does not mean abandonment. The Spirit of truth will come and will guide them ‘in all truth’. The truth uttered by the Spirit is the truth that comes from both Jesus and ‘the Father’. We are thus led into the wondrous mystery of relationship that we name as Trinity.  

In fact, it is our Trinitarian faith along with our belief in the incarnation that distinguish us as Christian. Like those of other faiths, we profess the oneness of God. Unlike those of the other great world religions, we believe that God communicates with us as three distinct ‘persons’. This is not an easy teaching. It has been explained through the centuries by way of image and analogy.

Perichoresis , a Greek term suggestive of dancing or of figures interweaving, is one of the earliest and probably one of the most striking images used to explain the Trinity. The life that is in God is three and yet one in a totally harmonious dance of equals. The wonder is that we are invited to join the dance. Trinity Sunday is the day we set aside to celebrate the nearness of the God who draws us into the dance of life and love.