BAPTISM INTO THE TRINITARIAN GOD


THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY

Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP 

Deut 4:32-34,39-40; Ps 33:4-6,9,18-20,22; Rom 8:14-17; Mt 28:16-20

Baptise them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

The celebration of the mystery of the Holy Trinity follows when we have completed the celebration of the Easter season. The time is well selected because the celebration of the Paschal mysteries of our Lord Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit prepares the background for understanding the mystery of the Trinity of the Godhead. From this position, we consider the gospel passage proper to introduction of this mystery. The first thing we are to garner from the gospel is that the Trinity is the heart of the Christian doctrine and life. Our Lord himself leads us in the understanding by his words and gestures. The mission he gave his disciples was to baptise peoples and nations in the name of the Trinity. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations; baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” The command he gave them is to bring all peoples and nations into the life of the Trinity, for to baptise is to immerse someone into a new life or experience a new reality. Thus, the Christian vocation is a call to share in the life of the Trinity of Persons in One God. This is what makes the Christian revelation complete and above every other revelation or religion. 

The second thing to take in from the gospel is the order of entrance into the mystery of the Trinity. The first encounter one must make with the Trinity is through the word of God. The encounter with the word of God and experience of the tremendous power or authority it contains lead us to God the Father, who speaks his word to us. Thus, we experience the word of God and walk it as a way leading us to the Father. Our Lord Jesus revealed this when he said: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” To experience this unbounded authority of the divine word we must submit to it as God’s word and not as human words. Hence, the hesitance of some of the disciples to worship the risen Lord reveals a hindrance to an immersive experience of the Trinity. “When they saw him they fell down before him, though some hesitated.” Unless we overcome every hesitation in our mind about the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, it will be impossible to enter into the mystery of the Trinity of Godhead. This is what Moses asked the people to do. “Put this question to the ages that are past, that went before you. From the time God created man on earth: Was there ever a word so majestic, from one end of heaven to the other? Was anything ever heard? Did ever a people hear the voice of the living God speaking from the heart of the fire, as you heard it, and remain alive?”

To refuse to hear the majestic voice of God in the humanity of Jesus Christ is to refuse to enter the mystery of the Blessed Trinity of God. The Father did not speak to us from the column of smoke, or pillar of fire, or a mountain wrapped in smoke, thunder, and lightning, but from our human nature. He speaks so gently and familiarly that we risk mistaking him to be an ordinary man. But the majesty of his voice prevents us from such a costly mistake. If we fail to identify the voice of God, then we prevent the Holy Spirit from coming to us. If the Spirit does not come to us, then we are not children of God. If we are not children of God, then we possess no knowledge and no share in the life of the Father. “Everyone moved by the Spirit is a son of God. The Spirit you received is not the spirit of slaves bringing fear into your lives again; it is the spirit of sons, and it makes us cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’” This cry is not just a mere cry but an expression of the knowledge of the Father through spiritual revelation that brings us deep into the mystery of the Trinity. The Lord meant this when he directed us to baptise the peoples and nations in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 

Let us pray: Grant us, God our Father, the grace to receive your Word of truth and the Spirit of sanctification, so that our profession of faith may be true to the mystery of the Trinity of eternal glory and adore your Unity, powerful in majesty.

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