Homily , May 31, 2026 ,Holy Trinity
From The Pastor
‘May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you.’ This greeting is familiar and I trust beloved by all Catholics who attend and actively participate in Sunday Mass. This invocation comes from the conclusion of St. Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. St. Paul uses these words as a Trinitarian blessing to close his epistle as he concludes his message to the community in Corinth. We have Paul alone to thank for the beautiful and essential invocation whether it serves as a greeting or a blessing.
In the time of St. Paul, no developed theology or dogma of the Trinity had yet been written. With these words, St. Paul is expressing his own faith in the mystery of God’s love through his personal experience of Jesus and his encounter with the Holy Spirit. Paul knows God the Father as the source and origin of all Creation. Through his profound transformation on the road to Damascus, Paul meets Jesus through words from the heavens. Subsequently, Paul receives the Holy Spirit in Baptism as his life is transformed in identity, understanding, and life mission. St. Paul had nothing to do with this. It was done unto him by the initiative and will of God. Paul can rightly form and put these words together because he experienced the grace of Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
To sit with this invocation/blessing, pondering our experience, we can also come to realize the power of these words. Faith is a gift given by God that must be animated and encountered through experience. Faith cannot simply be a word alone. Jesus did not expect people to believe in him just because he said so. Jesus generously offered signs and wonders to confirm his power and identity as the Son of God. With compassion and empathy, Jesus healed the suffering of those he encountered with the intention to inspire faith and trust in the power of God Jesus was sent to reveal.
The Holy Trinity expresses the oneness and undivided unity of the essence of God. God is three distinct persons who live and move in a perfect unity of identity, mission, and intention. Each person in the Trinity plays a distinct role in the ‘economy’ or activity of Divine action. The Father initiates and brings forth creation. Jesus, the Incarnation of God in human flesh, is the Redeemer. Always existent in the Father, in ‘the fullness of time,’ the “Word became Flesh and made his dwelling among us.” Completing the work of redemption through his death and Resurrection, Jesus ascends in exalted glory to the throne of God. As promised by Jesus, the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father to bring to fulfillment the work of creation-redemption-fulfillment to culminate in the unity of all things in heaven and on earth. The work of the Holy Spirit is to unite and sanctify. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Divine love, heals, converts, inspires, convicts, and calls all believers as we make our way toward union with God in heaven. This is not something we could ever do on our own, but something we choose to participate in by our yes to God, our yes to a life of faith and action in the virtues of the Christian gospel.
What is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ? Christ himself. Grace is God’s gift of love, God’s favor or blessing, God’s self-communication of love given to the world in the person of the Lord Jesus. The grace/gift of Jesus is his life freely and humbly given in pure mercy and love to redeem us.
What is the Love of God? The love of God is God. Love is not something God has; it is all that God is. Love is not a quality or a characteristic of God. Love is God’s essence. By nature, love gives itself for the sake of others. Love seeks to unite, heal, forgive, and make one. Divine love has no beginning and will have no end. It is eternal. Divine love never stops seeking unity and oneness in all things. Every human being and all creation is the object and intention of God’s love. In the end, all will be one. Until all is one, it is not the end.
What is the fellowship of the Holy Spirit? God is a unity of relationship within the Trinity. The fellowship of the Holy Spirit is our communion with God made possible through our reconciliation with God in Christ. The fellowship of the Holy Spirit is our shared life with God and with one another here and now through our shared faith in Christ. Love is the bond of our fellowship.
Please take some time to think about this. So much in the world is separated, disconnected, and ill at ease. In God we are all one. Our work is to make that more a reality in the world. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be yours. It is. Use it. Spread it. Make God more evident in the world.
Father John Esper
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