Unholy Trinity

Understanding the Holy Trinity through the Ascension  

Luke 24:46-53  

Jesus said to his disciples: “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance,  for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations,  beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”   

          Have you ever noticed how so many great things always come in “threes”? For example, many literary epics are in trilogies – in three parts – like “The Lord of the Rings” by J.R.R. Tolkien, or Dante’s Divine Comedy, divided into “Hell,” “Purgatory” and “Heaven” (Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso). Even in the epic of Star Wars, we are now in the third trilogy of nine episodes that started all the way back in 1977 (long before I was born)! In the seminary, our homiletics professor said every good homily has three parts, a beginning, a middle and an end. The comedian George Burns said, “The secret to a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good end, and to have the two as close together as possible.” In horseracing it’s great to get a “trifecta,” which is to predict the order in which the horses will finish: first second and third, “win, place and show.” In basketball, a three-pointer is better than a two-point shot or a one-point free-throw. 

          On the other hand, you also have unholy threesomes like “money, sex, and power” or “sex, drugs and rock-and-roll.” That, by the way, is why Catholics monks and nuns take the three vows of “poverty, chastity and obedience” to counteract the effect of that “unholy trinity.” In the church business, we say that funerals always come in threes. Lots of things come in threes: both good things and even some bad things. The number three seems to hold a pivotal place in the heart of humanity and in our history; it is sort of woven into the fabric of the cosmos.

          Today we celebrate the feast of the Ascension. Obviously, we know that Jesus ascended into heaven forty days after his resurrection. But this feast is also a subtle introduction to the Holy Trinity. What do I mean? Well, at the Ascension it’s almost as if Jesus steps back from center stage and tells the apostles to prepare for the coming of the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. Before he ascends, Jesus says, “Stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” In other words, it’s not enough that they know the Father and all the Father has done for the Jewish people in the Old Testament, and it’s not enough to know Jesus and how he suffered, died and rose again. But now they must also learn to relate to the Holy Spirit, who gives power to the Church. That is, the number three is not only important on earth, but it is also critical in heaven. Indeed, it defines God, because God is a Holy Trinity.

          Now, not all threes are so sacred or so serious. One day, a blonde, a brunette and a redhead all escaped from jail. The sheriff and his not-so-bright deputy set off in hot pursuit. The blonde, brunette and redhead found a barn and hid themselves in three potato sacks. The sheriff and deputy entered the barn and the deputy noticed the three large sacks. He kicked one of them and heard, “Meow!” He yelled back to the sheriff, “It’s just a bunch of cats!” He kicked the second bag and heard, “Woof! Woof!” He yelled back to the sheriff, “It’s just a bag of dogs!” He kicked the third and he heard, “Potatoes!” Okay, that’s not exactly an unholy trinity, but it’s not a very smart trinity either.

          You know, our Protestant friends often ask us Catholics, “Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?” But what do we Catholic do? We usually st-st-start to st-st-stutter when we try to an-an-answer that question. But it’s a great question that deserves a great answer. But I believe the question really stops short of the relationship Jesus wants to have with us. In other words, Jesus doesn’t just want to be our Lord and Savior; he doesn’t just want it to be “me and Jesus.” He also wants us to have a livingly relationship with his Father and with their Holy Spirit. At the Ascension, Jesus steps back, out of view and out of center stage, so that the Spirit can be center stage. Jesus says in effect, “You know my Father, and you know me, now you must learn to love our Spirit.”  You see, if you do not know all three Persons of the Trinity, you really do not know any one of them.

          That’s why for us Catholics the best answer to the question of salvation is the “Sign of the Cross” made in the name of the most Holy Trinity. What do we do every time we walk into church? We dip our fingers into holy water, and make the Sign of the Cross, and say, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” That’s how we are saved: the Cross and the Trinity. We touch our forehead and invoke the Father, so we may know his ways and his wisdom, to know his plans and purposes for our life. Then we touch our hearts and invoke the Son, Jesus, so that our hearts may love like he loved, and even love our enemies, like Donald Trump, and Hilary Clinton, and Chicago Cubs (I’m a Cards fan.) Then, we touch our shoulders and invoke the Holy Spirit, who strengthens us to carry our crosses because they’re often too heavy for us to lift. You see, we know the number three is important, not only because of the three little pigs and the three stooges (Larry, Moe and Curly), but also because we are saved in the Sign of the Cross, by the Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And we should never st-st-stutter to sa-sa-say that, when someone asks if we’ve been saved.

           In 1609 the poet John Donne wrote “Hol

y Sonnet No. 14,” in which he pleaded, “Batter my heart, three person’d God; for you As yet but knock, breathe, shine and seek to mend; That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.” You know, sometimes an unholy trinity like sex, drugs and rock-n-roll make a home in our hearts, and it’s not enough for Jesus to knock on the door very lightly. We need the Holy Trinity to batter our hearts and save us. 

          Praised be Jesus Christ!