Gospel & Reflection for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.
John 16:12-15
At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, ‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.’
Reflection
Friends, we all love to know things! If someone tells us that they have a secret, we want to know what it is. If someone rings to say that they must talk to us, we want them to tell us over the phone what it is about. If they do not tell us, we are distracted until we meet them! It is simply part of our humanity; we have a natural curiosity.
But such inquisitiveness can also work against us because it makes the unknown exceedingly difficult. We dislike not knowing, not understanding. This more than anything is what makes mystery so hard for people to appreciate, and what allows faith particularly to be dismissed so easily in the world today. People do not like to be told that something is a mystery; that something is beyond their grasp; that somethings just cannot fully be explained.
We have come so far, so quickly, in our knowledge and understanding of everything. It is accepted that all must be open to examination, testing, exploration, and then explanation. If it cannot be, then it is dismissed as false, untrustworthy, or imaginary. The latest progression in knowledge and explanation is AI, ‘Artificial Intelligence,’ which we are told can clarify everything, solve problems, execute tasks; make predictions, recommendations and decisions which can influence real or virtual environments, at lightning speed. At the same time, AI is constantly acquiring new knowledge while reviewing previous opinion. It is extraordinary technology that is both welcomed and feared in equal measure.
For many, AI offers the ultimate solution and explanation on everything. Well, that got me thinking. As I was contemplating the Holy Trinity this week, I wondered what would that ultimate source of knowledge on everything have to say about it? I asked ChatGPT, an AI website, to explain the Trinity so that someone could believe in it.
To my surprise, it did not dismiss the Trinity in any way. In fact, it explained the Trinity very well, referencing its importance in Christianity and using wonderful analogies to capture its essence. To my even greater astonishment though, AI also gave me advice on how to approach believing in the Trinity. It said:
‘Belief in the Trinity is not solely about intellectual understanding but also about trust and relationship.’ [Therefore] ‘engage with Scripture, participate in worship, seek a faith community.’ Remember, the Trinity is a mystery that invites believers into a deeper relationship with God, rather than a puzzle to be solved.’
So, after more than two thousand years since Christ walked this earth, AI, what many consider the greatest advancement and source of wisdom is telling us to continue doing what we, and all Christians, have been doing these past two millennia regarding the mysteries of our Faith, especially the Trinity! Would it be fair to say that in matters of faith, we are smarter and have been, for an extraordinarily long time, longer than many might give us credit for?
Ever since Christ ascended to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit to guide and enlighten us, we have been building faith communities and, in those communities, we have been engaging with scripture and participating in worship. Here, as a community of faith and worship, we have been deepening our relationship with God and far from boggling our minds with the mystery of His existence, we have been feeding into and allowing ourselves to be fed with the nourishment and beauty of God Himself.
Without realising it, we have been making sense of God more than we know. We may not have the words to explain Him, but in our community of faith, our prayer, and our worship, we have given ourselves the opportunity to sense Him, and to feel His closeness, care, and love. I am also sure that sensing and knowing God has allowed us to reach out and be close to each other; caring and loving each other in our support, encouragement, and unity.
This community of faith, our community, in our trust of God and our witnessing to Him in all the ways we do, this is our growing in relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is us understanding the Trinity. May we never stop doing so.
Fr. Richard
