Trinity Sunday, Year A
6-9 year olds
(Adults, begin by reading the Gospel aloud to the child, unless the child is a very fluent reader.)
Long before Jesus was born, we hear in the Bible of a man named Moses who asks God what he should say if someone should ask him for God's name. God says to Moses,
“I AM who I AM.”
This is a strange name, isn't it? Notice that God's name is not "I am who I was." Or, "I am who I will be." God is and always is. God never changes.
In the Gospel for this Sunday, we hear Jesus say,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son”
But, because we know that God never changes, we could read it this way instead,
For God so loves the world that he gives his only Son
What God did, God does. What God did, God will always do, because God is. God never changes.
How can we think about this?
We can fairly easily understand that God gave his only Son because we know that Jesus came into the world as a baby. He was born. We know that he gave his whole self, body and life, in the bread and in the wine, and on the cross. He died. We know that on the third day, God filled him with new life never to die again, and he appeared to the apostles. He was raised. It happened. God gave.
But if God never changes--if God is who God is--then God gives his only Son. So how does God continue to give Jesus to the world?
When we read from the Holy Bible we are reading the Word of God. Jesus is the Word of God. So Jesus is with us when we read the Word--in our thoughts, on our lips, in our hearts. Who makes this so?
When the water is poured over our heads in baptism, we are given that light of the Risen Christ to dwell in our hearts. Who makes this so?
When we receive the sacrament of Reconciliation, and all sin is taken absolutely away, we receive a new infusion of the Risen life of Christ. Who makes this so?
When we receive the bread at Mass, it has become the Risen Jesus for us. Who makes this so?
We know that all of these actions are the Holy Spirit.
For God so loves the world that he gives his only Son.
Loving, giving...these are actions of God.
Could this loving, this giving be the Spirit of God?
When we experience these actions of God, could we actually be in the presence of God? God-with-us?
It is a mystery and it has a name. We call it the Mystery of the Most Holy Trinity.
God who made us.
God who saves us.
God always with us.
One God.
And so we pray in the name of the One God,
the One God with the strange name that means
God is,
God never changes,
God loves.
In the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit,
which means,
We believe.