The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. - 2 Corinthians 13:13

Paul ends his most difficult letter with a benediction that names the Trinity as gift to the community that has been most fractured. Grace, love, fellowship - the three movements of a single divine giving - to all of you, not to the ones who have resolved their conflicts, not to those who have mended all their ways, to all of you. The Trinity is given before the reconciliation is complete.

Moses sees the glory and hears the name: merciful, gracious, slow to anger. The first three attributes are all forms of the same thing - the God who gives more time, more grace, more cover than the situation deserves. That is the Trinity experienced from the inside: more is given than is deserved, and the giving is constant.

The eleven on the mountain include the doubters. The commission is given to both. I am with you always - to the worshipers and the doubters in the same breath. The always-with is not the reward for getting it together. It is the promise given before the going begins.

Rejoice, mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace. Paul's five imperatives before the benediction. Name the one most needed in your closest community right now. Do one concrete thing toward it this week.

Lord, let the grace of your Son, the love of the Father, and the fellowship of the Spirit be with me - before I have resolved everything, while the doubting and the worshiping are happening at the same time. I am with you always. Let me live from that. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in you. Amen.