Trinity Sunday: The Love that Gives

Sometimes we talk about the problem of evil as if God were to blame: as if He stood aloof, gazing cold and unmoved on human distress. That’s not, however, how God reveals Himself, “for God so loved the world that He gave His only Son” (John 3:16). He is the God who gives Himself and gives everything; the One who enters our suffering to raise us up with Him. He is, in the words of today’s first reading, “the Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.” He is the God who goes with His people to lead them out of slavery, sin, and death. He is the God of closest love for He is the Love that gives.

In the Bible, the word “love” appears for the first time when God says to Abraham: “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, the one you love” (Gen 22:2). In Abraham, we see a father willing to give up the son he loves. This passage inspired Saint John to exclaim in today’s gospel: “For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Son” that we may have life (Jn 3:16).

God doesn’t let Abraham give up his son: He abhors child sacrifice. But God the Father gives what He would not permit of Abraham: “God so loved the world that He gave His Only Son.” Abraham is in the likeness of God the Father who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all (CCC, 2572).

A pattern emerges in the Bible, the pattern of divine love, and it’s about giving — giving away and giving self.

No wonder Jesus says to His Father at the Last Supper, “everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine” (John 17:10).

No wonder Jesus says, “it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).

No wonder, then, that Christ Crucified, Christ given away and giving Himself, is the perfect expression of divine love: God is love and God gives everything. The Father gives Himself away in the Son. The Son gives Himself away for us out of love for the Father. The Holy Spirit is the gift of the Father and the Son. “God Himself is an eternal exchange of love” (CCC, 221). This is the divine life and love proclaimed by the crucifix. We should be proud to display it.

This mercy and kindness of God described to Moses is given to us in the pouring out of Christ’s Blood and in the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. This twofold pouring out takes us up and draws us into the heart of God Himself. We are to be part of this divine exchange of love. We take part in it by giving ourselves with the same love that is God’s. Our deepest vocation is to enter into that love of God the Holy Trinity, of “love received and shared” (Pope Leo, Magnifica Humanitas, 48).

We who love imperfectly have to re-learn God’s love over and over again. Think of all those daily moments when something is asked of you: getting up with a child in the night; sitting with a dying friend; doing your work well; striving to live the commandments; being patient; speaking the truth in love; holding back that unkind remark — the list is endless. All these moments that make up a life are ways we can give ourselves to God. The hours I’m waiting at the hospital or stuck in (Boston) traffic can be sanctified. What is offered to God is never wasted. Fostering this habit of the offering of moments, we learn to offer our whole life to God. We learn to live for Him.

All our sacrifices, great and small, we bring to the altar at the offertory of the Mass. Then, our sacrifices and our lives share in the immeasurable worth of Christ’s perfect offering. We are drawn into the life of God, the love of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Bowing down before the Lord like Moses in the first reading we say, “receive us as your own." Take us into the heart of Your love. Make us love like You.