8th Sunday of Pascha: Feast of the Holy Trinity; Holy Pentecost

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

A senior professor at a Theological Academy once entered his classroom. His students stood up to greet him. Before the lecture began, in his usual way, he scanned the room with a firm gaze and asked, "Why is God three? Why not just one?"

His students eagerly replied with a classic answer: that God is one in essence.

"Yes," said the professor, with a somewhat dissatisfied tone, "but why three?"

None of them were able to answer. The question itself seemed absurd, they thought. After a few moments, the professor offered the answer: "Because love needs to be shared."

St. Augustine tells us, "God the Father, before all time, loves God the Son." God the Father is personal. God the Son is personal. And the love that they share is the person of the Holy Spirit. The Church's teaching on the mystery of the life-giving Trinity is a teaching on love. And it is in this mystery, the mystery of the life-giving Trinity, that we see the eternal beginning and the eternal foundation of the Holy Church.

On the holiday of Pentecost, which we call Trinity Day, or Day of the Life-Giving Trinity, we remember the event which we heard about in today's epistle. The apostles gathered together and suddenly gushes of wind filled the room, and tongues of fire appeared above the heads of the apostles. Thousands of Jews and Gentile believers from across the empire were gathered in the Holy City for the pilgrimage festival of Hebrew Pentecost. And when the apostles, simple fishermen, came forth to preach to the crowds, the thousands marveled at the forcefulness of their preaching, that these men were able to speak in all of their languages. The thousands were then baptized and received the same Holy Spirit that descended upon the apostles, and which we have in the Church today. The faithful of the whole world, members of all nations, became united in the body of Christ.

Psalm 133: "Behold now what is so good or so joyous as for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the oil of myrrh upon the head which runneth down upon the beard, upon the beard of Aaron, which runneth down to the fringe of his raiment. It is like the dew of Hermon which cometh down upon the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commanded the blessing, life forevermore."

In the times of old, Aaron received the priestly anointing of oil in order to serve in the temple. And now the faithful receive the oil of anointing at Chrismation, where God himself comes to dwell in the temple of our bodies. It is by the gift of the Holy Spirit that we, the faithful, encounter Christ in the mystery of confession, who tears up the remembrance of our sins. It is by the Holy Spirit that what is offered upon the altar becomes the true body and blood of our Lord. And it is by the gift of the Holy Spirit that we are united together with faithful of all times and all places.

Not so long ago we arrived at the end of Holy Pascha, and often we feel as if the celebration somehow came to an end. And then came His ascension, and it was as if the Lord had somehow left us. But in reality, the Lord did not go anywhere, and the celebration continues for all time. The entire earthly life of our Savior—His birth, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension—was to accomplish what is accomplished today: to send us His Holy Spirit that we may have life in the Trinity. As the Apostle Paul tells us, "the love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

It's quite common to hear the questions: "Why do I need to go to church? Why is it necessary to pray? I know that God loves me."

Yes, the Lord loves all as a father loves his children. Yet let us consider a father with two daughters. The first grew and became successful in all of her endeavors, so much that her life became entirely absorbed by her ambitions, her interests, and her accomplishments. She could hardly make the time to keep in touch with her father except for the few holidays of the year. The second, never quite finding herself in the world, stayed close to her father, visiting him every week and calling him every evening. When the day suddenly came that the father was taken away from this life and from his daughters, for the first, his departure meant that she had forever lost the most priceless treasure. For the second, the departure was sorrowful, but she was comforted by the living memory of his presence, and his very voice which had come to dwell in her.

May all of us grow as faithful sons and daughters of the Holy Church. Love is poured out upon all, and may we spend our lives clinging to the bosom of the Church that we may acquire the priceless and eternal treasure that is given to us today.

Through the prayers of all the fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy upon us and save us. Amen.