Most Holy Trinity, Year A (May 31, 2026)

Catholic theologian John Shea tells a story called The Legend of the Bells. 

There once was a tiny island, just beyond the mainland, where a magnificent temple stood, filled with a thousand bells – large and small, each with its own voice. When the wind swept through, the bells would ring in radiant harmony, and those on the shore could hear their music as clearly as if they stood within the temple itself.

But over time, the island sank beneath the sea, and the temple disappeared. Still, a legend endured: those who listened deeply could yet hear the bells.

A young man came, eager to hear them. He strained against the sound of the waves, trying to block out the world, listening only for the bells – but heard nothing. Day after day, he tried and failed. At last, ready to leave, he sat one final time by the shore – not resisting the sounds around him, but surrendering to them. The surf, the wind, the rustling palms – all became one with his listening. And in that deep stillness, the bells began to ring. One… then another… until a thousand voices filled him with wonder and joy. 

-from John Shea’s The Legend of the Bells and Other Tales: Stories of the Human Spirit, ACTA Publications

This story is a parable of God.

We do not encounter God by rejecting Creation, but by entering into it more deeply. Made in the image and likeness of God, we discover the divine not beyond the world, but shining within it.

And so today, the Church invites us into the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity.

The word Trinity itself does not appear in Scripture. The early Church, shaped by the living encounter with Jesus Christ, spent centuries discerning how God had been revealed: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus speaks intimately of the Father: “The Father and I are one.” He promises the coming of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit. The synoptic Gospels echo this mystery – in the baptism of Jesus, and in the great commission to baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

This mystery came to formal expression at the First Council of Nicaea, where the Church proclaimed in the Nicene Creed that Jesus Christ is fully human and fully divine – revealing the inner life of God as communion.

Long before this, God had already drawn near. In Exodus, Moses encounters the living God – in fire, in covenant, in the giving of the Law. These moments were veiled in mystery, yet they pointed forward to their fulfillment in Christ.

Saint Paul, writing to the Corinthians, gives us words we still pray today:

“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

But notice what comes just before: “Rejoice, mend your ways, encourage one another, live in peace.” The life of the Trinity is not an abstract idea. It is a pattern for Christian living – a communion of love made visible in community. 

And then we hear the words that echo through all of Scripture, from John 3:16:

God so loved the world . . .

Here, perhaps, is our doorway into the mystery.

We may never fully understand the Trinity. As Saint Jerome once suggested, to confess the Trinity is to admit that it cannot be comprehended. And in his first letter, John the Apostle tells us simply: God is love.

God is not solitary. God is communion – Father, Son, and Spirit – perfectly giving, perfectly receiving, perfectly loving.

And if this is true of God, it is true for us. 

We come to know God not by turning away from others, but by turning toward them – in every act of love, every gesture of reconciliation, every moment of shared joy.

In the quiet surrender of love, the thousand bells of God are already ringing.