The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
Usually when we use the phrase “going through the motions”, it means someone’s heart isn’t in what they’re doing. Maybe a person started off passionate and enthusiastic about whatever it is, and as time has gone on, they’ve lost interest, gotten bored, or don’t place the same importance on the “motions” anymore. They might continue doing something because it’s their job, it’s a tradition of some sort, or because of expectations that their friends or family have.
I experienced this a lot at a Boy Scout summer camp I worked at for nine years in high school and college. A lot of my friends and I who began working there when we were fourteen started off totally energetic about everything we did. Whether teaching a merit badge class, putting on a goofy skit or leading a song in the dining hall, or even the administrative aspects of our work. Those first couple of summers everything was new and exciting, and for most of us it was much more than just a job.
Two or three summers later, things started to get a bit stale for us. We didn’t have the same energy and enthusiasm we did when we started. Meanwhile, the new first-year staff were just as excited about everything as we were when we started. A lot of my friends only did a year or two more, and then moved on to other summer adventures. For me though, underneath my lack of enthusiasm, I had such a deep love for the camp, program, and everything that came with it. I knew I’d keep doing it as long as I could, so I’d better figure out how not to just go through the motions.
When I was 18, something started to shift. Maybe it was the fact that I had keys to buildings now and a lot more responsibilities which inflated my ego just a tad, or maybe it was my decision to be more intentional about what I was doing. I decided that summer I would dive in (well I didn’t work at the pool, so wrong metaphor?) 100% to everything just like I did that first summer I worked there. The enthusiasm started to come back, and that in turn inspired the younger staff. I also realized that when I started, it was the senior staff members who were the ones who inspired me in the first place.
So, what does that story have to do with faith, specifically Trinity Sunday? Well there’s one “motion” we all go through all the time, maybe even every day without even thinking about it, and it’s central to this week; the Sign of the Cross. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. As Catholics we begin and end basically every prayer with this, and it’s much more than a cool traditional hand motion or a ‘cue’ for Mass starting or the meeting wrapping up. If we’re intentional and not “going through the motions” when we go through these literal motions, we call to mind so much about who God, the Most Holy Trinity, is and what he has done and is doing in the world and in our lives. God the Father, who loved us into existence and sustains us with every breath. God the Son, who gave his life on the Cross that we might be raised to new life with him in heaven. God the Holy Spirit, who leads us and guides us each day in living the Christian Life, equipping us for the work to which we are called. And when we trace the Sign of the Cross on ourselves, we are marking ourselves as Christians and reminding ourselves and others that we belong to God.
I’ve been teaching my own young children about the Trinity this week, and instead of leading off with an analogy for three persons in one God that will inevitably fall short, I just began with the Sign of the Cross which they know, and I think it clicks on some level. And probably for their whole lives they’ll have times where they just go through the motions with it, and other times where they are more intentional with their faith and thinking about the deep meaning behind what they’re doing. My prayer for them is that when they mark themselves with the Sign of the Cross, they don’t forget who they are (children of God, as St. Paul reminds us in the Second Reading), and that just like I did years ago with those younger camp staff members, they will be an inspiration and example to everyone they encounter of what God’s love looks like in someone’s life. And that’s my prayer for you and me too. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
