Trinity: Perfect Unity and Peace

Brothers and sisters, rejoice.
Mend your ways, encourage one another,
agree with one another, live in peace,
and the God of love and peace will be with you.

This is the challenge St. Paul puts to us today from his 2^nd letter to the Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 1, and following.  When he says, “mend your ways,” he is asking us to be united with one another in purpose, unity, and love.  There must have been some tension or even sin amongst the peoples at that time, there are always squabbles, differences, and fights breaking out among us since the dawn of day and yet St. Paul says, “fix it.”  But not just fix it, but also to encourage one another, agree with one another, and live in peace.

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is One God, united in perfection, a perfect relationship, but also perfect love, therefore the three are one.  In marriage, we hope that the two become one, not just in the flesh but in their love.  There are still two people there but in their perfect love for one another they are one.  An analogy for the Trinity, not a perfect one, but one that helps us to understand the Trinity.  Regarding St. Paul’s challenge, it should also be a model for our unity.

The question for us becomes, “are we living in peace with one another?”  This question can be asked on all levels, i.e. is there peace in my family, is there peace in my community, my nation, or in the world?  When we turn on the news, it does not seem that we are in peace, either as a nation or internationally, since we are divided sharply down the middle and we also have great tensions between other nations, is it always the other guy’s fault?  Is America always right, always perfect, never wrong at all?  How about within my own family, am I always right and the other person wrong?  Is it always their fault?  

If there is tension, fighting, divisions, are they always the cause of someone else, or am I responsible for that fighting to some extent?  There can be no peace, no unity, no love, until one humbles themselves, for pride is the root of all sin.  And it is pride that blinds one from their own guilt.  St. Paul’s challenge can only be achieved with the virtue of humility.  God himself became humble when he became man, he humbled himself out of love, love for us, and he was \ is perfect.  You and I are not perfect so we should humble ourselves the more.  Because when we do we know that God of peace and love is with us.