Exodus 34:4-6 / 1 Cor 13:11-13 / John 3:16-18
In the Church, there are objects that have a religious or spiritual meaning.
While we may be familiar with these religious objects, we may not be aware of its spiritual meaning.
Let us take, for example, at the entrances of the Church, there are these unique objects.
It is a figure of an angel holding a seashell.
We know that it is a Holy Water font.
We may know something about angels, that they are always in the presence of God, and at times, they are sent to be messengers and also to protect us from evil.
But what about the seashell? What is the reason for putting Holy Water into the seashell?
The seashell is a deeply symbolic object in Christianity. It is linked to the Sacrament of Baptism, the journey of faith and also the mysteries of God.
The most famous story of the seashell and the mystery of God is from St. Augustine, who lived during the 5th century.
He was walking along the beach, trying to comprehend the mystery of the Holy Trinity.
Then he saw a young boy using a seashell and repeatedly carrying water from the ocean and pouring it into a small hole in the sand.
When St. Augustine asked what he was doing, the boy replied that he was trying to pour all the water of the ocean into that hole in the sand.
St. Augustine told the child that it is not possible to do so.
The boy looked at St. Augustine and said, “It is no more impossible than what you are trying to do, to comprehend the immensity of the mystery of the Holy Trinity with your small human intelligence.
The boy then vanished, leaving behind the seashell, and a lasting lesson for St. Augustine about the greatness of the mystery of God and the limits of human understanding and intelligence.
Today, as the Church celebrates the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, we go back to the very core and foundation of our faith.
We believe that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three Persons, one God, or in short, the Most Holy Trinity.
And we look at the Gospel to see what God wants to tell us about this feast.
And this is what God wants us to know: God loved the world so much that He sent His only Son so that anyone who believes in Him may not be lost but may have eternal life.
For God sent His Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through Him the world might be saved.
The Gospel does not tell us why God is Holy Trinity or how God is Holy Trinity.
The Gospel tells us that God loves us, He wants to save us and that He wants us to have eternal life with Him.
So as much as God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, then for us, God is love, salvation, and eternal life.
The simple seashell symbolizes the great mystery of God, the Sacrament of Baptism, and the journey of faith.
We see that symbol of the seashell and its meaning at the entrance of the Church.
But as we come into the Church, we see the big and great sign of God's love for us.
We see Jesus on the Cross, the sign of God's love, the sign of our salvation, the sign of our eternal life with God.
The Cross may seem like foolishness and a contradiction for others, but for us, it is the wisdom and the power of God.
The world tells us that human beings have learned to fly like birds in the air and to swim underwater like fishes.
But there is something else that we need to learn.
The Cross teaches us that God loves us, He wants to save us, and He wants us to have eternal life with Him.
To be loved by God, to be saved by God, and to live with God for eternity, that is what it means to be children of God.
As children of God, we are the signs of who God is.
By our love for others, by our forgiveness, gentleness, and kindness, others will know who God is.
Others may not know or understand the Holy Trinity, but they will know who God is from us and through us.
And when they know who God is, they will want to be loved by God, to be saved by God, and to have eternal life with God.