A religion teacher brought a large poster to class one day. The picture was covered with newspaper. She took scissors and cut the covered poster into fifteen pieces. She then gave each student a piece of the puzzle. “Take your piece home,” the teacher said, “but don’t peek at it. Remember to bring your piece to the next class.”

The following week the teacher had the students gather around a table to put the pieces back together. Excitedly they fit them together to see what the mystery poster looked like. When all the students had placed their pieces on the table, they discovered something terrible. The poster had two gaping holes; two parts were missing. Two students forgot their pieces of the poster puzzle.

The teacher made this a teachable moment by explaining to the class, “Jesus told us to be his disciples. And when one fails to do his or her part, Jesus’ witness in the world loses some of its luster, just like the poster with two of its parts missing.”

In baptism each disciple of Jesus was given a piece of the puzzle. The question is what each of us has done with our piece. Do we know what it is? Do we know where it is? It’s possible that, if each of us isn’t doing our part, we’re leaving a big gaping hole in the world.

Today we celebrate the solemnity of the Holy Trinity, namely that while there is but one God, God’s very being is to be a perfect community of persons in which love eternally flows from the Father to the Son and back again in the power of the Holy Spirit. The very nature of being is thus communal, and the creative engine that drives everything—God and the universe—is love.

Of course, it’s a gigantic universe. We live in a world with a huge, mind-boggling population. We may feel quite insignificant, but the truth is that we have love to give. And if we don’t give it, the world is a poorer place.

We don’t have to be a missionary in a far-away place to be a disciple. We just need to look around and find a place where love is lacking, or a place where, if some love were added, it would make a difference. If you know a person who lives alone and craves human contact, that’s a hole to be plugged. If we know people in our own neighborhood who are having a hard time feeding their family, that’s a hole to be plugged. If we know people who are living in fear, in poverty, in neglect, our job as disciples, created in the image of the Holy Trinity, is to make the love flow.

Trinity is basic. We begin our prayers in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. We baptize people in the name of the Trinity. When we do that, we profess our belief that life is about community. We give witness that we are children of God when we try to plug holes in our part of the universe.

No one can do it all; there are too many holes to think we can be effective on our own. That’s why we have a community, a church of committed disciples. Think of how many holes can be plugged when love is multiplied. By being baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, we become part of the infinite, life-giving flow of love that comes from the depths of God.

We are made channels of God’s love and peace. Where there is hatred, we bring love; where there is injury, pardon; where there’s doubt, faith; where there’s despair, hope, where there’s darkness, light; where there’s sadness, joy. Like God, we plug the holes where love is absent. In God’s name, we pardon, we give, we console, we strive to understand, and we love with all our souls. It is only when we fail to do our part that holes remain, like a tear in the fabric of God’s universe, a tear in the fabric of love.