May 26, 2013 Feast of The Most Holy Trinity C

Bulletin: May 26, 2013   Feast of The Most Holy Trinity  C readings

 Proverbs 8:  22-31; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15

Today is the feast of the mystery of God, the Most Holy Trinity.   It is a mystery; people say, ‘I can’t understand it’…well, it’s a mystery.  But each person can come to know more about God, if they are open to the ways of the Spirit.   Msgr. Chet Michael likes to say that ‘We have a keyhole vision of God.’  He explains it that the person on the inside of the room is looking out on the beauties outside through an old fashion keyhole in the main door.   All that can be seen is miniscule compared to all the beauty and wonders on the outside, but that doesn’t mean that one can’t still be aware of the beauty that is outside.  So it is with God; what beauties about God can be ‘discovered’ about God on this feast?  It is Jesus who reveals the mystery of God:  He told us that the Father cares for His children; and that through Jesus’ incarnation each person has become a Brother to Him; and that through the individual gifts of the Holy Spirit, the love of God has been poured enormously into the hearts of those who are receptive.  The readings today give rich insights into God. 

It was common in biblical times for wisdom to be embodied in some sort of material form. The first reading from Proverbs looks to the role of Lady Wisdom in creation.  The footnote in the Catholic Study Bible adds this, “Wisdom is of divine origin.  It is here represented as a being which existed before all things (verses 22-26) and concurred with God when He planned and executed the creation of the universe, adorned it with beauty and variety, and established its wonderful order (verses 27-30).  Here that plurality of divine Persons is foreshadowed which was afterward to be fully revealed when Wisdom in the Person of Jesus Christ became incarnate.”  So many mornings and evenings, when walking the dog, I look at the heavens and see such an enormous array of beauty in the heavens.  I reflect that God put them there just for me that evening so that I could be enthralled with the beauty of His creation and also more particularly, the specialness of God to me to show me ‘His beauty’ in those moments; I proclaim His praises and am grateful.

In the second reading Paul goes deeper into the relationship with the Trinity by stressing that Christ brings each person to God and the Spirit comes to each person from that same God. This relationship is one of love; God just plain loves me and each person.  As Paul says, “The love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”  I love the word ‘pour’ that Paul uses…in looking in the Merriam Webster Dictionary, I see why I like it.  The dictionary says, “Pour—to flow or cause to flow in a stream or flood…to rain hard…to supply freely and copiously.”  There is no stopping this love, it continues and is forever; that’s God‘s love for me and each person.  I need to reflect on this constantly.

John in the gospel explains the relationship between the Father, Jesus and the Spirit by relating all three to what Jesus taught.  The Spirit will fill the void with Jesus’ departure back to the Father, not so much as a physical presence as with a form of helping, guiding presence.  As living the word says, “It was from the Father that the Spirit heard the teachings of Jesus, and then it was also from the Father that the Spirit was sent to bring these teachings to fruition.  The Spirit glorifies Jesus by bringing to light the deeper truth of His teaching, teaching that also belongs to God.”

So what does all this mean on this glorious feast?  Faith is a gift; it is the grace of a mysterious encounter with God.  It is beyond my reasoning.  But I can grasp God with my mind and my senses and my whole being like when I am being enraptured with His wonders.  So often I am enthralled when people come to me and share their stories and encounters with God.  It is so easy and special to talk with people who want to talk and share God.  The times go quickly and each person is somehow captivated by the ‘otherness’ of God and yet His presence right then and there.  We are talking not just about an intellectual belief about God, but a sense of God, a feeling.  What a wonder experience that is.

There is a wonderful story about the Russian writer, Tolstoy.  He was praying to God one night by his bed and in front of a Greek icon which I believe was of Mary. The vigil candle was on and the icon became ‘alive’ as all icon eyes do when encountered by a flame.  Then he went out onto the balcony and saw the sky was swarming with stars; the heavens were sparkling and the earth just as shadows and darkness.  He wrote this, “It was a marvelous night.  How can one fail to believe in the immortality of the soul when one feels such immeasurable grandeur in one’s own?  I could die.  And I heard an inner voice say to me:  ‘He is here.  Kneel to Him, and be silent.”   This is what it is all about.  I really don’t need to argue about God or try to prove Him; I know He is.  I believe with the heart, I don’t have to know why; or even ‘waste time’ in seeking to know.  I feel God’s presence in my world, and the world.  I don’t feel alone with this knowledge but fulfilled.  It’s a great blessing to experience this presence of God in the world, but it is even a greater blessing to experience God’s presence in me and those who come to me.  St. Augustine struggled with this for years and then wrote this prayer which I say every morning, “Late have I loved you, O beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you!  You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for You.  In my unloveliness, I plunged into the lovely things which You created.  You were with m, but I was not with You.  Created things kept me from You; yet if they had not been in You they would not have been at all.  You called, You shouted, and You broke though my deafness.  You flashed, You shone, and You dispelled my blindness …You touched me, and I burned for Your peace.  When once I shall be united to You with my whole being, I shall at last be free of sorrow and toil.  Then my life will be alive, filled entirely with You.”    So I reflect on:

·       How often do I think of God as taking delight in His works of creation and salvation?  ‘He looked on all that He created and saw it was good’; this includes me, do I reflect on this?

·       Paul says that God’s love is poured into my heart…do I reflect on this each evening…and am I aware of His love and be grateful?

·       What can I begin this week to help my faith grow even more?

·       Jesus wants to draw me and each person daily into the life of God; the life of love and happiness.  Do I allow this to happen?  What and where are my blockages?