May 22, 2016

The Most Holy Trinity Proverbs 8: 22-31; Romans 5: 1-5; John 16: 12-15 A good question on this feast of the Holy Trinity is: Am I close to God? This really is a personal question because we don’t share how we are with God. There are so many other ways we can look at this, like: what is my relationship with God? This might seem to be just too personal to some people. We could twist this a bit and ask: Where do I find it easy to see God? At the end of the day when I look back and reflect how am I aware of God’s presence? And where does this presence lead me? Today we are celebrating the feast of the Holy Trinity. What does it mean? Very simply put, this is the feast of God. St. Paul described this beautifully in the last words of his second letter to the Corinthians: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” This is the clearest Trinitarian passage in the New Testament. Since this is a mystery, we can never completely comprehend God; this is a mystery hidden in God. How can I see and understand God when I can’t even understand myself? But I can discover so much about God because God has made Himself discoverable. How is this so? Just look around us…what has made us STOP and wonder? What has made me stop what I was doing because of a sudden discovery into creation or life itself? Was it a beauty of nature? Was it the beauty in a person? Was it the amazement of a little child in discovering a new piece of life or God’s creation? What it was is God. God is constantly revealing Himself not only in the wonders of nature and the miracles of science, but in every single experience of love and beauty. Every single STOPPING of our life that makes us aware of people caring for people, people showing compassion, people laughing a good ‘belly laugh’, people experiencing JOY in this moment in living, we are discovering God in His loving. Am I aware of these? I have just finished an amazing book by Fr. Albert Haase, OFM entitled This Sacred Moment… Becoming Holy Right Where You Are. He asks, “What does it really mean to be a holy person?” He continues saying, “…it is a selfless opening and response to God’s call in this sacred moment. And that call of God comes in the need that presently goes unmet or in the duty that is required in the present moment. Holiness, then, is the lifelong journey out of slavery to the ego and it's consuming preoccupation with self-concern, self image, self-gratification and self preservation. Indeed, the present moment as it unfolds before me is an expression of God’s will for me. That’s why this moment—and every moment—is sacred…It demands an awareness of what my five senses are picking up in the present circumstance and requires an active engagement with the world, especially the present moment and the situation in which I find myself.” How do I arrive at this…God is leading me. This is what Jesus’ mission from the Father was: to explain this to us by His life, His teaching, His example, His love, His death, His Rising and His sending of the Holy Spirit to continue this love. It all originates in God’s total, unconditional love for each person every moment. He sent Jesus to show this: we each need concrete examples…you just can’t say something to us without us saying, ‘prove it’ or responding to ‘I don’t understand this’…we need to see love in the concrete. Jesus showed us love in the concrete. John A Devotional Commentary Meditations on the Gospel According to St John explains the Spirit’s role. “The Spirit gives us knowledge that leads us to praise God as the Father and Jesus His Son. He is our Counselor and our teacher (John 14:26). He intercedes for us when we ourselves do not even know how to pray (Romans 8:26). The Spirit leads us to truth in every situation—spiritual and physical—if we but listen to Him. He leads us to recognize that each of us is a participant in the fall of man. None of us is sinless. The Holy Spirit teaches us about the righteousness of Jesus, His sinless nature, and His action in saving us from everlasting separation from God. Thought the Spirit, we come to accept the forgiveness that God has given us through His Son. Lastly, we come to know that Satan and his power have been defeated and that judgment will come for each of us (John 16: 8-11). In all things, the Spirit leads us to a deeper knowledge of Jesus as ‘the way,and the truth, and the life.’” (14:6) The Trinity is God telling us what our life is all about and what God’s love is all about. It can be summed us in the famous phrase John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life.” This does not come from a God who is a hard-noised despot, but a God who desperately wants intimacy with each person so that we can see His love and what love is all about. That’s why Jesus came, to put ‘flesh and blood’ into the meaning of love. He came to help us begin to think differently about our lives and the people around us and the world in which we live. He came to show us that life has a purpose and does not end but forever continues with God in love. He came to tell us of heaven. He does this by interrupting our lives through different voices, people and circumstances. Each of these ‘God moments’ help us to keep our focus on the WHY of life: Life With God Forever. The Trinity is the name of God—who God is. Jesus gave us this ‘name’. Does it matter which person of the Trinity I pray to…no. Does it matter what name I refer to God as…no. Traditionally all sorts of names have been used for God: Father, Son and Spirit..or Creator, Savior, Sanctifier, Friend, Provider, Guide, Lover, Holy One, Lord. THIS DOES NOT MATTER what does matter is that each person develops an intimate relationship with the One to whom everyone belongs. Am I doing that? So I reflect on: • Who cared for me when I was young? A teen? How did these caregivers reveal God’s love to me? • Someone once wrote that the ‘Trinity is like a circle of people dancing or a meal everyone is enjoying? Does this change my image of God’s love? • God loves me personally? Do I respond? • A great exercise is a particular examination at the end of the day reflecting on where I saw God… what God showed me about His love…where God was leading me deeper in this ‘love relationship’. Have I ever tried this? Am I reluctant to do this? • What relationships help me to know the God who dwells in me? Sacred Space 2016 says: “Jesus still speaks to us: prayer helps us to grow in love, in friendship, in understanding of the ways of God. The Spirit assists us, mediating God’s message, helping us to recognize how our way of living conforms to what God asks of us and revealing how it does not. Lord, strengthen my ability to receive and listen to Your Spirit, to remember that Your Spirit speaks Your word to me. It is in the nature of God to be giving and generous; Jesus shows us how to relate to His Father with humility, joy, and generosity. Following Jesus calls me to life, to accept my true identity and dignity.” A prayer from John A Devotional Commentary: “Holy Spirit, work in my life in a new way. Teach me about the kingdom of God. Show me my need for Jesus. Reveal to me the love of Christ and lead me according to His will. Give me the desire and the strength to serve the body of Christ and to share this new life with those I meet.”