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The Feast of the Most Holy Trinity

Homilies,

To watch Fr. Joe’s Homily for the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity: CLICK HERE!

The story is told of an Amish family that went to the mall for the first time.  Everything is quite amazing, the food court, music, numerous stores…

The grandmother sees two shiny, silver doors open and watches an elderly man enter between them.  The doors closed behind him.  Two minutes later, the doors open and rather than seeing the elderly man who originally entered, a handsome 20 something year old man emerges.  (Now we know these doors are to an elevator, but it is something she had never seen before).

Again, the doors open and another elderly man goes in.  Soon after, a young good looking guy appears.  Then the woman’s granddaughter comes over and says, “Granny, isn’t this place great!”

“Yes,” replies the grandmother.  “Quick, go get your grandfather!”

The reality and meanings of the Trinity are hard to understand.  Even St. Augustine who wrote, On the Trinity, said 30 years after he wrote it that he himself could not understand what he had written.  But when he realized that the point of FAITH is all about Transformation, the Dogma of the Trinity gets very interesting.

Last Saturday, Bishop Michael Curry delivered the Sermon at the Royal Wedding.  It was a Sermon that spoke of the power of love.  A Sermon that spoke of the redemptive love of God.

Moses in our first reading asks the people (and us) to remember their experiences of God as a nation, a people, a person; experiences of God’s presence and love.

I am not sure what we think when we hear the phrase redemptive love, but it is more than a God who loved us so much, he sent his son to save us and redeem us all.  Redemptive love is all the thoughts and words and especially the actions of love… not only of the past, but of the present.

God’s redemptive love is meant to transform us into people who can live with God now and forever.  God’s redemptive love is the ABILITY to do what we could not do before, it is not just something of the past, it needs to always be something of the present.

Said Bishop’s Curry, “Imagine our homes and families where love is the way.  Think and imagine a world where love is the way.  Where no child goes to bed hungry.  Where justice rolls like a mighty steam.  Where poverty becomes history.  Where we treat others like we are actually family.

Said one author, “if you ever want to really see the LOVE of God, watch parents at the side of their child’s hospital bed.  God loves us the way parent’s love children.”  That the Good News and God asks of us, his disciples in this time and place, to continue to spread His message, His love and the reality that God is always with us.

Oh, and one more thing, if you find that elevator, please let me know where it is.  I’d like to take a ride on it.

The Feast of the Most Holy Trinity

Homilies,

Scripture Readings:   Deuteronomy 4:32-40;   Romans 8:14-17;   Matthew 28:16-20

A few days ago, as I was taking an early morning 7 mile walk, and was thinking about today’s Homily, I thought of Leo Buscaglia; a University of Southern California Professor of the 60’s and 70’s who once shared, “we need to move from me and you to WE and US.”

And just maybe today’s Feast of the Trinity, One God – Three Persons, is God’s way of reminding us it is not just about me.  It is about God, others and us.  It is about our relationships with God and with others.

Today’s Feast may also be a much needed reminder about the many ways that God makes His loving presence known in our lives and the lives of others each day.

Think about the presence of God that comes in Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, through prayer, through the Sacraments, and through each of us his disciples of the present day, as our Prelude song reminded us, “by Baptism we are sent by God to be the eyes and hands of Christ.”

Think of the billions of people that inhabit our planet Earth.  Think about all the people we interact with daily for a moment or for much longer.  Think about the possibilities, that we have individually and collectively, to bring God, the Gospel to one another, to others, every day!

Each day – appreciated or not – many present day disciples are the eyes and hands of Christ to others at home, at work, at school, in the community, in the parish and into the world.

Each day – we are called to work together to build up the kingdom of God here on Earth as it is in heaven, in response to our common baptismal call to be of priestly service as lay person, religious and clergy.

Each day – calls us to work at and build up – our relationships.

 

 

 

 

Our relationships with God, with those we know and do not know.

Our relationships are most certainly meant to communicate the very essence of God:   life, faith, hope, love, forgiveness, and so much more…

How will we continue to communicate this to others?

Hopefully a bit better than the two Southern Ministers who together were putting up a road sign that said, “Turn around, the end is near, do it now.”  With that a car drove by and the driver yelled out, “Religious nuts!”  As the car drove out a sight, a crash was heard.

To which one minister said to the other, “do you think we should have just made a sign that said: “Bridge out?”

Like God, who has and continues to reveal himself to us daily… May we continue to grow in our common baptismal call to love God, love others, and be faithful disciples through our lives of service and ministry – yesterday, today and tomorrow.