"O Lord our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!" (Psalm 8)
Sunday readings: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/052613.cfm
Proverbs 8: 22 - 31
Rm 5: 1-5
Jn 16: 12 - 15
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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen +” So speaks nearly every Catholic as we
enter into prayer. This “crossing
yourself” gesture as we sometimes here it described is as ancient as
Christianity. The earliest Christians
were well aware of their identity in doing so and knew the meaning of faith
they proclaimed in making that familiar gesture. I like to imagine that many of them, as they
faced their moment of martyrdom, made that sign of the cross visibly in one
last act of conviction before their death. I don’t think it’s just Hollywood
theatrics to picture such a thing.
This
invocation of the Trinitarian God is spoken at each Mass as we begin and is the
gesture of being sent back out to the world as the Mass ends – we are gathered
and then sent forth in the name of the + Father, Son, and Holy Spirit +. Every prayer during our Eucharist
celebrations invokes this mysterious yet intimate God who desires that we be
united as he is united. We are also invited to come to him and learn. The
seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of John is rich with this truth as Jesus
prays for his disciples and through them for the Church: “. . . so that they
may be one just as we are one.” (Jn 17: 11).
This
Sunday’s beautiful Feast of the Holy Trinity is both a challenge and a
gift. But, it seems more theology than
practical living. “Well, that’s an interesting theological explanation on the
person and nature of God but how do I translate that to my daily life?” Still,
it may hold more than we think.
Our
faith teaches us about the very nature of God – three in one; three “persons,”
one God. Such a somewhat strange belief has been revealed to us by Jesus
himself. And he is the incarnation of
that God who out of divine love took on our fallen human nature yet remained
fully God. Yet, we scratch our heads to come up with an understandable
example. In the end, no matter how much
we try, God is always greater than our sense of goodness or love for example.
But, one thing is clear about this distant yet intimate God – that he desires a
personal relationship with us which is motivated by love. Still, how can I
develop a personal relationship with a theological doctrine?
St.
Thomas Aquinas, the great thirteenth century theologian/philosopher of the
Church, had much to say about God. In short he stated that we can know what
something is by what they do; by the way they act: “Behavior is determined by
the nature of things.” We see that principle in human behavior. We say someone is kind or charitable because
they do consistent acts of charity. “She is a kind woman.”
On
the other hand, we may say that someone is selfish or cruel because they behave
in that manner frequently. “Stay away
from him, you can’t trust him,” we may hear. Yet, a married couple of many years may feel
they know their spouse very well and still that spouse may say or do something
that surprises them. “He/she isn’t like
that!” We are sometimes a mystery to one another. So is God.
But
in the end we behave as human beings because that is what God has created us to
be. Human beings are capable of far more
than an animal because that is our nature and an animal has a higher capability
than a flower, etc. But, it is in our
behavior that we come to know our character and we can certainly develop a
relationship as a response to someone who reaches out to us, could we not?
So,
it is the same with God, yet even more.
God is mysterious in the sense of being far beyond our understanding but
in Jesus, he came down to us and took on our very human nature. In doing so, he became the Word or voice of God
and revealed to us something of what God is like: a trinity of persons, yet one
and undivided. To see God who operates in three ways is something like seeing a
spouse or friend or human beings in general when we behave in more than one
way.
The
Gospel for this Sunday from John 16: 12-15 relates Jesus speaking about the
intimate connection he has developed with his Apostles: “I have much more to
tell you . . . the Spirit of truth will guide you to all truth . . . he will
speak what he hears . . . everything that the Father has is mine; for this
reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”
Jesus
does not act alone, nor does the “Spirit of truth,” nor does the Father who
hands on to his Son that word of truth: One God operating in a united bond of
love for all creation and in particular on behalf of humanity. It is a uniquely
Christian perception of what God is like. That is a “wow” factor to say the
least.
St.
John later says, “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8). We make judgments and form opinions
of others based often on behavior and the same with God – all that he does is
done out of love and that love forms a bond of communion. Like what a marriage
should be, a family, a parish, our friendships and our bond with all others – a
community of love based upon acceptance, selfless giving, awareness of the
common good, and compassion for others. As Christians, the Holy Spirit empowers
us to see this community of love as an image of the Trinity that we establish
wherever we find ourselves.
In
this way, though we will never know God completely this side of the heavenly
beatific vision of the Almighty, we know enough to make a significant impact on
how we must live. Jesus may have left this earth but he remains among us more
fully in his Spirit which continues the mission for which the Father sent him
in our midst. We are that pilgrim people or People of God, the Church, who in a
sense hold God’s hand as we walk through this life.
As
we celebrate Eucharist this weekend, we should remember that we are called to grow
into the image of our God; to imitate his behavior and build that community of
the faithful among us. This Sunday, as we recite the Creed during Mass, let’s
take some time to do so with grateful hearts feeling that we hold God’s hand as
we do so.
God
our Father, who by sending into the worldthe Word of truth and the Spirit of sanctification
made known to the human race your wondrous mystery
grant us, we pray, that in professing the true faith,
we may acknowledge the Trinity of eternal glory
and adore your Unity, powerful in majesty + + +
(Collect
of Mass)
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