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Gospel Reflection 20070603

Continue bringing the Jubilee Pledge to life: Live Justly!
The most important opportunities to work for justice and peace do not come through special programs, but in the choices we make and the way we treat others every day.
Seize opportunities to promote justice and peace at home, in your parish, at school, at work and in community activities.

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Trinity Sunday
June 3, 2007

Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar. Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the three persons of God: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Today's Gospel reading summarizes the effects of the Trinity in our daily lives. St. John tells us what the Holy Spirit is going to do for us as we go about our daily tasks.


Gospel
Jn 16:12-15

Jesus said to his disciples:
"I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own,
but he will speak what he hears,
and will declare to you the things that are coming.
He will glorify me,
because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
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."

We have all envisioned what the heavenly Father looks like; he has been depicted in many fashions in paintings. But generally we see him as an old fatherly figure, possibly resembling our own earthly father. You see it isn’t hard to envision him because we all understand somewhat what a father is supposed to look like. And Jesus, the Son of God is also easy for us to see since he became human to suffer and die for us. But for some reason, it is hard to put a face to the Holy Spirit. The church at times has depicted it as a dove or flames of fire, but it is very hard to describe something that is a spirit that we have never seen. We heard in the letter for Paul today how “the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us”. The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Most Holy Trinity, is the love that exists between the Father and the Son for us. It is hard to describe love, much less see it physically. No wonder then that it is difficult for some ‘humans’ to understand how God can be one, yet three at the same time. Lets see if we can describe the trinity using human terms to help us to understand how God is one: yet three.
From the most read verse in scripture (John 3:16) we hear that ”God so loved the world that he gave his only Son”. This verse gives us the famous Father-Son relationship. If God has a Son, then He must be the Father. Therefore God is made up of at least two persons. And we heard today in the reading to the Romans how their love is poured out to us through the Holy Spirit. Now we have added a third person to God, that of the Spirit. And of course in today’s gospel we heard how “when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide us to all truth”. Therefore, scripture tells us that there is but one God, yet made up of three persons.
What are we as Christians suppose to believe about the Trinity? From the Catechism of the Catholic Church (#253) we read, “We do not confess three Gods, but one God in three persons. The divine persons do not share the one divinity among themselves but each of them is God whole and entire: ‘The Father is that which the Son is, the Son that which the Father is, the Father and the Son that which the Holy Spirit is, i.e., by nature one God’”. And in #254 we read, “The divine persons are really distinct from one another. God is one but not solitary”.
For some of us mere human beings this can be hard to truly understand. You see, we might ‘believe’ through faith, but truly understanding three in one can be difficult. Do we know of anyone who is one, yet is made up of three persons? We all know in math that three can’t equal one. Therefore, it is not an easy concept to grasp. I found a relatively easy-to-understand comparison to use though in a child’s storybook titled “Three in One: a picture of God” by Joanne Marxhausen. In the book she explains the Trinity using an apple, so I thought I would try to explain the three persons of the Trinity to you today by using an apple.
We all know what an apple is and what an apple isn’t. It is a tasty fruit that is quite recognizable. There is even a saying about an apple, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”. Well I like to think that an apple is made up of 3 parts: the skin, the meaty fruit and the core. It takes all three parts to make up an apple, yet each part alone is apple. If someone was to peel an apple, and you saw the peelings on the counter you would know it was apple, not something else. If you tasted the delicious meat of the apple you would know that is apple and not something else. And if you saw an apple core lying on the ground, you would know that it is an apple core and not something else. All three parts are uniquely apple all on their own; yet all three make up one apple.
So it is with the Trinity: God is one, yet three unique persons, who individually are all God.
I like to compare the skin of the apple to God the Father. An apple can never outgrow its skin: when the apple starts out small the skin is small, but it continues to grow and stretch, as the apple gets bigger. So it is with the love that God the Father has for us. He loves us so much that He sent his only Son for our salvation. The Father’s love for us stretches, much like the skin of an apple, to totally envelop us. We can never outgrow the Father’s love for us, His love is like a protective skin that we wear every day.
I like to compare the sweet meaty fruit of the apple with God the Son, Jesus. Just as the tasty apple is good for our livelihood and nourishment, so was the Son of God sent to us. He came for our livelihood, our eternal salvation. And we have the opportunity to be nourished with his body and blood every day in the Eucharist. Just as an apple a day will keep our body healthy, the Eucharist will keep us spiritually healthy as well.
I like to compare the core of the apple to God the Holy Spirit. The apple gets its livelihood and strength from the core, which is constantly feeding it. In the same way the Holy Spirit is constantly giving us strength and help every day of our lives. Just as the seeds from that core can start a new apple tree, so the Holy Spirit can enkindle within us life anew.
So, just as one apple is made up of the three parts, all uniquely apple, so our one God is made up of the three persons: Father, Son and Spirit. Each of them is uniquely God, and each of them has a purpose for us.
I think God is made up of three unique persons to show how he shares his love with us in many ways. God the Father loves us so much that he sent us His only Son for our Salvation. God the Son loved us so much that he gave of His own earthly life so that we may have eternal life and shares that love with us in the Eucharist every day. God the Holy Spirit shares His love with us each day by guiding us and giving us strength. So we have one loving God sharing His love for us in many ways.
Just as an apple can be shared with others, and God shares His love with us, so we must also share His love with others.
Three Steps of Faith
(1) Learn the Truth (2) Make It Your Own (3) Declare It Faithfully
1. Learn the Truth - The Blessed Trinity is a mystery that far surpasses my comprehension. Yet it also reveals the most basic process of faith, of Christian maturity. When we receive faith, it is like a seed that needs development: “You cannot bear it now.” The Holy Spirit guides us to a fuller understanding so that our faith can show itself in our lives. We come to a better understanding of God, ourselves, our lives and others, especially in a world that tends to distort it. We must be convinced that we need to grow, to deepen our faith and widen it to encompass all the dimensions of our lives. To stop learning my faith (that which I believe) and to stop growing my faith (that by which I believe) is to thwart the Holy Spirit’s plans over my life. He has more to tell me! Do I believe it and seek it? How?
2. Make It Your Own. Jesus here identifies the truths of faith – as well as what the Father “has” – as “his”. So the faith is something personal to be possessed. It must be made my own! Faith is not made my own by reducing it to mere sentiment or subjective conviction. It is the same for everyone. We must adjust to it, not adjust it to ourselves. It is personal but not therefore different for each, like choices on a cafeteria menu. As Pope Benedict XVI clarified in the homily before his election: “An ‘adult’ faith is not a faith that follows the trends of fashion and the latest novelty; a mature adult faith is deeply rooted in friendship with Christ” (Homily, April 18, 2005). Do I fully possess my faith? Or do I feel it forced upon me, as though something foreign? Is my faith heartfelt as well as accepted by my intellect? Do I make it my own by accepting it, embracing it, loving it, growing in it, exercising it, defending it, sharing it?
3. Declare It Faithfully. The unity of the Trinity is not static, but a living dynamism. They live and act in unity. “He will take from what is mine.…” This has two implications. The mission of the Holy Spirit is precisely to remind us of what Jesus taught (Cf. Jn.14:26). He is faithful to his mission by teaching Christ. For us too, possessing the faith leads to sharing it. What is alive tends to grow. Pope John Paul II put it simply: "Those who have come into genuine contact with Christ cannot keep him for themselves, they must proclaim him. This proclamation must not be imposed but proposed ‘with confidence…’" (Address of June 5, 2001).
Secondly, we must proclaim the one truth we have received. “He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears.” Fidelity to the Truth is fidelity to the Love that entrusted it to us. Worse than not sharing Christ would be altering his message. The Church, with the Holy Spirit that animates her, aids us in this commission to faithfully declare Christ and what he taught. My love for Christ can be measured by how faithful I am in transmitting his message. How great is my love for him?

The great American dream is vacation, time off, retirement, as if saving is the most important dimension of a person. In much of the pop psychology and theology of the day, we are warned to take care of ourselves . . . even if it means to neglect others. We are taught to hoard and self protect; but, when did you ever feel as good about yourself as when you've been generous. Isn't it true that your best moments, your moments of greatest satisfaction are when you have been generous, self-sacrificing, helpful, caring for others? Do you think you learned that from God, from Jesus, from the fact that it is written into your nature by creation that pouring out is God's way?

At a time when Jesus was proclaiming the blessedness of carrying one's cross and following in his footsteps, he said, "any one of you who would preserve your life, cling to it, hoard your blessings and gifts, you will lose it. On the other hand, any one of you who would pour yourself out for me, for your brothers and sisters, you will find and save yourself."

Open your own cup/self to receive the outpourings of God's love, hope, peace, and courage. And, then pour out your own life in service, in justice, in compassion, in love.



There is no prayer used more frequently than the sign of the cross, and it often comes as a surprise to the Christian that it took several hundred years for the Church to arrive at a knowledge about the Trinity stable enough to define the Trinity as a dogma requiring belief.
The Trinity is a mystery - probably the most profound mystery of Christianity. Yet there would be no point in God revealing mysteries to us unless there is at least some aspect of them that we can understand. And we do find two key elements in this mystery that the human mind can grasp.
The first is the fact that Father, Son and Holy Spirit are distinct, different from one another. They are unique individuals. To help us understand that uniqueness, God has revealed to us three separate functions that are carried out by the three persons. He has told us that it is proper to attribute to God the Father the work of creation; to God the son, the work of Redemption, of reconciling, of healing. And to the Holy Spirit, the work of guidance in truth, the work of teaching. The second feature about the Trinity that is understandable, is that while each person is different from the other, those three persons live in community. God is a family.
Sacred Scripture says that you and I are made to the image and likeness of God. And so it is not surprising that you and I have the same two qualities of God that we just described. First, we have a craving to be unique, to be ourselves, to be different, to make our own special imprint on history. We don't want to be clones. We want to be seen and accepted as special individuals. Second, like God we have the tendency to want to be in community. It is not good for man to be alone. No one is an island; we are all part of the main. We resist isolation. We are social beings; we want to live with others.
And so fundamentally, in the core of our being, we are like God, for the simple reason that the same qualities which exist in God are found in us. We have a drive to be unique, and we have another drive to be in community with others.
Beyond these basic likenesses, each of us is called to become more like God throughout our lives. Like God the Father, we are called upon to be productive, creative persons. To contribute to the building up of the fabric of our family, our church, our community and our nation. We do not imitate God when we destroy, shred, unravel, whether we are talking about our neighbor's reputation, or the social order to which he belongs. Like God the Son, we are called upon to reconcile, to be peacemakers, to put back together that which has been broken, to restore what has been shattered. And like God the Holy Spirit, it is our task to uncover truth, to dispel ignorance, to teach. And when we teach, to do so in an encouraging way, not with force and not with an air of superiority.
When I do these things, when I am productive, when I reconcile, when I teach, then I am imitating God and that means I am becoming holy.

posted by Mike Young @ 6:08 AM