From the Pastor’s desk— June 4, 2023

Today is the impossible day, the day we celebrate the Holy Trinity (that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).  Trying to explain how there can be one has stumped humanity for centuries and I am sure I cannot do this in one or a thousand pages.  Better we use today to reflect that God is more than we will ever understand, a day to accept our limitations, a day to look forward to the day when we are in heaven, God willing, where all will be made clear.

Our modern world likes to act as if we have no limits, no boundaries with phrases like “reach for the stars,” “the sky is the limit,” “there is nothing we cannot do if we put our mind to it.”  While this optimism is admirable, it is also foolish, and it distances us from who we are–limited and finite created beings who depend for our very existence on the Holy Trinity as teacher and sustainer.

What has Trinity to teach us?  The greatest lesson the Holy Trinity teaches us is that we are called to be in union with our God (as God is one) and with each other.  This is the great truth of Catholicism when we say every Sunday, “we are ONE, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church…”We are one because we have one father (Mal 2:19), we are one because the Son came to save all of us (I Tim 1:15), we are one because all who have been baptized have been baptized in the one Spirit (1Cor 12:13). 

In the face of a divided, fallen world, our message of hope for the world is that we can be one.   Young and old and middle aged, men and women, black, brown and white, conservative and liberal, gay and straight, citizens and those without documents.  The Trinity reminds us what binds us, the triune God, is bigger than ANYTHING that separates us. 

I always wonder how long it will take us to learn, as God’s children, as created beings, we are dependent on others.  No matter how much power, intelligence, or money we have, we will always depend on others in this world.  We depend on our parents for all of our needs from food, clothing, shelter, education, and enjoyment, more reasons to honor parents who do so much for us.  More than this we are dependent on God, who is Trinity.  We are dependent on the creator, the redeemer, the sanctifier.  We are dependent on this infinite God who sustains every moment of life, earthly life and eternal life. 

Today is a day to grow in our oneness with the one who made us, the one who has given us everything we have in this world, and the one who wants us to share that eternal life together, forever and one word will do all this and that is LOVE.  It is love that makes the impossible possible and love is bigger than anything that divides us.

 

 

                     

 

With a heart for Mission,
Fr. Ray