Sunday Reflection: Trinity Sunday

Life is full of mysteries. If the material world can be such a mystery, it is hardly surprising that its Creator should not be an even greater mystery, too.

The solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity highlights the mystery that is at the heart of our faith and gives us an insight into the relationship between the Three Persons in One God.

As baptized Christians, the one God being three Persons is a central mystery of our faith. We are not saying that one God is three gods but that in one God there are three Persons. It is important to be aware that when we say the Trinity is a mystery we are not saying that it is just an impenetrable puzzle. It is a mystery not in the sense that we cannot understand anything about it; rather, it is a mystery because we will never -- at least until we die -- be able to grasp the whole meaning of what it means. To try to understand fully how one God can be three Persons is not really possible for us. There are many things in life which are and probably always will be far beyond our understanding. That does not meant we deny their truth or their existence, nor do we break our head trying to work out fully how one God can be three Persons, or say, "Oh, it's a mystery" and not bother to have any understanding at all.

The word "mystery" in the Christian sense rather speaks of something that was previously unknown but is now revealed to and shared by a privileged group of people. What Scripture reveals to us is a unity of three real persons. And the membership card to this privileged group is faith -- faith in God as Father, faith in God as the Son whom He sent to us as Jesus Christ, and faith in God as the Spirit that teaches and guides us here and now.
While the inner reality of the Trinity is something we cannot penetrate now, there is much about these three Persons that we can know from what they do. What the Trinity then says is that God has three "masks" indicating three distinct roles or functions. God reaches us personally in three different ways. From their actions we can know a lot about who they are both in themselves, between themselves and in their relationship to us.

One of the important things that it means to know God as one God in three Persons -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- is this: It is all about relationship. God is a relationship! God's own life is a shared life, a life of mutually interacting relationships. God is a family of love, and the three divine persons love each other so completely and so perfectly that there is one God and peace flows from their relationship.

So let us also try to enter into a relationship with these three Persons, through whom God is revealed to us. "The love of God," says Paul today in the Second Reading, "has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us."

God as Father. We see God as Father, the Fountain of our life, our Creator and He who sustains our very existence. He is the Origin of all life and dependent existence. This Person is both the Origin and the Goal, the Alpha and the Omega, of all things, of all life. This Person is the source of all Truth and Love, a Person of Mercy and Compassion, the Source of all Wisdom. And our hearts will find not rest until they rest in Him. It is beautifully expressed in the First Reading from the Book of Proverbs (take time out to read it slowly).

God as Son. God's love has been made known to us in the Person of the Son, Jesus Christ. We see God as Son in Jesus, the visible and human revelation and manifestation of God's love and compassion for the whole world. In Jesus, the transcendent and unknowable God is presented in a form, which helps us to have some understanding of his real nature and to reach out to him. Jesus builds a bridge between the human and the divine. God's love becomes humanized and therefore tangible, understandable, and able to be more easily followed and imitated. This love is climaxed in the extraordinary events of Jesus suffering, dying and rising to life. This Person is our Redeemer who shed every last drop of His blood out of love for us and who constantly intercedes for us with the Father.
God as Spirit. God as Spirit forms us, guides us, teaches us, moves us, comforts and strengthens us. We find God through his Spirit acting in and through us, in and through others. Constantly creating and re-creating, making all things new. The Spirit has been given to be our teacher, our companion, advocate, paraclete, and comfort. The Spirit is our sanctifier who sends us all the graces we need, who comes to help us understand all that Jesus said and did, and to encourage us to live by the good news. All that the Father has given to Jesus, the Spirit wishes to share with us and bring us to the fullness of truth.
Today's feast can be a reminder to pray with much greater meaning and respectfulness that most common of all prayers, so common we hardly think of it as a prayer -- the Sign of the Cross. It combines both the mystery of the Trinity and mystery of our salvation through Jesus' suffering, death, and rising to life. It encapsulates in so few words and a simple movement of the arm all that we believe in and all that we live for. Every time we sign ourselves with the cross and say, "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," we are expressing our hope that we, too, can grow in love in all of our relationships and so live in peace. Let us, then, direct our prayer to these three Persons and truly develop a personal relationship with each one of them, resolving to make the Sign of the Cross with greater dignity and reverence, and in a spirit of real prayer.

- Rosario Bance
May 30, 2007

Sunday Reflection: Solemnity of Pentecost

This Sunday’s great and joyful feast is the culmination of the tremendous mysteries that we have been commemorating since Holy Week - the Passion, the Death, the Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus. On Pentecost Sunday, we celebrate the sending of the Spirit of the Father and the Son on His disciples.

Jesus' disciples are cowering in fear behind locked doors. Suddenly, there is Jesus among them. He gives them the usual Jewish greeting 'Shalom' but here it is filled with meaning. "Peace with you" can be taken as a wish ('Peace be with you'), or more truly, “Peace is with you.” It is no wonder that the disciples, who just now were terrified, are filled with joy. There are two qualities that always accompany the presence of Jesus in our lives - peace and joy. In the presence of Jesus we experience a kind of peace and joy which only He can give.

In today’s gospel, Jesus gives His Spirit to His disciples and the mission which follows from that: “As the Father sent me, so am I sending you." The baton is being passed. They have a job to do and it is exactly what Jesus himself came to do - to establish the Kingdom on earth.

Jesus now breathes on them. The breathing recalls God breathing life into the dust and bringing the first human being into existence. Here too there is a kind of creation, as the disciples are re-created into 'new persons' filled with the Spirit of Jesus and mandated to continue His work.

(As a reader of the Word of God, I, too, was fearful at the start. I was filled with apprehension, ranging from the silly to the reasonable: Would I lose my voice or forget what to do when I am finally on the lectern? Could I sustain my own interest? Would I be good enough for the task? Was I worthy? But perhaps the Spirit brought into play people and circumstances to “convince” me to respond as I ought to. And like the disciples, I, too, am glad and at peace now with my choice, confident and secure in knowing that the Spirit will be there helping me accomplish whatever task He has called me to do. And with that, I am given a new life.)

The disciples’ job is to continue Jesus’ work of bringing God's salvation to all mankind, to be agents of reconciliation - reconciliation of people everywhere with their God and reconciliation with each other as brothers and sisters, children of one common Father. Reconciliation means the healing of wounds, of all forms of division. This is the work of the Kingdom. And it is also what all of us, as God’s people, are called to do. In order to carry on the task that He had accomplished, Jesus empowered the Church with His Holy Spirit who would be the living force and guidance in propagating God's message. Together with this, and like the disciples, we are given a power to communicate.

What are the effects of the Spirit in our lives? When we have the Spirit, we can call Jesus "Lord," and to call Him "Lord" is not just uttering a pious phrase; it implies a real faith in who Jesus is and the proof of that will be in the way we live our lives. It is not enough to “just believe” but one must be willing to speak out and stand up.

(Readers of the Word are agents of reconciliation in their own right. We are likewise given the power to “communicate,” that is, not merely to read and proclaim the Word from the Book, but more importantly, to communicate God’s message by the way we live. We radiate the Spirit and invite others to share it by our speech and example.)

Second, the Spirit is the source of the special gifts (or 'charisms') that each member of the community receives. This Spirit has been given to us, individually in Confirmation but more powerfully, as Church together. The Source is one - the Spirit of God, which is what unites together all those who receive them into one community.

We are all gifted, but there is a huge variety of gifts. It is important to note that the gifts are not given as a personal grace for oneself, but are to be shared. These gifts are for the communion of the Church and for the common good. They are special abilities by which each one serves the needs of the community. We all have to work together, using our gifts, to build up the community to which we belong. As one body, the Body of Christ, we each make our distinct contribution to the life and work of the community.

(As readers of the Word, we have our unique gift. But we must constantly be on guard not to think highly of ourselves or be victims of self-acclaim, believing that we are “special” and “great” to be given this privilege. Indeed, we are special and great in the eyes of God, but in the sense that even in our smallness and insignificance, we are given this opportunity to give back something to God and the community. And that thought ought to humble even the greatest among us.)

Pentecost, like the other great mysteries, is not merely a historical incident but a reality - the extraordinary intervention of God into our lives. And today's feast indicates that it is an ongoing reality, which still touches our lives every single day.

Cecille S. Tello
22 May 2007