June 7, 1998Trinity Sunday |
THEME: BELIEF IN THE GOD WHO IS THREE-IN-ONE - Jesus revealed that God is Abba, a "Daddy," a generous, devoted, merciful and loving parent. This revelation was so intimate and so clear, those who experienced Jesus came to trust that he was Son of Abba and God-in-the-flesh. Jesus also invited others to share in the relationship he had with the Father and revealed that the power to do so lay in his gift of the very life force of God, the Holy Spirit. Thus, as followers of Jesus, we have come to believe in God as the Holy Trinity - one God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
O Mary, receive me among those whom you love, nourish, sanctify and guide. It was you who accompanied Jesus throughout his life. Be with me now as I seek to know God's will. Help me to listen intently to his words of eternal life. Help me to say yes to all that he asks of me. Mary, you have always guided me with love. I now entrust myself entirely to you.
In ordinary usage a symbol is something that stands for something else. Symbols gradually acquire this representation and new meanings over some length of time because one or more of their real characteristics recall in our minds and hearts characteristics of another reality, especially those realities that are not visible to the eyes. Water is one of those realities. Not only is it necessary to sustain life, it can also represent death when too much it causes a flood. Human life begins in a watery place within our mother's womb. The process of birth is a process of life coming forth from the water. Thus the waters of Baptism become a sacred symbol that encompasses all of these meanings and more. In Catholic theology, our sacred symbols effect what they symbolize through the power of the Holy Spirit. God's creative action is given visibility. New life emerges from water to be sustained by the action of the Holy Spirit in the other sacraments. Through the sacraments, the Church (the visible Body of Christ on earth) continues the actions of the Lord: giving and sustaining life, loving, forgiving, healing and leading others into the Kingdom of God.
"God, we praise you: Father all-powerful, Christ Lord and Savior, Spirit of Love. You reveal yourself in the depths of our being, drawing us to share in your life and your love. One God, three Persons, be near to the people formed in your image, close to the world your love brings to life. We ask you this, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one God, true and living, forever and ever. Amen"
This beautiful prayer tries to wrap words around the mystery of God. On the one hand, God is utterly transcendent, ineffable, and mysterious--uncontainable by human words. On the other hand, God so loves us and our world that God dwells in our souls in the indwelling of the Spirit, God became flesh in Jesus Christ, and, as one psalm puts it, God "inhabits our praise."
Peace to you, Fr. Mike
2. What does ex cathedra mean?
1. The inability to err in teaching the truth. In theology, it refers to:
Today we celebrate Trinity Sunday as a beautiful climax to the high feasts of Easter and Pentecost. The Father sent his only Son to bring us truth and He sent the Holy Spirit to make us holy. In the Holy Trinity we worship one God in Three Persons, may our lives give witness to this fact by expressions of love to God and neighbor.
What does our liturgy tell us to do on this feast of the Trinity? It is simple: to lift up our voices in praise of the Trinity, to shout out with as much conviction and joy as we can, "O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!"
But just saying words doesn't create praise. Only what comes from the heart plucks the harp strings of genuine praise. At the core of such an act must be a profound and grateful sense of absolute dependence upon those whom we praise - Father, Son and Spirit. But this isn't easy or very natural for us. From the first day we were born, parents, teachers, relatives and friends taught us to strive for independence, for self-sufficiency, not that we might brag about our ability to stand on our own two feet, but that we might know we were doing what is expected of us. What does the world expect of us, but to be independent thinkers, reliable self- starters, capable self-motivators, and confident agents of self- change? This climate of self-development and self-sufficiency, as valuable as it is for our personal growth, can also work against our inclination to praise God. It can lessen our deepest sense of dependency upon God. It can silence the harp strings of our soul.
There is another reason why praising the Trinity may be hard for us. Praise is essentially a community prayer. We can adore God in the privacy of our car or kitchen, and we can pray to God by ourselves on a mountain top or in our bedroom, but to praise God, we need people around us. Praise prayer is not really addressed to God but to those around us. Praise is sharing our convictions about God with others, telling others we love God, expressing our confidence about God to the persons around us. It's sharing our shouts of enthusiasm so powerfully that others can feel the depth of our feeling. If, after the game, we want to thank the players, we can do so, but the expression of our thrill, our enthusiasm is done for the benefit of the crowd, not just the players. We "lift up our hearts" in praise because we want a grand and unified outcry of happiness, something one person cannot do alone.
The full expression of our deepest emotions has not been a characteristic of our worship for a long time. Today's feast gives us good reason to examine this vital element of Christian Prayer and to commit ourselves to what it demands of us - a real sense of dependency on the Trinity, and a willingness to enter into praise for their love, hope, and faith in us.
Fr. Tom, OMI
1998 IS THE YEAR OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. The trinitarian theme focuses on the consubstantial relationship of the Holy Spirit with the Father and Son. The Spirit is the eternal source of every gift that comes from God in the order of creation, is the direct principle of God's self- communication in order of grace, and makes present in the Church and in the soul of each individual the unique revelation of Christ.
Today is Trinity Sunday. Today we do not celebrate an event rather we celebrate the most basic mystery, the eternal mystery, of our faith.
From all eternity there is one God in Three Divine Persons. From all eternity the Father begets the Son, and from all eternity, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son or and the Son. From all eternity, the Three Persons of the Trinity are equal in majesty and attribute; what can be said of one may be said of the other except for the relationship between them. Yet there are not three gods, but only one almighty God.
In all works outside the intimate life of God each of the Three Persons is involved. Nevertheless, we attribute different works to different Persons, since it is easier for us to understand.
All Three Persons created the universe; yet we attribute creation to the Father. All Three Persons redeem; yet we usually attribute redemption to the Son. All Three Persons sanctify; yet we attribute sanctification to the Holy Spirit. Only the Second Person of the Trinity became man, like us in all things but sin. To all Three Persons and to each Person is due adoration, glory, honor and thanksgiving.
Nevertheless, it seems that God revealed the mystery of the Trinity for two reasons: first, in answer to the problem of our spirit in approaching God; second, in order that the Trinity may be the basis of our spiritual life.
The "HUMAN CLONING" project represents the terrible aberration to which value-free science is driven, and is a sign of the profound malaise of our civilization, which looks to science, technology, and the "quality of life" as surrogates for the meaning of life and its salvation.
-Pontifical Academy for Life, "Human Cloning Is Immoral," July 9, 1997
"As I examine the cross-cultural images of priest, I find several constant patterns. Priest are always agents of transformation. They are always saying 'things are not what they seem.'
They are always 'transubstantiating' and pointing to the 'more' of things. 'It looks like this, but it is really that!' I am not sure if they are transmuting the substance of things as much as transmuting our seeing of what is already there but what we refuse to see: God hidden in all things.
The other quality consistently found in the image of priesthood is that the priest is always raising the knife, stripping away the disguise, naming the illusion and throwing us into the fire."
Fr. Richard Rohr OFM
