THE MOST HOLY TRINITY

30 MAY 2021

 

            For ninety days, the liturgy has focused our attention on the Mystery of how God loves us.  The forty days of Lent prepared us to celebrate the Sacred Paschal Triduum – the Lord Jesus showing how to love by washing the feet of his disciples and dying on the cross.  For fifty days, we deepened our faith in the resurrection.  Having received a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, we now focus our attention on the identity of God in today’s readings.

            In Deuteronomy, Moses addresses his people about to enter the Promised Land.  He tells them that there is only one God – the God who created the world and breathed life into human beings.  The one God led them from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land.  The New Testament Scriptures reveal that Jesus Christ in the only begotten Son of God who has accomplished the work of redemption.  In his letter to the Romans, Saint Paul reminds us that the Holy Spirit has adopted us as sons and daughters of God in Baptism, making us heirs of Christ.  At the highest level of being, there is one God and three distinct Persons.

            We have been taught from our religious education classes that the Trinity is a mystery.  We often understand “mystery” in terms of complicated situations that need to be solved.  I have become interested in a series of murder mysteries produced by the BBC.  As each episode unfolds, I have to sort out the clues and put the pieces together to figure out which of those characters is guilty of the murder.  At the end of each episode, the mystery is solved.

            A better definition of “mystery” involves examining relationships with other people.  Couples who fall in love begin the process of revealing themselves and getting to know the mystery of the other person.  Couples who have celebrated their fiftieth anniversary of marriage speak of their continued efforts to know better the one they love.  

            If we understand “mystery” in this sense, the Trinity is not a complicated puzzle that professional theologians ponder in their ivory towers.  The Trinity is not a reality that we cannot know.  Rather, we can continue to know the relationship at the highest level of being between Father and Son and Holy Spirit into eternity.  We are drawn us into a deeper relationship with the Father and through the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Just as God invited Moses to know him more intimately and lead his people to the Promised Land, God invites us to enter more deeply in a love relationship with the Trinity and leads us to the Promised Land of eternity.

            Saint Matthew tells us that the risen Christ gathers the eleven on a mountain in Galilee.  They worship him, signaling the power of the resurrection.  But they have doubts.  Despite their doubts, he commissions them to make disciples of all nations by baptizing and teaching them all he has commanded them.  He does the same with us.  Convinced of the power of the Paschal Mystery, we may harbor our own doubts and hesitations about washing feet and dying to ourselves.  As sons and daughters adopted through Baptism, we share such an intimacy of love that we can address God as Abba, or in English, “Daddy.” 

The risen Christ sent the first disciples into a hostile and dangerous world.  This last year has revealed the hostility and dangers of our world:  a world of arguments, violence, and loss of objectivity.  We live in a world that substitutes subjective opinions for objective truth.  We may be distinct individuals with diverse and different gifts.  But we are created in the image of the one God who is manifested in absolute love.  For ninety days, the Lord has been teaching us what authentic love looks like.  Now the risen Lord promises to be with us until the end of time.  We are not alone in our efforts to love as he loved us.  Gifted by his presence through the Holy Spirit, we can rebuild the life of our parish and community as we emerge from this pandemic.

PENTECOST SUNDAY

23 MAY 2021

 

          Saint Luke’s account of the coming of the Holy Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles is filled with wonderful special effects.  The Spirit is manifested not in a gentle breeze, but in a strong driving wind, much like the violent and rushing storm experienced by Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai.  He says that tongues as of fire part and come to rest on each one of them.  They are not small flickers, but incoming bursts of flame.  These special effects are seen in a painting in the Louvre in Paris.  The French artist Jean Restout captures the power, awe, and raw emotion of the event.  The apostles and Mary are depicted in a large, Roman-style courtyard.  The Holy Spirit descends dramatically in tongues of fire that bolt from the cloudy sky to reach them below.  The emotions on their faces reveal the special effects.  Mary is in the center, completely calm, full of grace.  The others, on the other hand, are shocked.  They are clearly bewildered by what they are experiencing.  They are taken aback by the awe of it. 

            As dramatic as that event may have been, Pentecost is not about the creation of special effects.  It is about the creation of a special people.  The Holy Spirit has created a new people are given the task of proclaiming the Paschal Mystery.  Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has called his special people out of darkness to become the new reality of being the Body of Christ in our world.

When Peter and the other apostles speak in a language understood by everyone who had gathered for the Feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem, they do not talk about the special effects they have just experienced.  They talk about Jesus Christ.  They tell the story of his life and of his death and resurrection.  They invite the massive congregation to put their trust and faith in the One who died and rose again.

            Pentecost is the birthday of the Church.  Just as the Holy Spirit blew the Apostles out of their comfort zone to proclaim the Lord’s death and resurrection, the Spirit blows us out of our comfort zones to proclaim the same Mystery.  We do that best by giving ourselves in humble service to the needs of our community, the poor, and our parish.  In her witness talk last Sunday, Carrie Brackett told how the Holy Spirit blew her out of her comfort zone.  Jon Housand, a fellow worker, urged her to let go of her fear of being lost in a large parish make a commitment to serve.  Her first step involved preparing a casserole for the homeless shelter.  Now, in addition to other ways in which she is serving, she is the head of that ministry.  We can give ourselves to the needs of others, fulfilling Christ’s command to love others as he loved us.  If you have not done so, please fill out the form we sent home to renew or begin your stewardship of service.  

            Just as the Holy Spirit brought to birth the Church some 2,000 years ago, the Holy Spirit is present to us as we begin the process of bringing rebirth to the life of our parish as we emerge from this pandemic.  That same Holy Spirit pushes us to discern the gifts that each of us has received.  The Holy Spirit impels us to put our many different gifts at the service of this parish community.  Just as the Apostles trusted that the Holy Spirit would guide them, the Holy Spirit will guide us.  The Holy Spirit will not spare us from differences of opinion.  The Holy Spirit will not protect us from criticism and rejection and disappointment.  But the Holy Spirit will provide the same presence to us as the Spirit did for the earliest Church. We heard about the work of the Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles every Sunday during the Easter Season.  As we move out of the Easter Season and away from this pandemic, we can see that action in our lives.

  

 

THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD

16 MAY 2021

 

          Saint Luke describes the Ascension of the risen Lord in his second volume, the Acts of the Apostles.  As he is lifted up into heaven, a cloud takes him from their sight.  Then two men dressed in white garments stand beside him and address them.  “Men of Galilee,” they say, “why are you standing there looking at the sky?  This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”

            In his first volume, the Gospel of Saint Luke, he describes the resurrection on Easter Sunday.  The women come to the tomb at dawn to anoint the dead body of Jesus with spices.  They meet two men dressed in dazzling garments.  These two men say:  “Why do you search for the Living One among the dead?  He is not here; he has been raised up.  Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee – that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.”   

            The two men dressed in white garments signal that both of these events are central Mysteries of our faith.  At the tomb on Easter Sunday, the two men remind the women of the many times Jesus had spoken of his passion and death during his public ministry.  His execution had shattered their hopes.  They now need the words of the two men dressed in white garments to recall his promise that he would be raised from the dead.

            Saint Luke tells us that Jesus was taken up to heaven forty days after the resurrection.  The number forty is symbolic.  Those forty days indicate the length of time it took the disciples to encounter the risen Lord and deepen their belief in this central Mystery of our faith.  Today, they encounter another Mystery in the Ascension.  Saint Paul reminds the Ephesians that the Lord had descended from heaven into our midst in the Mystery of the Incarnation.  Now, he returns to the right hand of the Father.  The two men dressed in white garments tell his disciples to begin the mission of proclaiming the Gospel to the entire world.  The disciples follow their instructions and wait in Jerusalem for the promised sending of the Holy Spirit.

            The two men dressed in white give us the same message.  We have spent this Easter Season deepening our faith in the resurrection and recognizing his real presence in the Breaking of Bread.  With the Ascension, he promises to return again at the end of time.  But, for now, he commissions us to continue our mission as his Body to proclaim the Gospel to every creature.

            In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives his disciples authority to perform signs to accompany their proclamation of the Gospel.  If we look back in this past year, we can see those same signs.  We have used the name of the Lord Jesus to drive out the demons of fear in the midst of the worst pandemic in 100 years.  We have countered the language of hatred and revenge with love and forgiveness.  We have picked up the serpents of division with our hands.  We have even drunk the poison of subjectivity, insisting that there is objective truth in the midst of the many claims that whatever opinion we embrace is factual.  We have reached out to minister to the sick, even when we have been in danger of catching the virus ourselves.

            Like those original disciples, we await a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit when we celebrate Pentecost next Sunday.  We trust the power of the Holy Spirit to strengthen us to continue our mission.  That is why renewing our stewardship of service is so crucial.  Please consider giving a portion of your time in humble service.  Strengthened by the Holy Spirit, we can proclaim the Gospel by being active participants in reopening our parish as we emerge from this pandemic.  In this humble service, we clearly proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

9 MAY 2021

 

          We continue to hear from the farewell discourse of Jesus to his disciples at the Last Supper.  To understand what he is saying in today’s Gospel, we need to recall his image of the vine and the branches.  He has drawn this image of the Prophet Isaiah.  Isaiah spoke of Israel as God’s vineyard.  God transplanted the vine from Egypt, cultivated and watered the soil, built a fence around it, and provided nourishment for the vineyard.  When God looked to the vineyard for a fruitful harvest, he found sour grapes.  Isaiah argued that these sour grapes were a result of Israel being unfaithful to their Covenant.  As a result of that infidelity, the enemies of Israel broke down their walls and took them into exile.

            Jesus reveals himself as the true vine.  His disciples are the branches.  He will remain with his disciples if they stay connected to the vine.  They will produce much fruit if they love one another as he has loved them.  They are not slaves, who can make no personal choices.  They are friends, who can choose to accept his invitation or ignore it.  He is not inviting them to have warm feelings or be nice to other people.  He is inviting them to be attached.  Authentic love involves becoming attached to a group and keeping that attachment alive.  Jesus himself became attached to us when he emptied himself of the privileges of divinity and took on our human condition in the Incarnation.  He has already taught his disciples how to love when he became a humble servant and washed their feet.  He will demonstrate that attachment by willingly giving his entire life for them on the cross.

            We became his disciples when we were grafted onto the true vine as branches at Baptism.  Now he challenges us to produce good fruit by loving as he has loved us.  As the first Letter of Saint John reminds us, this self-giving love comes from God, who is love.  We can know firsthand what God’s love truly means.  That is why we celebrate the Season of Easter for fifty days.  We continue to experience the love of God in his real presence in this Eucharist, which strengthens our bonds of unity to Christ and to each other as his body.  Knowing that love here, we are sent out to share that love with others, producing much fruit.

            That is what Saint Peter does in the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles.  Inspired by a vision, Peter courageously goes beyond the restrictions of his Jewish heritage and dares to enter the house of Cornelius, a pagan.  He grafts Cornelius and his family as branches to the true vine when he baptizes them.  By attaching them to Christ, he opens the way for all Gentiles to be grafted onto the true vine.  His act of love allows the Gospel to go well beyond its Jewish roots to produce much needed fruit throughout the Roman Empire.

            On this Mother’s Day, we recognize those women in our lives that have shown us in so many ways what the love of God looks like.  We need a special day to recognize those women who have attached themselves to us and born much fruit in living their vocation.  We also pray for those women who find a day like this very difficult – women who have lost children, or are unable to conceive, or who are alone for any reason. 

On this first weekend of May, we also honor Mary, the mother of Jesus and the Mother of the Church.  She gives an example of total attachment and helps us to understand that imitating the love of God goes well beyond warm feelings and best wishes.  We ask for her intercession, so that we can produce much fruit by loving others as God has loved us.  The world desperately needs the fruits of being attached to God’s love:  love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 

 

 

FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

2 MAY 2021

 

          At two Masses this weekend, our second graders will receive their First Communion.  The first communicants are dressed in white garments, because they had been clothed with white garments when they were baptized.  They had put on Christ, when they were first grafted as branches on the true vine that is Christ.  Their white garments are reminders of their status.

            I have become convinced that the Lord uses our children as living instruments to bring us to a deeper faith.  As our children show their uncomplicated faith in that real presence, the Lord invites us to deepen our own faith in this Sacrament.  The Lord promises that he will remain in us through frequent reception of this Sacrament.  To use other terms, he will abide with us, stay with us, giving us a share in his divine presence in our lives, allowing us to bear much fruit.

Before they receive the Lord’s real presence in the Eucharist for the first time, they will renew the Baptismal promises, along with their parents and the rest of us.  This renewal reminds their parents of the promise they made seven years ago to form their children in the ways of faith.  Like their children, they too had been grafted as branches on the vine that is Christ at Baptism.  In today’s Gospel, the Lord insists that we can bear fruit only if we ourselves stay connected as branches to the true vine that he is.      

The Lord also warns that we will be pruned as branches attached to the living vine.  Pruning is necessary in taking care of a vineyard.  Once pruned, the grapevines produce better and bigger fruit.  The earliest disciples experienced this reality.  They had accepted the Lord’s total gift of himself when they were grafted as branches on the true vine.  They abandoned all prior faith commitments to enjoy that share in his divine presence.  But, they were pruned by brutal persecutions.  Jesus argues that pruning will enable the branches of his disciples to bear more fruit.  The parents of the First Communicants know how often they have been pruned in the last seven years.  They have been pruned of prior freedoms, allowing them to focus more intently on the needs of their children.  They have been pruned of their perceived need for more things, allowing them to sacrifice for the good of their children.

            As painful as pruning may be, the Lord continues to prune his disciples.  This pandemic has pruned all of us.  In the beginning, we were cut back from participating in Mass in person and receiving the Eucharist.  In the last year, we have been pruned of many of the situations of “normal life.” As individuals, we have been pruned.  I have been pruned of my desire to decide for myself what the best response to the pandemic should be.  That pruning has opened my eyes to trust the direction of Bishop Rhoades, the successor of the Apostles.  In implementing his instructions, I have been pruned of my conviction that I could control the responses of people.  That pruning has forced me to recognize my limited ability to fashion responses, allowing me to trust in the Lord’s promise that we will remain in the branches attached to the true vine.

            Throughout the pruning of this pandemic, Satan has had a field day!  Satan loves to take advantage of division and fear.  Satan tried his best in the conversion of Saul the Pharisee.  But Christ, working through Saint Paul the Apostle, triumphs.  Saint Paul resisted the wrath of the Hellenists, who wanted to kill him.  He endured the initial reluctance of the Christian community who were afraid of him.  He trusted the guidance of Barnabas and opened himself to the power of the Holy Spirit.  We too can resist Satan’s temptations to further alienation and division.  We can trust in the Lord working through the Sacramental life of the Church to make sure that we are fully connected as branches to the true vine, and allow him to remain in us.  Then we will bear much fruit.  We will emerge from this pandemic pruned and stronger than ever.