Dear One and All,
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. With such a Feast as this one, we might be tempted to think…” well it’s all a mystery, and a bit too deep for me, and I’m not too sure where to start in understanding it, so I’ll come back to it some other day”. Yes, it is difficult, and mysterious; it has provoked some of the greatest thinkers in the world to offer explanations, and in so doing, we plumb the depths of our creative, redeeming and sanctifying God. Let’s look briefly at God’s Word.
John’s Gospel today comes from a section called the ‘Farewell’ discourse of Jesus. In other words just like any Goodbye speech, we hang on to every word. One of the themes in this discourse is the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit, the living breath of God, the wisdom of God, which will be within the followers of Jesus, and be the catalyst within their Christian lives, and continuation of the Lord’s mission in, and through us. Jesus has announced the kingdom as being here, but not yet complete, and the love of the Father draws us on to its completion. Jesus’ message is life, and it goes beyond any formulation. Its demands, which the Spirit will make known to us, are always new and surprising. The Spirit will guide us “into all the truth” (V 13) which comes from the Father. (V15)
Jesus shows us the way to the Father, and the Spirit is with us on our journey. If the Feast of the Ascension reminds us that we must take the Lord’s work into our hands, Pentecost assures us that such a mission is possible because the Spirit is with us. The Feast of the Blessed Trinity teaches us that we must be creative, redeeming and sanctifying in our commitment to God, and to one another. Hence, being keenly aware that our God is a God of surprises, inviting us to trust, to follow and be daring in living, we must get rid of doubts which may tempt us to cling on, and immerse ourselves in securities which cripple our ability to live as a truth-seeking community. We are called to proclaim with loving boldness that we can do all things through Him who gives us the strength. (Says St.Paul) If we cling with all our might to paltry security, how are we to be in solidarity with human suffering and love; if we are not imaginative in our ways of exploring and expressing our commitment to God, then implosion takes place, which festers in a desire for what we can control and direct. In other words, if we are not daring in our Christian, corporate Mission, then whatever we do in the hobby of progress is surely just moving deck chairs on the Titanic and propelled by the chase for absolute power.
Unfortunately, there is this kind of element to our left, to our right, and in front…so often if we fall into that kind of trap, we are forwarding the Mission of personal grandeur by looking through the rear vision mirror in our Cars. Christ must be our star, our map and our road, leading us into the unknown, as Jesus did to the blind man as he was led outside his familiar village into the unknown, where he came to true vision and insight into the identity of the one who was leading him.
It is such a breath of fresh air to see in Pope Francis, that he has no truck with hanging onto false securities just to appear right, or make things look good. This Pope is the kind of Leader that we need at this time; he is a man who discerns the truth, he is a man who knows from experience that the Lord hears the cry of the ‘poor’. We are not taking here about poverty as very low Bank Accounts…no, we are all poor; in the poverty of Spirit, which Our Lady is the prototype:- The Anawim of the Old Testament, the faithful who hungered for Justice, Tenderness and walking in humility, ‘Let what you said be done unto me…’
So, with this in mind, we can all pray together with one voice……
Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: to God who is, who was, and who is to come. Alleluia!
God Bless you and your families, and may we never forget each other in prayer. Fr.Kev
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