Trinity R Us (Trinity Sunday, Year C)

Trinity Sunday Year C

Jesus said, "Who do men say that I am?"

And his disciples answered, "Some say you are John the Baptist returned from the dead; others say Elias, or one of the prophets."

And Jesus answered and said, "But who do you say that I am?" 

Simon Peter replied, "Thou art the Logos, the Second Person of the Godhead, existing in the Father before all time as His rationality and then, by an act of His will, being generated, in consideration of the various functions by which God is related to his creation, but only on the fact that Scripture speaks of a Father, and a Son, and a Holy Spirit, each member of the Holy Trinity being coequal with every other member, and each acting inseparably with and interpenetrating every other member, with only an economic subordination within God, but causing no division which would otherwise render the substance no longer simple."

And Jesus answered and said, "What?"

Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Universal Church celebrates the sublime mystery of the Holy Trinity, a mystery so profound that, at least according to my opening story, even Jesus doesn't understand it. Although the gospels mention Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the word "Trinity" is not found in the Bible. It developed over time as our understanding of God evolved over time.

We literally bow before this mystery. As you know, it is our custom when saying the Glory Be to bow. This is for two reasons. One is because we are praising God as God in the Trinity and there is no greater mystery or truth. But we also bow because this mystery, this solemnity, this truth is also about us.

There is a story about the great St. Augustine of Hippo, (that's Hippo the city in north Africa, not Hippo the animal in the Nile River) who lived in the fourth century. Anyway, he was a great philosopher, theologian and doctor of the Church. Augustine was preoccupied with the Blessed Trinity. He wanted so much to understand the doctrine of one God in three divine persons and to be able to explain it logically. 

One day he was walking along the seashore and reflecting on this matter. Suddenly, he saw a little child all alone on the shore. The child made a hole in the sand, ran to the sea with a little cup, filled her cup with sea water, ran up and emptied the cup into the hole she had made in the sand. Back and forth she went to the sea, filled her cup and came and poured it into the hole. 

Augustine drew up and said to her, “Little child, what are you doing?” 
She replied, “I am trying to empty the sea into this hole.” 
Augustine asked her, “How do you think you can empty this immense sea into this tiny hole and with this tiny cup?” 
She answered back, “And you, how do you suppose that with your small head you can comprehend the immensity of God?” With that, the child disappeared.

Of course, I would argue that even with just a small cup you can indeed comprehend the ocean. If you filled a small cup with sea water from the Gulf of Mexico, you would learn more than you cared to know about what is happening to the ocean. The more important question is: what does this mean to us?

The mystery of the Holy Trinity is as much about us as it is about God, for we are created in God's image and likeness. In other words, the more we strive to understand God, the more we will understand ourselves. And the more we understand ourselves, the more we will understand God.

We become like the God we worship. People who believe in a warlike God, become violent themselves. People who worship an angry and vengeful God became angry and vindictive. And people who worship and believe in a loving, caring, self-sacrificing God become loving and compassionate people. 

The Holy Trinity---Father, Son and Holy Spirit---means that we believe in a God of relationship and community. God is in an eternal, loving and life-giving relationship with the Son. The Son eternally reflects life back to the Father. This love is so powerful and dynamic it generates the Holy Spirit and sends it out to create, fill and renew all things.

We, too, are people who find our meaning and our life in relationship and in community. Now, relationship and community are neutral terms. That is, they can be either good or bad, healthy or unhealthy, life-giving or life-destroying.

Take a few moments and think about the different relationships in your life or in your past. We are born into family relationships. At first we might think our family is perfect, but as we grow older we realize our family is quite dysfunctional. This can discourage us until we look around and see all families are dysfunctional in one way or another. The good news is that our families do not have to be perfect; but they do have to be loving.

Sadly, sometimes we find ourselves in unhealthy relationships, where members abuse, exploit or take each other for granted. This can be so toxic it first destroys love and then it destroys life.

I do not think God wants us to remain in unhealthy relationships---or marriages. Of course everyone has to work at improving their family life and it is work and it is hard. I often tell brides and grooms on their wedding day that a wedding is a one day event, but a marriage is the achievement of a lifetime. I applaud the couples who stay together despite difficulties, but I also commend individuals who have the courage and sense to know when it is not going to work.

And what is our community then but an extension of our family, with all its charm, problems and neuroses? Just like every family faces difficulties, so does every community. But if we always bear in mind that God is the center of our family, of our community and of ourselves, there is no problem we cannot overcome through faith, hope and lots of love, not to mention a lot of patience, humility and forgiveness.

Never forget: we are made in the image and likeness of God. We are called to live in right relationships and in healthy communities. We stand today before the great mystery of the Holy Trinity. We beg God's blessings and graces to help us be better and do better and before this mystery we cannot help but humbly bow.       

iPad App for the Spirit? (Pentecost, Year C)

Congratulations and happy birthday, Church! Today we celebrate the great and glorious feast of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended on a small, ragtag bunch of trembling disciples and transformed them into fearless proclaimers of the Good News. What’s more, they now had the power to live the message they proclaimed.

As you know, last month the teachers gave me this amazing iPad. Because the iPad was so popular, I had to wait two weeks for it to arrive. Even then I found out I couldn’t use it until I activated it and I couldn’t activate it until I upgraded my laptop computer. Next I had to sign up for internet service and only then did the amazing new world of instant communications and knowledge become available to me.

Next week my cousin, who is also my godfather, and his wife will be celebrating their 50^th wedding anniversary. I considered giving them an iPad but first I checked with their children to see what they thought of the idea. They said it a nice thought but it would be a waste of money because my cousin has a brand new Apple laptop computer that he only uses to check email. An iPad would just become a very expensive paperweight.

You can have the most hip, most up-to-date, most technologically advanced piece of computer equipment in the world, but if you don’t know how to use it or even want to learn, what good is it?

You can have the most perfect, most profound, most spiritually enriching religion in the world, but if you don’t know how to activate it or how it really works and don’t care to learn, what good is it? Just as none of our electronic gadgets, from TVs to DVDs to computers, can work long without a power source, so too our religion requires more than just knowing the rules and saying prayers. Do only that and before long you too will run out of energy.

What is Pentecost? For the Jews and for the apostles who, after all, were Jewish, it was the holiday that occurred 50 days after Passover. Passover commemorated their deliverance from slavery; Pentecost commemorated the giving of the Law to Moses in Mount Sinai.

Passover made them free; Pentecost made them a people. The Law of Moses helped them live in a way that showed their special relationship with God. The trouble was, try as they might, it seemed almost impossible to obey all 613 commandments. But on this particular Pentecost, which we just heard about in the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, something wonderful happened. They received the very Spirit of God to energize them and fill them with wisdom and knowledge and the power to live holy lives. They spoke in new languages and this message of Jesus Christ became available to the peoples of the world.

Pentecost is the birthday of the Church because, unlike every other feast throughout the year, this is not just something that happened in the past. It is an on-going miracle. Since that day in the Upper Room the Holy Spirit has not ceased to pour down upon the earth. Every year we celebrate Jesus’ birth; we commemorate Jesus’ Passion and death; we contemplate his Resurrection; but we participate in Pentecost. Every day. You’ve all seen pictures of that terrible oil spill ongoing in the Gulf of Mexico? Well imagine the Holy Spirit pouring down on us for 2,000 years. Hopefully with better consequences.

That same Spirit which hovered over the waters at creation, that same Spirit that filled the Temple with God’s glory; that same Spirit that covered the Blessed Virgin Mary and allowed her to conceive the Son of God; that same Spirit which raised Jesus from the dead; that same Spirit that descended on the Apostles; that same Spirit that changes simple bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ at every Mass, is given to us now at this very moment in this church.

We no longer need to force ourselves to obey the commandments which come from the outside. Now we feel inspired to keep the commandments because the Spirit of God dwells in our hearts.

In a marriage, if the only thing holding a couple together is the law or force of habit, and if the husband and wife need to be told when to communicate, when to apologize, when to forgive, when to sacrifice and when to celebrate, the marriage soon runs out of steam. It becomes routine, it falls into a rut. It becomes work. But if love dwells in their hearts, they don’t do things for each other because they have to; they do it because they want to. They do it because it brings them joy.

Has religion become too much like work? Have you fallen into a rut? Do you come to Mass because your parents or spouse or friend force you to come? Or worse, your conscience? Do you read the Bible or say the rosary only as a penance? Then your faith will soon run out of steam and your religion will be heavier than a paperweight.

But if you allow the Spirit of God to fill your life, that Spirit which you received at Baptism and which was strengthened in your hearts at Confirmation, then you will have access to all the mysteries and wonders of the world around you.

Religion will be exciting because your life will be exciting. You won’t wonder if God is really out there because you will experience God in here. You won’t need an iPad or a special app to connect with the world. But it helps. And sure is fun.

Taking off our training wheels (Ascension of the Lord)

One of the big moments in a child's life comes when she trades in her tricycle for a two-wheeler bike with training wheels. Soon enough the day arrives to remove even these. Self-confidence and independence only come from experience, from trial and error, and above all from overcoming the fear of falling or failing. An anxious but proud parent's guiding hand helps maintain balance for awhile but then comes the moment of truth when the parent lets go and the child rides all on her own. "Mom! Dad! Look what I can do!" This small step on the road to maturity demands a willingness on the part of the parents to let go.

Among other things, the Ascension of Our Lord marks the removal of our spiritual training wheels. Unless we experience Jesus' absence, we will never grow up. Unless we learn to make our own mistakes and learn from them, we will not develop a sense of balance, compassion and justice. More importantly, unless Jesus leaves us we will never experience much less appreciate the power of God within us: the Holy Spirit.

That awkward time between the Ascension and Pentecost was necessary to remind the apostles---and us--that without God we can do nothing, but with God there is nothing we cannot do.

The Ascension also celebrates the holiness, not just of humanity but of all creation. When Jesus ascended into heaven he took his glorified human body with him. His human, albeit resurrected, body was made from the elements of the world around him. Even after rising from the dead, Jesus is recorded as having eaten bread and fish. In other words, God continues to interact with the material world of nature.

The Ascension of our Lord into heaven completes the mystery of the Incarnation when God became human. When the Holy Spirit descended on the Blessed Virgin Mary and she conceived Jesus, her humanity did not explode. You might say that humanity, created from the beginning in the image and likeness of God, was designed specifically to receive the Holy Spirit. Conversely, from all eternity God was prepared for the ultimate marriage between divinity and humanity which was consummated when Jesus ascended body and soul, humanity and divinity into heaven. The Trinity did not implode when he ascended with his human nature into the Godhead. This says as much about God as it does about us. Christmas celebrates God with us; The Ascension celebrates us with God.

Jesus came to earth to take away our sin, that is, our alienation, not just between humans and God but also between humans with one another and between all creation and our Creator. Through the incarnation and ascension of Jesus, all creation participates in the life of God. As such, we must be as deferential and respectful of creation as we are of the bread and wine that become the body and blood of Christ.

Church law mandates that the bread must be made of pure wheat flour with no yeast, that is, no corruption. The wine, too, must be made from grapes with no preservatives and at least 12 percent alcohol.

If we are so careful to safeguard the purity of the material that, through the words of consecration and the Holy Spirit, will become the Body and Blood of Christ, shouldn't we be equally careful of the elements of the world around us that participate in the reign of God and the new creation?

At the Ascension two angels appeared and asked, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand there staring into the sky?" Yes, Jesus has disappeared from our sight but he has not left us. What's more, we have a lot of work to do here on earth. People deserve to know the Good News of what Jesus has done for us. People are literally dying to know their sins are forgiven. People have a right to hear that Jesus saved the world.

If you truly believe Jesus has saved the world, now is the time for all people of faith and good will to do our part and save the earth.

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is only the latest outrage against the environment. Our air is polluted, our rivers contaminated, our oceans dying, our rain forests disappearing. As disciples of Christ who believe God became human on this planet and who consecrated the earth by his presence, we have an obligation to clean up the various messes we humans have made.

We honor God when we take care of the world God made and gave us. We can still save our environment by being mindful of how we live on the earth and of our impact on it. And we can hold individuals as well as companies responsible and accountable for their actions. Let us do our part to clean up our world so one day we, too, as sons and daughters of God, can point with pride to our earth and pray, "Our Father in heaven, look what we can do!"

Sent from my iPad

What mothers teach us about God (Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C)

I had the privilege of studying under Rabbi Asher Finkle when I was a seminarian. Seeing Jesus through Jewish eyes deepened my understanding and love for our religion and for our Lord. Our faith is rooted in the Jewish tradition since Jesus, whom we claim as Lord and Savior of the world, was a devout Jew. Among the other things that come to us through Judaism are belief in one God as creator of all; the goodness of creation, one day of rest in a seven day week; the Old Testament and the Ten Commandments; acknowledging God as a God of justice who loves the poor, and calling God our heavenly Father.


One day Rabbi Finkle explained to us why Jews refer to God as Father and not as Mother. He said a mother’s love is actually stronger than a father’s love because it is instinctive. That is, long before it is born, the baby feels the warmth and protection of its mother while still in the mother’s womb. For nine months the baby hears and feels the comforting beat of the mother’s heart. The mother, too, loves the baby growing within her long before she ever sees her child. Mother and child love each other instinctively before they know each other.


A father’s love, on the other hand, is not instinctive, Rabbi Finkle said. It doesn’t come to us naturally. A father must wait for the child to be born and then he must prove himself through his actions to be a strong, loving, providing and protective man. A father’s love comes only through experience.


The Jews, like most people, do not have an instinctive love of God. Rather, they come to know and believe in God because, throughout their lives and throughout their history, they experienced God as their protector and provider.


Interestingly enough, while we call God our Father because of the Jews and because of Jesus, most of us actually learn about God not so much from our fathers as from our mothers. Mothers not only teach us about religion and prayer, they show us what love, compassion, forgiveness, mercy and sacrifice are all about.


Today throughout the United States we honor all our mothers in a special way. We honor the women who gave us life, when they didn’t have to; who gave us milk from their own bodies; who gave us patient instruction and and maybe sometimes not-so gentle correction.


We also honor the mothers who, as we grew older, drive us absolutely crazy because that’s what mothers do best. We honor the mothers who, as they grow older, fill us with frustration and dread as we realize the day will come when they would no longer be with us.


One of the fondest memories I have of my mother was back in 1970 when I was a college senior at Albany State. It was during the Vietnam war and I had a low draft number. My friend Mike Lynch had enlisted in the army earlier that year and before he himself got killed in the war he sent us a letter saying, “Do whatever you have to do to stay out of this war.”


That meant I had two choices: go to Canada or go to jail. So I asked my parents what I should do. You know what my mother said? “Go to jail.” Do you know why? “Because,” she said, “if you go to Canada I’ll never see you but if you got to jail I can visit you all the time.”


So I did go to jail on March 19, 1970 for blocking the draft board in Albany. I wasn’t behind bars more than four hours when my parents came and paid the fine to get me out. That’s when I learned just how frustrating mothers can be. I ended up serving my country by joining the Peace Corps and teaching English in Korea, a decision which led me to join Maryknoll and resulted in my being here with you today. All this because my mother refused to let me play with toy guns as a child!


All my life I dreaded the day when my mother would no longer be with me. When she died in 2002 at the age of 94, amid the tears I felt a profound peace, and among the sadness a profound gratitude. On the day she died I felt she was actually closer to me and my sister than she had even been before. When she was pregnant with us, she carried us within her body. Now that she had died, we carried her within our hearts.


Sometimes it takes death and absence for the heart to appreciate what love is really all about.


And this is what Jesus prepares us for in today’s gospel. The disciples had already experienced the nightmare of his crucifixion and death. Their hearts were overflowing with inexpressible joy at his resurrection. Now Jesus tells them he is going away again, not to abandon them or leave them as orphans but so they can mature in faith. That emptiness they will feel at his absence will again be only temporary. That emptiness will be filled by the Holy Spirit and then Jesus will seem more present and alive than he ever did before, because now he will be alive in them.


And so on this Mother's Day we give thanks and praise to God the Father for the women through whom we received life and love. We give thanks to Jesus for showing us the way to the Father. And we give thanks today to our mothers for teaching us about life and love and faith and Jesus.

The habit of love (Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year C)

Many years ago there was a famous French artist by the name of Paul Gustave Dore who lost his passport while traveling in Europe. When he came to the border crossing, he explained his predicament to one of the guards. Giving his name to the official, Dore hoped he would be recognized and allowed to pass. The guard, however, said that many people attempted to cross the border by claiming to be persons they were not. "All right," said the official, "I'll give you a test, and if you pass it I'll allow you to go through." Handing him a pencil and a sheet of paper, he asked the artist to sketch a picture of several peasants standing nearby. Dore did it so quickly and skillfully that the guard was convinced he was indeed the famous artist. His action confirmed his identity.

Christians have always had the problem of how to tell the world who we are. Throughout history and still in some places in the world, uniforms have played a very important role in announcing our identity to the world. Think of the various traditional habits of the various Catholic religious orders which distinguish consecrated people not only from ordinary Christians but also from one another. Franciscans wear brown or gray habits. Benedictines wear black. Dominicans wear white. These days, of course, many religious people don’t wear distinguishing clothing at all. Wearing uniforms or religious habits has become less popular. This brings to mind the words of Shakespeare in Measure for Measure, "The hood does not make a monk." In other words, clothes alone do not make us religious, let alone Christian. Actions speak louder than words and much louder than clothing.

The desire for uniforms, religious habits and badges designed to distinguish believers from non-believers does indeed have its place. We are symbolic beings. We need to express our faith in symbolic ways. Jesus himself wrestled with the question of how to distinguish his followers from the non-believers around them. But his command goes much farther than external habits and uniforms. For Jesus the essential mark of distinction between Christians and non-Christians is not in the way we dress but in the way we live.

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-5).

Love is the Christian identity. Love is the Christian uniform. Love is the Christian habit. If you are wearing the habit of love, you are in. If you are not wearing love as a habit, you are out, no matter how many veils or Roman collars or crucifixes or rosaries you put on.

Jesus wants the world to recognize us as Christians by our deeds of love. We need to witness to people around us. But effective evangelization and witnessing has less to do with how piously we speak and more to do with how faithfully we live.

As you probably have heard, last week a terrible law was passed in the state Arizona giving local law enforcers permission to stop anyone whom they suspect of being in this country illegally and asking for identification and documentation based on how that person looks. What in God’s name does an illegal immigrant look like? Or talk like? Or act like? Do you know which nationality comprises the greatest number of undocumented aliens in this country? The Irish. But they look white. They speak English. They act “normal.” So instead the police will concentrate on brown people who speak with Spanish accents. Many people came to this country from Latin America and other places because their local economies collapsed and they could no longer support their families.

Don’t get me wrong. I understand our borders are broken and the situation has gotten out of hand. Clearly our immigration policies are badly in need of reform. But randomly rounding people up whom police suspect of being here illegally is unjust, unfair, un-American and un-Christian.

How should we, as Christians, as followers of Christ respond in the face of such injustice? We must stand in solidarity with those who suffer persecution. We must pressure our elected leaders to institute comprehensive reform. But above all we must love our neighbors as ourselves, even if they lack a proper visa or green card.

Leviticus 19:33-34 states, “If foreigners dwell in your land and live among you, do not harass them, but treat them like your fellow countrymen. You shall love them as yourselves, for you were once strangers in the land of Egypt.”

My brothers and sisters in Christ, we stand today at the border of the kingdom of God. None of us has a passport. Too many people claim to be Christian but do not put the Gospel into practice. Our daily habits and not a religious habit mark us as true followers of Christ. Let us never hesitate to do what is good and just and right, even if we encounter opposition for only then will America live up to its creed and only then will we as Catholics be true to our calling.